Chapter 7
Tanner
My girl was kicking some ass, of course. And I couldn’t take credit for any of it. This was all her and her coach. I couldn’t believe how excited I was to be at a college swim meet. Typically, this would be beneath me, but it had actually been fun. I loved watching her. She was a talented woman who had a ton of potential.
She should be coming up again for the hundred meter. This was what I had been waiting for. Practicing in the high school pool had limited us. This full-size pool would give me a better idea of what we needed to work on to get her ready.
When the heat was announced, I could feel the anticipation and anxiety. She walked out, wearing the sleek black suit that represented the school. Fuck. She was stunning. Even the swim cap and goggles couldn’t detract from her beauty. I watched her take her place and pulled out my own stopwatch.
She took a deep breath, her chest heaving. I felt like I was right there with her. I wanted to be right there beside her, whispering in her ear that she could do this.
Crack!
The gunshot rang out, and it was a series of splashes followed by the sound of the swimmers cutting through the water. She was sleek and graceful, and every stroke pulled her lithe body across the pool.
“Push, Lindsey!” I screamed without thinking.
I had forgotten I was surrounded by other people. My outburst earned a few strange looks. I didn’t care. I could barely breathe as I watched her go head-to-head with her competition.
“Go, go, go,” I breathed. Every muscle tensed as I watched her pull ahead before finally reaching the side.
“Woohoo!” I screamed a bit like a fangirl, but I didn’t care.
I checked the stopwatch. She kicked ass, and I couldn’t wait to congratulate her.
Once the meet was over and her team received all the congratulations they deserved for winning, I walked over to her.
“Great job, Lindsey. You were on fire today!”
She was grinning ear to ear. “Thanks, Tanner. It felt good. I felt good. I shaved off a whole second on the fifty and got my best time ever on the hundred meter.”
I hugged her. A completely appropriate, brotherly kind of hug.
Her friend Brittany sauntered over. “You ready?” she asked, throwing a heavy bag over her shoulder. “Are you okay with Jennie hitching a ride with us? She’s offered to help me with that stupid physics homework.”
Lindsey moaned. “Seriously? Mine’s done, and I really don’t want to revisit it.”
“I can give you a ride,” I offered.
She looked at me. “Really?”
“Well, yeah, it isn’t like I have anything else to do.”
As if on cue, my phone chimed. It was Brian’s ringtone. It was like he somehow knew I was with Lindsey. I ignored it.
Lindsey looked at Brittany. “Is that cool?”
Brittany looked at me. She always looked at me like a woman sizing up her next victim. It was slightly unnerving. We had all grown up together, and there had never been anything between us, but it wasn’t for lack of her trying. She was a little too high maintenance for me. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and was a little too stuck-up for my tastes.
“Whatever. I’ll call you later. Maybe we can go out or something,” Brittany said, still looking at me.
“All right, then, let’s go.” I headed out, basically running from Brittany’s very intense stare.
“Thanks,” she said, climbing into my truck. She was wearing the track suit that identified her as a member of the San Diego University team.
I drove to her apartment, barely speaking along the way. We had arrested some of the sexual tension, but it would never completely go away.
“Uh, did you want to come in?” she asked in a voice that said she was a little unsure.
I hesitated. Every part of me wanted to go in there and have wild, passionate sex with her, but I knew I shouldn’t.
“Brian.”
“What?” she asked, a weird look on her face.
“Brian. I forgot he texted me earlier.”
I quickly fished my phone out of the holder and read the message. “Shit. He’s in town and wants to go out. I should go. Sorry, but, uh, thanks.”
She jumped out of the truck, “Bye, see you Monday.”
I watched her walk away before calling Brian.
“Meet me at the pub,” he answered. “I’m already here.”
“Be there in about twenty minutes,” I said, hanging up the phone and heading over.
I found him, sucking down a draft beer with a plate of fries in front of him.
“Dude, what’s up? It isn’t like you to be here so soon. Everything okay?” I asked.
I did my best to hide my guilt. It was hard to look him in the eye.
“My dad. The company. I’m sick of it,” he said.
“Hey, if you’re not happy, get out of the business. I think your dad would understand. But I don’t know, you always seemed like you enjoyed the thrill of taking small, unknown software developers and their ideas and making them into something big. What changed?”
He groaned. “I do enjoy it. I mean, I did. I just hate all this intern bullshit. I swear to God they get dumber by the minute. It’s a lot of micromanaging, and I don’t like it. I want to go back to what I was doing.”
“Tell. Your. Dad.”
He shook his head. “I can’t burden him with this. I’m sure it’s some kind of test. He’s seeing if I can train new people. At this point, I don’t know that I can.”
“Brian, take a minute. Talk to your dad. Ask to be a part of the process in picking interns,” I said, proud of what I thought was really great advice. I felt very adultlike. Very responsible and not at all the schmuck who had banged his sister.
He looked at me. Like really looked at me. Fuck, he knows. How could he know?
“You’re a great friend, Tanner. Thanks. Oh, and thank you for looking out for Lindsey. I know I should have gone to her meet today, but I got in town later than I thought I would. Did she win?”
I laughed. “Damn straight she won.”
Brian smiled and nodded. “Good. So, how’s everything going with the two of you?”
I gulped, nearly choking on my beer. “What?”
“The training? How’s it going?”
“Oh, good, great, only a couple days into it, but it’s great.”
The guilt was burning a hole in my belly. I wanted to come clean, but that would be disastrous. I’d have to live with the guilt for now. Hopefully it was a onetime thing with Lindsey, and I would never have to admit to what we did.
But I wanted more. I don’t think one time was enough.