Chapter20
Garrison
“Well, look at that.Garrison managed to move out of the friend zone.Maybe you can give Sawyer some tips,” Ryker jokes as he holds the heavy bag that I’ve spent the last hour taking out every bit of anger I’ve buried since Katelyn told me what she suffered through.
“Ha-ha.Very funny.”Sawyer rolls his eyes and racks the bar he was using.Then, he sits up and glares our way.“I’m happy in the friend zone.”
“Not a single person believes you,” Ryker retorts.“But go ahead and keep lying to yourself.”
I slam my fist into the bag.Every muscle in my body is warm, my skin slick with sweat.While I confessed we’d actually taken a step forward, I kept everything else a secret.Katelyn trusted me, and I won’t break that trust, even though I feel like I’m going to explode beneath the weight of the anger it caused.
How could that happen to her?
How could someone do that to another person?
“Man, that bag say something nasty to you?”Sawyer asks, likely to move the attention off of him and onto me.
“Just glad to be back in the gym,” I say.It might not be the entire truth, but it is the truth.I’ve missed being in here.There’s something about working your muscles to exhaustion.Pushing your body to the absolute brink of what it can handle—and then going over that line and starting again.
But even today, it’s not exhausting me.I’d been up all night, taunted by images of a young Katelyn bullied into submission.Of feeling like a failure for not being able to protect her, even though I know that’s in no way a logical feeling.
“Seriously, man, you good?”Ryker questions.
“Not really,” I admit.“But I’ll manage.”
“What’s going on?”Sawyer crosses over to grab a bottle of water from the small refrigerator.At this time of day, we’re the only ones here, but I still won’t divulge Katelyn’s secrets.Not even to these men who I know will hold it like a vault.
“Can’t get into it.”
“Are things okay with Katelyn?”Ryker asks.
“She’s fine.Thomas is having a blast at baseball camp.”
“But?”Sawyer presses.
“Can’t get into it,” I repeat.“So, how about you hold the bag and let me just work through it?”I ask Ryker with a forced grin that I hope diffuses the concerned curiosity written all over his face.
He obliges with a single nod, then takes his stance behind the bag, stabilizing it while I work my body into complete and utter exhaustion.
By the time I’m done, there’s not a muscle in my body that doesn’t ache.There’s a pain in my side that wasn’t there before, and the knuckles of my hands are bruised despite the tape I’d used on them.But I do feel a bit better.
What happened to Katelyn was horrific.A nightmare.But it’s in the past, and I can’t imagine she wants to relive it by rehashing it over and over again.So, as I wave goodbye to Ryker and Sawyer and step out onto the sidewalk, I decide not to bring it up again.Not unless she wants to talk.
Until then, it’ll remain buried.
Main Street is quiet this morning, so I slip into the bookstore and offer Marie a wave.She was close friends with Anastasia for years, but it seems like the two of them have drifted apart over the past few months.Likely because Anastasia spends most of her free time with Jack.
“Hey, Garrison, how’s it going?”she questions.
“Not too bad.Um, any chance you can show me where the Bibles are?”
“Sure can.”She smiles at me as she moves around the counter, leading me toward a shelf near the side of the store.“They’re organized by translation.”
“Great, thanks.”I reach down and lift one adorned with pink flowers on the front, then follow her back toward the front of the shop.Zane bought Tessa a Bible here when she was struggling with her faith.
Katelyn isn’t struggling, or at least I don’t think she is, but she’d talked about wanting one.Is it too much to get her one?Especially since I’m already trying to get her to take my apartment?
“Garrison?”