by A'zayler
“Fuck you, hoe, take your mad ass home to that nigga that keeps you crying.”
Killian didn’t wait on her to say anything else before getting in his car and speeding out of his complex. He was tired of these bitches. All them damn mood swings and spoiled ass attitudes were the main reason he was the way he was and would always remain.
4. Insecurities Out loud
Two steps at a time, Killian made his way to the lower level of his gym. Weights and machines could be heard in the distance as he moved toward the front desk. As always, it was packed. People were everywhere training and exercising. Some were even lounging in the small smoothie shop he’d had built in the far corner of the building.
“There you are.” Logan, his front desk employee, walked up to him. “Reagan just called. I told her you were in a meeting.”
Killian held his hand out and dapped her up. “Good looking out. You know I got you.”
“Yes, sir. I know.” Logan smiled at him before walking away.
Logan was his favorite employee and the only other person in his gym outside of him who knew most of his personal business. She’d started out as an intern the prior year, and he’d hired her on permanently, shortly after. She was a pretty young girl who was loyal to him and only him. She’d proven it on too many occasions to count, so he made sure to take care of her for it. Since she was too young to get the dick, and never gave an inkling of wanting it anyway, he simply added an extra three hundred dollars onto her paycheck every time she had to cover for him. That may have seemed like a lot, but for a man like him, it was nothing.
Although Killian led a private life, being in the position he was in brought about a lot of new faces, and he made sure to be careful with that type of thing. Mainly since the majority of his personal dealings were with women. As the founder and owner of The Knockout, women came for him by the boatload. Not particularly for Killian, the man, but for Killian, the trainer. It tended to get a bit overwhelming at times. To constantly be so close yet so far from an array of beautiful women had the tendency to cloud his mental state and frustrate his physical.
The Knockout was a multi-purpose gym that catered to everyone in the city. Whether you wanted to lose weight or gain it, he had trainers for it all. Being that he’d always had a passion for looking nice, Killian spent a lot of his free time in the gym. After ripping his body to the max, he decided to further his expertise and open his own gym. The first couple of years had been a struggle, but thanks be to God, his training clientele, as well as his gym membership, had picked up tremendously. Everyone who was someone trained at The Knockout, making Killian a very wealthy man.
“You staying for a while today?” Jaya, one of his personal trainers, asked as she flounced over to him.
Killian looked at her and nodded. She was dressed in her royal blue Knockout trainer shirt and black spandex biker shorts. Her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, and she had some type of gloss on her lips. Too pretty for her own good was all Killian could think about her.
Jaya was such a beautiful woman that Killian could literally stare at her all day. Her butter pecan complexion, thick, juicy lips, small slanted eyes, and perfect little body made his dick hard whenever he was in her presence, which wasn’t a good thing because she was married as hell. Furthermore, she probably didn’t desire him in the least. She was cool people, though, and one of the best trainers he’d ever had the pleasure of working with.
“Yeah. I got some spare time to burn so I might get a few new member training sessions in.”
She smiled and tapped his arm. “Perfect. They’re piling up faster than we can get to them.”
“That’s a blessing, so I can’t complain.” Killian stood at the counter flipping through his client list. “How long you been here?”
Jaya looked at the apple watch on her wrist. “About four hours. Nate had to go in early this morning, so I just came on in and got started.” Jaya jumped in place energetically. “You know I love a good morning sweat.”
I’ll give your ass a morning sweat alright. Killian bit his tongue to keep from saying what he really wanted to say and just laughed instead.
“Yeah, I know how your ass likes to break people down before they can even get their day started good.”
“Learned from the best.” Jaya’s hand came down on his shoulder lightly before she shot him a smile and walked away.
Killian wasted no time watching her. Instead, he grabbed his binder and headed for the treadmills. More than half of his newest female members started there first. He wasn’t sure if it was because they were the most familiar thing to a beginner or because that’s where all his TVs were. Either way, treadmills were like female magnets.
With ease and assurance, Killian strolled through his gym, stopping to talk to people along the way until he’d reached the section he’d been aiming for.
“Terika Burch?” He read the name from the paper in front of him before looking up to see who would answer to it.
When the average sized woman with the tights and oversized shirt waved her hand, he smiled and headed in her direction. Time in his gym was just what he needed to take his mind off the craziness he’d experienced over the last forty-eight hours.
“I’m Terika,” she told him with sweat dripping from her forehead and neck.
“I’m Killian. I’m going to be your trainer for today. You ready to sweat?”
Terika, who was probably an overworked forty-year-old soccer mom with way too many household responsibilities to take care of herself, gave him a nervous look but nodded anyway.
“Ready as I can be.”
Killian wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her with him. “You’ll be fine. I’ll do my best not to kill you today.”
Pure comedy described the look she gave him after that statement, but surprisingly, she’d done amazing. Terika was a hard worker, and her session had flown by a lot faster than Killian had wanted it to. Working out was his release, and he needed that more than anything at the moment. From the nagging feeling of somewhat loving Reagan to the rejection from East, his mind was all bugged out, and being who he was, it would probably stay that way.
Killian wasn’t much of a talker and was only really nice to the people who paid him. Everyone else barely got two words out of his mouth, if that. Women, anyway. Men, he could do. They could kick it and converse casually without too much expectation. Because of his looks, depending on the situation, women required too much energy. Too much thought, too much feeling, and he needed to stay as far away from that as he could.
“Same time tomorrow?” Terika asked him once she returned from the locker room with her gym bag thrown over her shoulder.
Killian hated to break her heart, but that wasn’t how it worked. “I’m not sure. It’ll probably be another trainer here for you tomorrow.”
“But I want you.” Her eyes were wide with desperation as her hand rested on his elbow.
Killian got so lost in her statement that he ended up telling her yes. Her words were so endearing and sincere that it almost made him consider liking her. He hadn’t had a woman to say something like that and mean it in his whole life. True enough, he was sure she didn’t mean it the way he had taken it, but it still made him feel good.
“See you tomorrow, Killian. Thanks for being so patient with me.” Terika waved and headed for the door.
“See, if you’d be more patient with all the rest of your women, then you might find one that’ll love your mean ass.”
Killian turned around to find Gabrion walking toward him. In his gym clothes and a bottle of water accompanying his hand, Gabrion stopped next to him and smiled.
They dapped each other up while chuckling. “Boy, fuck you.”
“Aye, I’m just calling it like I see it. Shorty was switching so hard trying to walk out that door I thought she was gone trip on her own damn feet.”
“This nigga here stay clowning.” Killian was laughing again. Something he did pretty often when Ga
brion was around.
Gabrion was a jokester like that, always had been. A southern nigga through and through. An ole high yellow ass boy with a low haircut and tattoos practically everywhere. He was funny as ever and the most charismatic person Killian knew. On most days, he was dressed to the nines just like Killian and Onyx, and if he wasn’t, it was because he was leaving the gym. Still low-key fresh then too.
Since he was an exercise fanatic like Killian, he spent a lot of time working out. If he wasn’t at The Knockout, he was at the high school he worked at using their gym. It was still crazy to Killian how they’d hired a nigga as country as him to educate others. He talked mad junk to the kids too, but they loved him to death, so it was obviously working.
“How long you been here?” Gabrion took a drink of his water.
“A few hours. Reagan had me so wound up I couldn’t get here fast enough.”
Much like Onyx, Gabrion couldn’t stand Reagan either. So, when his face frowned, Killian didn’t take offense.
“What she do this time?”
“Same thing, different day.”
“Well if you like it, I love it, my nigga.” Gabion shook his head. “All I can say is that it wouldn’t be me. Every time she made me mad, I’d call her nigga. He’d have to get her away from me for a little while. Hell, that’s the least he could do since she taking all your bread.”
“This nigga stay cracking.” Killian and Gabrion laughed some more.
“I’m for real, bruh. As much mess as you take off that broad, that dude needs to be paying you.”
Killian ran his hand over his head. “You ain’t never lied.” Killian hit Gabrion’s shoulder. “Then Jaylen’s cousin ain’t making nothing better with her pretty ass.”
“Nigga, can you ever not have women problems?”
Again, they laughed.
“I’m saying, though, you don’t even really know this one. You just met her last night, right?”
Killian nodded.
“What could she have possibly done in one night? I knew I should have come.”
A smirk was on Killian’s face as he waited for Gabrion to guess. He was a bright dude who kept more women than he could count, so surely it wouldn’t be long before realization set in.
When his eyebrows rose, Killian knew he’d gotten it. “Damn, that fast?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t on no shit like that. She’s cool, we just got drunk and vibed. One thing led to another, and I was in some of the best pussy I ever had in my life.”
Gabrion clapped his hands in excitement. “Swear? It was like that?”
“Nigggga, it was more than like that. It was so like that I took my fucking rubber off.”
Gabrion instantly stopped smiling. “I know like hell, you lying. You don’t even know this chick. She could have given your ass anything.”
Killian’s head shook as he tried to reassure his own self as well. “Nah, I don’t think she’s like that. This Jay’s people we talking about. You know she ain’t that type.”
Gabrion watched him with a disbelieving look on his face. “I don’t think there’s a particular type of person that has diseases. I mean, I know it’s some, but Kill, I know you smarter than that shit. That had to be some slip and slide pussy for you to be doing crazy shit like that.”
“Gabrion, listen. I couldn’t have gotten any wetter if I’d jumped in the ocean, you feel me?”
“Yeah, I guess I feel you, but you need to be smarter than that. Don’t let these women trick you out your life.” Gabrion began to walk. “They’re already tricking you out of your money.”
Killian couldn’t even front. Gabrion was right, and it was funny to hear, so once again, they were laughing. The two of them walked to the back where the weights were and got ready to lift. Since he’d been training from the moment he walked through the doors, Killian hadn’t had a chance to really get his own workout in, but with Gabrion there, it was time to get it.
The time ticked by, and before long, another two hours had passed. Killian was breathing hard with his hands resting on his hips as he paced the floor of his massive weight room. Gabrion was in pretty much the same condition but had left to hit the sauna before cooling down.
“Sir, it’s almost time for me to go. Do you need anything?” Logan’s voice came from beside him.
“Nah, you good. Just make sure you put the towels in the dryer before you go.”
Logan gave him a thumbs up. “Already done.”
Killian winked at her. “That’s my girl.”
Logan’s young, vibrant face was bright as she smiled before walking away. “See you tomorrow.”
“Drive safe.”
Killian yelled behind her as he followed her lead toward the front of the gym. With his body still overheated from working out, Killian snatched his shirt off and tossed it behind the check-in counter. He had a few more reps of sit-ups to go before going home, so he took off in the direction of his mats. Just before he got to it, a familiar face caught his attention. Killian had to do a double take.
“So, this the kind of service y’all offer up in here?” East looked from Killian’s arms to his ripped chest. “Work out and get the view for free?”
Killian gave her a small smile. “Something like that. I like to call it my VIP package.”
East rubbed her chin playfully. “Is that so? I may need to see what’s all included in that.”
“You might.”
“I think I do.” East seductively looked him up and down. “Can you show me to the owner? I need to sign up.”
With a cool look on his face, Killian casually hit his fist into his open palm. “You’re looking at him.”
East’s forehead scrunched up in confusion before she twisted her mouth to the side in disbelief. “You for real?”
Killian nodded, and East immediately began to look around while Killian watched her take in as much of his establishment as she could.
“This is so nice. Jaylen didn’t tell me.” East scratched the side of her head before making eye contact with him. “Well, sort of, but not for real.”
Confused, Killian just stared at her. “What?”
East circled her waist with her arms while looking at him. “She told me that Onyx had some good, successful friends who would make good husbands. She said one owned his own business and the other one was a math teacher.” East flashed her heartbreaking smile. “I just didn’t know who was who.”
“How could you? We didn’t really talk much last night.”
Had the lighting in his building not been so bright, he might have missed the small flush of red that warmed her cheeks before she held her head down. It was clear their sex made her feel some kind of way, which was good since he’d been thinking otherwise all day. After her blunt dismissal, he figured she was just like the rest of the one night stands he’d encountered. Maybe she wasn’t, or maybe she was. Only time would tell.
“What you looking at the floor for? You was all up in my face today. Had hella mouth.”
East finally looked back up. “I was not.” Her eyes rolled.
Killian was in no mood for more female attitude, so he moved on. “You were, but it’s cool. What you doing up in here?”
It took her a minute to answer, but she eventually did. “I was at the house with Jaylen and Onyx feeling like a third wheel, so I asked her about a good gym. Onyx gave me the directions here.”
“And neither of them told you I owned it?”
East shook her head. “Nope. He just told me you were a trainer here, but that was it.”
“So, you need a trainer, or you just wanted to work out a little?”
“A little of both.”
Killian watched her for a few seconds, trying to make up in his mind on what he wanted to do. He had no problem spending some time with her on the machines, but he was beat and would rather go home.
“You really trying to work out tonight? Or you just needed to get out of the house?”
East made the cutest l
ittle pout face, way cuter than Reagan’s, and pulled at his arms. “I really just wanted to get out of the house. Help me, please!”
His laughter was low, but she’d heard it because she laughed too. “Let me get showered, and we can go do something,” Killian spoke before thinking.
Immediately following his words, he hesitated and scolded himself for speaking too fast. What in the world would make him think she wanted to go out with him? Sex had been at night and in a very inebriated state. Her reaction from earlier clearly stated that wasn’t what she was on. He was just about to retract his invitation when she touched his chest.
“Oh my gah, thank you!” Her hand remained on his sweaty chest. “You’re the best!”
“Ain’t no thing.” Killian was smiling at her and annoying himself.
He could already feel it. The feeling of happiness that was leaped inside of him would only lead to one thing, disappointment. If only he could control himself enough to mess around with women and leave it at that. Whenever someone showed him the smallest amount of attention, he fell, and hard.
“Come on, you can wait for me in my office.”
East followed him obediently, still looking around along the way. She entertained herself the entire way up the stairs and to his office. Once inside, Killian closed the door behind them and instructed her to relax and make herself comfortable until he was finished.
Since he knew he had her waiting, he tried to get himself together as quickly as possible. When he got out of the shower and heard a male voice and East’s laughter, he got mad. He couldn’t get dressed and see what was going on fast enough. After another ten minutes, he walked out of his bathroom to a laughing East, and a sweaty, shirtless Gabrion.
East was seated casually on the small sofa with one foot tucked beneath her while Gabrion stood in front of her with his arms folded as he talked. When they noticed he was out, they gave him their attention. East smiled sweetly while Gabrion’s same smile from earlier remained.
“You ain’t work out hard enough for a shower that long.”
“Nigga, fuck you,” Killian said as he moved awkwardly toward his desk.