“If you don’t wipe that look off your face, you’re going to scare your boot campers.” My sister’s amused voice came from beside me.
I looked down at her and bared my teeth.
“Ohhh, scary!” She pretend shook.
I snorted. “How was work?”
Her face closed off and she shrugged. “I guess it was all right.”
Today was her first day as a substitute teacher at the school that I also worked at, but she’d worked in the ISS—in school suspension—part of the school, and I hadn’t seen her all day.
“Not what you expected?” I questioned.
She wrinkled her nose at me. “It was something that was completely different.” She paused. “And something that I’d like to do again, to be honest. Plus, I got to see you through the windows going through someone’s car, and then Camryn yell at you.”
I growled at her. “Don’t start.”
She held up her hands in surrender. “Don’t start? Don’t start what? Telling you that you have the hots for a teacher? Or telling you that you made a mistake with Nivea, who, might I add, has called the gym no less than five times today and left three voicemails for you to call her. Revoking her membership was an awesome move, by the way. I commend you greatly. But what will you do if she shows up and ignores your order?”
I didn’t have an answer to that.
Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.
“Time to stretch, big brother,” Carmichael sang.
I pulled her into the crook of my arm and gave her a hug around the neck. She made a choking sound, and all of a sudden Croft was there, punching me in the shoulder. “Jesus, dude. Let her breathe.”
My brows rose, and Carmichael flushed a bright red.
I rolled my eyes.
What did women see in Croft?
And since when did he care what I did to my sister? I’d punched her in the shoulder last week and knocked her down onto the padded floor before sitting on her and tickling her to death. All the while she screamed at him for help and he’d looked at her like she was crazy for asking him to get in the middle of us.
Now he was reprimanding me for doing a half-assed chokehold?
Hmm.
What was his game?
It wasn’t bad enough that he had to start paying attention to Camryn, but now he had to do it with my sister, too?
I growled and didn’t even mean to.
Both Croft and Carmichael looked at me with concern.
“Problem?” he asked, eyes now on me and not my sister.
I clenched my teeth and walked away without answering him, but I heard Carmichael explaining as I walked away. Apparently, she thought I was on edge due to Nivea. I wasn’t. I was on edge because I liked a girl and she didn’t like me back.
How juvenile was that?
Apparently, you hang out with high schoolers long enough, and their problems become your problems. Oh, and you start acting like them, too.
The hour-long class was pure torture.
What was even worse was the fact that I wanted to go through another goddamn hour just so she wouldn’t leave.
Raleigh, who was standing next to Camryn looking tired but much more in control of herself than she’d been the first day after her workout, grinned at me as I sidled up next to them.
“How’d you like today’s workout?” I questioned.
Raleigh patted her belly.
“I’m losing my baby belly. I’m happy.” She paused. “I made Ezra wait until I could fit into my bikini before we went on our honeymoon, and it’s been so hard losing weight that I’ve put it off about two months longer than I ever intended. But by the rate we’re going, I’ll be small enough to fit into one by the end of the month.”
“Your boobs won’t, though,” Camryn supplied.
Raleigh flipped her off. “That’s what they made padding for, yes? I think it’ll be okay.”
“So you going to keep going after you’re back in shape?” I questioned.
I really, really wanted her to keep coming. Her coming meant that Camryn would continue to come. That also meant that I’d see her not just at school, but at my gym after school, too.
“Oh yes.” She grinned. “Ezra wants to start coming with me in the afternoons, too. He already comes every morning before work, but he’s really interested in the strongman class that’s being put on for the more advanced members. Though, he won’t be able to do that until after football season. He’s married to his job right now.” She turned to Camryn. “Speaking of, are you coming to the game tonight?”
Camryn looked at her watch. “Oh, shoot. No can do. I’m all sweaty and I have to grade papers.”
“It’s the first week of school. What kind of asshole teacher gives their students work on the first week?” Raleigh asked, sounding serious.
I gritted my teeth to keep from smiling.
“This kind of asshole.” She paused. “They pissed me off today with them pulling their cell phones out and texting while I was talking. Therefore, I made them write a two-page report on what they remembered about their science class last year, then made them turn it in at the end of the period.”
“So just mark seventy on all of them and come,” I suggested. “But don’t record the grade. Or, save the grade as a bonus if they finished the report.”
Her intelligent eyes turned to me. “That’s actually a really good idea. You kind of surprise me.”
I winked. “I can surprise you quite a bit, honey. Would you like me to show you how?”
She looked like she was contemplating saying yes when Carmichael and Croft strode up, pushing their way into our circle.
Instead of pushing away from me, though, she went toward me.
I kind of liked that she chose to stand next to me and not Croft.
Carmichael also looked happy.
It wasn’t lost on me that the two were friendly. I could see how Croft would be a bone of contention between the two women.
Luckily, Camryn showed no signs of acknowledgment as she continued to glare at me.
“That’s not really something you should be saying to one of the women in your boot camp,” she pointed out, not missing a beat.
“What?” Carmichael asked.
“Nothing,” both Camryn and I said at the same time.
She snorted in disbelief. “Go away already. I thought you had to work tonight.”
I did have to work tonight, which was why I was so interested in whether Camryn was going to be at the football game or not.
“You’re working the game?” Croft asked, sounding bored.
“Yes,” I said, glancing at Camryn out of the corner of my eye. “Just have to go home and change. I’ll be there about an hour before kickoff.”
“That’s like thirty minutes from now,” Camryn said.
I looked at my watch, then nodded. “I have my uniform in my office. And a shower.”
“Please?” Raleigh batted her eyes. “I don’t want to sit by myself.”
Camryn blinked. “You’ll have your baby with you.”
Raleigh crossed her arms. “So what?”
“It’d take me too long to get all the way home and back. I have no clothes.” She paused. “And I’m sweaty as fuck.”
I looked at the light sheen of sweat that was bathing her neck and chest and felt other things inside of me start to stiffen once again. Jesus Christ, what was it about this girl?
“You have a basket of clothes in your car,” I pointed out. “And there’s a shower here.”
Raleigh started laughing. “See? Zero excuses.”
Camryn flipped her off.
“I’d invite you to my house, but we’re remodeling the bathroom and I’m currently showering in the RV we bought…it’s not very spacious, nor is it very nice since it’s also a work in progress,” Raleigh apologized.
Croft snorted. “A work in progress is a generous term for that hunk of metal.”<
br />
“It’s an old-fashioned Air Stream. Trust me when I say it’s worth more than it looks like it should,” she countered.
Camryn started walking away.
“Where are you going?” I called out.
“I’m going to get my clothes so I can go get some food before going to a stupid football game,” Camryn grumbled. “Raleigh, all I have to say is your ass better not be late.”
Raleigh squealed and started out after her. Carmichael and Croft followed behind, but at a much slower pace.
“Carmichael, are you going?” I asked casually.
“No.” She shook her head. “I have to work at my other job tonight.”
Her other job wasn’t a normal job. Her other job was actually really quite a cool concept, but her business hadn’t gotten up and running just yet, so she was trying to supplement her income by also substitute teaching in her spare time.
“Any luck pairing the Malamute?” I questioned.
My sister started a website a few months ago that paired men and women with their prospective pet, just like a dating website but for animals. It was a great concept that paired the rescue animal with a human that would fit them perfectly.
Want to be able to find a canine that’ll run with you as well as keep you safe? Sally, the Doberman was the perfect high-energy fit.
I knew that because my sister tried to pair me with Sally, and I’d had to decline because Sally and Dooley did not get along.
She shook her head sadly. “I haven’t found the right person just yet, but I will.”
Danger, the Alaskan Malamute, was a scared little peach of a puppy who didn’t like anyone. Not even me, and I was a dog person.
She hated men, women, and children equally. I hadn’t seen one single person that’d been able to get that dog to come out of her shell.
“You’ll figure it out,” I said.
“Is it a puppy?” Croft asked.
“No. More a teenager. She’s great, really. House-trained. Great manners. Sweet-tempered…she’s just deathly afraid of everything. She was abused as a puppy, and at this time, I’m not sure she’ll ever get to the point where she trusts people.” Carmichael sounded so sad that I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into me.
“You’ll find someone, Mikey,” I told her. “Be careful going home, okay?”
Carmichael winked at me. “You’re not going to ask me to text you when I get home?”
“If I thought you would, then yes. But since I know you’ll forget the moment you walk into your animal shelter of a house, I’ll just look at the camera feed to make sure.”
Carmichael and I shared property about five minutes outside of town. Both of us had been given a sizable nest egg from our grandparents when we’d graduated college, and we’d invested it together and bought over two hundred acres, and then both built a house.
Though we were technically more like neighbors, I still had the code to her house and could check on her through my camera that pointed in her house’s direction.
Carmichael had a system of her own, but I tried not to be too much of an overprotective big brother.
My sister rolled her eyes. “Why does it not surprise me that you know you can do that?”
I winked at her. “Make sure you remember that Donnie is yours tomorrow.”
Donnie, our twenty-year-old horse that we got when we were both children, was taken care of by both of us. He liked Carmichael better, but I tried not to let it get to me.
“Yeah, I remember. Bye.”
Croft watched her go, and I’d had enough.
Waiting until she was all the way to the car, I turned to my friend.
“I love you like a brother, but if you hurt either one of them, I’ll kill you all the same,” I told him bluntly.
Croft turned to me, a blank expression on his face.
“Either one of who?” he asked innocently.
“I saw you flirting with Camryn earlier,” I told him. “And then you switched on that charm with Carmichael. I don’t like it.”
“Listen, Flintstone,” Croft said, sounding somewhat angry. “I’m not setting out to hurt either one of them.”
“Then what are you doing?” I questioned.
He looked back at the parking lot where Carmichael had just pulled out but slowed to wave to Camryn who was now walking back in with her basket of laundry.
“I’m trying to figure that out,” he answered.
I didn’t like that answer at all.
“Camryn is mine,” I blurted.
Croft blinked.
“What?” he asked in surprise.
I was honestly quite surprised at the words that’d fallen out of my mouth myself.
“She’s mine,” I repeated, much more harshly this time.
Croft crossed his arms over his chest and waited for me to go into more detail, and when I didn’t, he laughed softly under his breath.
“Took you long enough,” he said. “Watching you two fight it out was causing me heart palpitations. Thought you’d never pull your head out and make your move.”
I blinked.
“You…what?”
“I’ve had a thing for your sister for a while, but I never made a move because you guard her like a junkyard dog would his turf. Then she starts working here, and you all of a sudden loosen your reins on Carmichael and start focusing in on Camryn. Honestly, I wanted a chance with your sister, so I pushed you a little in the direction I wanted you to go by flirting with Camryn just a bit,” he answered.
That made me mad.
“You know that Camryn has a thing for you, right?” I wondered.
Croft shrugged. “She might’ve. Might not have. I don’t know. I’ve never really understood Camryn, and since she was my little sister’s best friend, it’s hard to look at her in any other light than ‘off limits.’”
I could see that, I guessed.
“Treat my sister badly, and I’ll rip your balls off and make you swallow them.” I paused. “And don’t fuck around with Camryn anymore. I don’t want you to hurt her.”
Croft looked serious all of a sudden. “I won’t hurt her.”
“Won’t hurt who?” Camryn asked.
Croft answered before I could. “Carmichael.”
Camryn’s face lit with a smile. “She has a huge crush on you.” Her face went wonky. “You hurt her, and I’ll rip your balls off and run over them with my car.”
Croft’s face went slack. “Yes, ma’am.”
Camryn didn’t say another word as she walked into the gym and toward the shower.
Croft’s face was laughing when he said, “See? Weird.” He paused. “She’s perfect for you.”
And that wasn’t the first time, or the last time, that thought had occurred to me that night.
After Croft left, I set the alarm and headed to the back room where the shower was located, intending to show Camryn exactly where everything was.
Only, as I arrived, the shower was already on, and Camryn was stripped down to her underwear and sports bra, looking so good in all her sweaty glory.
She blinked and reached for the sweaty shirt that she’d dropped on the ground as I’d come into the bathroom.
“You know,” she said conversationally. “It’s polite to knock…and this is the girl’s bathroom, right?”
“It’s my personal bathroom,” I felt it prudent to say. “But by all means, please take your shower first because you’re more important.”
She rolled her eyes and dropped the shirt, seemingly uncaring about her semi-naked state any longer.
I about swallowed my tongue as I caught a look at her ass—her bare ass.
She was wearing a thong.
And her goddamn sports bra was doing a piss poor job at keeping her adequately covered.
Honestly, I was surprised she could work out in that thing at all with how flimsy it was.
I couldn’t help myself. I had t
o ask. It was a compulsion that I couldn’t seem to stop myself from saying.
“What exactly is that scrap of fabric supposed to be?” I gestured to my own pecs. “It doesn’t look like it offers you much protection.”
She pointed to the shirt on the ground. “That’s what that one right there is for.”
I looked at the shirt in confusion. “What?”
“It’s a tight, compressing shirt. It helps hold and suck everything in. My boobs hurt today because of…well, anyway. My boobs couldn’t take another day of a compressing bra. I had to wear something that wasn’t going to kill me,” she explained.
“Why do your boobs hurt?” I asked curiously.
Why was I talking to her while she was half naked, standing in front of a shower that was pouring steam out, and not letting her get on with said shower?
She pulled her bra down slightly, showing off the top swells of her breasts, and I saw the angry line of bruising that trailed all the way across her chest.
“The barbell,” I muttered.
“Yep,” she said. “And the tighter bras are like torture.”
That explained why she didn’t take her shirt off today.
Honestly, I’d been quite bummed that she hadn’t. That was quite a lot of excitement for me, and I was looking more and more forward to it each and every time she came.
I cleared my throat. “After your shower, I have some ointment that can go on it that’ll help with the bruising.”
She blew out a breath, and I tried not to let my gaze trail down the length of her body. Tried not to look at the swell of her ass and wonder what it would feel like pressed up against the saddle of my hips.
Holy shit but the woman had a smoking body.
It wasn’t perfectly toned like I was used to—or preferred when it came to women—but the curves more than made up for it. God, taking her from behind? I’d have something goddamn perfect to hold onto with the rounded globes of her ass cheeks.
“That’d be nice, thank you,” she said softly. “It was killing me all day at school today. Swear to God. I had to break up a fight, and I thought I was going to die when one of those asshole kids elbowed me in Batman.”
Lord Have Mercy Page 6
