This Could Be Bad

Noah

Since Veronica had started working out at 5th Street, the gym seemed to have picked up more members. The place was a lot busier these days. She often had to park out on the street as she did tonight because the small parking lot that once had plenty of parking was always full now. Noah said it had everything to do their boxer friend who once trained here. He'd been doing a lot of plugging for the gym lately in television and radio interviews.

She hurried in a little earlier than usual. Before last night, she hadn't even planned on getting a Christmas tree, but after deciding she needed to get back to her old self, getting a tree seemed like a normal thing to do, something she normally would've done weeks ago. Before her mother got sick, the holidays had been the best time of the year for her. This was it. She was determined to get back to normal. So tonight, she was cutting her workout short and leaving early to buy a tree.

Her heart sped up when her eyes met Noah's as she walked in. He smiled, but there was something cautious about his smile. She thought about his call. He was probably still worried about last night. She'd almost called him back but decided that would be making too big a deal about their little exchange, and that's the last thing she wanted.

"Hey," Noah still wore his boxing gloves. "You're early."

"Yeah, I need to get out of here early tonight."

He'd started taking off his gloves but stopped and stared at her. "Oh yeah? You have plans tonight?"

She dropped her gym bag on the floor and began to stretch. "Yep."

She knew he was probably thinking something social not a pathetic solo tree-shopping trip, so she let him think that instead of admitting the truth. Unfortunately, he kept on.

"With who?"

She came up from her bent position and pulled her leg up from behind her, holding her foot with her hand. "I have a date," she grinned. Not surprisingly, his eyes opened wide. Of course he'd be shocked, but he'd find out the truth soon enough, so she added with a shrug, "with a tree."

His shocked expression turned into a confused one. "A tree?"

"Yeah," she nodded, smiling. "I'm getting my Christmas tree tonight. I wanna have enough time to get home and decorate it tonight. Christmas is just around the corner."

Noah started working on removing his gloves again, but his eyes remained on her. "By yourself?"

She dropped her leg and picked up the other one. "Uh-huh." She smiled big, trying to appear more excited about it than she really was. The truth was she wasn't looking forward to it. She'd always had someone to go with her. Before her mom died, they went together and took forever to pick out the perfect one. When her mom got sick, Nellie took her mother's place and Rick helped get it in her house.

The thought of Noah accompanying her had crossed her mind, but after last night, she wasn't sure she should be spending so much time with him. Obviously, her feelings for him had grown way past the friendship or even crush stage. She needed to back up and get a hold of the situation. Christmas would be rolling around soon, and she was going to have to deal with him and Rita.

"I can go with you."

She shook her head a little too hard and too quickly, so she caught herself and tried to be a little more subtle about it. "No, that's okay. You don't have to."

His eyebrows pinched as he placed his glove under his arm and pulled his hand out. "Look, Roni about last night—"

"Can we just forget about last night?" She shrugged. "They said the holidays would be tough my first year without my mom, and I think it's just been making me a little weird."

She hated using her mother as an excuse, but telling him the truth, that hearing about him and Rita had done such a number on her that she'd tossed and turned all night, was not an option. Ridiculous is what it was, and if she had any intention of holding on to her only friend these days, then she needed to start getting used to hearing things of that nature.

"Okay," he said, pulling the second glove off. "But I wanna go with you tonight to get the tree if that's okay with you." He lifted his eyebrows playfully. "Never picked out my own tree either, and since I live there now, this will sort of be my Christmas tree too. I'll even pay for it."

"No, you will not."

"Why not?" He finished tying the strings on his gloves then threw them over his shoulder. "I'll give you half then. I'm planning on decorating it too, you know. I wanna get the most out of this. Who knows where I'll be next year?"

Their eyes met. That last statement put a sudden damper in their conversation. They were obviously both thinking the same thing. This arrangement wasn't forever, something she never imagined would be so hard to take. For a split second, she thought about the possibility of telling him he could stay for good if he didn't want to go back to living in a garage. She didn't mind having a roommate now. But she shook the thought away. The possibility of him inevitably being around other women, bringing them back to his room even, was something she knew now she wouldn't be able to handle. She'd have to cut her losses and be thankful her heart was still in one piece—hopefully—when it finally came time for him to leave.

"You can come with me if you want, but you're not paying for the tree."

Noah frowned but agreed, saying he'd be back for her workout once he put his things away.

Veronica's breakfast with Nellie hadn't gone as planned. She was going to let Nellie in on how she'd felt the night before when she heard about Rita, but she felt so stupid she couldn't do it. She had absolutely no right to feel angry, betrayed even, and it was embarrassing to admit she had. She blamed Thanksgiving. As much as she'd reminded herself repeatedly that she'd only be setting herself up for the inevitable heartache if she got caught up with such a young guy, Thanksgiving had been so wonderful. She'd felt a closeness she'd never felt with anyone else. She thought maybe, just maybe, he'd felt it too. Then she found out that the very next day he'd slept with someone.

She sighed as she concentrated on stretching until she was interrupted by a sweaty guy holding a jump rope. She'd began to familiarize herself with most of the members, but since there'd been so many new ones, there were lots she didn't recognize. This guy was one of them.

"Hello." He waved at her. "My name is Edward. I'd shake your hand, but mine is a little sweaty right now."

"Hi," she said and stopped stretching, a bit curious.

"I just started working out here a little over a week ago. I noticed you right away and have been meaning to introduce myself."

Veronica felt the nerves immediately. This guy looked around Noah's age, maybe a little older, but then, like Noah, he was a big guy and that had completely thrown her off about Noah's age. It'd been a long time since she'd had anyone hit on her.

"You're a little early today, aren't you?"

He'd even noticed what time she worked out? Wow. He must've really been watching. "Yeah, I'm leaving early today, so I thought I'd make up for it and get here early. I'm Veronica by the way."

She watched as Noah approached from behind Edward with that hard look he so often had when they worked out.

"Listen, part of the reason I hadn't approached you was because you're always with that one guy. Are you and him—"

"Yeah, we are," Noah said, getting a little too in Edward's face.

Edward backed up with a smirk. Veronica watched, her mouth dropping open. Abel and Gio walked toward them cautiously.

Edward lifted his hands, nodding, but the smirk was still there. "I had a feeling that was the case. I'm glad I asked. No harm, no foul, right? Can't blame a guy for trying." He turned and winked at Veronica. "Nice meeting you, Veronica."

Noah didn't say another word. He simply stared at Edward until he'd walked away then turned back to Veronica. "Ready to work out?"

Veronica's mouth really fell open now. She shook her head and blinked. "First, can you explain what that was about?"

"What do you mean?"

She looked at him incredibly. "Me and you are what?"

"Workout partners, right? Isn't that what he was asking?" Noah walked past her, but she didn't miss the corner of his lip lifting as he did. "We should make this a good one since it's gonna be short."

"That is not what he was asking, and you know it." Veronica followed him, feeling secretly thrilled. Had Noah really implied to another possible suitor that she and he were . . .? She wouldn't even think it. Maybe he'd just been playing, though his body language had said anything but.

He stopped so fast she nearly collided with him. "Why? What do you think he was asking?"

She looked up at his eyes that had gone back to hard again like when he'd gotten in Edward's face. "Well, just based on what he said before you got there—"

"What did he say to you?" His brows furrowed, looking around the gym, and then he turned back to her, searching her eyes.

Great, now she felt like a braggart. She shrugged, trying to make less of it and suddenly feeling stupid. "Just that he only started working out here a week ago, but he said he noticed me right away."

"Is that right?" She watched his jaw work as he looked around the gym again.

If she didn't know any better, unbelievably she'd think her instincts had been right. Noah was jealous. His eyes came back to hers and he stared at her hard. "So what? You interested?"

"No, but—"

"Good. 'Cause he looked like an asshole." He started toward the treadmill again, and she followed, glancing around.

Edward did not look like an asshole to her. But her instincts once again told her she better just shut it and let it go. It was very reasonable that, like her, Noah had begun to feel there was a bit more to their friendship. She couldn't decide if that was necessarily a good thing. This could be bad.

Veronica had every intention, especially after last night, to go back to work starting the New Year. Her old supervisor had already told her to just come in on the second and they'd work out the formalities. She planned to give her social life a jump start too. The last thing she needed was for Noah to get the idea it was okay for him to play the overprotective friend/roommate. She'd already seen what he was capable of doing in the ring. Incidents like today's could escalate very quickly.