Page 10 of I Think He Knows
I let out a caveman-style grunt—which earns me another spectacular eye-roll from Anthony—and set the barbell back into position with a clatter. I swing my legs to sit up, and Ant extends a towel and a water bottle to me, his nose wrinkled slightly at my sweaty form.
“Thanks,” I pant a tad breathlessly as I unscrew the bottle cap. “Appreciate it. But you don’t have to fetch me things, you know that.”
Anthony’s been working with me for five years now. And though I rely on him heavily for many things in my life, I still feel weird having an assistant. I employ him to do my administrative tasks, organizing my calendar and scheduling my travel and appearances, not to wait on me like a servant.
“Please!” Ant flips his hand at me airily. “I do it for my own sake. Nobody wants to see your big sweaty self lumbering around the gym in search of water.”
I take a few massive gulps from the bottle before narrowing my eyes at him. “Just for that, I’m going to RSVP ‘yes’ to Zac’s party, and purposely not bring you as my plus one.”
Ant puts a hand to his heart and widens his eyes in mock-horror. “The headlines were right! You are a cruel and brutal man, Carter Callahan.”
Which should sting, but it actually makes me laugh. I like Anthony and his sassy attitude. For one, he keeps my ego in check. And for two, it’s refreshing to have someone around who challenges the things I say instead of agreeing with me even when I’m blatantly wrong.
This is one of the things I hadn’t considered about being in the spotlight: the isolation. I was already pretty accustomed to being alone, but with fame, it’s a different type of solitude. Everyone wants to please you, even if you’re being a total jerk. And everyone has predetermined expectations of you without knowing you; a picture in their minds that may or may not match a single fiber of the actual person you are.
Right now, the picture most people have of me is a negative one, but I try not to think about it. As long as the people I love know who I really am, I couldn’t care less about what a few phony news sources say.
My job is to act. Not make people like me.
But I know that’s not always enough.
I swipe my towel across my forehead. “Shoulder press next.”
We move across the gorgeous wood-and-white-accented, eucalyptus-scented luxury gym located near the home I bought in South Tuxedo Park a couple years back. I may not be in Atlanta much these days, but I like owning a house here. It makes me feel like I have roots.
As we approach the shoulder press machine, Ant says, “Wouldn’t you be taking Sierra Duke as your plus one to Zac’s party, anyway?”
“Nah.”
Anthony sits on the floor and stretches his purple-chino-clad legs out in front of him. He cocks a brow at me in silent question.
“We broke up,” I supply as I load the correct amount of weight, then get to work. First of four sets.
When I’m finished with the first set, I turn to find Ant in the same position, staring at me with his brows alarmingly high.
“Stop that.”
“Youstop that.”
“Stop what?” I demand.
“Stop acting like this conversation’s over when it’s obviously not.” He mimes pouring liquid into a cup and taking a sip with his pinky extended. “Hello? I need the tea.”
“There’s notea. Which is a dumb saying, by the way.”
“But who broke up with who?! What happened?Whendid it happen?”
I shrug. “I guess I was the one who called it off. Last week.”
“Like I said, cruel and brutal.” Ant smirks. “And did that flawless timing have anything to do with you flying back here to Atlanta for a few days?”
“What?”
“Ummm, cute blonde?” Ant says slowly, like he’s spelling something out for me. “About yay-high? The one you spend every waking minute with when you’re here?”
I scoff at him. “You mean: did my break up with Sierra have anything to do with Lana Mae, my best friend who I’m absolutely, in no way, romantically involved with?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.” Ant gives me an insufferable smirk-and-raised-brow combo. Which is one of his favorite faces to make in my vicinity. “Because it seems to me that you want to be much more than just friends.”