“I like her.” I play it cool, then think twice. “What I mean is, I really like her. She’s…” I shake my head, remembering her smile that lit me up inside. She’s so easy to talk to.
“Damn,” Logan says with a smirk.
My forehead wrinkles. “What?”
“She bit you,” he says, taking off his gloves. “Come on. I’ll buy you a protein shake.”
We take off our gear and he grabs two protein shakes out of his fridge, then joins me so that our feet hang over the edge of the ring and our arms are on the ropes.
“Whatever you and Nikki are into is cool, but I’m not into the biting thing.”
He laughs. “I meant that she’s sunk her teeth into you. And I know what that’s like. You’re talking to a man who married someone the first night he met her and followed her up to Alaska. The Greene women have some kinda special juju.”
“I do forget that sometimes.” Now that they’ve been married for a while and have their little boy, Noah, it doesn’t seem as crazy or hard to believe as when he first told me.
“Believe me, it took me a long time to win her over. Since Posey is her younger sister, I assume she has the same trust issues Nikki did because of their dad.”
“She mentioned something about that.” I sip my chocolate protein shake.
“I mean, I get it. We all have issues from childhood.” He glances at me from the corner of his eye. He knows enough about me to know that my childhood fucked me up royally, even if I’ve made peace with a lot of it after I got sober.
“That’s for sure. But I think I may have already destroyed it before we got our chance.” I rest my forehead on the rope, my head weighing as heavy as my heart. I might’ve fucked up my chance at an honest relationship with a woman who appears to not care that I’m Gavin Price. Then again, I’ve been fooled before.
“How so?” Logan lies back and stretches his torso with his arms over his chest. “You just had your first date. Even you couldn’t have screwed up that much so soon.”
I roll my eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I look back at him over my shoulder. “I know you’re not my therapist, but is confidentiality a thing here?” I glance around his gym.
He chuckles and sits up. “You want me to be your shrink?”
“In truth, you’re the best friend I’ve got, but you’re also married to Posey’s sister and locked into the Greene family.”
“I’m flattered,” he says. “I think the same of you. Remember how messed up my head was with the whole Nikki thing? Especially when she acted unfazed about the connection between us.” He shakes his head.
I huff, remembering him calling me early in the morning to tell me how he got married, and she ran off. That seems so long ago now.
“I put my name in for mayor,” I blurt and wait for his wrath, but Logan just looks at me for confirmation. When I nod, he falls into a fit of laughter.
“Holy shit!” He holds up his hand for me to give him a minute to catch his breath. “That’s about the worst thing you could’ve done. You know Posey and Marla are—”
“I didn’t know her mom was going to run.”
He laughs again. “You need to spend more time talking to the people in this town. You’re holing yourself up too much.”
“Yeah, maybe.” He’s not wrong, but it’s a habit. I’m used to not feeling free to take a walk or grab a coffee without knowing someone will snap a picture.
“People don’t give a shit around here,” Logan says. “You can just live your life.”
“Fran and her friends had binoculars pointed at me the other day when I was running by the bay. I swear they’re probably reporting my movements to the press.” It’s just that no one cares where I am anymore because I’m washed up, so they don’t bother reporting it. At least that’s what the devil on my shoulder says.
“Maybe it’s different for you. I have mostly male fans since I was an MMA fighter, and you have all those girls who hung pictures of you on their walls and dreamed of marrying you when they were growing up.”
I groan. At the time, I loved being a heartthrob. Talk about a huge ego boost when you’re going through those awkward years. But over time, the payoff wasn’t worth the price. “Anyway, back to my problem.”
He pats me on the back and jumps up and out of the ring. “You’re screwed. Did you know this during the date that Marla was running?”
I nod.
“Yep, kiss Posey goodbye. She is ultra-protective of her mom. I swear her mom’s happiness is more important to her than her own.” He grabs a sweatshirt from his gym bag and puts it on. “Nikki was convinced I was gonna cheat on her, but Posey… Posey suffers trust issues too, but, well… like I said, she’s all about her mom being happy. Hate to break it to you—”
“There has to be something I can do.”
He stares at me for a long time. “Obviously, the sooner you tell her, the better.”
I slide through the ropes and grab my stuff before pulling on a sweatshirt. “I’ll go find her now.”
“I’m not saying that’s gonna solve anything, but be sure to grovel. Greene girls seem to love that.”
I swing my gym bag crossways over my body and hit his shoulder. “Thanks, man.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I still don’t think you have a chance in hell.”
I don’t bother responding, rushing out the door, where I’m surrounded by a lot of people on the streets of Sunrise Bay.
“Gavin Price?” a woman asks with wide eyes, staring me up and down.
I nod. “Yeah. I’m sorry, I have somewhere to be.” I jog down the cobblestone street, spotting Posey coming out of Fringe when I get close enough.
She stops in her tracks and looks around, a look of disgust crossing her beautiful face.
She picks up a sign and I see what’s written on it.
Damn it.
“Hey, boss.” Erwin comes alongside me, a bunch of signs under his arm. “I had some friends help me, so the entire downtown is filled with Vote Price signs.” He smiles at me as though he’s waiting for me to tell him what a good job he’s doing.
My stomach plummets into my socks.
I met Erwin when he wanted to interview me for his blog, Erwin’s Video Game Blog. He thought it would boost his visibility. But when he found out I don’t play online games, he ended the interview, shaking his head and wondering how someone my age doesn’t play games.
I don’t think marketing is his forte, what with the name Erwin’s Video Game Blog, but he said his mom wanted him to find a job and I needed an assistant, so here we are.
“I said to get them up next week after I get the campaign office set up.”
He purses his lips. “No. You said today.”
“I said next week!” I argue.
He looks at the sky, and his eyes scrunch, as if he’s trying to remember. But he doesn’t have to, because I know what I said.
“Let me save you some time, Erwin. I said next week. Pick them up and let’s hope no one sees them.”
Then a shout pulls our attention to the square. I see Posey take one of my signs, put it over her knee, and snap it in half.