Wrong (16 page)

Chapter Twenty

On Wednesday, Riley and I went with Liam and Max to the Onyx Club, the TriBeCa gym owned by Max’s brother. He hated the fact that it was less of a gym these days and more of a place for hedge fund guys and rich young moms to be seen, so every once in awhile, the guys obliged his requests to work out there so it looked, in his charming words, like “more of a gym and less of a douchecanoe.”

“God, I’ve never seen more Lululemon in my life,” Riley whispered as we entered the women’s locker room. It was milling with slender girls in bright pink sports bras and printed spandex. “Tell me again why we came here?”

“Because Deficit Week was your idea,” I said as I tossed our shared gym bag in one locker. Deficit Week was basically the week after Halloween, during which Riley realized we’d soon be inundated with tons of parties and holiday food. There were several “Friendsgiving” dinners leading up to actual Thanksgiving night at our parents’ house, and after that, it was the same deal with weekly parties and potlucks till Christmas. So every year, Riley suggested we lose as much weight as possible the week before festivities kicked off, so we could be at a deficit and indulge in food without gaining much weight. It was a pretty good idea. Of course executing it was a whole other thing.

“I like working out at Liam’s gym better. The guys here are too gelled and pretty for my taste,” Riley said as we left the locker room and ascended the stairs. I caught Liam’s eye as we passed the floor with all the weights. He was spotting Max but flicked his gaze to me like I had a magnetic pull on him. Smirking, he watched me go up the steps in the outfit that he had called “dangerous” before. It was just a sports bra and yoga pants, but the bra was black and strappy, and the pants were a light gray that Liam seemed to think accentuated my ass. He couldn’t keep his hands off my backside as we made our way out of the apartment, palming me and squeezing the greediest handfuls despite the fact that Riley was walking barely three feet ahead.

“Good God,” Riley said as we got up to the cardio floor. “Liam and Max just now.”

“I know,” was all I said. We rarely acknowledged Liam together but it was impossible not to just now. He and Max were like statues of Greek gods, both shirtless and sweating, their muscles and veins bulging more than usual. Max grunted loudly with his every lift. It was practically pornographic.

I kept the image in my head as I did an hour on the treadmill. I had always appreciated my shape. I liked my breasts, and I was evenly distributed aside from hips that Aria told me were made to “slay pencil skirts.” Generally, I was satisfied with myself. But since being with Liam, I’d inexplicably begun to love my body. Every inch, every dip, every flare and every curve. Nothing had physically changed but something about feeling Liam’s hands on me regularly had done some kind of good. It was as if our sex pumped confidence into my veins and lingered on my skin like an expensive perfume. I felt radiant and I knew it was real because Riley and my staff wouldn’t stop remarking about it.

“Hot
damn
. Is that Sasha Blakely I see?”

My eyes fluttered at the sound of my name, and I snapped out of my focus to find myself suddenly staring at a familiar heart-shaped face.

“Oh my God – Natalie?” Riley gasped from a couple treadmills down.

Natalie Mathis. She was an old classmate and neighbor whose parents lived on the same block as mine. I hadn’t quite grown up with her, but after Mom married Vic and moved us, I transferred schools and shared most of my Honors and AP’s with that tiny little spitfire. And of course, over the past few years, Riley and I had seen her and her brother in Hudson Valley during the holidays, when we went to see our parents and they went to see theirs.

“Look at you two being adorable sisters and working out together. Are you guys doing Deficit Week training right now?” Natalie giggled, tossing the ends of her double French braid over her toned shoulders. “‘Cause I totally am.”

“Oh, like you need to!” Riley exclaimed, standing back to shoot playful daggers at Natalie’s ultra-petite, ultra-fit body wrapped in neon hot shorts and a matching bra. A hand on her flat stomach, Natalie laughed.

“Trust me, I need to. I’m having back-to-back Thanksgiving dinners with both sides of the family,
plus
your parents’ dinner, since your mom invited me.”

“Of course she did,” Riley snorted, though I actually couldn’t figure out why my mother had invited Natalie since she tended to keep our holidays strictly family. Growing up, we were never allowed to invite even the likes of A.J or Aria over. Riley wiggled her eyebrows. “So does this mean you’re bringing that doll of a boyfriend, Nat?”

“Mm, well, he’s a doll who cheated on me with his twenty-year-old assistant so no, definitely not bringing him,” Natalie laughed, brushing it off when Riley started to apologize profusely. “Don’t even worry about it, girl. Boyfriends come and go. I heard yours did too, Sash. What happened?”

I blinked at how to-the-point Natalie was but then reminded myself that it had always been her nature. I shrugged. “Eh, you know. It just ran its course,” I said, giving the same generic excuse that I’d given my family and basically all my friends who weren’t named Aria.

Natalie narrowed her big, brown eyes at me. “You politician.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean, girl. Ethan was a gem. He was cute and smart and rich and you guys were
engaged
. ‘It ran its course’ is not at all a sufficient explanation and you know that.”

“Fair enough,” I laughed. “But I guess it’s just too complicated to explain.”

“Fine. You seeing someone new then? You’ve got that glow,” Natalie said. Riley dropped her jaw and pointed urgently at me.

“
Doesn’t
she? She’s fucking someone, but she won’t tell me who!”

“Aww.” Natalie peered over my shoulder behind me. “Tuck’ll be so disappointed.”

I cocked my head at her. “What?”

“My brother, Tuck? He’s always thought you were the hottest little thing.”

“Omigod!” Riley gasped. “Sash used to have such a crush on Tuck!”

I laughed. “Briefly, I did.” It barely registered in my memories but when I thought about it, I did have a week of infatuation after I tripped in the hallway at school and Tuck Mathis, in all his senior-boy-varsity-football-playing glory, caught me before I hit the ground. I was the new girl then, and he was the king of the school, so it was an inevitable fascination – albeit one that was on and off, and generally off since Liam visited once a week.

“Yeah, well Tuck’s crush started in more recent years or I would’ve told you, Sash. But you were never single, so there was no point.”

“Oh.” I raised my eyebrows since it was all news to me. “From what I recall, he was rarely ever single either,” I said. I wasn’t super close to Tuck Mathis but I did know that he was pretty much like the typical guys who went to Onyx Fitness – gelled hair, in finance and always attached to some fast-talking PR babe named Blaire or Paige.

“Yeah, well I guess it’s been a year of breakups because I’m freshly single, so are you, and so is he,” Natalie smirked. She wound her thick hair around her finger as she nodded behind me. “Speaking of the devil. Tuck – look who I found!”

When I turned, I did a double take. I’d seen Tuck last Thanksgiving, but somehow, I didn’t recognize him at all. His thick brown coif was buzzed short now and he’d put on so much mass that even his jaw seemed wider.

“Damn, someone’s been working out,” Riley said as he greeted her first with a hug.

“That post-breakup lifting. You know how it goes,” he grinned before coming to me. “Sash. Not even gonna apologize for sweating all over you.” I burst out laughing and grimaced as Tuck pulled me in for a bear hug, squeezing me tighter with every grossed-out sound I made.

“I just told Sasha that you’ve always had the hots for her, so she’s definitely not even surprised that you’re trying to rub yourself all over her right now,” Natalie said. Tuck pulled back with an unapologetic laugh.

“Shit,” he said. “Secret’s out.”

“You look distraught.”

“Extremely,” Tuck grinned at me, pulling his red T-shirt up to wipe the sweat from his face. He took his time, and I knew I was supposed to look down at his impressively cut six-pack. But while Riley did, I felt little compulsion. “So, did my sister have the good sense to help me ask if you were single these days?”

“I did, but I don’t think we got a solid answer on that one,” Natalie said, returning her inquisitive gaze to me. “I mean it’s all family here, Sash. Spill the beans. Is there someone new in your life or are you –
oh my God
.”

To my relief, Natalie magically dropped the subject and sprinted off. But she didn’t go far. I turned to my right just in time to catch her jumping like an acrobat into Liam’s arms. I had to marvel at how high up she’d gotten on him, her toned legs wrapped around the middle of his naked torso, and her elbows resting on his muscled shoulders.

“Christ. Hello to you, too,” Liam laughed, letting Natalie squeal her excitement to see him and plant kisses all over his cheeks. I swallowed, surprised by the tick of possessiveness I felt. Perhaps it was the sudden memory of trips to Hudson Valley with Riley and Liam. We always wound up going to Junction Pub, where we’d find all the other neighborhood “kids” who were escaping their parents during their holiday visits. Natalie, despite her size, was always the only girl to keep up with Liam in terms of drinking, and there was one year I remembered where they’d spent the entire night together in a corner. There was no forgetting the way Liam rubbed his hand up and down her thigh, his hand wandering up higher and higher with her every murmur in his ear.

Ugh.
My jaw tightened as I realized just how many memories I had of Liam with other girls. I reminded myself not to hold a grudge against his past as he ambled over to us, unaffected by the hundred pounds of human still hanging from his neck. “Reunion over here?”

“Something like it,” Tuck grinned. “How you been, man?”

“Can’t complain,” Liam replied as Natalie hopped off him but kept him close, wrapping him in a hug that had her cheek pressed against his bare chest. “How about you guys?”

“Good!” Natalie piped up. “We were just having a jolly old time prying into Sasha’s sex life. She’s got that good-dick glow to her and we’re trying to get to the bottom of it.”

“Good-dick glow, huh?” Liam smirked. The way his emerald gaze fixed on me made me feel so exposed I had to look away. “I don’t think I’m familiar with that term.”

“Oh, you know,” Natalie giggled. “It’s when the blood is pumping nice and healthy ‘cause you’ve been getting some good dick. Usually the eight-plus inch kind that’s just a bit curved and hits your G-spot like – ”

“Fuck, Nat,” Tuck scolded. “The last person who wants to hear you talk about Sasha like that is Liam.”

“Oh, boohoo, they’re both grown-ass adults. He knows Sasha has a sex life. Don’t you, Liam?”

Liam smirked, taking his time to answer. “I’m well aware,” he finally said, turning his gaze to me, torturing me in public the way he knew I hated.
The fuck, Liam
. I turned away, acting suddenly very interested in some guy doing burpees. From the corner of my eye, I saw Natalie still clinging to Liam’s arm.

“Do
you
know if she’s seeing someone, darling? I’m asking for my brother.”

“Nat – ”

“Stop interrupting me, Tuck. I’m trying to do
your
bitch ass a favor since you won’t ask her out yourself.”

Riley laughed but I felt like I was stuck in quicksand, standing there helplessly and sinking slowly into a guaranteed mess. My eyes shifted to Tuck as he shook his head at his sister. “You’re a piece of work, Nat,” he muttered before turning to me with a crooked smile. “Sash, if you’re really single though…”
God, oh God,
I eyed Liam, who was actually glaring now at Tuck. “I owe it to myself to ask you to dinner since I’ve had a pretty monster fucking crush on you for the past three years.”

I had no idea how to respond. Catching Liam’s eye, I knew what he wanted me to say something. I knew he wanted me to somehow allude to the fact that I was seeing someone, but I was in no way prepared to lie on the spot and come up with a whole story since I clearly couldn’t say,
“I can’t say yes because I’m dating my stepbrother.”
It was a mess of a situation, and to my own disappointment, “Really?” was all I came up with when I finally spoke. “I had no idea,” I added lamely, prompting Tuck to laugh.

“Yeah… I think it started that year we all snuck out of our family’s Christmas dinners and used the MacPherson’s backyard hot tub. And you were, uh,” he cut off, something naughty but sheepish in his grin. I was surprised to see a little color flush to his cheeks. Tuck Mathis had never struck me as the type of guy who blushed for any reason. “Liam, man, I feel like I shouldn’t be saying this stuff in front of you,” Tuck joked.

“By all means, go on,” Liam said, though I was the only one who read the steeliness of his voice. I was the only one who noticed how his body went rigid and his neck went taut. He looked like he wanted to kill Tuck and I could tell that, but everyone else took Liam’s words at face value.