“I’ll wait,” I suggested.
Ace jumped up and caught the pull-up bar he was standing under, did four pull-ups, and made my mouth go dry.
When he dropped back down, he stared me dead in the eyes and said, “I’ll take you home.”
I swallowed as he jumped back up there, and I swear to God, the man made things in my belly start to flutter that hadn’t fluttered for anyone ever.
I watched as he started doing more pull-ups. Seventeen before he stopped. I also watched as his abs contracted, and the bottom of his t-shirt rode up showing off an impressive set of abs.
Oh, God.
I couldn’t go anywhere with him. Not when he affected me the way he did.
“I’ll walk.” I scrunched up my nose.
“You’ll ride with Ace,” Desi said. “And maybe we can meet up for lunch again? This time at that new…”
“Ramen noodle place!” I called out excitedly, clapping my hands.
Desi stared at me. “I highly doubt that they have anything wheat-free there.”
I shrugged. “You told me we’d go when they opened, and I’m holding you to that.”
Desi made a pained face. “Codie…”
I glared at her.
“I like Ramen noodles,” Ace said.
Callum snorted.
“Actually, Ace likes everything that has to do with the Asian culture.” He eyed me. “Maybe that’s why he likes you so much.”
I flushed bright red again, cursing my mother’s Irish roots.
My Asian father, who was from Japan originally but moved here when he was twelve, had taught me everything he knew when it came to his culture. I was a Japanese culture extraordinaire. I watched anime, ate everything that I could with chopsticks, and ultimately wished that one day I could go to Japan and visit all the places that only I found interesting.
Knowing Ace liked the Asian culture like I did made me flush with happiness.
“How did you know I was half Japanese?” I asked him.
Callum gave me an ‘are you kidding me’ look. “I grew up in this town right along with you, darlin’.”
Oh yeah. I forgot that part.
I also felt ashamed.
He knew exactly who I was, and what I did when I was a kid.
Desi gave me an ‘oh shit’ look, knowing exactly what I was thinking after having been my best friend for my entire adult life.
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “I’ll talk to you guys later.”
Then I ran out the door and didn’t look back.Chapter 10Shhhh the fuck up.
-Coffee Cup
Codie
I wasn’t even the least bit surprised when Ace caught up to me.
I’d moved fairly fast out of the gym. However, the moment that I’d gotten outside and the wind had hit me, I’d remembered why I hadn’t wanted to walk home.
Not only were my legs refusing to cooperate with me, but the wind was biting and so cold that it instantly chilled me to the bone.
Granted, it didn’t help that I had sweat over every inch of my body, soaking through my clothes.
But due to the wind paired with the near freezing temperatures, I knew it wouldn’t matter whether I was wet from sweat or not. I wouldn’t have wanted to walk home in it regardless.
“Hey, wait up!” Ace called. “My truck’s right there.”
I looked over at said truck and frowned. “I’m all right.”
It would’ve sounded more confident had my lips not been numb and if my teeth had not been chattering.
But oh well.
Ace rolled his eyes at me and I narrowed mine at him, and when he arrived at my side with his truck, I stubbornly refused to get inside.
Instead I kept walking, trying to ignore him and my chattering teeth.
It didn’t work.
Especially when the first raindrop hit me smack in the forehead.
I sighed and reached for the door handle.
“I liked you better when you didn’t talk to me,” I muttered. “When you thought that I was just some stupid girl that couldn’t back up a horse trailer.”
His lips twitched.
“I still think that,” he admitted. “We need to obviously teach you how to back up a trailer… and drive a five-speed, apparently.”
I didn’t say anything to that.
“Why’d you run out of the gym?” he asked bluntly.
I looked out the side window just as the bottom fell out of the sky, and rain started pouring down in torrential sheets.
“I don’t know,” I lied.
“I don’t know my ass,” he muttered. “Darlin’.” He tilted his head all cute like, allowing him to see out from underneath his hat better. “High school was a long time ago.”
I didn’t say anything to that.
One, because he was right. High school was a long time ago.
Two, because that stare, paired with those eyes of his? I had no saliva left in my mouth.
“And if anybody is going to remember anything, it’s going to be them thinking about how fucked up my dad was, and wondering if the apple didn’t fall far from the tree,” he said.
My brows shot up in surprise, and I looked at him in horror.