“Which upped her chances if she was his girlfriend,” Haven said.
“Exactly. Except then I caught a bunch of passes, got written up in the papers, and suddenly my popularity soared.”
“So she hedged her bet by pulling you into her web as well.”
“Yup. I’m not sure what she was thinking. Jerome and I were friends. And it wasn’t like she could go to the homecoming dance with both of us.”
Nothing Haven hadn’t seen before, especially in high school. “She was thinking she could string both of you along until right before homecoming, and then as soon as she figured out which of you was the most popular, she’d dump the other.”
“That’s exactly what she tried to do. Except Jerome went to her house one Saturday night and found out from Heather’s mom that she was out with me.”
“And that’s when the two of you got into it,” Haven said.
Trevor nodded. “Right. He thought I was moving in on his girl, so he drove to the movie theater and waited for us outside. We had words after. Maybe a couple of punches were thrown.”
“I’ll bet Heather was thrilled to have two guys fighting over her.”
“She thought it would increase her stock in the voting, which occurred the following week. It didn’t work, though, because after I took Heather home, I went over to Jerome’s house. We talked, and figured out Heather’s game. I dumped her, and so did he.”
Haven laughed. “So she ended up with no date for homecoming?”
“There was no way in hell that Heather was going to sit out the homecoming dance. She sweet-talked some guy from the basketball team into taking her. But she didn’t win homecoming queen. And she was pissed.”
“So who won?”
“Jerome did. I was on the court, and one of Heather’s rivals on the cheerleading squad won queen.”
Haven grinned. “You have to love karma.”
“And high school.”
“And you and Jerome stayed friends.”
“Hell, yeah. Never let a girl get in between you and a friend. Or a teammate.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll let me put any of this in your bio.”
“Uh, no. Not unless you get Jerome or Heather to agree to it. Though Jerome probably wouldn’t care. Heather, though . . .”
Haven laughed. “Right. Not a chance.”
“I don’t think she’s the type of woman to mellow about something like that over the years. Last I heard, she was married to Owen Lange and they have three kids and run an insurance agency in town. I remember him as a very quiet kid. He ran track and was pretty popular. Smart guy, president of student council, but kind of shy. She probably rules him with an iron fist. Poor guy.”
“They’d be a fascinating story, too.”
He laughed. “Look how your well is filling with ideas.”
“I think my well is pretty full with you at the moment.”
He stood. “I’m not nearly as exciting as you might think. Let’s go work out.”
“Just when things were getting interesting.”
“Right. I’ll meet you in the gym.”
Trevor went into the gym to warm up while Haven went to her room to change clothes. He got on the treadmill and started slow, then worked his way into a run.
Things were going well with Haven. She seemed focused on her work and upbeat. He liked that she’d connected with Alicia and Liz, and was having a good time while she was here with him.
When she came in, she was wearing tight workout pants that stopped just below her knees, and a sports top that hugged her body, giving him a great view of just how fit she was.
By then he was pumped up and running hard, while she smiled at him, slid her earbuds into her ears and got on the elliptical in front of him. She didn’t say anything to him, no doubt not wanting to distract him, so he left her alone and tried to focus on his workout. He kept his pace on his run while Haven started her machine.
But he was distracted, because she had a great ass, and the faster she moved, the more he paid attention to the motion of her legs and butt.
He was done, anyway, so he slowed to an easy jog, letting his heart rate decrease, then walked for ten minutes to finish cooling down and got off the treadmill.
Haven was a distraction. A good one. But he grabbed the towel, wiped off the sweat, and moved over to the weights.
Haven made her way over to the equipment a short while after he’d started lifting.
He stopped and racked his weights. “Do you want me to show you how anything works?”
She shook her head. “I’m pretty familiar with these strength machines. You go on and do your thing. I can find my way around here.”