Aaron did a great job teaching the beginner’s boxing ss. So well, a few of his students signed up for personal training with him. He seemed so excited.
The call with mywyer went well, and he started the paperwork to separate me from Title Fitness. Luckily, we’d been talked into a Partnership Agreement when we opened up, something I was very thankful for as it was going to make what would’ve been a messy separation so much easier. However, I wasn’t happy when he told me it would take about ny days for everything to settle and that he needed to meet with both of us.
In other words, I needed to get a new ce very soon. There was bound to be a shit storm when Monica found out I nned on opening my ce with half our employees.
We had signed a five-year lease, and there were only ten months left on the contract. She could hop along by herself at that time.
For the first time in months, I felt pretty good, and nothing was going to knock me down-not even Monica’s persistent phone calls. My phone rang again on the drive to the gym, and for the fifth time in a row, I hit ignore. I knew she was pissed about the canceled ss. Two could y her little game.
As soon as I walked through the door, she was on me. “What did you do?”
“Why, sweet cheeks, whatever do you mean?”
Her face dropped at my condescending tone. I wasn’t the beaten-down man she saw a few days ago. I’de back with a vengeance and a devilish streak.
“You’re a fucking asshole.”
“And you’re a fucking bitch.”
Her anger surged. “I set that ss up for Shone.”
“Who doesn’t know shit about boxing. He knows what little he learned in my sses and the few attempts by you.” I leaned forward and
red at her. “He’s a gym rat, not a trainer.”
“He’s a great trainer.” Her jaw jutted forward.
I arched a brow at her and turned to Shone, folding my arms across my chest. “Where’s the sartorius muscle located?”
He gave me a nk stare. “Umm.” He looked to Monica for help.
“It’s in the forearm, right here.” He gestured near his elbow.
“That’s the supinator or five other muscles in that area. The sartorius is the longest muscle on the body.” I drew a line with my finger down and around my thigh, then ended at the inside of my knee. “I figured it’d be a pretty easy one to remember.” I shook my head and looked back at Monica.
“Why’d you hire him?”
Her whole body tensed, vibrating from the force. “Shut up!”
“Shut up? That’s a terrible reason.”
She screeched and stomped off to our office, mming the door. Objects crashed against the wall, breaking, and I was happy I’d gone through and taken any personal items and personal information home the prior day.
Dex walked up,plete shock written on his face. “Dude, what happened to you?”
I shrugged. “I gave in.”
“Gave in?”
“Gave up fighting everything. I’m going to have Hope and get
Monica out of my life for good.”
“Have you talked to Hope? Did you fuck her?”
“No, but she works tonight.”
Dex pped me on the back. “Good to see you again.”
I swung my arm to the side and punched his stomach. “Back to work.”
He rubbed his stomach and smiled. “Aye, aye, Capitano!”
I leaned against the front desk, smiling at Dawn. “Who’s on my hit list today?”
She reached out and gave me a high five. “Wee back, boss.” She beamed at me. Was I that far gely? “You’ve got Jason at two, followed by Sarah at three.”
I nodded. “Plenty of time for a workout. Thanks.” I patted the desk as
I stepped away. “Yo, Dex!” His head popped up. “Workout?”
He gave me the thumbs-up and I moved to the locker room, a bit of a skip in my step that I didn’t even realize I’d been missing.
–oOo–
Cassie and her husband were keeping Mompany for the night, so I was in no rush to get home after myst client. It wasn’t a family dinner-those took ce on Sundays-so I knew I wasn’t expected to be there.
I had someone to visit.
Still d in my workout gear and my ck t-shirt with the word “TRAINER” written across the back, I drove back to Union Jack’s to see the girl who made me crazy.
The hostess, Adriane, remembered me from the day before and sat me in Hope’s nearly empty section. I vibrated just knowing she was near. When she came out from behind the kitchen door, I shuddered and adjusted my hardening cock.
She stopped a few feet from the table and stared at me. “What are you doing here?”
I had to bite my tongue to keep from moaning at the view of her cleavage in her tank top. A ripple moved through every nerve in my body.
“I can’t have dinner and a drink?” I quirked my brow at her. Her movements were slow and cautious as she closed thest few feet. “Why are you acting so afraid of me?”
She mmed a napkin down on the table in front of me and red.
“What can I get you to drink?”Belongs ? to N?velDrama.Org.
I smirked at her. “I’m not sure I can have what I want.”
She looked away, the buzzing heat between us increasing. “Dos
Equis?”
I was pleasantly surprised that she remembered. “Water will do me for now.”
She backed up, nearly tripping on her own feet as she turned to head to the bar, an embarrassed blush flooding her face. She looked over at me a couple of times, and I stared straight at her. Last time, I was unprepared to see her again, but tonight, I was going to make sure she knew I wasn’t afraid of the intensity between us.
When she returned with my water and set the ss down, it slipped, tipping over and sloshing water onto the table. We both reached for it, and I barely managed to keep from touching her. The static current was still through the roof with how close we got. I couldn’t image how bad it would be when I got some skin-on-skin contact.
“Sorry.” She wiped away the spilled liquid with some napkins.
“Nothing to be sorry about, Hope.”
Her eyes fluttered as I said her name, eliciting the response I was going for. The muscles in her jaw tensed.
“Are you ready to order?”
“I’d like the spicy veggie wrap.”
“For your side?”
“Chips are fine.”
I handed her the menu, and she started to go, then stopped. “Why?”
I sighed, knowing exactly what she meant-the same thing I’d given up on asking. “Fuck if I know.”
She headed back into the kitchen, and I was left with a nearly empty area, nothing good on TV, and water. Maybe I should’ve gotten the beer. Then again, the calories alone from the other night equated to about ten extra hours of cardio for my week. As much as I loved their pizza, I couldn’t handle it twice in one week.
I pulled out my phone, distracting myself from thoughts of touching her, of letting my cock loose on her. Anything to keep me in check. Puppies seemed like a nice, safe subject.
“Fuck.”
My eye twitched, recognizing the voice of my vapid ex immediately.
“Jared? You didn’t ruin things enough today, so you had to fuck up my dinner tonight?”
The hostess sat them directly across the space from me. Shone walked in behind her, ever the lost puppy.
“I was here first. Ignore me, and both our dinners will remain intact.” I red at her, hoping my death ray beams would work, but they were fresh out ofser gas.
Unfortunately, Hope was their waitress as well. I hated that she was subjected to their poison. As she ced a napkin on their table, it fluttered to the ground. Without thought, she turned around and leaned over, giving me a full view of her fuckable tits.
I groaned and palmed my cock, pressing against the hard-oning back like it’d never gone down when Monica entered the room. The sight killed me and ended way too soon, so I focused on her round ass and fucktastic curvy hips.
Yeah, maybe not such a good idea with the hell-bitch so close. Once she got their drink order, she came back to check on me.
“Refill?”
I licked my lips. “I can’t stop thinking about what I want.”
She reached out and grabbed my ss. “And for now, that means water.”
I leaned out of the booth to watch her ass as she walked away. No reason to be shy about it.
“A chubby girl, Jared? Really?” the evil voice called out from across the room.
“She’s not chubby.” I turned to re at her, teeth grinding together.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “She’s packing on a few extra pounds.”
I swiveled in the booth to face her. “Are you saying that because you’re a super-skinny, muscle-obsessed bitch, you can’t see the beauty and sexiness in a soft, healthy, curvy body? I remember back when we met- when you were human-you weren’t too far off from her.”
“I was never that bad.”
“No, you were never that good. She’s a fucking goddess.” I smirked at her and grabbed my dick. “Are you jealous that she can turn me on just by looking at her?”
Her gaze narrowed. “Shouldn’t you be home with your mommy?”
“Shouldn’t you be shutting your fucking trap before you piss me off anymore?” I turned to Shone, who sat there with stupid writing all over his face, staring at us. “Dude, her pussy isn’t worth the hassle-I should know.”
Monica jumped up, hissing, her face red and angry. “You wouldn’t know good pussy if it jumped on your dick.”
I remained staring at Shone, ignoring her tantrum. “And how the fuck do you put up with her bitchitude? I mean, there’s got to be tons of dimwitted girls out there that would be a perfect match for your color of crayon.”
“Man, shut up. Stop pulling me into it.” Shone shook his head and looked at her. “Babe, sit down and ignore him.”
“You should listen to your pup.”
“He’s twenty-four, asshole!”
“And you’re thirty.”
“Shut the fuck up.” She snarled at me, shaking, and by the expression on Shone’s face, he had no idea.
“That’s youreback?” I quirked my brow at her and then tipped my head back, a strainedughing from my chest. “Thank God there are only ten months left on the lease.”
And there it was-the first hint of what was going down. She’d find out next week anyway.
Her expression was priceless-wide-eyed horror. It shocked me to see because she was smart. How could she not see the writing on the wall?
We were done as business partners.
“You think I’m afraid of you?” Her hand shooed at me. “Crawl on back to your mommy’s house.”
I stood up and faced her full-on, every muscle tight. I was ready to fucking hit her, and there was no one to hold me back or calm me down- though Shone stood, moving to stand between us.
“Say another fucking word about my mom, bitch.”
“What? What will you do, dickwad?”
I’d be so lost in the zing anger that I didn’t notice the surge of lust that suddenly pumped through me. It wasn’t until a scream echoed off the walls that my vision cleared and I saw Hope at their table. “Oops,” she said, picking up a now-empty cup of soda.
“You idiot!” Monica’s screech could be heard blocks away.
“I’m sorry.” Hope remained calm and collected, nothing like when she was near me. A nce my way with a small smile was all I needed to understand she’d done it on purpose.
It was the first sign she’d given me to show she was interested in me for more than the strange, overpowering attraction between us.