Page 12 of Never Always
“You’re a real pig, Corrick Granger.” I slam the door and pull out my black one-piece suit. Everything about this feels wrong. The man just admitted that he’s a cheater. Would always be a cheater, and I’m giving him my time. What is this anyway? He has a friend, it seems. Why is he wasting his night with me? “As a friend,” I whisper to myself. “That’s all it is. He would never see you as anything different regardless of compliments.” I fish out a pair of board shorts to go over my suit and put on an oversized shirt with a picture of a voluptuous woman in a bikini on the front. I open the door as he’s stepping out of the hallway bathroom.
“I need to clarify something,” he says, brows pinched together. Grange eyes my outfit and shakes his head. “I said yes, I would cheat on Sierra and break up my engagement again because Sierra isn’t the woman for me. Not because I relish breaking trust.”
I swallow hard. “That makes you a little more redeemable, I guess.”
He quirks one brow. “A little?”
Shrugging, I grab a couple towels from the linen closet. “They say once a cheater, always a cheater.” I throw a rainbow covered towel at his bare chest. “I’m working on my confidence here and now, and we aren’t going in that oil filled water tonight. We’re going to the pool and you’re not going to say anything to change my mind. That’s my final answer.”
“Well, alright, alright, alright.” Grange coos, nodding. “Look who got a little backbone. To the pool we go.”
“That was too easy.” I grab my keys off the table and open the front door. He hesitates for a second but follows me out. “Why aren’t you hanging out with your actual friends tonight?”
Locking the door behind us, Grange watches closely. “Half of them are pissed at me for my hot head, and Rexy has plans with his girlfriend tonight, so I’m on my own. What? We’re not friends?”
A chill runs down my spine and my stomach flips. “I’m akin to your boss, Grange. No, I wouldn’t call us friends. The percentage of time that you’ve been mean to me is larger than time spent trying to be my friend.”
“Trying to be your friend?”
We get into the elevator. “Yes. Trying. I’ll let you continue your hours at the lab even though you showed your ass tonight. Is that what this is about? You’re worried I’ll ruin things for you?”
He turns to me. “It’s that hard to believe I’d want to spend time with you outside of work? I could do hours somewhere else, Tennyson.” He says my name like he’s actually offended. What a turn of events. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I am trying to be kind. I told you the worst thing I’ve ever done. That’s a large trust fall.”
The door slides open and he follows me into the gym. “If this is you asking for a second chance and it doesn’t end with me scraping my face on pavement, then yes. I’ll give it.”
Before he dispatches toward the men’s locker room, he licks his lips and says, “Or maybe I really do want to stay in your good graces so you don’t kick me out and make me mow grass again. Like some plebian.” Grange takes the rainbow towel, an end in each hand, and whips it back to try to swat me with it. I’m too fast, darting into the women’s side before he can get me. His laughter travels all the way into the locker room—echoing around me like a lusty tongue up my spine.
The lights are dim and it’s empty like it usually is this time of night. I hesitate before taking off my shirt and shorts, but my bathing suit covers way more than most do. In the full-length mirror by the door, I let my eyes scan my slim body and creamy white skin speckled with light brown freckles.
Before I think anything negative, I walk into the chlorine filled, warm air of the indoor pool room. There’s a hot tub in the corner that I have never used, but that’s where Grange is. His gaze is intimidating as I walk toward him. I can’t help but feel on display. My goggles clutched in one hand so tight they may turn to dust.
“We going to play Marco Polo?” he nods at my hand, smirking. “Or I can think of a few other underwater activities you could wear those for.” His voice is loud so he can be heard over the jets.
“I’ll pretend you didn’t just proposition me. You don’t need any more felonies on your record.”
I dip a foot in and hiss. “That is just way too hot,” I whine. Grange reaches over to the knob to turn off the bubbles. The silence feels full of something intangible. I’m looking down at him, and he’s staring up at me, and I’m in uncharted territory.
“You get used to it quick. It’s so much better than being cold,” Grange admits, patting the water next to him like it’s a seat on a couch. “When I was going through Hell Week, it was so cold that I would imagine being enveloped with lava. Tried to will being burned to death a reality because being cold is the absolute worst feeling in the world.”
I get in to my knees, standing on the seat’s cement edge. It puts my crotch at his eye level so I don’t pause long before sinking down into the fiery water. “In the world? Worse than the flu? Or getting a Pap smear? Or waking up alone when it seems the entire world is in a happy relationship? Or having your family perpetually disappointed you aren’t more like they are? Don’t get me wrong, being cold sucks, but I bet people in third world countries would have more significant gripes than the ones we have.”
“We aren’t living in a third world country, Fire. I make sure of that, remember?”
Sighing, I say, “That’s right. When you’re not in trouble with the law, you are protecting our freedom. Maybe I’ll think differently of you when your felon phase is over.”
He laughs once, throwing his head back. “You downplay how offensive you are. All this talk about how mean I am. You’re brisk.”
I aim a finger at him. “You deal with it.” I scoop water in my hands and watch it run off the sides of my hands. “I get it, being cold sucks. Being hot isn’t peachy either. Alabama is the Devil’s armpit during the summer.” I pause, wondering if I even dare go there after what Clover told me. “Where did you grow up?”
“Florida for the first ten years. I went into foster care after my mom died and bounced around for a couple of years. Never anywhere long enough to call home.” His blue eyes flick to mine and seem to dance with light. “No other family that I know of. Teams are my family. It’s why it’s so important that I get back there with my brothers.” He runs a hand through his light blond hair. The water droplets wet the strands enough to make it stand straight up like a Mohawk of sorts.
“That sounds awful.” He gives no indication this is a touchy subject I should avoid. “I’m sorry about your mom. It’s… heartbreaking. My family might annoy me, but I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
He sighs, a sleepy grin sliding across his face. “It’s not your fault. Don’t apologize. I got ten years with her. She was the best woman I’ve ever met. We made amazing memories.” The smile turns into a scowl as his gaze darts to the moon flickering outside the oversized skylights. “I can’t help but be embarrassed at how upset she’d be if she were here to see me in this mess. She was so practical. This effortlessly cool wisdom wrapped in a soft package. Nothing like I am.”
I lay a hand on his arm and he jolts. “I’m not sure what to say right now, but I want you to know that even though your life is a train wreck, I’ll be here for you.”
Grange smiles. “I know.”
