Rae of Sunshine (Light in the Dark 1)

“Where do you see this going?” He asked. “Us, I mean?”

“I-I don’t know.” I stuttered. “I’m not like other people. I can’t imagine myself five years down the road. All I can focus on is the here and now, and you’re a part of that.”

“I’ll take it,” he whispered.

Breaking the seriousness of the conversation, I said, “Shouldn’t we be getting back to campus so you can go to the gym?”

Cade cursed under his breath. “You’re right. We’ll finish eating and head back.”

By the time we packed everything up and got in the car my fingers and toes were numb.

“I think you should come to the gym with me.” Cade glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

“Uh…isn’t that what I’m doing?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, sorry. I should’ve worded that better. What I meant is, I miss our runs. Why don’t you change, meet the guys, and stay for a while?”

I didn’t know what to say. It made me nervous, that was for sure. I didn’t know these guys and what if I hated them? At least if I was only going to meet them I could escape when I felt like it. Staying to work out with Cade would leave me trapped there. “I don’t know, Cade,” I mumbled.

“Hey, if you get there and decide you don’t want to stay then you can leave.”

When he put it that way I didn’t see how I could argue with him. “Okay,” I relented. It was hard to tell Cade no, but I also knew I needed to put myself out there.

His smile was huge which instantly made me feel better for agreeing.

We reached campus and Cade waited in the Jeep while I rushed inside my dorm to change. Thea was gone and I was kind of glad for that, so I didn’t have to explain anything to her.

I hurried back outside to the Jeep and clambered inside.

“That was fast,” Cade chuckled, driving over to the building the gym was housed in since it was too chilly to walk that far—and I still felt a bit frozen from eating our lunch outside.

“I thought you were running late,” I shrugged, “I didn’t want to hold you up anymore.”

The closer we got to the gym the more nervous I became. I wiped my damp palms on the black material of my pants.

I’d spent my last year of high school alienating myself from all human contact, and now I felt like I was constantly putting myself out there. College had changed me for the better, molding me into the person I needed to be. I still had a long way to go, though, but I now believed I’d get there. I didn’t feel so hopeless anymore.

When Cade parked at the gym I hopped out of the car before he could try to give me a pep talk. I was okay. Nervous? Yes. But I wasn’t freaking out.

Cade grabbed his duffel bag from the back and took my hand. I breathed out slowly, trying to calm myself. I hoped Cade was right and Eric was nowhere to be seen. I might run out of the building if I spotted him.

Cade led me around the equipment and to a back part of the building where the football players trained separately.

He opened the glass door and I thought the amount of testosterone swirling in the air might suffocate me. Hot, half-naked, sweaty guys everywhere. It was every girls dream, but I found myself clinging tighter to Cade as my eyes landed on every face searching for Eric. Cade was right though, and he wasn’t here. I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Guys,” Cade called in a loud, authoritative voice. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at us. I kept my shoulders squared and my chin high, refusing to be intimidated by the large men. “This is my girlfriend, Rae. She’s going to hang out with us today.”

Someone whistled and then I heard a slap. Apparently someone wasn’t happy with the whistler.

The guy nearest to us stood up from the bench press he’d occupied. His shirt was drenched with sweat and his dark hair was damp too. “Nice to meet you,” he grinned, his brown eyes crinkling. Dimples, deeper than Cade’s, popped out in his cheeks. “I’m Brady.”

Brady…I remembered Cade mentioning that name.

I smiled at the big bear of a man. “That’s Adam.” He pointed to another guy and this one had coppery brown hair. “Dane. Jesse. Rob. And Tyler.”

“Hi,” I waved weekly.

“Go change,” Brady clapped a hand on Cade’s shoulder. “I’ll watch her.”