No Rep by Lani Lynn Vale

CHAPTER 8

But did you die?

-CrossFit

TAOS

I was rereading over a file when I heard the rumble-splutter of a car arriving in my driveway.

I got up and looked out, ever the cop, and stared at the black nondescript sedan that was idling in my driveway.

I watched quietly as Fran got out of her car and started walking the length of my walkway to get to the front door.

I waited until she was right there, knocking on the door, before I opened it and grinned. “Come in. Gotta get the cat settled, then I can go.”

She grinned and followed me in, just like she’d been doing for the last week and a half.

Apparently, my car had parts that were required for it that had to come all the way from Buffalo, New York. That also meant that it’d taken a bit more time to get the parts than we’d originally anticipated, and since my car was a bit in pieces thanks to the specific parts that were needed, it meant that I was out of a vehicle for longer than I’d expected.

Not that I was complaining.

“I didn’t know you had a cat,” she admitted.

I laughed. “Well, I have a cat when the cat wants me to be his owner. Sometimes, he likes the neighbor next door to be his owner.”

She giggled. “You’re joking, right?”

I shook my head and walked into my kitchen where Gumby, the boy tabby cat that literally was shared between my neighbor and I, sat on the corner of my kitchen island waiting for food.

“I think that he was originally the neighbor’s, but he likes my food better,” I admitted as I walked to the kitchen cabinet that I kept his food in and opened it. “The neighbor originally bought the house that came with the cat. He was roughly about eight months old, and the old owner died, so he took him on. He got him fixed. Then allowed him to go outside when he pleased. Which ended up with me thinking we had a stray cat, and I made the mistake of feeding him a can of cat food that I got in one of those free kiosks at the bulk supply store when I scanned my membership card. Now, he comes to me when he wants to eat, hangs out, and then leaves when he’s ready to go home.”

She started to laugh all over again, and I turned around to see Gumby rubbing up against her chest, doing what I wanted to do.

I popped the top on the can, and Gumby left her like he’d never been getting scratches.

He arrowed to me, darting over my cast-iron skillet on the stove to stop directly in front of me, letting me know just how impatiently he was waiting.

“I know, I know,” I told him as he meowed in my face, placing his paws up on my shoulder so that he could reach my face, then rub his head along my chin.

“I think that he either really likes that food or likes you. I’m not sure which,” Fran teased.

I winked at her. “Most likely, it’s the food. And the fact that I’m giving it to him. I’m just sayin’.”

She waited patiently for me to finish up, then grinned when she saw my massive bag of shit that I picked up, like always.

“One of these days, I need a CrossFit bag. Make it official and all that jazz,” she told me teasingly.

I frowned, then held up a finger before moving into my bedroom.

“I ordered one of these, and it came with this tiny little baby bag that would never fit all of my shit,” I said. “I tossed it in the bottom of my closet.”

Hurrying toward my room, I found the bright pink bag that had been in my closet for I didn’t know how long.

Snatching it up, I walked back into the living room to find her once again petting the cat. The cat that had snarfed down his food like he didn’t get fed four times a damn day.

I rolled my eyes, then held the pink bag out to her.

“Wow.” She paused. “When you said tiny, I was expecting like a miniature version of yours. This is a full-size backpack.”

“A full-size backpack that doesn’t fit shit in it,” I agreed. “It’s yours if you want it.”

She hugged it close and grinned. “I’ll cherish it. And put the grips that you discarded in there.”

I rolled my eyes and held the door open for her to exit. Once she did, I waited to see what Gumby wanted to do, only to already see him heading for my bedroom. Which meant he’d sleep on my fuckin’ pillow.

Closing the door and shutting him inside, I locked it, then set the alarm using my phone.

When I turned around, it was to find Fran already leaning into the car and pulling out the grips I’d given her yesterday.

They were too big for her.

They were practically brand new.

But I’d wanted her to have them.

She didn’t need to know that I’d literally just bought them and had probably only worn them a handful of times.

She was doing me a favor by driving me around, anyway.

Not that she would’ve taken them had I told her that they were new.

So I’d fibbed a little bit.

“Works great,” she teased. “Now, I need to go get one of those pink jump ropes that are in the ads I’m seeing all over social media.”

I snorted. “Isn’t it fuckin’ weird that you think about something, and all of a sudden it’s in your news feed? I mean, literally, last night, I was thinking about how I needed to buy some new chalk for the gym. Fast-forward to this morning, and that’s all I’m seeing in almost all of my ads.”

“Last night, I told my sister that I wanted some new CrossFit shoes. This morning, I’m seeing some Superwoman ones, and I’m buying them.”

I snickered at her words.

“That’s the way of it.” I rolled my eyes and opened her car door for her.

The passenger side.

Turns out, Fran really hated to drive.

As in, she detested it.

Something I’d found out when she offered me the keys to her vehicle nine times out of ten when we were driving around.

Which was fuckin’ hilarious seeing as she ran errands for a living, which made her drive around town a lot.

“I’ve heard a lot about those. But you won’t get any of them. They sold out within the first day, I think,” I said as I backed out of the driveway and started heading for the gym.

Her car sputtered and coughed, and I said, “When I get mine back, we’re doing an ol’ switcheroo. Yours is going in, and then I’ll let you drive mine around while doing shit.”

Her eyes sparkled as she said, “That sounds like a mess.”

“Sounds like I owe you one,” I told her. “And this car sounds like it’s going to break down any second.”

She started to snicker. “It might.”

I looked over at her and winked.

When we got to the gym, it was to find Maria already waiting for us.

“I fuckin’ hate her,” I muttered underneath my breath, trying to keep it low enough that Fran wouldn’t hear.

But she did hear.

And she was snickering as we both got out of her car.

“I never thought I’d see you in a run-down ‘piece of shit’ like that, T,” Maria chided me.

I felt my eye twitch at the sound of her voice.

Maria and I had gotten married young. As in, she was seventeen with her parents’ permission, and I was eighteen. I went into the Army, and she went to college. We were together throughout all of that, and happy. But I now knew the reason we were happy was because we were separated from each other.

She was off at a university in Kentucky, and I was stationed in Louisiana until I was sent overseas. Then I was deployed.

When I finally got back home and spent some real time with Maria, I realized that I didn’t really like her all that much as a person.

Yet, I stuck with her anyway because shortly after we arrived back home with each other, she got pregnant. Only she miscarried. Which fuckin’ sucked.

However, we both dealt with that miscarriage differently.

Me by becoming a little more introverted and her by becoming a party animal that never could hear the word ‘no’ without throwing a fit.

When I started working as a detective, it was long hours, and it ended up being another blessing in disguise for me.

Sadly, that only made our marriage last just a little bit longer than it really should have.

By the time that I finally realized enough was enough, almost twenty years had passed.

Now, I was a thirty-six-year-old man that had just started his life over.

A thirty-six-year-old man who hated his ex-wife’s guts.

Even worse, I hated that she gave Fran shit, because I was really starting to like Fran.

A whole fuckin’ lot.

And as each day passed, I realized what I was missing with Maria.

A connection.

There was no spark with her. There was no desire to be around her as a person, or talk to her, or even wonder what she was thinking.

With Fran, I was constantly thinking about her. Worried about her. Wondering what she was doing or thinking. Hell, I wanted her badly, and I’d only known her for a short period of time. But somehow, I knew that if we ever became a couple, she wouldn’t go far without me by her side.

“A car is a car when you don’t have your own wheels,” Fran declared as she stopped between Maria and me.

I didn’t miss the glower that Maria sent Fran’s way for obstructing her view of me.

Nor did I miss Fran’s triumphant smile when she got let in the door first due to where she was positioned.

I didn’t feel even an iota bad that I let the door fall behind me instead of holding it for Maria.

Mostly because I needed to rush in the door and turn the alarm off.

At least, that was what I told myself.

Maria strode past where Fran had paused right inside the door, still in the glow of the outer light that only clicked on from five in the morning until seven in the evening.

It was only when I had the lights blazing that she came out of that uncomfortable stillness near the door.

Something that she did each and every morning.

I knew without a doubt that she was afraid of the dark.

I wondered if she had a good reason.

Most did.

“Ew, assault bike and back squats?” Maria’s annoying voice cried.

Fran came up to my side and stopped within touching distance.

“I really freakin’ hate agreeing with anything she says.” Fran leaned in to whisper in my ear, causing my dick to harden in the sweatpants that I was wearing. “But those two sound awful.”

I placed my palm on her hand and pulled her just a little bit closer.

“You’ll live,” I teased.

And she did.

With three calories on the assault bike left to go in the workout, I stood next to Fran and practically hollered in her ear.

“Push!” I crowed.

“I’m giving it all I’ve got, Captain,” Fran wheezed.

I snickered as she pushed herself just a little bit harder.

Which happened to be just enough to get off the bike a second faster than Maria.

I swear to God, I saw utter glee in her eyes as she looked at the clock.

“Fuckin’ cheater,” Maria grumbled.

“No cheating here, ma’am.” Fran laughed. “Look. It’s actually at twenty-six calories and not twenty-five now.”

Maria rolled her eyes and went to the friend she’d urged to come today.

Fran came to me.

She grinned at me widely and then said, “If I don’t have a great ass after that workout, I’ll be asking for a refund on my membership.”

I burst out laughing.

Turns out, she didn’t need the workout to get a great ass. Because she already freakin’ had one.