Clashing Hearts by Nicky James

Author:Nicky James [James, Nicky]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Gay / Lesbian / LGBT
Goodreads: 54150805
Published: 2020-07-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Lachlan

It didn’t matter how many laps I did, I couldn’t shake the ugly feelings that had slipped into my veins after my dinner with Easton. If I stopped swimming, I feared they would consume me.

I did a flip-turn and kicked off the wall, arms pulling harder and harder, feet kicking, working myself across the pool at record-breaking speeds. I hadn’t swum this hard since I competed in university. Another lap, then another, and another after that. I’d long ago lost track of how many I’d completed. My muscles burned, and my lungs were begging me to quit, but I refused to listen.

When I hit the edge again, a pair of legs on the deck by my lane caught my attention, and I stopped, chest heaving as I tore my goggles off and looked up. A guy in a polo shirt with the lodge emblem embroidered on the breast pocket looked down at me.

“We have to close the pool, sir. You’re welcome to come back in the morning when it reopens.”

“Already?”

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for ten minutes. It’s after ten o’clock.”

“Shit. Okay.”

I heaved myself out, dripping a puddle as I snagged the towel I’d brought from a lounge chair on the deck. My limbs quivered from overexertion as I made a half-assed effort to dry myself. With the towel wrapped around my waist, I followed the lodge employee out of the pool area and headed back to my room as he locked the door behind me.

After a long shower, I threw on a pair of underwear and flopped onto the king-sized sleigh bed. I’d left the curtains over the large window drawn open so I could enjoy the view, but it was dark now, and the mountains were nothing more than silhouettes in the distance.

I checked my phone and saw I had a missed call from Andy in Edmonton. Hitting the voicemail and speaker options, I closed my eyes and listened.

“Hey, it’s me. Where the hell are you? I went by your place two nights in a row, and you weren’t there. We need to get together. Call me.”

The voicemail had come in while I was in the pool. I hit Call Back and waited while it rang.

“You are alive. Are you home? I just left your place twenty minutes ago.”

“I’m away on business. It was last minute.”

“Shitty. Where are you?”

“Jasper.”

Andy’s laugh boomed through the phone. “Again? Are you serious? Oh my god, you poor thing. How long are you stuck in nowhere-ville this time?”

Easton’s degrading words flew through my head, fresh as when he’d said them earlier. “No idea. At this rate, a while. This deal is souring fast, and Dad isn’t taking no for an answer. If I don’t start shitting horseshoes, I’ll be shredded when I get back to Edmonton.”

“Shit. I’m sorry, buddy. That sucks. I don’t think I could stand such a small town like that for more than a day. God damn, it’s not even skiing season.”

“Believe me, I know. There’s a pool at the lodge where I’m staying.

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