“Okay.” I exhaled shakily. “Tonight is the night I move on. No snarky comments. No leaving before midnight. Tell me what you know about these guys.”
“All RJ said was that he met them at the gym.”
I made a face. “Seriously? Gym rats?”
“Stop, you promised!” I adjusted my face into something more pleasant and she continued. “He met them there but I think they train him or something? They’re connected to the business somehow. A group that specifically works with the entertainment industry in town.”
That was logical. All RJ did was work and exercise, training his body into a work of perfection. His physique, his face, and his eyes were what got him into this business. It was ironic that my job was to cover it up. To be honest, I was a little surprised he set Lea up on a blind date. The flirty vibes between them lately were intense.
“Okay, so they’re athletes.” I could handle athletes. Four of them, in fact. I scanned the room, trying to figure out if they were here yet. There were a few suspects and one guy across the room caught my eye. Handsome. Built. Definitely worked out. His dark eyes met mine and I raised an eyebrow; was this one of the dates?
I opened my mouth to point him out, but Leigh’s small hand wrapped around my forearm and squeezed. “I think that’s them,” she said in a low voice.
The hair prickled on the back of my neck long before I looked at the door, like a spidey-sense warning me of trouble. It was too late, though, because I ignored the feeling and locked eyes with the brightest of blues. My heart jumped to my throat and my knees threatened to buckle.
His reaction was nothing more than a blip, the quick rearranging of his face to disguise his shock but zero halt to his swagger. I braced for a second time when I spotted the man behind him, who wasn’t as smooth. His jaw, leaner than before, tightened. There was no mistaking the shock and conflict in his eyes.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“Hot, right?” Lea asked, taking in the curly, tousled locks on the first one and the broad chest on the second. When I didn’t reply, she glanced at me and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
They stopped before us and the guy with soulful brown eyes grabbed my drink out of my hand, gulping down the contents. Lea watched in shock, waiting for an explanation.
“Lea, this is Jackson and Oliver.” I pointed to each one, my world spinning on its axis. “My exes.”
“A beer, please,” Oliver said to the bartender. Jackson elbowed him. “Make that two.”
“Three,” I added before looking at them, terrified to do so. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” Jackson asked back. “Since when do you hang out in bars?”
“We’re waiting on a blind date,” Lea replied. She smiled brightly and brushed a stripe of purple hair behind her ear. “Hi, I’m Lea.”
Oliver’s eyes darkened. “Was this date set up by someone you work with?”
I didn’t say his name. That’s part of the business, not spreading around celebrity contacts. “Yes.”
“Is he famous?” Jackson asked, reaching for the green bottle off the bar top. He knew my profession, even if I didn’t know theirs.
I stared at him, non-committal, as though I wasn’t about to fall apart. I wanted desperately to hug him, ask him a million questions, drag him back to my house, but that wasn’t who we were anymore. I kept my mouth shut and watched him, noting how freaking good he looked. Both of them did, and I had to fight back on my gawking. They’d grown since I’d seen them last, matured, and it suited them better than I could have anticipated.
When I didn’t answer, Jackson admitted quietly, “RJ set this up, okay? We had no idea.”
“How do you know RJ? He told Lea something about trainers?”
Jackson grinned proudly. “We opened a gym. Specifically for the talent coming into town. We’ve got everything from weight lifting, Parkour, and sports training, like baseball and soccer.”
Lea thought this over for a second, then her eyes lit up. “Oh, I’ve heard of you guys! A5 Training?”
He smiled wider. “That’s it.”
A5. Oliver glanced my way then averted his eyes again. He could barely look at me. My stomach tightened and twisted. I wanted nothing more than to just run and pretend none of this had happened.
“Did RJ know?” I asked suddenly. “Did he do this on purpose?”
Lea frowned. “No, Heaven, I don’
t think so. This is just a bizarre coincidence.”