Dean and Archer are finishing up their last set of weights when I walk in. This is the only gym in Eastwood and is usually busy. Every once in a while, I’ll show up at the same time as one of my brothers, and even rarer are the times when we all get here together. Logan and I used to go together almost daily, finding it almost fun to have an accountability partner.
“Hey,” Dean says, exhaling heavily as he lifts the weights up. “I heard Charlie spent the night with you last night.”
“Way to cut to the chase.” I move over by the leg press. “And how the fuck did you hear that? She only left about half an hour ago.”
“I had to drop something off at one of the construction sites and saw her car. So she did spend the night?”
“Yeah. She did,” I say and Dean and Archer exchange glances. “But it wasn’t what you’re thinking. Unfortunately.”
“But she stayed the night with you.”
“I invited her over for dinner and she stayed so she wouldn’t have to drive in the storm. In the guest room. Alone.”
“You didn’t try to make a move?” Archer looks at me skeptically. “Or did she flat our reject you?”
“No one rejects me,” I spit out and then shake my head. “No, I didn’t make a move.”
“You must really like her then.”
“We have history,” I say, and leave it at that. I start my workout, mind drifting to Charlie the whole time, of course. I stop by the law firm on my way home from the gym to give Charlie a key to get into the house.
The firm is downtown, in one of the historic buildings along the main road that goes through Eastwood. The building is three stories high, and Charlie works on the top floor. I go up the stairs, stopping on the second level when I step into the office.
“Hi, welcome to Williams and— Owen?” the secretary cuts off. She peers up at me over the top of her glasses. “That is you, isn’t it?” Her top teeth sink into her bottom lip, and it takes me a second to place her face. Mostly because I didn’t see much of it that night.
She came home with me from the bar one night and I fucked her from behind. And then we had sex again that morning. I always lead my escapades with making it clear things are no strings. I never want to lead anyone on, and I never wanted anything more from anyone anyway.
The closest I’ve come to dating since Charlie and I broke up was Meredith James and the three months we spent naked in bed together. She’d just gotten a divorce and wanted to make her ex-husband jealous, which I was happy to assist with. Then I started feeling sorry for her and unwelcome feelings started to form. She’d been treated like shit and put up with it for five years.
She got back together with her ex after we broke things off.
“Yeah, it’s me.” I flash the secretary a smile, needing to look down at her badge to recall her name. “How have you been, Amy?”
“Oh, you know. Same old, same old.” She tugs at her shirt, moving the collar down to expose more cleavage. “What can I do for you?”
“Is Charlie here?”
“Charlotte Williams?”
“Yeah. I suppose she goes by her full name when she’s working. Is she in?”
“She is. She’s upstairs in a meeting with a client, I believe. I can buzz you in up there if you’d like. There’s a lobby right outside the elevator to wait in.”
“That would be great.”
“Are you in some sort of legal trouble?” She bats her eyes. “You have that bad boy air about you.”
My first reaction is to flirt back with her. It usually gets me what I want while giving whoever is flirting with me what they want in that moment. “Bad? I’m the devil.” I smirk, wink, and walk past her desk to the elevator.
Amy lets out a deep sigh and picks up the phone, calling up to the third story to let me in. The old elevator shakes on its way up, and the doors hesitate just long enough to make me think I’m stuck before they finally open.
Charlie is sitting in the lobby, leaning back on a leather couch and looking bored.
“Owen,” she exclaims, sitting up so fast she almost slips off the couch. “What are you doing here?”
I step out of the elevator, not wanting to get in that thing again. I wouldn’t say I have a fear of elevators…just a fear of getting stuck somewhere. But if Charlie were with me, I might purposely jam the door or something.
“I forgot to give you this.” I pull the key out of my pocket. “I’ll be at Getaway by the time you’re done here.”