“You and my brother seem to be getting along.” Dean’s voice cut through my thoughts.

I jerked out of my Rhys daze and turned to his younger brother. “Huh?”

Dean grinned mischievously. “What were you staring at?”

“Nothing.” I blushed furiously and sought to distract him. “You’re working with Rhys at the gym now, right?”

“Yeah. Place is kind of a mess, but Rhys is determined to fix it.”

Something about Dean’s derisive tone annoyed me. “His dedication to the gym is admirable.”

“I know that.” Dean dipped his head toward mine. “But my brother is trying to save it because of what it meant to our dad. It shouldn’t be his burden. He would be better off walking away.”

The idea that Rhys was stuck at the gym out of loyalty to his father’s wishes was more troubling than I’d like. My fake boyfriend’s happiness shouldn’t mean anything to me. “Surely he enjoys running the gym?”

“He likes training young boxers. And he runs junior classes that help keep kids out of trouble.”

“It sounds like a worthy job to me.” I scowled at him. “Why would he be better off walking away from that?”

“Financially, he would.”

“Money isn’t everything.”

“Says the woman who has money.”

“Fair enough.” I sighed. “But there are more important things. Like caring about your community.”

Dean nudged me with his shoulder like we were old friends. “Why the fuck do you think I’m sticking around?”

“What are you guys talking about?”

Rhys’s voice drew our heads up and my eyebrows nearly hit my hairline at his dark expression.

“The gym.” Dean shrugged and then looked at Elijah. “You guys go to MIT with Parker?”

And thus began a night that went from awkward to even more awkward. The only people not affected by the epic levels of awkward were Elijah, Navin, and Dean. Eventually, Ren got over the fact that I’d kept Rhys a secret and joined the guys in their conversation.

After Bill came over with our prize, Dean talked easily with my friends. Sometimes they tried to draw Rhys and me into the conversation, but they didn’t meet with much success. They asked Rhys a little about his boxing career, but his answers were short and didn’t invite further questions. He stared around the bar, merely an arm stretch away from me, but he might as well have been on another planet.

And I didn’t like it.

I had no idea what had crawled up his well-formed ass.

“So how did you two meet?” Ren suddenly gestured to me and Rhys. “Because you’re not her usual type. And I’ve seen you on TV with your ring side ‘fans’… she’s not your usual type either. What gives?”

Rhys’s expression didn’t change. “Not sure that’s your business.”

Ren frowned at that. “Parker is my friend, so she is my business.”