Page 28 of Honey Undone (The Hornets Nest #5)

SARAH

K aia stood at the end of the bench with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes burning holes into me while I did my rows. I’d been trying to ignore her for most of the workout, but she saw right through me.

“You’re in too good of a mood, it happened didn’t it.” Kaia’s hair was pulled up on either side of her head in frizzy space buns that showed off her tight, elongated jaw.

“What happened?” I said, struggling through the last set.

My focus wandered when my eyes caught sight of shirtless Jensen, working on his back.

My brain was a mess of stupid girlish thoughts.

Wanting to be under him almost every hour of the day was fucking with my life.

I knew exactly what Kaia was referring too but it was more fun to string her along, pretending I didn’t.

I liked when her face got serious and her eyes went dark.

“You know what,” she snapped at me.

“Say it out loud, Kaia,” I giggled and set down the weights.

“You got laid!” She said, far too loud. Both Rhea and Sunday turned to look at us in the middle of their sets. “She got laid,” Kaia yelled, pointing at me.

“Why don’t you tell everyone in the gym?” I said to her, a week ago I might have been nervous about it, even hiding the fact that it had happened from her long enough to come to terms with it. But I was on cloud nine, I leaned back on my palms and stared at her with a smile on my face.

“My beautiful, brave little slut! You’re glowing!” Kaia moved forward and slipped onto the bench, straddling it with her legs. “It must have been good, you’re like a fucking fat cat right. Are you purring?” She teased .

“Shut up,” I scoffed. “It was really fucking good,” I whispered. "Jensen is very much above average," I laughed, holding out my hands and her eyes widened.

“Yeah, just know that this conversation is not over, and I want every single detail later,” Kaia demanded, like she didn’t have her own love life and was vicariously living through me.

“Finish your circuit,” I said to her.

“I really don’t want to,” Kaia groaned, “Physio was brutal this morning…can’t we keep talking about Magic Mike’s massive dick?

” She whined but she would do it anyways, she had never quit anything in her entire life.

Even if she didn’t want to do it. Kaia would pull herself off the ground and do it anyway.

I climbed off the bench, putting distance between me and Kaia. “Finish and I’ll take you for breakfast,” I said to her even though it was two in the afternoon. Kaia’s favorite food was bacon, it could motivate her back from the dead if need be.

“Fine,” she groaned, falling back against the bench and rolling off it lazily to return to her abandoned weights.

I racked my weights and moved across the gym, desperate for a moment to think. I eyed the pullup bar and despite my hatred for it, the machine was secluded near the back of the gym away from all the noise.

Next week our season officially started and so did the sprint to the finish line.

Scouts were going to flood Harbor and they were all coming to watch us.

The hope was that more than one of us got noticed and one day, even though we’d be separated by miles, we would meet each other on the field again.

I looked around at the girls, Rhea laughing as she spotted Sunday and Kaia yelling out insults at them for some sort of fucked up motivation.

My heart hurt. Moving to California hurt but it was inevitable.

I would end up there, I had too. I had worked too hard my entire life not too.

If I let it, that sadness would eat me alive.

I pulled myself up the bar, focusing on what I could control.

I hadn’t even noticed him come up from my left as his hands wrapped around the bar and he lifted through the next pull up, matching my speed.

“Why are you sad?” He asked and it caught me off guard.

“I’m not,” I grunted through the next one but paused as his face crossed the bar and captured my lips in a quick kiss .

“Right,” he said with a smile, I did one more pull-up alongside of him before wrapping my legs around him and hanging there while he kissed me again.

“You know I’m trying to work out?” I said, breathless as he pulled away.

“Three more,” he said, lifting with me and kissing me over the bar.

“You’re annoying,” I groaned, but obliged him on the next one.

“There’s nothing wrong with assisted pull-ups, Adeline,” he teased, lifting both our weight through the motion again.

“Doesn’t make you weak,” he said. I knew he wasn’t talking about my strength, he was trying to pry out the answer to his first question.

It wasn’t going to work, my impending sadness and inevitable distance wasn’t for him or this relationship.

Instead of answering I stole a kiss while he did the work and it helped to push away all the other thoughts.

“One more?” he whispered, taking my bottom lip between his.

“One more.” I agreed, shaking my head at his show of strength as he lowered himself back to the ground. His hands wrapped around my ribcage as I let go of the bar and he set me back on the ground.

I could tell that he wanted to push the topic of me being sad, but thunder clapped loudly outside and broke his attention away from me.

It was pouring. The next explosion of lightning caused the lights in the gym to flicker.

Jensen chuckled, one hand still on my hip, he looked down at the watch on his wrist.

“What?” I asked. With the power flickering the girls had paused their sets and were standing around watching the rain beat against the glass.

“We need to get to the Nest,” Jensen said, giving my hip a squeeze. Kaia perked up like someone had offered her a million dollars.

“Is it happening?” She asked and luckily Sunday was as confused as I was. A bright smile formed on Rhea’s face.

“Can someone fill me in, please?” I asked, wandering closer to them.

“Kaia made friends over the Christmas break,” Rhea said, leaning on Sunday’s shoulder. Their size difference was ridiculous when they were side by side.

“What exactly does that mean?” I said, wiping the sweat away from my neck and coming to stand next to them.

“It means the boys at the Nest like to get messy, and it’s finally wet enough to see just how much,” Kaia practically vibrated the words from her body.

I had never seen her so excited .

“Slip and slide,” Jensen said.

“Can we go?” Kaia turned to Jensen. “Please?”

With zero clue of what was going on it was weird to see a silent conversation between my best friend and my— I stopped myself before the thought was even able to form.

It was just another reason to be sad about California when I should have been happy.

I could have sex with Jensen without it being more, that was the point.

It was supposed to be light, relaxing and fun. I was capable of that.

“We haven't finished our workout and if we miss practice later, Coach will have our heads,” I said, reminding them that we had responsibilities.

“Coach won’t make us practice with lightning and you know it,” Rhea grinned.

“Conspirator,” I said to Rhea.

“Minty please,” Kaia begged, Kaia never begged.

“Minty?” Jensen looked over at me.

“It was one…” I stopped telling the story and chuckled, “Foul play,” I said to her with a pointed finger. “Fine, let’s do it.”

Kaia jumped at me, picking me up off the ground and throwing me over her shoulder with a spin. Everyone collected their stuff and piled into Jensen’s old man car, Rhea sliding in behind me as I moved my seat forward for her and Jensen’s hand wrapped around my thigh.

He winked at me as he pulled from the parking lot and took the five of us back up to the Nest. “Cosy is gonna hate that she missed this,” Kaia was jabbering from the backseat.

“No she won’t, she hates fun,” Rhea laughed and threw her arm around Sunday. “When was the last time she came out with us for karaoke? Or drinks, or dancing…” Rhea’s list was endless.

“I wish I knew what was fun was supposed to be going on,” I grumbled and turned my head to look out the window.

The rain was coming down hard and pelted against the windows as he parked the car outside the Nest. I still wasn’t entirely sure how they could reduce such a regal home like Dansby House to something called the Nest, but every time I referred to it by its actual name, Jensen scowled or ignored me all together.

I had been silently bullied into calling it by the dumb nickname in record time .

“Addy ‘I hate surprises’ Sarah,” Kaia said, leaning forward on the seats and tugging at my hair. “You’re going to love this.”

She was the first out of the car and like clockwork, Dean Tucker was coming out the front door. He held his hand out to her and I watched as they bumped their fists together, top, bottom, side, side, wiggled their fingers before bumping their opposite elbows together.

“Is this the Twilight Zone? That’s what this is, isn’t it?” I said, watching with horror as she just disappeared into the house with him. “How does she know him?” I asked.

“I told you,” Rhea said, getting out of the car with me, “she made friends.”

“They have a secret handshake!” I said to her and Rhea shrugged. She didn’t say anything but she was right, Kaia made those kinds of friends wherever she went. It was impossible not to love her, she was loyal, loud and when it came down to it she always had your back.

Rhea led Sunday up the stairs and into the house leaving me standing in the downpour with Jensen. The rain soaked his dark hair, and when he ran his hand through, it left the strands sticking up in droopy curls leaning in every direction.

“Scared of a little rain?” He asked me, his eyes watching my expression carefully. How did we go from him wanting to jump my bones to being acutely aware of my every thought? It sent a tingle of nerves through my muscles.