The Love Series Complete Box Set (5 page)

It is quiet at the gym. There are a couple of guys in the weights section, and every single treadmill is free. The treadmills all face a wall of one-way mirrors—I can see out, but I know from when I walked up to the gym, no one can see in. The glass wall provides a picturesque view of the lake out in the distance. The sun is still low in the sky, and the pink and orange hues reflecting off the water are amazingly beautiful. I will definitely have to find a trail outside soon.

I stretch out, put my earbuds in, jack up the volume, set my pace, and run. As Florence and the Machine’s “The Dog Days Are Over” blasts in my ears, I feel for the first time in my life that I am running toward something rather than away from it.

Forty-five minutes and five miles later, I step off the treadmill and wipe the sweat from my face. I feel good, damn good. I’ve worked out all of my confusion over the weekend. I know that I’m bound to cross paths with Reid again, so I decide to just pretend as if the moments we shared, or that I thought we shared, never happened. I promised myself that I would choose happy, and Reid leaving me longing on the dance floor while he goes to make out with some other chick is
so
not happy.

On my way back to the showers, I sneak a peek into the weight room. Just when I decide to forget him, there he is. Reid is with a group of his friends, laughing. They look like they are really enjoying each other’s company as they work out. What the freak? He was so moody and cold Friday night, and now he looks like a completely different person. He is smiling and laughing, and there is a light in his beautiful blue eyes that is just breathtaking.

The second he catches me staring, he stiffens. It’s like he’s steeling himself against a harsh blow. I’ve done nothing but look at him, and he’s shooting me daggers. What the fuck is his problem? What the fuck have I done to piss him off so much? Why am I saying “fuck” so much? He must bring out my inner swearer. My runner’s high evaporates instantly, and I stalk off to the locker room.

About twenty minutes later, Reid arrives at the exit at the same time I do. I smile at him, trying to be nice, while his face remains as hard as stone—lightly stubbled, roughly delicious stone. I have a choice here: I can be pissy and moody, or I can be cool and calm. I bury my anger; I remember my promises, and I choose the latter.

“Hi. It’s Reid, right? I think we met this weekend at Jack’s party.” I try for innocent, hoping that the knowing looks he shot me before can be erased by my faux confusion.

He smirks at me, knowing that I’m full of shit. Through his stifled laughter, he says “Yeah, it’s Reid. Ashley, right?” Now it’s his turn to be full of shit.

I roll my eyes and try to bite my sarcastic tongue, but I fail miserably. I lean into him a little seductively and say, “If you hadn’t left me after one dance for Miss Leggy Blonde, then you would definitely remember my name. There’s no way you would have forgotten it after screaming it all night.” Okay, I’m a virgin, but definitely not a prude, and it seems like Reid brings out not only swearing Maddy, but sexy Maddy as well.

He stands at the door, mouth agape. I stride past him and head off to class. I’m walking across the quad when I feel him catching up to me.

“It’s Maddy. Even if I hadn’t had the privilege of calling it out all night, I wouldn’t have forgotten your name. So why are you following me?” His question leaves me more than a little confused, because he’s the one who is following me out to the quad.

“What do you mean?”

“To the gym—are you stalking me or something?” He’s trying to make the question seem light, but there’s a serious undertone to his voice. He really thinks I’m following him. Doesn’t he realize that I am not some clueless desperate freshman?

I huff an exasperated sigh and lay into him a bit. “No, Reid. I am definitely not following you. I was going for a run before class this morning. I didn’t even know you were at the gym. I didn’t see you until I was finished running and you shot me the nastiest look. I wouldn’t have even said hello to you if you hadn’t met me at the door. Happy? You can go on your merry way now knowing that I had no intention of even seeing you today.”

I pick up the pace toward the library to get a little bit of reading done before class starts, but his long legs eat up the distance I am trying to put between us in no time.

“I’m sorry, Maddy. I didn’t mean to piss you off. Really, I didn’t. I guess I was just surprised to see you there. Definitely surprised to see you run like that. I’m not one bit surprised to see how much of a firecracker you are, though.” His words are a stark contrast to the icy stare he shot at me before. They’re sweet and sincerely apologetic.

“Oh, Reid, you have no idea,” I snip back at him. For some reason, his rather mercurial reaction to me gets me very fired up, very annoyed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some work done.” And with that, I walk into the library, find a cubicle, and open my book. Unable to focus, I stare blankly at the words on the page, my mind lost in the enigma that is Reid Connely.

The next two weeks continue in much of the same pattern. I get up early, head to the gym, get in my five miles, and go to class. I’d be lying if I said my only motivation for going to the gym every morning is my run. Reid also goes to the gym every morning. I know he looks for me. I’ve caught his glance a few times, so he knows I’m looking for him, too. We seem to be stuck in this push and pull, yet neither of us is willing to do much of anything about it.

It’s Friday and I’m done with classes early, so I head back to the suite to catch a nap. Cammie has the afternoon off as well, and when I walk into the living room she lifts her nose out of her textbook.

“Hey, Maddy! How was your day?”

“Not too thrilling. This psychology class is going to kill me, though. Synapses and neurotransmitters and blah blah blah.” I flop down beside her on the couch and debate whether or not to talk to her about Reid. She’s already said that she doesn’t know much, but I figure what the hell. It’s worth a shot, right?

“I know I’ve already asked about him, but what can you tell me about Reid? He’s at the gym every morning when I get there, and we swap stares all morning. We spoke once last week, and it was rough and edgy, like I’d pissed him off by being in his precious gym, and then he was all apologetic and sweet for nearly biting my head off. I’m usually pretty calm and collected, but he brings out this sarcastic snippy side to me. I just don’t know how to deal with him, and I have no clue what I did to bother him.”

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

“Um . . .” She pauses while she tries to gather her thoughts. “I’m not really sure. Reid really keeps to himself while I’m at Jack’s. I’ve never gotten more than a tight smile and a quick ‘hello’ when he sees me there.”

Oh, not what I expected. He seems pretty loose and friendly with his boys at the gym.

“Look, Maddy,” she continues, “you might not want to hear this, but the few things I do know about Reid don’t exactly paint him in the best light. He’s a player. In the three years that he’s been here, he’s never been with a girl for more than one night—maybe a weekend if she was really good. He sleeps with pretty much anything that moves, and he doesn’t seem to be ashamed of it at all. The fact that you say he was sweet and apologetic is actually really shocking to me.”

Her words hit me in the gut. It is completely ridiculous of me to think that Reid can’t have any girl he wanted; I just didn’t want to think he took them up on the offer as frequently as he did.

Thoroughly confused about how I should feel about all of this, I harrumph and slouch down further on the couch. “I just don’t know what to make of it. We danced at that first party at Jack’s, and I swear we had some kind of connection, and in a heartbeat he went from completely into me to ice-cold and distant. Then he thought I was stalking him at the gym. He played it off like he was pissed that I was there, but then there was a hint of hopefulness in his words that I might actually be there to see him. I’ve seen him every morning since then, but he hasn’t said two words to me, and I won’t make the first move at this point.”

I see a light bulb go off over her head as a mischievous grin curls her lips into a tight smile. “Well, there’s another party tonight. Why don’t you come with me and see if we can push a few of his buttons—get him to make the first move.”

There’s a sneaky look in her eyes, and I’m not sure if I’m down with her plan.

“I don’t know, Cam. I’m not the type for a player.” Even as I say the words, I have this gut feeling that he wouldn’t play me. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s that
I
know I wouldn’t let him play me. I kept my walls up around Jay, and I genuinely liked him. Reid doesn’t have a shot in hell at breaking them down at this point.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. We’ll get you all smoking hot and make him realize what a jerk he’s being. We’ll give him a taste of his own medicine and then head home. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll just dance and have fun and find you some other hottie.”

Cue the big puppy-dog eyes, and I’m a goner.

“Okay, I’ll go, but I’ll pick my outfit. And I am NOT going there to be one of his tramps.”

Though getting to touch him again wouldn’t be horrible by any means.
After all, I have seen him at the gym with his shirt off. That was a good morning, indeed.

Cammie’s excited voice breaks into my steamy musings about Reid. “Yay! It’ll just be me and you, though. Lia has a study session, and Mel is at work tonight.”

I forgot about that. Melanie got a job at the computer lab. Since she’s new, she got stuck with the Friday night shifts, which cut into her social time, but it’s like she’s getting paid to get her homework done, so she doesn’t complain much. For the first time in our lives, Melanie and I are actually going to have to carve some time out for each other.

“ Okay, you and me it is, then! It’ll be fun. I could definitely use some time to cut loose.” I’m slowly warming up to her little plan.

The fact that Reid will be there has nothing to do with it.

No, it’s not about Reid and his bright blue eyes, and his gorgeous body, and his sexy smile. No, not at all.

When we get there, the party is in full swing. The music is pumping, and everyone is up dancing. I don’t see Reid anywhere, not that I’m looking for him.

Nope, definitely not looking for him.

I follow Cammie out into the kitchen while she grabs us a drink. It’s not beer this time; it’s some girly pink punch concoction. It doesn’t taste horrible, so for the first time in my life, I decide that I’ll actually drink. Just one or two—not enough to get smashed like everyone else already is. Jeez, it’s only 10 p.m. How is it even possible to be
that
drunk
this
early?

It takes us about fifteen minutes before we find Jack, who is laughing with Logan.

“Hey, babe!” Jack smiles lovingly at Cammie, and her face glows. They really are adorable together.

“Hey, Maddy! I don’t think you got to meet Logan last time you were here.” He introduces us, and Logan reaches out to shake my hand, but turns it over and brushes a soft kiss all courtly-like on the back of my hand.

My face heats, and he smirks at me. He’s very good-looking in that typical all-American football star way. He’s got short brown hair and warm brown eyes. Where Reid is all hard and masculine, Logan is pretty. Without sounding too snarky about it, he is a pretty boy. Very easy on the eyes, but so very different from Reid.

Not that I compare every guy I see to Reid. No, I don’t do that at all!

“It’s
very
nice to meet you, Maddy. Can I get you another drink?”

As I look down into my cup, I realize I hadn’t even noticed that I finished the first one. Logan grabs my hand and walks me back toward the kitchen to the girly punch.

As he fills my cup, he asks, “So how do you like it here? How are your classes getting on?”

“It’s great. I really love it. Cammie and Lia are fantastic. Classes? Ehhh—they’re okay. Not so hot at psychology, but I’m in love with my poetry class,” I reply.

I take a big sip and start to feel the effects of the alcohol. I definitely need to slow down. I do not want to be a sloppy mess. Logan and I continue our conversation, and he’s really nice. Cammie is right; he pretty much eats, breathes, and lives football. It turns out that he’s an athletic training major. He says if he can’t spend his life on the field playing, the next best place to be is on the sideline helping others play better.