Late august, one month ago

Leighton and I spotted each other at the gym in my apartment complex Sunday morning. I liked to maintain a good regime all year, but when the season was approaching, we went a bit harder to make sure we were as fit and agile as we could be.

Leighton, who couldn't be alone, ever, came over most mornings when we both agreed to exercise. His loc's were pushed off his face with a sweat band.

I wasn't sure what his deal was, why he was never at peace in his own company, but if he needed someone to hold his hand, whatever, I'd do that for him.

The gym was vacant apart from the two of us. Music hummed, a loop of EDM remixes that were loud enough to be heard but not too loud it couldn't be drowned out with headphones. The tinted floor to ceiling windows offered a view of the heated pool, which was busier than the gym ever was.

My skin was damp with sweat as I sat on the leg press and pushed the fucking stack of weights, keeping a close eye on my form. Last night, in bed, Kinsley had shown me a video of a dude doing the same exercise and I'd watched in horror when his fucking knee caps popped and sunk back in the wrong direction.

"Why would you show me that, Kinsley? I'm going to be fucking sick."

"It's informative," she said, dropping her phone onto the comforter and stretching her arms above her head with a yawn.

Her breast slipped out of her tank top and I was promptly distracted with the thought of putting that nipple between my teeth.

"You need to be aware of the dangers of improper exercise. Imagine if you busted a knee cap. No more hockey."

I dipped my head, drew her nipple between my lips and that was the end of that conversation.

Speaking of, the door beeped, signalling a security clearance and in walked my girl, a water bottle swinging in one hand, phone in the other.

My eyes immediately cut to Leighton on the other side of the room. He'd paused picking out his next weight while he watched Kinsley walk past in a sports bra and a pair of shorts that clung to her like a second skin, the dark red material stretching tight across her curves and dips.

Every step she took made her ass move like a fucking wave.

And Leighton's tongue was practically hanging out of his damn head.

She didn't see him when she came in because he was positioned to the side of the door, the weight rack flush against the wall with a support beam in front of it.

"Mhmm," Kinsley said, noticing me on the leg press. "Thought you'd be in here."

Suspending the leg press, I relaxed my legs, admiring the waist on Kinsley, the perfect curve for my hands, her thick thighs and smooth skin.

"I didn't want to wake you up," I said, wiping a hand across my sweat laden brow.

She stopped beside me, dropping her phone and bottle on the floor. That phone lived in her hand, not that I begrudged her that, but when she discarded it so fast, it was a fucking prize.

I would never ask her to put me front and centre, but it felt good when she wanted to give me her undivided attention.

Her gaze moved up and down my bare torso as her grin grew. "I love it when you sweat."

I reached out and slapped her ass, gripping a handful so I could pull her close. The little intake of her breath whenever I got rough with her made my blood rush south, even more so when she swung a leg over my waist and straddled my stomach. She draped her body across mine, her ass mounding behind her.

I was so fucking hot and bothered when she kissed me that I almost forgot Leighton was here too.

Almost.

The loud thud of a weight being dropped made Kinsley jump with fright. She quickly looked over her shoulder and saw Leighton glaring at us.

"Oh," she laughed, returning her focus to me as she spoke. "Didn't realise you were here too."

Leighton picked up the weight with one hand, sweat dripping off his warm brown skin. "Scan a room when you walk into it."

My hands remained on Kinsley's ass, giving it a gentle squeeze. Her teeth sunk into her lip as she pushed her hips down, grinding right against my dick.

"Na uh," I warned, holding her ass still and locking eyes. "Don't start something I will fucking finish."

"Fuck you both," Leighton, snatched his t-shirt off the bench press where he'd discarded it earlier. "I'm out. Didn't sign up for no exhibitionism shit this morning."

Kinsley let out a dramatic sigh and set her palms flat on my chest to lift herself. "Don't go," she grumbled. "I'll do a circuit. Pretend I'm not here. Spot each other. Grunt. Pose in front of the mirror."

Leighton paused at the door and glared at my girl as she hopped off and bent over to pick up her bottle and phone.

One last slap on that ass was too hard to resist, the bite of my hand on that thin material was louder than I expected. When she straightened up and peered over her shoulder, I thought for sure she'd tell me to fuck off. Instead, she bit her lip, her eyes searing with mischievous want. Fuck, it was so damn seductive I had to wave her off before I dragged her upstairs and bent her over the sofa.

Kinsley scuffed her feet along the floor, tapping on her phone with her bottle hanging between her teeth. She wandered over to the treadmill, sat her bottle in the holder, set her pace and started walking, all while her attention stayed glued to her screen.

I had to appreciate the multi tasking.

"Babe," I said, standing up and going over to spot Leighton who was hip thrusting to the song on the speakers. "You still good for this afternoon?"

"Tell me where we're going," her pace steady and her attention still on her phone. I took a good long look at her straight back, beginning to shine with a sheen of sweat.

"No."

"Ugh. Fine," she put her phone down and held the treadmill railing. "It's Lottie's first day of Kindergarten tomorrow. She tried on her uniform last night. So cute."

"Who's dropping her off?" I asked.

Leighton, who was getting into position to deadlift with me behind him, lowered his hands to the bar, cocked his hips back and got me in the crotch with his fat ass. I grunted and kicked him in the back of the knee.

He twerked at me again and then peered over his shoulder at Kins. "Can I come to Lottie's drop off."

"What for?" Kins gave him a bewildered look.

"So I can hit Sadie up and ask her when she wants it."

"Leave my baby sister alone you fucking predator."

Leighton finally lifted the weight, all of the veins in his neck and arms bulging under his skin as he glared at my girlfriend in the mirror, teeth bared in a grunt. He was lifting two hundred and seventy five now, his new personal best. He'd been in shape his entire life but deadlifting was a new venture and I was damn proud of the man.

Kinsley hit the stop button on the treadmill. "Lei," she gasped, joining me behind him. "New best?"

"Yeah," Leighton said on laboured breaths after he'd dropped the weight. Kinsley was proud of him too.

She stood beside me and poked me in the torso. "I'm going, so is Jason," she said referring to my earlier question.

"That's good that he'll be there," I said snatching a towel off the bench beside us and draping it around my neck.

"Yeah I know," Kins mumbled. "I still think he deserves a punch in the dick."

"The slap wasn't enough?"

She looked at me, head cocked to the side. "What do you think?"

I laughed and slung an arm around her shoulder, kissing her temple. Kinsley, fiercely protective of her sister and niece, would never settle for less than what her loved ones deserve.

The three of us continued our circuit. Leighton and I were done before Kinsley, but she didn't object when we went upstairs without her, and let me know she'd be done in another fifteen minutes. Leighton and I wandered down the hall, still shirtless and sweating. The building was quiet, no one using the elevators or collecting their mail from the mail room.

"I better head off," Leighton said, a bit more reserved than usual, as we approached the main entrance. It was accessible to the public but the elevators required a code to use the amenities and apartments.

"You algood man?" I asked.

"Kelsie's birthday," he said, staring at the floor.

Kelsie, of course. She might have been the one woman I'd ever seen Leighton commit himself to. He'd met her in college, freshmen year, she was a dance major and he was fucking in love.

He used to ask what the hell she saw in him, he was blind to his own good looks but I saw how Kelsie watched him on the ice, how she couldn't stop staring at him at parties. Even when half of the assholes at those things pined over her, Leighton was all she saw, all she wanted.

She was all long legs and bronzed brown skin, locs to her lower back, feline eyes the colour of molten gold and a smile that was as genuine as her heart. Leighton knew what he'd struck, that she was someone you held onto and didn't let go.

He worshipped the ground she walked on and when she died, a head on collision with a drunk driver, part of him died too. He'd never been the same. Sure, he didn't grieve how he used to, when he spent months in a total shut down, almost lost his chance at graduating and alienating all of his friends. But he didn't let himself see women with the same potential.

"Man, I can't believe I forgot," I said, honest and regretful. "You want me to reschedule with Kins? We can do something tonight?"

Leighton forced himself to smile and clapped me on the arm. "Na. I'm going to see her folks. It's all good. It's been a long time. I'm fine."

I believed him, he was all good. He'd handled her birthday just fine for the last seven years but that didn't mean he wasn't allowed to have his moments. Perhaps it hurt a little more this time. I wondered if that was because he'd been spending so much time around Kins and I. If it was harder for him to see what could've been in his own life, I couldn't blame him for that.

"Catch up, man," he bumped my fist and made his way out of the apartment building.

I made a mental note to check in on him in a few hours.

                 Kinsley and I showered after she was done in the gym. We dressed for the colder weather outside and I made sure she knew it'd be an outdoor event, so she needed to rug up. The entire time we walked to the truck, and got in, she pestered me for the information, relentlessly.

The pestering went on and on to the point where I had to turn the radio off because she was drowning it out as we drove through town.

"Phoenix, Phoenix, Phoenix fucking Maverick, just tell me," she said and we stopped at a traffic light. "Phoenix, just tell—"

I leaned across the console, gripped her chin and forced her to look at me, her words halted on her tongue.

"Be. Quiet," I warned, holding her face close to mine. Her breath quickened and she stared at my mouth, shifting in her seat. "You'll spoil the surprise. Behave yourself."

Her teeth sunk into her lip and I cursed under my breath. She was far to into my demanding to be anything other than aroused. But it worked, she crossed her legs and sat back in her seat, silent.

I reached across and held her hand, kissing her palm as the traffic started to move again.

"You're trouble," I mumbled, eyes on the road, the long line of cars in front of us, bumper to bumper through the congested main roads. It'd clear up once we got onto the highway.

"Yeah," she said, her gravelly voice low. "Punish me for it."

"Fuck me," I groaned, now the one shifting in my seat, one hand on the wheel. The other dangerously close to slipping between her legs. We'd never make it to our destination if she carried on like this. Not that I didn't love every fucking second of it.

She lightly laughed at the side on glare I gave her and made a zipping motion across her pretty lips.

                We drove half n hour out to Upper Lonsdale and came to a long winding gravel road, disappearing among the trees, becoming completely isolated in dense forest. It was winding and tedious but worth the drive when we got to the clearing and I stopped the car.

We got out and Kinsley looked around, her nose red and her breath clouding in front of her. She was wrapped in a big jacket with a few layers of clothing underneath, a beanie on her head and gloves on her hands. It was cold, cold for the end of august at least.

"It's beautiful out here," she said, surrounded by thick tree trunks. This place suited her, her flushed cheeks and big smile.

"I'm glad you like it," I said. "Because I bought this land."

Her head snapped toward me, jaw dropped. It went so quiet I could hear twigs snapping beneath wildlife and birds moving from branch to branch above us.

"You what?"

"I bought this land so we could build our own home here."

"Are you out of your fucking mind?!"

I grimaced. "Not the reaction I was expecting."

She threw her hands up, turning around and pacing. Her boots crunched the forest floor, leaves and branches underneath her feet. "What did you expect, Phoenix? We've been dating for five months! Five months. I make fun of people who do this sort of shit."

"I knew you were the one when we had coffee for the first time," I told her, shrugging because it was the absolute truth, my dismissal seemed to make her eyes flare in rage. "I'm a man. We know when we know. And I know."

"You think you know," she said, folding her arms. "Until you don't know and then—"

"Kinsley," I shouted. "Quit telling me how I fucking feel. I am in love with you. You are it for me and I'm getting sick of being told I'm going to leave. What about you, huh? You're so sure I'll be the one to break your heart. What if you're the one that leaves?"

She scoffed. "I'm not going to leave."

"How do I know that?"

"Because I like you, a lot."

I tipped my head back, a light laugh passing my lips. "Do you even hear how that sounds? You like me. What if all the reasons you don't want to commit to me are the reasons I shouldn't commit to you?"

"It's not the same."

"Why? Because you've been hurt before? Me too, Kinsley. I had a girlfriend in college who decided she'd break up with me by fucking my roommate on my bed. Have I assumed you'll do that to me? No, because you're not her."

Her chest rose and fell, her lip quivered and she wouldn't look at me as she shifted on her feet.

"Kinsl—"

"You're too good for me," she tried to shout but her words broke on a sob and then she was crying, like I had never seen her cry before. "You're too good and I've never felt like this before, Phoenix. I'm in love with you too and it scares me because no one ever stays and it must be my fault, right?"

I closed the space between us and drew her in, holding her shaking frame.

"Would I build the house of your dreams if I didn't plan on sticking around? Would I want to put a ring on your finger or literally pull the fucking stars out of the sky and put them at your feet if I didn't plan on being around to see you get everything you deserve?"

She laughed through her tears. "You're so cheesy, Phoenix."

"Only for you."

"Does this mean I have to sell my apartment?"

"You could rent it out," I kissed her head.

The only place I ever wanted her to live, was with me. But if keeping her apartment made her feel better, that was fine too.

"If it helps," I said, rubbing small circles on her lower back. "It'll be a while before the house is finished being built. These things take planning, permits, that sort of thing. It's just, I saw the land was listed, it looked perfect, exactly what you'd described as your dream location. I didn't want to miss out. For all it mattered, the land could sit here for a while. Years. Until you're ready."

She was quiet for a while, her body still shaking on sobs.

Finally, "can I get a dog?"

"You can get ten."

She laughed into my chest and rubbed her face on my jacket.

"You better not be wiping your nose on my clothes," I said, palming her forehead and pushing her head back. Sure enough, my jacket was covered in snot and she was laughing. Her nose was bright red and her eyes were swollen.

"That's disgusting, Kins," I said, pushing her face back into my chest. "Can you tell me you love me again?"

"I love you," she mumbled, her arms winding around my middle and squeezing. "Stupid head."

"Stupid head?!"

"I love you."

My heart was fucking aching from how full it was. "I love you too, babe."