Page 43 of Sidelined Love

I push up the barbell with a grunt, locking my arms before letting it drop back to the rack with a satisfying clank. I'm breathing hard as I try to recover from the effort I just exerted.

Asher claps his hands once. “There it is! That's what I'm talking about!”

I roll my head to the side to look at him. “You're enjoying this too much,” I accuse, but there's no real bite to my words.

He picks up my hand towel and tosses it at me. “Hey, you gotta admit, it felt good.”

Wiping the perspiration from my face, I sit up and shake my head. “You're right, but it doesn't necessarily mean that I like it.”

Asher's laugh is loud in the gym, drawing a few glances our way as he helps me up. Of course, he finds all of this hilarious because he already finished his set.

“C'mon, man. Admitting it is the first step.”

I snort as I grab my water bottle and take a long swig, letting the cold liquid soothe my throat. Asher moves on to the next machine, but I stay back for a moment as I try to decide which machine I'm going to use next.

My mind drifts back to yesterday's chess lesson with Hailey. I'd gone in with low expectations, especially after I was late. Heck, I wouldn't have blamed her for leaving, but she'd surprised me.

She didn't hold back from calling me out when necessary, but she also praised me when I made a good play.

“Levi.”

I look up at Asher and see he's doing some crunches on the ab machine.

“You're thinking about her, aren't you?” Asher's knowing glance makes me shift uncomfortably.

I try to play dumb. “Thinking about who?”

“Really, dude? You know exactly who I'm talking about.”

“Not a clue.”

“Hailey, the barista and chess player.”

I bite back the sigh. “What? No. I'm just focused on getting through this workout.” But he sees right through me.

“Uh-huh. That's why you've got a little smile on your face,” he teases. “Your chess session must have gone well.”

“It was a chess session,” I say nonchalantly.

“Yeah, it must have been something more than that because you're actively avoiding telling me anything about it.”

“That doesn't mean anything.”

Asher stops moving to stare at me. “We've extensively talked about the women we've slept with and now you don't want to say a word about playing chess?”

Talking about who we've had sex with isn't my finest hour, but for some reason, I don't want to delve too much into what happened between Hailey and me, even to my best friend.

I shrug my shoulders. “It was just chess, nothing to tell.”

“Levi, c'mon. Knowing you, you probably talked about more than just what direction a pawn moves in.”

I can't help but chuckle. “Well, we did talk, but it wasn't anything that deep.”

“Anything that deep, huh?” Asher raises an eyebrow. “Let me guess, you discovered you both like the same kind of drinks?”

I shake my head. “It wasn't like that.”

“Then what was it like?”

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