Picking Up the Pieces (Pieces, #2)(83)

“He’s also working on building quite an ego, Adam. I’d tell him to show it to you sometime, but, well he just did.”

There’s my girl, right on cue. I almost felt bad for taking such enjoyment in watching Shane play Amanda like a violin. But it wasn’t often that she found a worthy opponent, and I reveled in it.

“Umm, yeah, it’s pretty gratifying. I guess.” Adam picked up his wine and took a large drink.

“Oh, so you’re going to ignore me too, huh, Adam?” Amanda charged.

“No.” Adam sounded horrified. Exactly what he’d been trying not to do had happened. He’d made an enemy. “I didn’t . . . I mean, I wasn’t ignoring you. I just didn’t know how to respond to what you said.”

Adam looked to me for help, but I just shrugged. I figured he should get the full experience that my friends had to offer. That’s what I’d gotten from his flock of *s. Plus, I thought of it like immersion therapy. I’d immerse him in the crazy and eventually he’d get used to it.

“So respond now. Shane here has quite an ego, don’t you think?”

I looked at Shane and watched him roll his tongue around his mouth. He’d underestimated Amanda. If he was going to ignore her, she’d have to outsource and drag someone else in who Shane couldn’t ignore. And Adam was that someone. Poor bastard.

“I don’t . . .” Adam looked around helplessly. “I don’t know him well enough to make that assessment.”

“Please,” Amanda said as she batted a hand in Adam’s direction. “Don’t be worried about hurting his feelings. He doesn’t have any. Answer the question, Adam. First impression of Shane and his ego: what was it?” Amanda was leaning on her arms, which were crossed on the table.

“I . . . I . . . Jesus Christ, you people are driving me insane,” Adam blurted out as he ran a hand over his face.

Shane and Amanda looked at each other and then burst out in howls of laughter. I couldn’t resist chuckling along with them, though I tried to tone it down for Adam’s sake. He looked completely frazzled.

Adam stared at the two of them for a minute before finally sighing deeply. “Glad you two find me so amusing.” One side of his mouth was turned up into a slight smile, which was appropriate because I could tell he was only half kidding.

Shane held up one of his hands and tried to rein in his laughter enough to respond. “Sorry, Adam. I know Amanda and I take a little getting used to.”

“Yeah, sorry, Adam. We get a little carried away sometimes,” Amanda added.

“Sometimes?” I asked skeptically.

“Okay, all the time,” Amanda conceded.

Shane served dessert and we chatted a bit more about nothing much in particular. Adam was nearly silent, obviously spent from his ordeal with the two of them. I figured I’d put him through enough, so after we helped clear the table, I spent a second talking to Shane, announced our departure, and we said our goodbyes.

Once we were tucked safely in the car, Adam turned to me. “Are they always like that?”

I shrugged. “Pretty much.”

“I don’t know how you hang out with them so much. I’m exhausted just from watching them argue.”

“You’ll get used to it,” I smiled.

“I doubt it. I’m going to need a month to recuperate before we hang out with them again. I should be good by the wedding.” He huffed out a laugh.

“You don’t have that long.”

“What do you mean?” He looked alarmed.

“I told Shane and Amanda we’d see them Wednesday. At CrossFit.”

“Why the hell would you tell them that? I said I didn’t want to go there.”

I patted his knee lovingly. “I know what you said.” I smiled sweetly as he groaned and started backing out of Shane’s driveway. Even though I had told Amanda, and myself, that Adam’s forgetting my birthday was no big deal, it did sting a little. So I felt there was no harm done if he stung a little too. Plus, maybe he'd let me ice down his muscles afterward. What girl would pass up that chance?

***

Monday rolled around and I was already counting down the days until I got Adam to CrossFit. But, at least for today, I’d have to settle for going by myself. I had brought a bag with me to work so that I could head for the gym as soon as I left, but Amanda had asked me to go to a later class so we could go together. She’d spent the rest of the weekend at Shane’s, so I guess she was going through Lily withdrawal.

Since I had extra time before the gym Monday night, I was able to get there a few minutes early. I plopped my belongings on the ground against a side wall and waited patiently as the previous class finished up the last of their exercises. I kept my eyes fixed on the door, knowing that if Amanda was late, Shane wouldn’t hesitate to make her row just like any other CrossFitter. When I saw her breeze through the entrance, I let out a sigh of relief—for her sake—and glanced over toward the other class, who had just finished up and was coming this way to get their things.

I began to make my way over to the workout space to get ready for our warm-ups, when I stopped dead in my tracks. What. The. Fuck? What is he doing here? Though he was leaned over tying his shoe, his face obscured by his own body, there was no mistaking him. His broad shoulders and tanned muscular arms were showcased by his snug, sleeveless Under Armour shirt. My breath hitched as my eyes roamed involuntarily down his body to appraise his firm ass in dark mesh shorts. And as he stood, the small speck of doubt I had about his identity disappeared entirely when he ran a towel across his sweat-glistened neck and dark messy hair.