Page 14 of Unforgettable

“Will you let me know when y’all get back? I’d like to come by and see him.”

She nodded. “Yes, fine. I’ll let you know when we’re back.”

And without another word, I turned and headed back to the truck.

Back across town, I pulled into the parking lot of RG Fitness just after ten in the morning. After years of planning, Reed finally pulled the trigger and opened his own gym. Although he’d only been open for a year, the gym was a decent size with all of the usual equipment, along with personal trainers and several fitness classes. As far as I knew, he was pulling a nice profit already and had recently added a few new classes and two new trainers.

New people were signing up daily, but I had been a client from the start. Reed was my personal trainer, although he also used the time to get in his own daily workout. Luke, Devon, and James also joined us for workouts when their schedules allowed it.

I was late. I was supposed to meet Reed at ten, but it took longer than expected to retrieve Zach after his muddy incident and drive across town.

I also, for likely the first time in our friendship, did not want to see Reed. For several minutes after I turned off my truck, I sat there in silence, contemplating if I really wanted to even go inside.

But when my phone rang and his name appeared, I sighed and decided to just get it over with. Not facing him was only going to prolong the inevitable. I only hoped, as I pushed through the glass door and scanned my card, that I would be able to keep my anger under control.

But that went right out the window when I saw him across the gym, racking weights on a squat rack. His headphones were in his ears, so he didn’t hear me approach until the last second when I gripped the back of his shirt and shoved him into his office, which I knew was right around the corner at the back of the building.

“Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

I laughed, but it was hollow and bitter. “What’s wrong with me? Better question is, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

Reed sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face before he crossed his arms in front of him and leaned against the back wall of his office. Which, might I add, was in complete disarray and badly needed to be organized.

“Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong with me then? Since you seem to know.”

“What’s wrong with you is you’re a fucking selfish, competitive asshole!” I yelled directly into his face. Reed didn’t flinch, only watched me with expectant eyes as I nearly combusted. “I told you last week that I was going to talk to Amanda, and then you go and fuck her at my brother’s rehearsal dinner. Are you kidding?”

“That wasn’t my plan. I went—”

“I don’t give a shit if you planned it, it still happened. Then instead of owning up to it, you just show me her panties like some sort of trophy. What kind of fucking friend does that?”

“Okay, fine. I’ll agree that maybe I didn’t go about telling you the exact right way, but can I explain?”

Tired and with my head pounding, I conceded, taking a seat in his office chair. Conceding to hearing him out, though, didn’t mean I was giving him a pass. He’d been a world-class dick when Amanda had left us both to tend to an emergency less than an hour before the ceremony. Once the door closed behind her, he cut his eyes at me and asked me, in an accusatory tone, what I planned to talk to her about.

After I told him that I was going to talk to her about us—her and I—he only nodded and paced back to the other side of the room to fill his empty glass with more scotch. Reed was not one to keep his mouth shut, and his lack of comment on the topic told me that something was off.

In a move that reminded me of something college-aged Reed would have done, he lazily pulled Amanda’s red panties out of his pocket and let them swing from his fingers.

“I didn’t plan to have sex with her. I was going to the bathroom when I saw her,” he started. “Turns out both of our dates were fucking each other. When we caught them, one thing turned into another, and it happened. But to be fair, you knew that I wanted to pursue her. This isn’t news to you, and if it is, then it’s because you haven’t listened to a fucking thing I’ve said over the past year.”

I took a deep breath and rolled my head along my shoulders, trying—and failing—to relieve some of the tension. I was frustrated because Reed was right.

For over a year, we had both—off and on—discussed Amanda. We were both open to the possibility of there being something more, but neither of us had acted on it for fear of a number of things.

Since that night two summers before, nothing had been the same. Not that it had all changed for the worse, but there was a connection the three of us had that wasn’t there before. Personally, I hadn’t gone into that night with any intention of sleeping with Amanda. One thing led to another, and she ended up pulling me up the stairs and into the bedroom she was staying in.

But I knew Reed couldn’t say the same thing. Walking into that room and expecting it to be empty but then finding a dejected Reed waiting for Amanda at the end of her bed was shocking. And rather than have to decide who was going to get her attention, Amanda—with the help of some tequila—decided she wouldn’t decide.

“What the fuck do you want me to say?” he asked.

“I don’t know. This is all sorts of fucked,” I responded, massaging my temples as I tried—and failed—to soothe my pounding head.

“You’re telling me. Also, you had sex with her last night, so obviously my sleeping with her didn’t fuck up your chances.”

A knock on the door interrupted our arguing. “Yeah?” Reed called, still scowling at me.

A guy I recognized as one of his managers peeked his head in. “Yo, sorry to interrupt, but your interview is here.”

---