Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(14)
As if she had called out his name, he glanced up from the lean-to. Their eyes met, and Melody grinned in spite of herself. Just the sight of him did things to her. And unlike the way he’d tensed up and avoided her gaze when they’d met at the General Store, he held her gaze now and even nodded in acknowledgement. They still had a long way to go, but a nod was better than a blush.
Better still, Will pivoted to say something to Jonathan, then started across the gym toward Melody. Her grin widened, and her breath caught in her throat. He hadn’t tried to coach her directly since showing her how to use the kettlebells, but he had been keeping an eye on her. Maybe now he would—
Without warning, the machine Melody was using went haywire. At least that’s what it felt like. Suddenly, there was no resistance. When she pulled, the whole thing came crashing forward so hard that her left arm slipped out of the armrest. She felt a sharp twang of pain, then was bumped hard in the chin as the apparatus swung back with a clang. All of it happened within a few seconds. Melody yelped in surprise and pain.
“Geez, are you all right?” Katrina asked from just behind the machine.
“Yeah,” Melody said uncertainly. She groaned as she rubbed her chin.
“You’re so clumsy,” Katrina laughed. “Even elementary school kids can use this stuff.”
Melody’s hurt outrage was seconds from being spit out as a sharp reply when she noticed Katrina’s gaze flicker up. She shut her mouth and followed that gaze, only to find that Will had stopped halfway across the room. He wore a frown, and his lips were pressed together in a disapproving line.
“He’s right,” Katrina went on, a little louder than necessary. “You aren’t taking this seriously.” She glanced to Will as if making sure he’d heard.
Melody bristled with frustration. “I am too taking this seriously. I don’t know what happened.”
“Yeah, well, maybe if you worked out on a regular basis instead of picking it up when you think the cute guys are watching, you’d know that you have to make sure the pin is secure in the weights before you start using the machine.”
Melody gaped at Katrina’s snide expression. Katrina had never been particularly buddy-buddy with her, but she had to be more mature than this.
Before Melody could reply, Sandy stepped up behind Katrina and cleared her throat.
Katrina turned to her. “What do you want?”
In a move so bold Melody’s eyes popped wide, Sandy reached into the pocket of Katrina’s jumpsuit pants. Katrina started to protest, but Sandy pulled a long pin that looked sort of like a key from her pocket.
“You try to hurt my friend again,” Sandy said in a voice so low and filled with threat that it made the back of Melody’s neck tingle, “and I’ll make sure karma knows just where to go looking for you.”
“That isn’t mine,” Katrina rushed to say. “I don’t know where it came from. It’s from the machine I was using earlier. I forgot to put it back.”
Each excuse was more rushed than the last, and Sandy wasn’t buying any of them. She just held the pin up between them at eye level, then silently walked around to the back of Melody’s machine and slipped it into the hole in the weights where it belonged.
“That was pretty low, Katrina.” Melody stood, using every bit of will power she had to take the high road. “You’re better than that.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Katrina snapped, then turned and hurried away.
Melody crossed her arms and scowled after her. Three seconds later, she saw just why Katrina had bolted instead of staying to fight. Melody turned toward Will, only to find that he’d gone back to helping Jonathan with the lean-to demonstration.
Her heart sank. Will didn’t believe the nonsense Katrina had been spouting about her not taking things seriously, did he? He was way too smart to fall for Bonneville gaslighting. Either way, she wasn’t going to sit around and let the air fog up with deception. She pushed up her long shirtsleeves and headed across the room to the lean-tos.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you could all leave what you’re doing for a second and gather around.” Melody’s plans were thwarted by Howie’s announcement. She hadn’t even seen Howie enter the room, but he was there now, a clipboard in hand, his secretary, Edith, by his side.
Melody sent a disappointed look to Will, which he didn’t see, before changing direction and gathering with everyone else around Howie. Sandy stepped up to her side and slipped an arm around her back, giving her a sideways hug of support. That brought Melody’s smile back. Whatever else happened, she had good friends.
“I see you’re all training nice and hard,” Howie began. A few people answered with laughs of agreement. “Well, I figured the time has come to cut down on suspense and focus your training a little. Quintus, Edith, and I have been observing your training and have come up with what we think are the perfect pairs. And here—” He held up his clipboard. “—is the list of the teams for the orienteering event.”
A swell of excitement and more than a few eager comments buzzed in the room. Melody’s heart sped up. She’d been so focused on setting goals for herself and, admittedly, getting Will’s attention that she had forgotten they’d be pairing up for the event.
“So without further ado,” Howie went on, turning the clipboard so that the page clipped to it was visible to all, “come on up and see who you’re going to be lost in the wilderness with.”