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She could see the tension in her brother’s stance and knew he suspected she was there for personal concern. She didn’t want to make up a lie.
“Well, it was my event, so everything that happened kinda falls on me and could hurt the fundraiser.” Twisting her hands, she looked between them before blabbering on. “The fight was a big success, but I think next year, we need to come up with a no-contact competition, maybe an obstacle course.”
Parker nodded. “That’s probably for the best. Then Conner won’t have to put on such a bad act.”
“Look, I never wanted to fight you. Once we stepped into that ring, I realized it was a lose-lose situation.”
“You mean you figured out you were going to look like the bad guy either way? Took you long enough.”
Conner let out a frustrated breath but didn’t try to argue.
“Are you coming back to the gym? There were a few vendors asking for you,” Parker said, dropping the conversation with Conner.
“Oh, shoot, yes. I’ll just drop Conner off at home since he doesn’t have a car and head back to clean it all up.”
“I’ll go with you,” Conner said to Hannah. “My car is there anyway.”
“You can ride with me, Maguire, but I’m not pushing you in a wheelchair,” Parker said and did an about-face toward the exit.
She didn’t know which was worse, her brother’s calm demeanor or Conner’s cocky smile. The walk outside was awkward: how close should she walk to Conner? Should they avoid talking? Parker’s truck was waiting at the curb. He got in without another word and clearly expected Conner to follow.
“Okay, see you at the gym,” she said, waving like an idiot even though he was only a few feet away. “Wear your seat belt in case my brother isn’t done injuring you today.”
He laughed and gave her a big smile that made her stomach feel like she was floating, and shivers ran along her spine. He started to take a step toward her so she turned away without a backward glance.
Taking the longest route back to the gym gave her time to think about what to do with Conner. Although she knew the safest option was to break all contact with him, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. He seemed okay with keeping things between them under wraps until he could prove he never betrayed Parker in the first place. Or maybe Conner thought he could change her mind about disappointing Parker, but there was no way she could ever stomach it.
Maybe her brother was right about her attraction to Conner being a schoolgirl crush. Maybe they both needed a chance to get each other out of their systems. If she could prove to herself their connection was only a physical attraction, maybe her crush would fade away. Picturing Conner’s rippled muscles and eight-pack as he circled the boxing ring earlier in the evening, she was guessing it would take a long time.
When she arrived back at the gym, she wasn’t surprised to see her brother alone waiting for her at the door.
“I’m not sticking around. I just wanted to make sure you’re not pissed at me,” Parker said.
“For what? Not helping set up the event or nearly destroying all my hard work for the fundraiser to exact your revenge on Conner?”
“When you put it like that, it sounds even worse, but what did you think was going to happen? You selected two people who hate each other as the main event. I wasn’t going to play the fool again.” Parker walked over to his truck.
“No, you did that all on your own. You wanted to fight Conner, demanded it, in fact. I love you, but you need to own your own choices.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I didn’t ask my best friend to stab me in the back.”
“You knew she wasn’t a good person. The fact that you’ve given her the power to hurt you over and over surprises me.”
“She doesn’t have any power over me,” he said but didn’t sound at all convincing.
Moving closer, she studied him. There was still pain in his eyes. What she didn’t know was if it was because of Mariah, or if it was from his belief that Conner betrayed him.
“It’s okay to be wrong about people, and it’s okay to admit you were wrong. You’ve held onto this for a long time. If you’re really honest about it, you haven’t let anyone close to you since Mom died. But shutting yourself off from a real relationship because you’re afraid to get hurt won’t work.”
He nodded. “It definitely won’t work if the people I trust and love betray me. I can accept I was wrong to trust her, but he was like a brother.”
“There is a chance you believed the wrong person, but I can understand you not being willing to try to trust him again.”
“Good, because it’ll never happen.” He closed the door to his truck, and that was the end of the conversation.
She headed inside the gym and was shocked to find it transformed back to normal. Conner was helping stack the last of the chairs, and a few other volunteers were sweeping up.
“You ever think of running an event business?” The owner’s scratchy voice interrupted her thoughts.
