Crazy Maybe (4 page)

LUKE

I love the way Andi’s face flushes red with embarrassment when I compliment her or flirt with her.  It tells me that I’m getting to her like she does me.  She wouldn’t respond this way if she didn’t feel at least some attraction towards me.  She tries to play it off like she isn’t affected when I offer to let her co-star in a video with me.

But what really impresses me is how giving she is – even though she just met me and I’ve even been an ass towards her more than I’ve been nice today.  I’m trying to make up to her for that now – I was out of line and I know it.  After Mack and a couple of the other guys openly praised her about how she helps improve our skills, there’s no way I would even think of refusing her help. 

That’s why I asked her to watch my next sparring match and give me some tips.  That, and because she’s the first person who has genuinely believed in me and my dream.  And I appreciate her more for that than she will ever know.  Being looked down on by the rest of family because I don’t meet their definition of “success” is getting old but I don’t get the sense she’d ever make anyone feel that way.  It’s just not in her nature.

I’m more than a little concerned at how quickly I’m becoming enamored of her.  She has a way of just pulling people to her.  That’s obvious as I watch how the other guys in here interact with her.  They’re protective of her and they respect her, but they also include her in conversations that would embarrass lesser women.  She just takes it in stride and gives just as good as she gets.  It’s obvious she’s earned their trust and a lot of these guys don’t seem to give that up easily.

In one day with Mack and Andi, I’ve learned more about best practices, techniques and strategies than in all my years of street fighting combined.  The exercise program she designed for me is pure genius.  I’m already pretty damn buff, if I do say so myself, but her regimen just amped up my routine to the max.  I can’t wait to see what else I learn from this great group of people who just openly took me in today.

Even Will the Giant seems to be warming up to me, but that may be because I’ve kept more than three inches distance from Andi for the last several hours.  But now I’m watching some pretty-boy manhandle her and I don’t like it one bit.  He wrapped his arms around her from behind as she was saying goodbye to Mack.  She didn’t even know he’d come up behind her.  I looked around at a couple of the other guys and they had an amused smirk on their face but no one looked surprised.

Pretty-boy flipped her upside down and just walked off across the damn gym with her laughing, screaming and calling him every name in the book.  When he put her down, she turned on him and I half expected her to lay into him for touching her like that.  But imagine my surprise when she flew into his arms instead.  His arms wrapped around her waist and crushed her to him and there’s no doubt she liked it.

The sight of Andi in Pretty-boy’s embrace has me seeing red.  I don’t even realize my feet are moving fast in their direction, my strides quickly eating up the space between us, the space where Pretty-boy carried her away from me.  My eyes never leave them as they continue their embrace and her bright, honest smile aimed at him is like a dagger in my chest.  Andi meest my gaze and I see a flicker of something that looks like a mixture of guilt and a brief glint of fear. 

Gently, Andi pulls back from his embrace and keeps that sweet smile on her face.  His back is to me and he doesn’t know I’m coming up behind him.  Andi takes a step to the side and extends her hand towards me, “Shane, let me introduce you to someone.”

Pretty-boy Shane follows Andi’s gaze and outstretched arm as he turns fully to face me.  Andi’s voice still sounds happy as she introduces us, “Shane, this is Luke Woods.  He just started with us today but he has an impressive background of fights.  Luke, this is Shane Fowler.  Shane is in line to be the next light-heavyweight champion and for all intents and purposes, he’s my brother.  Pop pretty much adopted us both when we were teenagers.”

Shane extends his hand to shake mine as he smiles, “How ya doing, Luke?  Welcome to the family, bro!”

If he noticed how I was charging towards him and Andi, or how red with fury my face must be, he has the good nature of not mentioning it.  I extend my hand and shake his, noting a firm grip but nothing in it is threatening. 

“Thanks, Shane.  I appreciate that.  Good to meet you.”

My eyes flick to Andi and I see her visibly exhale a really long breath.  She must have been holding it while she waited to see what I’d do.  Shit, I feel like such a dumbass right now.  The guy’s like a brother to her and I just made a complete fool of myself over a girl who isn’t even mine. 
What the fuck is wrong with me?
  Maybe I need to go back to the club tonight and find a hot barfly to ease some of my tension before I go off on the wrong person.  Like Shane – the guy who’s favored to be the next light-heavyweight champion.

I can feel Andi staring at me, and she expects me to look at her, but I just can’t make myself do it.  I know she deserves better than this from me but I can barely keep myself in control around her.  That’s pretty obvious from everything’s that went down today.  But the vision of her in another man’s arms is still fresh in my mind and I can’t seem to shake how much I hated seeing that. 

I’m cool with Shane now after she said he’s basically her brother but this jealousy thing is new to me.  I don’t get jealous over girls.  They get jealous over me.  They cry, beg, threaten - hell, even fight each other over me – but I’ve never reacted to any of them like I just did with Andi.  And I don’t like it at all.  I don’t like someone else having that kind of control over me so it’s best to stop this attraction now before it gets out of hand.

After another half-hour of getting to know Shane and hearing all about the intense conditioning camp he just finished, Andi finally says goodbye to everyone again.  She gave up on trying to get my attention a while ago.  When she turns to pick up her stuff, I finally look at her again and I feel like such a dick.

From her profile, I can see her confusion etched in her beautiful face and she has a sad look about her that hasn’t been there at any other point during the day.  I silently swear at myself because I know I did that to her. 

She saw me coming for Shane and she moved quickly to save me from my own actions again.  She’s almost to the door when I finally call out to her, “Andi!”  But she keeps going like she didn’t hear me.

Shane’s big hand claps me on the shoulder, “Hey man – why don’t you come out with us tonight?  Several of us guys are going to The Beta Room.  Andi will be there, too.”

“Sure – sounds fun. She go there with her boyfriend?” I incline my chin towards the door Andi just left, indicating I’m asking about her.  I’m trying to be as nonchalant as possible but I know I’m transparent as hell.

“Nah, man, she doesn’t have a boyfriend.  She’ll be there with her girlfriends.  If you’re looking to hook up with someone for the night, most of her friends are pretty hot.”  Shane sounds casual but his eyes are hard as steel.  The message is loud and clear –
hook up with her friends but don’t even think about Andi.

“You got something going on with Andi, man?”  I give my best smile and keep any emotion out of my voice.   Just two guys chatting here – nothing to see.

Shane’s laugh has no humor in it, “No, Luke, nothing like that.  She really is like my sister – we practically grew up together under Mack’s guidance.  And as her only brother, there’s absolutely
nothing
I wouldn’t do to protect her.  From anyone.” 

Shane’s hard eyes pin me to the wall and he knows it.  He knows I’m somewhat interested and he’s letting me know we will have no problem as long as I leave Andi alone. 

“Plenty of guys try to pick her up every weekend at the club.  She goes to have fun with her friends, have a few drinks and laughs, and she loves to sing karaoke.  She’s great at it, too.  But she’s not a one-night stand kind of girl and I’m not about to let anyone take advantage of her.  She’s too good of a person for that.  She deserves better.”

“What if that’s what she wants?  A one-night, no strings attached, good fuck?”

Shane’s scowl increases as the timbre of his voice deepens, “She
doesn’t
want that.  At all.  And anyone who wants that with her will have to get through me first.  And I can guarantee you one thing – no man who would treat her like that will ever get through me.”

I give him a single nod and say, “You’re a good brother, Shane.” 
And I am a complete shithead.

ANDI

I’m sitting in the club with my girlfriends Christina, Tania and Katie, and we’re on our third round of drinks.  Christina leaves the table for a few minutes and has two rounds of tequila shots for all of us when she returns.  I’ve just finished telling them about my confusing day with Luke and the shitty way it ended when I left the gym.  Or I should say, the shitty way he ended our day.

Yeah, I heard him call for me when I was walking out the door, but that’s just it.  He waited until that exact moment and I know he counted on me either not hearing or not caring that he yelled my name.  And he was right – by that time, I wouldn’t have turned around for him for anything in the world.  So, knowing how pissed off I am at him and how much that is so unlike me to care enough about any man to even get pissed off, my girlfriends have decided I must
secretly
like him.

I vehemently disagreed with them on that assumption.  There’s no way it’s a
secret
.  And that royally pisses me off, too.

So, here we are with
Christina passing out tequila shots to go with the pitcher of Bahama Mamas we’ve already finished off.  The waitress stops by the table and Tania orders another pitcher.  It’s going to be one of those kind of summer nights in Hot-Lanta.  The kind where I will undoubtedly end up bowing to the great porcelain god and swearing I’ll never have another drink. 

Christina
lifts her shot glass for a group toast, “To the hot men who thoroughly piss us off!”  We laugh and shout the toast back to her in unison before tossing them back.  In keeping with tradition, we slam our empty shot glasses on the table and Katie refills our glasses with the Bahama Mama mixture.

From the corner of my eye, I see Shane, Will and a couple of other guys from the gym enter the club.  And bringing up the rear is Luke. 
Just fucking great
.  I must have been pretty obvious in my reaction because when I look back at my friends, all six eyes are glued to me.

“Yeah, that’s him,” I say on a heavy sigh.

“Nice.”

“Very nice.”

“No wonder you’re so hot and bothered.”

It’s good to have friends you can count on to cheer you up, take your mind off things and help you make the best decisions.  It’s really too bad that those are not the kind of friends I have here with me right now.

I look back in the guys’ direction and see Shane scanning the room for me.  I hold up my hand and wave when his eyes are looking in my general direction.  Recognition sets in on his face and he leads the group towards our table.  I stand and help Tania pull another table and chairs beside ours to make room for everyone to hang out together.  Shane pulls me into a hug and kisses the top of my head in his normal, brotherly fashion.

There’s a great DJ tonight and he’s playing the best dance songs.  One of the best things about this club is the mixture of music they play – there’s a mixture of rock, country, pop, hip hop, and R&B.   The mixture would be a turnoff for some, but most of the people here love the variety.  Fast songs or slow songs – all the best songs on the air – all in one club.  It’s awesome.

Almost immediately after they sit down, Luke starts openly flirting with Tania right in front of me.  My mind knows we have no relationship whatsoever.  My mind knows I have no claim to him.  And my mind knows that other than a little harmless flirting, he’s made no moves on me.  But my mind apparently isn’t in charge right now because it both hurts and makes me mad.  It’s like he’s doing it on purpose and that’s just mean.

So far, the DJ’s been playing all fast songs that make you want to move, especially after you’ve had a couple of drinks and a shot of tequila.  Apparently
Christina has the same idea because she suddenly yells for us all to do our second shot then hit the dance floor.  She also saw how Luke was hitting on Tania and she wanted to get us all away from the table before Tania cussed him out.  Or worse, wasted her drink by throwing it in his face.

We all toss back the throat-burning liquid, chase it with more Bahama Mamas and leave the guys as they order their pitchers of beer.  One of Usher’s older songs, “Yeah!” is playing and the sensual bass is thumping through the huge speakers throughout the room.  The large flat screen TV’s that are strategically placed throughout the club play the official video and the images occasionally flash to show the people on the dance floor.

I’m feeling a little more than a slight buzz when I hit the dance floor and, with my mounting frustration, I really just want to let loose.  My body is moving with the music and I’m dancing with my friends when I feel a hard body move in close behind me.  I look over my shoulder to see a handsome guy moving in time with me.  When I don’t object, he moves closer and puts one of his arms around my waist, pulling my back against his front.