Page 22 of Your Pace or Mine (Running for the Romance #1)

Jamie

O n Monday morning, Jamie ran with Reggie beneath a grey but mercifully dry sky.

Jamie moved carefully, his pace deliberate as he tested the limits of his recovering injury.

It was slow going, but he’d been cleared to keep training, so that was something.

The marathon date loomed like a flashing beacon in his mind, constantly reminding him he wasn’t ready.

Jamie welcomed the distraction of the run. His thoughts had been tangled for days—well, since Saturday, if he was being honest—and the steady thump of trainers against pavement was the only thing keeping them from knotting completely.

Darius.

Fucking hell, that man was something else.

He couldn’t stop thinking about him. They’d continued texting since Saturday, but somehow, almost by mutual agreement, they had skipped their late-night phone calls since their kiss.

Jamie swore it wasn’t that he was avoiding talking to Darius because he didn’t know how to behave after that damn kiss.

Well, it wasn’t just that.

He’d picked up some last-minute shifts working events for a PR firm. It had made for a long couple of days, but his bank account was a tiny bit happier. Still, no amount of hustle could change the way that kiss had rearranged something inside of him.

He hadn’t expected it to mean anything. Shouldn’t have let it. But it had caught him completely off guard.

He was itching to see Darius again, but slightly terrified as well. That kiss had changed everything for him. It had been so much more than he’d been prepared for.

He knew it wasn’t likely to go anywhere.

Hell, Darius had only even humoured Jamie’s insane proposal to fake a relationship because he was desperate.

Jamie didn’t do relationships anyway, but if he did, this probably wasn’t how it was meant to go.

He wasn’t going to let himself get too invested; that never led anywhere good.

Jamie jogged along with Reggie, waving and nodding at passing runners and wondering if they were prepping for the marathon too. There was a quiet camaraderie in those nods and waves that he enjoyed.

“You know, you’re basically waving to strangers like a politician now,” Reggie teased.

“What can I say? People love me,” Jamie replied, puffing out his chest dramatically.

“Love you? Or pity you?” Reggie countered, dodging Jamie’s playful shove. “There’s a difference.”

“Keep talking, Reg. I’ll remember how mean you’ve been to me next time your mum calls me for an update.”

Reggie shuddered. “You wouldn’t.”

Jamie grinned and jogged on. Reggie laughed out loud, catching him up quickly.

“Speaking of love, how’s your posh coach?”

Jamie stumbled slightly, making Reggie smirk. “Oh my god, something happened.”

“Nothing happened. I don’t even know who you’re referring to.

” He hadn’t told Reggie about the fake dating scheme.

Probably because he knew that despite the many mad-cap schemes they’d enacted together over the course of their friendship—this one was possibly the most unhinged Jamie had ever come up with.

“Sure, you don’t.”

Reggie fell silent. Jamie knew what he was trying to do; he’d pulled this before. He’d pretend to drop the topic, just long enough to get Jamie to the point where he was bursting to tell him something. Well, Jamie wasn’t going to fall for that. He wasn’t.

Bloody hell, he absolutely was.

“We’re pretending to date.”

“I’m sorry, you’re what now?” Reggie laughed.

Jamie winced. “We’re pretending to be boyfriends so it’ll be easier for him to come out without making a big announcement and generate some positive press… and I’ll have a date for the Oliviers so I don’t look pathetic in front of Stephen and can convince people I’m a serious, committed person.”

“Oh, good, and here I thought it was something completely mad,” Reggie replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. “So you’re fake-dating the man you’ve been obsessing over for weeks. Totally sane and normal, that.”

“I haven’t been obsessing.”

“Sorry, I meant thinking and talking about constantly. It’s totally different,“ Reggie said. “You see why this is a bad idea, right? Tell me you can see why this is a bad idea.”

Jamie shifted. “Of course, I can see that. But, we kissed.”

Reggie looked at him quizzically. “You kissed?”

Maybe Reggie was thinking the same thing as Jamie was. It wasn’t like him to be all twisted up over just a kiss. He kissed people all the time. On stage, off stage, friends, strangers. It shouldn’t have been that big of a thing.

But that kiss. It had knocked the air out of him.

“Reg, it was…” he searched for the right word. “Devastating.”

“Jamie?” Reggie sounded like he was approaching a particularly skittish horse. All tentative and soft.

Jamie scoffed. “It’s nothing, it was one kiss.”

Reggie arched a brow.

“It doesn’t matter, Reg. This is just to help him control the narrative and hopefully let me save some face in the process. He’d never want more with me.”

Reggie frowned. “Why the bloody hell not?”

Jamie shook his head. “Come on, Reg. I’m the fun stop before people find their forever person. I’m not the guy people settle down with. I’m the bit of chaos they get out of their system. I know that now, and it’s fine, I get it.”

“Well, that’s a load of bullshit,” Reggie replied. “You just haven’t found the right person yet, or maybe you have and you’re too chicken shit to take a punt, so you’re hiding behind some contrived act where you get to have what you want without having to put your heart on the line.”

“Ouch. Spoken like a man who has never swiped right just to be sent a barrage of dick pics.”

Reggie flushed. “I’m serious, mate. Give it a real chance.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve got more important things to worry about, like how I’m going to have to front ￡800 for charity if I can’t make up the donations in the next few weeks.”

Reggie let out a low whistle as they moved into single file to pass by a group of women walking tiny dogs down the pavement. “What about your rich, fake boyfriend?”

“I’m hardly going to ask him for money on top of this mess,” Jamie replied.

“Fair enough, you know your parents would probably kick in more if you need them to.”

“I’m not going to ask my parents for help either, Reg.”

“It’s for charity!”

“They’ve got enough on without worrying about me and my finances. Dad wants to retire soon.”

They reached the park and settled back into stride, side by side. The path curved gently, sunlight finally breaking through the clouds in pale streaks.

“I sincerely doubt eight hundred-odd quid will make or break your Da’s retirement.”

Jamie shrugged. He still wasn’t going to ask.

As he ran, Jamie’s brain circled back to Darius. It was probably the association. He’d never be able to jog without thinking of him and his stupid, perfect body and stupid, gorgeous, dimpled smile. He wanted to call him. They needed to be seen together more anyway.

Even in his head, it sounded like a weak excuse, but he resolved to ask Darius to meet up. Maybe they could go out and then see where things took them.