“Oh, God. Do I have to?” Jeremy asked with a self-conscious laugh. “I mean, yes, fine, of course I do. It’s just… embarrassing.”
No shit. Jeremy still hadn’t lost all his color, and Nick bit back a laugh of his own. He wondered if Jeremy knew how transparent he was—not that there was anything wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve. It just meant the man had nothing to hide, as far as Nick was concerned.
“The best stories always are,” Nick said, winking. For some reason that seemed to make Jeremy tongue tied again, so after a minute, Nick prompted him, “You’re friends with Candi?”
“Friends?” Jeremy repeated. “Um, no. I wouldn’t say that exactly. We just went to high school together. Honestly, I haven’t seen her in years, but she’s organizing our class reunion—”
“Yeah, I got that,” Nick interrupted, finally giving in and laughing.
Candi was in the gym daily, and her enthusiasm for the reunion was only exceeded by the volume at which she liked to talk about it. Even though it had nothing to do with Nick, there was no way he could have missed being aware of her plans.
“Right, I can imagine,” Jeremy said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, she’s got this Facebook thing going for it—sort of a ‘what have you managed to do with yourself in the last ten years’ kind of thing—and I may or may not have accidentally drunk-posted a reply last night. Apparently, she got a little excited about my amazing life.”
“Candi? Excited? You’re kidding.”
“I know, right?” Jeremy visibly relaxed as he laughed along with Nick. “The thing is, what I wrote was maybe a little less than true, and now she thinks you’re the man of my dreams.”
“Why me?” Nick asked, confused.
He didn’t remember seeing Jeremy at the gym before, and he was pretty sure he would remember if they’d met. His memory was pretty damn good, thank God, otherwise he’d never have managed to fake his way through all the things Beck wasn’t available to help him out with.
Jeremy’s face went bright red again.
“Well, I may have said that I had this super hot boyfriend…” His voice trailed off, but Nick just grinned. He’d take it as a compliment. Jeremy cleared his throat awkwardly, but then plowed ahead with his explanation. “Anyway, I guess the guy I described is kind of, er, well… you. At least, according to Candi. But, seriously, I don’t know why she didn’t see right through the whole thing. I mean, look at me. I also claimed to be an avid rock climber, a master mixologist, a published author, an electric guitar player… who’s going to believe all that?”
“Just trying to make a good impression for the reunion?” Nick asked. He didn’t see any obvious reason that Jeremy wouldn’t be all those things, but if that’s all it was, Nick wasn’t going to be the one to judge the guy for wanting others to think well of him.
“No. Actually, I wasn’t even planning on going,” Jeremy said. “The whole Facebook thing was just supposed to be a joke. Like, this over the top, idealized version of my life, right? I never intended to really post it, but it’s definitely not the first stupid thing I’ve done while drinking with friends.”
“I think we’ve all been there, J,” Nick said, grinning as some of the more embarrassing moments from his own past came to mind.
Jeremy’s sudden smile was almost blinding, and it gave Nick a weird feeling in his chest. Almost like they were connected by something more than just the mutual desire to dodge Candi’s perpetual enthusiasm. For a moment, Nick was struck with the same sense of easy, comfortable familiarity that he had with Beck, as if he and Jeremy already understood each other.
As if they were already friends.
Not that Jeremy actually reminded him of Beck—well, other than the gay thing—but still, it was a nice feeling. Maybe J was someone he would finally click with here in Tulsa. Unless it was just a product of the homesickness Nick had been feeling lately.
Jeremy cocked his head to the side, looking at him curiously. “The real question is: Why on earth did you go along with the boyfriend thing?” he asked. “Not to sound ungrateful, because admitting all that in front of Candi would have been horrible, but… why?”
Nick shrugged. Sure, he’d wanted to save Jeremy from embarrassment, but he probably could have done that without going all in. Telling J he felt some kind of connection to him sounded weird, though, so instead, Nick went with a flippant, “Why not? You’ve gotta admit the whole thing was kind of funny.”
“Sure, now it’s funny,” Jeremy agreed, grinning at him. “Now that I know you’re not going to kill me.”
“That would never happen,” Nick said. “But you did look like you wanted to die.”
“No joke, death would have been welcome,” Jeremy said, rolling his eyes. “But no such luck. You do realize that Candi thinks you’re gay now, right?”
“Silver lining,” Nick said, grinning. “Honestly, her friend Marcie is hella persistent. If it makes her back off for a bit, I’d call that a win.”
“Is it Marcie Jones? If so, I remember her from high school. I didn’t really know her, but—” Jeremy laughed, shaking his head. “Yeah, ‘persistent’ is a good word for her. Something she’s got in common with Candi, which is maybe why they’ve always been such good friends. But … seriously? You want them to think you’re gay?”
“It’s not like I planned it,” Nick reminded him. “But if they do, I’m just saying I don’t see any reason to rush in and set them straight.”
Jeremy gave him an odd look. “You’re… remarkably okay with that.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time someone made that mistake about me.”
“Thinking you’re gay? Really?” Jeremy asked, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Um, as much as I’d like to say otherwise, you really don’t ping my gaydar, Nick.”
Nick glanced down at himself. He considered himself pretty good at reading people, but the whole concept of gaydar still eluded him. Maybe because sexuality wasn’t the first thing he thought of when meeting someone new. But still, Beck had always told him the same thing—Nick didn’t ping it—so the straight vibe he gave off must be legit.
“I’ve heard that before, too,” he told Jeremy. “But my best friend is gay, and the amount of time we spent together made some people jump to conclusions.”
“A gay best friend?” Jeremy asked, his eyes going wide. He glanced around the weight room, as if he thought Beck might be hiding in plain sight. “Please tell me he’s the gay version of you. And single.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Nick said, smiling.
Even if he didn’t swing that way, he’d be lying if he said Jeremy’s light-hearted teasing didn’t feel good. Despite his tendency to embarrass easily, J seemed pretty comfortable in his own skin. It was refreshing. And honestly, Beck probably would like Jeremy, if setting them up were an option. Which it wasn’t. And—not that Nick would begrudge his best friend finding a decent boyfriend for once—he had to admit he was kind of glad about that. If anyone was going to get to know Jeremy better, it might as well be Nick.
He could definitely use someone to hang with here in Tulsa.
“Beck’s nothing like me,” Nick said. “He’s smart as shit, and yeah, single, but he’s also back home in Seattle.”
“You’re from Seattle?” Jeremy asked. “I’ve got a cousin there, but I’ve never been. In fact, it’s embarrassing to admit, but I’ve never been farther than Dallas. How long have you been here?”
“Just moved here, actually.”
“Hmmm,” Jeremy hmmm’d, looking him up and down. “…by yourself?”
Nick laughed. “Dude, you’re fishing?”
“Oh my God. No,” Jeremy said, slapping his hands over his suddenly-flaming cheeks again. “I mean, okay. Fine, maybe I was, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s obviously a sign that I am, in fact, shit with men. You just told me you’re not gay.”
“Not so loud,” Nick said, winking. “I wouldn’t want Candi to overhear.”
“So soon?” Nick put a hand over his heart, giving Jeremy his best wounded look. “And here I thought we were getting along so well…”
Jeremy laughed, lighting up.
“So were you thinking we’d do it at the dinner thing Candi invited us to?” Nick asked.
“Um, really?” Jeremy asked, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “I’d actually thought I’d just message on Facebook.”
Nick shrugged, not wanting to seem overeager. Just because Jeremy appreciated not being embarrassed in front of Candi didn’t necessarily mean the guy wanted to spend more time with him. For all Nick knew, maybe the other man he’d come with—the one currently doing some bicep curls over by the wall and grinning at the two of them like he found the whole thing infinitely amusing—was Jeremy’s real-life boyfriend.
“You would actually go to Candi’s with me?” Jeremy pressed, sounding incredulous.
“Well, obviously not if it’s going to cause problems with your real boyfriend,” Nick said, meaning it. Sure, he may want to make new friends, but he wasn’t going to push it if that wasn’t J’s thing. Especially if Jeremy wasn’t feeling that weird little connection thing between them. Which, admittedly, was probably all in Nick’s head.
Jeremy whipped his head around to stare at the man he’d come with before turning back to Nick with another blinding smile.
“Oh my God, give me a moment to pretend you’re fishing now,” he said, looking positively gleeful.
Nick laughed, but shook his head. He hadn’t meant it like that, of course, but Jeremy’s delight was contagious. Nick couldn’t remember smiling this much since leaving Seattle.
“Okay, so, no,” Jeremy said. “Gavin’s not my boyfriend. And yes, if you want to go to Candi’s for dinner with me, that would be amazing. I would totally owe you, big time. I mean, I already do, obviously, but for real, that’s going above and beyond.”
“You don’t owe me,” Nick said, already looking forward to it. “It sounds fun.”
“No, really,” Jeremy said, looking adorably sincere. “I do. I don’t know what I could ever do to make it up to— oh! Actually, I own a bookstore, so if you ever want free books…”
Yeah, no. But it was cool of J to offer.
“Books aren’t really my thing,” Nick said. Understatement of the century. “I’m just a dumb jock, J.”
“Not really your thing… ?” Jeremy asked, cocking his head to the side.
Nick almost smiled despite himself. He’d only known J for a few minutes, but he was already picking up on some of his mannerisms.
It was cute.
Jeremy looked confused, narrowing his eyes for a minute as if he were trying to make sense of Nick’s words.
“You… don’t like to read?” he finally asked, as if he were testing out a foreign concept.
“Yeah, sorry,” Nick said, ignoring the twinge that the question brought up.
“It is pretty unforgivable,” Jeremy said, recovering from his surprise. “But I’ll do my best not to hold it against you.”
“Not exactly the man of your dreams after all, I guess,” Nick said, trying to make light of it.
“Well, you know, that… plus the whole not being gay thing,” Jeremy reminded him, his lips curving up.
“Right,” Nick agreed. Jeremy’s smile was impossible not to respond to, and he grinned back, happy to switch topics.
Jeremy’s friend—Gavin, he’d called him—had been working his way through more upper body exercises while they talked, but once he finished a set of seated presses, he came over and clapped a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder, pulling Jeremy’s attention away from the silent smile-a-thon that he and Nick had fallen into.
“Are you almost done flirting?” Gavin asked Jeremy, shooting a pointed look at the clock on the gym wall.
“I’m totally not flirting, Gav,” J said, looking comically affronted. “In fact, Nick and I were just discussing the fact that he’s straight.”
“Okay, sweetie, if you say so,” Gavin said, flashing a couple of dimples. “But you might want to wrap up your not-flirting soon. You still haven’t managed to break a sweat, and I’ve got to get back to Delicious in half an hour. Just a reminder that you made me promise not to let you weasel out of working out today.”
“I can help with that,” Nick volunteered. “My next client cancelled this morning, so I’ve got some free time on my hands.”
“Great!!!” Jeremy said, enthusiastically channeling his inner Candi. Then, toning it down a little, he added, “I mean, um, thanks. I’d love to put myself in your hands.”
Gavin made a sound halfway between a snort and a laugh and Jeremy started to turn red again, but Nick just grinned. J didn’t seem to mean anything by the innuendo, and it didn’t take long for the guy to shake off his current round of embarrassment and laugh at himself. Had to admire that ability. Nick had learned to trust his first impression of people, and right now, he was 100% sure that he and J were going to get along just fine.
Better than fine.
Really well, actually.
Nick was still smiling that afternoon as he grabbed a water bottle from the staff fridge behind the registration counter and prepared to head out. He’d had a full morning, five clients plus Jeremy to fill in the gap from his cancellation. He liked the kind of clients that this particular gym attracted. Everyone he’d worked with so far seemed genuinely interested in improving themselves, and he’d developed a good rapport with some of the more dedicated ones.
Since he was new to the gym, he was working a trial period on an hourly basis while the owner decided whether or not to offer him a contract. That meant that his schedule usually ended up packed, with the front desk scheduling back-to-back clients for him through their various “free trial” and promotional pricing packages. Nick didn’t mind the work, but he was definitely looking forward to having more control over his schedule if he got the contract. Case in point: Today, if it hadn’t been for the unexpected cancellation, he wouldn’t have had the extra time to work with Jeremy.
And that would have been a shame, because Nick had enjoyed it just as much as he’d thought he would.
Jeremy was definitely not at home in the gym, but even if he’d been a little clumsy and unfamiliar with the equipment, Nick had to give him credit for diving in. He’d given his all with whatever Nick had asked of him, and even though he’d gone his signature red each time he’d fumbled, he hadn’t let it stop him. Nick liked that. As far as he was concerned, there was no shame in being new to something; the only failure was in not trying.
And Jeremy had seemed to enjoy it, too, despite his self-deprecating humor about his lack of experience, which made Nick feel hopeful that they’d do it again sometime. But whether it was working out, the fake-boyfriend charade, or something else, Nick was definitely going to do his best to leverage the happy accident of meeting J into a new friendship.
His life in Tulsa already felt brighter, now that Jeremy was in it.
Nick’s phone vibrated as he drained the last of the water and chucked the empty bottle into the recycle bin. He pulled it out of his pocket, grimacing at the wall of text that greeted him. Heather. The mother of his child was as wordy in writing as she was in person—which suited her perfectly for her role as a civil rights attorney, but sucked ass when it came to trying to keep up with her in normal, everyday conversation.
He couldn’t say he regretted hooking up with her, because without that, there would be no Ava, but it had definitely driven home what one of his first mentors had told him: Don’t get personally involved with the clients.
Nick had definitely had his fair share of opportunity, but after Heather, he’d followed that advice to the letter. Sure, it was flattering when clients obviously admired him—and he had no bullshit issues when it was
a guy like Jeremy versus some of the women he trained—but taking it further was definitely not a mistake he’d make again.
In fact, he usually made it a point to stay strictly professional with all his clients, even to the point of not socializing outside the gym. Which meant that he should probably think twice about accepting Jeremy as a client, if it came to that.
J had talked about doing more training, and Nick had given him his card, but then his next client had arrived a little early, so they hadn’t actually set anything up. In fact, he hadn’t even gotten J’s number, so he didn’t really have any way to get in touch with him if Jeremy didn’t call.
Well, maybe he did, through Candi.
But Nick thought Jeremy would probably call.
He’d seemed to have a good time, hadn’t he?
Nick laughed at himself, realizing he was acting like a middle schooler with a crush. Bromance for the win. Beck would have cracked up, and then given him shit about his need to feel connected to people. Couldn’t deny it, though.
Nick was hoping Jeremy would call.
“Share the joke, Nick?”
Nick hadn’t heard Howie come up behind him, and when the affable gym owner clapped him on the shoulder, he jumped a little.
“Just thinking about the morning’s sessions,” Nick said. “You’ve got good people here, Howie.”
“We try,” the older man said, smiling broadly.
Nick knew that most gyms stayed in the black by keeping membership numbers high and then banking on human nature to keep the majority of those members from actually spending much time using the facilities. Howie had a different approach, though, and with the variety of programs, classes, and promotions he offered, he had one of the highest active membership rates Nick had ever heard of.
“Got a sec before you leave?” Howie asked, already steering Nick back toward his office.
“Absolutely.”
The encyclopedia-length text waiting from Heather meant that she probably needed something from him, but if Howie was ready to talk contracts, Nick didn’t have time to wade through all her words and figure out what it was. As long as it wasn’t an emergency with Ava, it would have to wait. And—even though he’d never been comfortable telling Heather why he was so insistent—he’d finally gotten it through to her that she needed to call, not text, if that were ever the case.
The Delicious Series: The First Volume Page 45