Page 5 of Fight

Many places in America—including the small Colorado town that Jake called home—would look strangely at his current clothing, but not Conrad. He wore a pair of form-fitting black shorts that hit just above his knees, along with an equally tight blue shirt that slightly bagged on the sides to accommodate a couple of shallow pockets.

As he pushed open the glass front doors to the Blue Sky, the metal on the bottom of his tight black shoes click-clacked on the polished concrete floor. A good portion of the bar’s clientele were dressed similarly to him as the bar was a popular place to gather after a day biking, skiing, or hanging on the beach.

Pushing through the crowd while shouting greetings, Jake quickly zeroed in on the back of a familiar head sitting at the bar.

“Hey bud!” he said heartily, laying his hand firmly on Ian’s shoulder and sliding onto the bar stool next to him.

“Hey, man. I was hoping to run into you before tonight.” Ian looked up from his phone and his half-empty beer and gave Jake a friendly smile.

“Mission accomplished!” Jake bellowed heartily.

“I see you’ve got that post bike high going.”

“Zoomed down the grade and straight into The Blue Sky. No better mood to be in on a beautiful spring Conrad day.” Jake flashed a megawatt grin.

“I’m jealous,” Ian groaned. “I was getting my ass chewed out by Cynthia all afternoon.”

In addition to being his roommate, Ian was Jake’s best friend. Jake would never make such a ridiculous statement out loud, but the man was true blue. When they had met in college in Colorado years ago, the two of them had barely been acquaintances. Ian was always weary of Jake's folksy amiability, and Jake found Ian to be a little uptight for his liking.

As luck would have it, Jake had started an internship at Lake Conrad Resort after graduating from college six years ago, and Conrad just happened to be Ian's hometown, namesake, and the place where he was also returning after graduation. Ian had offered up a place at his house when he’d found out Jake needed a place to live, which ended up being the best decision of Jake’s life.

Once they’d been forced to get to know each other and had discovered their joint love of skiing, biking, and camping, the two had made innumerable trips discovering the Lake Conrad wilderness, and Jake saw Ian truly let loose. The man may look like he had a stick up his ass, but he had an appreciation and love for sports and adrenaline that Jake couldn’t help but admire. They’d been roommates and friends ever since.

“What’s got old Cindy in a twist today?” Jake drawled. “And why are you working on a Sunday?”

Cynthia Deveres was the general manager at the Lake Conrad Resort and as such was both Ian's, as Chief Financial Manager, and Jake’s, as Chief Recreation Manager, boss. She emphatically gave Ian an overly hard time and Jake an overly easy time—most likely due to the fact that Jake was a shameless flirt and the only one who was allowed to call her Cindy.

A Lake Conrad native, she also refused to go easy on Ian just because his family owned half the town, which probably explained why he felt obligated to log hours on a Sunday. Ian was always trying to compensate for his name.

“I changed the formatting of a report to a much more efficient and logical layout and she lost her mind. Thank fuck I’m done with that place for the day.” Ian rubbed his hands up and down his face wearily.

“I should hope so. That sounds like our Cindy. She likes predictability and control.”

Jake made a point to walk by her office every morning with a “Hey you Cindy-Lou,” which never failed to result in a laugh and sigh from the stern general manager.

“I know, I know. But if something could be done differently—more efficiently—why shouldn’t we do it?” Ian shook his head and gave the inside of his empty glass a stern glare. “As much as Cindy likes to pretend she's so different from my family, she's just like my father in that she is thoroughly resistant to change.”

Jake nodded his head in understanding. Now, resentment towards one’s father was something he could most definitely understand. He opened his mouth to respond when their conversation was interrupted by a voice from the other side of the bar.

“Hey, handsome, what can I getcha?”

Ah, Sadie. Now we’re talking. Sadie had moved to Conrad the preceding September, and as a skier and a cyclist she quickly fell into stride with the local culture. Jake had met her hanging out at the Blue Sky one afternoon and they had spent the winter running into each other on the ski hill. When she wasn’t working as a bartender at the Blue Sky, she was a paying customer. She had also started joining Jake, Ian, and a few of their cyclist friends on rides around the lake.

Sadie was exactly Jake’s type. Athletic. Cool. Fun. She had long, lean limbs and cascading, shining blond hair. He wasn’t exactly sure why he hadn’t tried to seal the deal yet—she was clearly interested—but he had been strangely celibate for the past few months. It was unusual for him to go more than a month without a girl, but he was getting embarrassingly close to a year without getting any.

He had a feeling all he had to do was say the word and Sadie would be ready to meet him halfway. He couldn’t understand why he hadn’t gone through with it yet.

“Hey, Sadie. You’re missing a beautiful day.”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “It looks like you’ve been out on the road.” She let her eyes graze the muscles in his arms in his cycling shirt. “Some of us have to work though,” she added good-naturedly.

“Hey, I’ve put in my time. I just know how to choose jobs,” Jake replied with a laugh and leaned back with his hands behind his head showing off his wide chest.

Jake’s job allowed him to set his schedule in line with the needs of the resort. Since it was May and the summer rush hadn’t started yet, he was going to take advantage of the slow times to sneak away before busloads of tourists arrived and he would be busy scheduling bike, boat, and hiking excursions with all the employees he managed.

“Can I get another IPA, Sadie?” Ian interrupted, holding up his empty glass.

“I’ll take one of those, too,” added Jake.

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