Sex Snob (10 page)

Five

There were people everywhere.
Who knew so many people liked CrossFit?
When Shane had announced that he’d be competing this weekend and would like some support from the gym, I was instantly filled with foreign emotions. I genuinely
wanted
to support him. Though I wasn’t sure where this desire was coming from. And as I walked around the large, open gym covered in black rubber mats and littered with weights, I knew one thing for certain: I was really starting to like Shane.

But I also knew that I had to ignore these growing feelings for him.
Ever since Kate’s birthday, my mind had flitted back to him: the way his arms felt when they were wrapped around my waist, the tingling sensation I had gotten when his breath tickled my ear, the comfort he had provided when I had needed it. But I had to knock it off. I needed to stop fantasizing about him touching me, rubbing against me, trailing his lips down my naked . . .
Okay, enough.
I was like a fourteen-year-old boy. And while I would normally be proud of that, in this case, I wasn’t. A relationship between me and Shane would never work. Nate had taught me that.

But I didn’t want to be completely without him, either.
I craved some kind of contact with him, even if it wasn’t intimate. So, that left me . . . where?

As friends.
That’s where it leaves me.
Yes, friends. I could be friends with a guy who was sexy as hell. After all, I was friends with Kyle.

Okay, bad example.

Despite my resolve, I still didn’t trust myself not to run out onto the mat and lick the perspiration off of Shane’s body as he competed, so I brought reinforcements. Lily was eager to join me since she had missed Kate’s birthday party because her parents were in town. She didn’t want to seem totally unsupportive of the gym; however, she had plans in the evening (
she wouldn’t tell me what they were, sly devil
) and she was only staying for a bit.
So I invited Kyle to tag along to keep me company after Lily left.
He had needed some prompting, since watching large men grunt and lift weights wasn’t exactly his cup of tea. But then I told him that there was also a female division and so he changed his tune quickly. He had also offered to drive, though I suspected that mostly had to do with the fact that I was directionally challenged and we probably would’ve ended up somewhere in Jersey, rather than in Northeast Philadelphia where the competition was. Lily chose to drive herself since she had to leave early.

As soon as we arrived, w
e wandered around the gym looking for Team Shane. Kate had gotten purple shirts made with that moniker on them and handed them out to all of us who intended to come out to support him. I couldn’t help but feel a slight hesitation from her when she handed me mine, but I chose to believe that it was all in my imagination. Kyle, the tallest of us, scoured the gym for purple shirts.

He finally tapped me on the arm and pointed to my left.
I followed his hand and saw some faces I recognized. I grabbed Lily and we headed toward them. But, as we approached, the crowd grew denser. I stepped up on my tippy-toes, trying to see what had everyone’s attention. I saw a group of shirtless men waiting their turn to perform what appeared to be cluster ladders.

“What the hell are they doing?
” asked Kyle.

“Cluster ladders,” I replied absentmindedly, as I tried to scan the group of men for Shane.

“And those are . . . ?”

I let out a sigh before answering him.
“There are, I don’t know how many bars . . . a lot. As you move through them, the weight gets heavier. They have to squat clean them into a thruster. They keep going until they can’t perform the motion.”

“Okay.
I’m just going to pretend I know what all of that means,” he replied as he craned his neck to get a better view.

I couldn’t get a clear look at the guy who was competing now, nor did I see Shane anywhere.
Finally, the audience began to clap.
I guess whoever’s turn it was is finished.

Then, I saw Kate walking toward the mat.
She was handing someone a water bottle.

And there he was.
Shane must have been the one who had just finished the cluster ladders. I put my hand on Kyle’s shoulder as I tried to gain more leverage over the crowd. Shane took a step toward Kate and came into view. Upon seeing him, my jaw dropped and I became instantly grateful I had worn underwear. Otherwise, I was worried a wet spot would have become visible through my jeans due to my immediate arousal at seeing Shane shirtless.

In the six months I had been going to CrossFit Force
, I had never seen Shane without a shirt. Therefore, it had been left up to my imagination to picture what he was working with underneath it. My imagination didn’t even come close to the real thing.

Shane’s abs
were shredded. They literally formed a maze on his stomach. His chest was broad and puffed out with muscle. And he had what is probably the sexiest tattoo I have ever seen on a human being. I had known he had one because it ran the entire length of his right arm. However, I hadn’t realized that it snaked up his shoulder, and down the right side of his chest and stomach. It was thick, black tribal that ran in intricate designs. I desperately wanted to run my tongue over its outline as my fingertips gently followed the lines his abs created.

Kate handed Shane a purple T-shirt.
Dear God, please don’t put that on.
Thankfully, he just held it in his hand as he continued to drink water. I’d never wanted to be a water bottle so badly in my life as I watched his strong, sure hands squeeze the bottle in an effort to extract fluid from it. Everything he did was erotic.

“Should we go over?” Lily asked, pulling me from my sex-fueled thoughts.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I murmured as I began to push through the crowd.

Shane’s head turned at the shuffle in the crowd.
Our eyes locked and his face lifted slightly as he started to turn toward me. But then, as Kyle draped an arm over my shoulder in order to prevent himself from getting separated from me, Shane stopped. His features hardened before he cast his eyes toward the floor, handed the bottle back to Kate, and walked off toward the other members of CrossFit Force.
What the fuck was that about?

“Where did he go?” Kyle asked from behind me.

Kyle. Was that why Shane had walked away? Because Kyle had put his arm around me? I wonder . . .

I pointed to the rest of Team Shane and kept moving in that direction.

As we approached, I saw that everyone was crowding around Shane, high-fiving and bro-hugging him.
However, he barely returned their gestures and stalked a few feet away from everyone as we strode up. I threw a glance in Shane’s direction, but his back was to me.

“Did he blow it?” Lily asked Gavin, a fellow purple shirt wearer, loud enough that I could hear.

“Nah, he did awesome.” Gavin was flexing and puffing out his chest like he had been the one competing.

“Then why does he look like someone put his dog’s head in a box and mailed it to him?”

God, she’s morbid. I have to start preventing her from watching movies like
Se7en.

Gavin shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to the remaining competitors who were awaiting their turn.
I did the same, wondering why I had even bothered to come today. Shane, as usual, was being a total dick. I closed my eyes briefly and shook my head, chastising myself for thinking that he’d actually want me here. But when I opened them again, I found a whole new reason that I wanted to be here.
Jesus Christ!
There were gorgeous, shirtless men everywhere. My eyes raped every last one of them as I tried to understand how I had been so blind to them all until now.
I was losing it.

“If you eye fuck them all now, there won’t be any left for
later,” Kyle whispered in my ear.

“I won’t need to eye fuck them later.
I’ll fuck one for real,” I replied in awe of the sight before me. It was a horny chick’s dream.

Kyle let out a loud laugh.
“You’re a total nympho.”

I gave him a megawatt smile,
signaling that I not only knew that I was, but that I was also proud of it.

“Sadly for you, I don’t think many of these guys meet your requirements.”

I turned to give Kyle my best pout when I heard a stern voice.

“What requirements?”

My head flew to the right and my eyes connected with Shane’s as he sauntered up to us. He only held my eyes for a second before looking down to fiddle with the T-shirt in his hands. Kate, of course, was half a step behind him.

“Hi, Amanda,” she said, warmly but quietly.

“Hi, Kate.”
There were a few seconds of awkward silence before Kyle lightly nudged me. “Oh, yeah, this is my friend Kyle. Kyle, this is Kate and Shane.”

Shane gave Kyle a slight nod of acknowledgment while Kyle reached his hand out to Kate, who accepted it quickly.

“Nice to meet you both,” Kyle said, though he only looked at Kate.

I couldn’t help but notice that their handshake lasted a little longer than usual. My eyes darted back and forth between them and I thought I saw Kate’s posture improve slightly, but I couldn’t be sure.
Well, this could be interesting.

I glanced over at Shane, who also seemed to notice the sparks flying in front of us.
I raised an eyebrow at him and his lips twitched a little. Kyle must have suddenly realized that he was still holding Kate’s hand, because he suddenly broke their contact.

C
learly affected by my dear Kyle, Kate began speaking rapidly. “We’re heading over to the next event. I think everybody is going to go up higher into the bleachers. They’ll be able to see from there. Unless you guys want to walk over with us?” She spoke the last words hopefully and directed them completely at Kyle.

“Yeah,” Kyle replied instantly.
“Uh, I mean, if you want to, Amanda.”

I could barely contain my
grin. Kyle normally played it cool around women. Kate must have gotten under his skin.

“Yeah, that’s fine.
Just let me find Lily.” I turned and scanned the crowd. I finally caught sight of her talking to a girl named Jocelyn. I didn’t know her that well, but she and Lily were friendly. “Lily,” I yelled. “Hey, Lily,” I screamed after she didn’t respond. Her eyes darted around before settling on me. “We’re going over to the next event. You coming or staying?”

Lily looked around her.
People surrounded her, packing her into her spot on the bleachers like a sardine. She finally waved her hand, signaling for us to go without her.

“Okay, let’s go.
She’s staying.”

Shane rolled his eyes and started walking away from us.
If it weren’t for Kyle needing a wingwoman right now, I would have told Shane to go straight to hell. But I bit my tongue for the greater good: Kyle getting laid.

The next event was on the other side of the huge gym, and it was difficult to get through the crowd.
Kyle and Kate ended up falling behind a little, talking closely. Kyle had stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans as Kate flashed her dazzling smile repeatedly. Not wanting to walk alone, I caught up to Shane.

“So, what’s your next event?

He glanced over at me, annoyance showing on his face.

He’s really
asking for it.

He finally let out a sigh and responded to me.
“The next one will
test endurance, speed, and agility. Burpees, double unders, kettlebells, it’s going to be tough.”

“Well, for you it probably will be.”
I was done being nice.

“Thanks a lot,” he bit out sarcastically.
“So, I’m not sure how into you your boyfriend is.” He threw his head in Kyle’s direction. “Though I can’t say I’m surprised. I only see you a few times a week and that’s more than enough for me.”

Ah, sarcastic Shane, how I’ve missed you.
“Oh, trust me, he’s been into me.” Shane’s jaw tightened at my response and I felt a welling of pride that I’d succeeded in pissing him off. But that response was short-lived, as I realized that I didn’t particularly like the feeling of Shane being mad at me. “He’s not my boyfriend, just a good friend,” I said quietly.

Shane didn’t look at me, but I saw the tension leave his face, which also served to make me relax.
What the hell is this guy doing to me?

Just then, a large m
an came out of nowhere and bounced into me. I would have fallen sideways if it hadn’t been for two strong hands that grasped my biceps firmly.

“
Yo, asshole, watch where the fuck you’re going.”

It took me a moment to realize that it was Shane yelling.
Oh shit.

“It was an accident, asshole.
Calm the hell down.” The guy who had knocked into me didn’t make a move toward Shane, but he wasn’t backing down either.

“Don’t you tell me to calm down, you piece of shit.”
Shane released my arms and moved into the other man’s space so that the two men’s faces were only inches from each other.