by Hazel Kelly
Her small mouth fell open.
“You can trust me,” I said. “So do us both a favor and save your empty threats for someone who deserves them.”
She swallowed.
“Sorry, I—”
“It’s okay. I get it,” I said, reaching for my door handle. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who has her back.”
“I didn’t mean to—”
“Chill, Jeanie. We’re on the same team here.”
“Right.”
I forced a smile and got in the car.
She lifted one hand in a shy wave and then continued across the parking lot.
“What was that about?” Gemma asked.
“What was what about?” I turned on the ignition and peeled out a bit more aggressively than my mom’s car could handle.
“It looked like you guys were exchanging words.”
Perhaps I should’ve let Jeanie carry on with her poorly planned intimidation, but I wasn’t in the mood after hanging up on Jimmy. How dare that sneaky bastard Cliff undermine me by reaching out to him? “Just pleasantries,” I said.
“You weren’t making a pleasant face.”
“Look,” I said, glancing at her before I pulled out into traffic. “Jeanie seems sweet and all, but I only have a few minutes to spend with you before work, so I didn’t want to get carried away with my life story.”
Her skepticism was tangible.
“So, what’s new?”
“My latest video hit five thousand views last night.”
“The planking one?”
“No.”
“The obliques one?”
“No,” she said. “How many have you watched?”
“I thought I’d watched them all.”
“What?”
I stopped at a red light. “So which one was it?”
“The bingo wings one.”
“Oh yeah. I heard that one really burns,” I said. “My mom probably accounts for at least six of those views.”
“Your mom?!”
“I hope it’s okay that I showed her your channel.”
Gemma went quiet.
“Would you rather I hadn’t?”
She angled towards me. “When you say you’ve watched them all…?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes you did. You said ‘I thought I’d watched them all.’”
I shrugged. “Give or take.”
“Alex.”
“It’s not like I follow along with them,” I said. “I just let them play in the background sometimes.”
“When?”
“I don’t know. When I’m making dinner or—”
“Are you making fun of me?”
“Of course not,” I said. “They’re good videos, and you can never be reminded about proper form too many times.”
She narrowed her eyes at me.
I looked back at the road. “Plus, I like the sound of your voice.” When she didn’t say anything for a while, I glanced back at her.
Her eyes were smiling. “I like the sound of your voice, too.”
I felt something soften inside me. It was a warm feeling, but it made me feel weak. Vulnerable. I focused on the road again, worried that the feelings I had for her could make me lose my edge. It was something I’d always feared. Or more precisely, a fear I’d used as an excuse to not get close to anyone before.
But it was impossible to stay away from her. Not only was she irresistible, but she was the only woman I’d ever met that made me feel at home no matter where I was. Fuck.
“What exactly did you tell your mom?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, turning onto the road that led to the gym.
“I mean, did you just say, ‘hey, check out these videos.’ or did you say, ‘here’s the girl I’m trying to sweep off her feet’?”
“Are you not already swept?” I asked.
“Very funny.”
I smiled.
“Seriously.”
“Seriously, I said this is the goddess I told you about. And not only is she smart and funny and beautiful, but apparently she can help you with your bingo wings.”
She failed to hide a shy smile. “And what did she say?”
I flicked my turn signal on and drifted into the right lane. “She informed me that only she’s allowed to refer to her arm flab as bingo wings, but that she’d take a look.”
“And?”
“She thinks you have a nice smile.”
Her face fell.
“And a gorgeous figure.”
Her rosy cheeks lifted again.
“Then she asked me if I’d seen it yet.”
She opened her mouth as if to object.
“But don’t worry. I told her that was none of her business.”
Her stunned expression only intensified after I turned into the parking lot.
“What?”
“My car.” She pointed straight ahead.
I drove over and pulled up beside it. All the trash was gone, and it was sparkling like new.
“Did you do this?” she asked, raising a hand over her mouth.
“It’s not a big deal,” I said. “I knew a guy who was down to earn a few bucks.”
“Alex.” Her eyes grew glassy. “That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“I hope that’s not true.”
She pulled her purse into her lap and opened it. “I insist you let me pay you back right now.”
I laid a hand over her purse. “Put your purse away, Gemma. It was my pleasure.”
“But—”
“Please,” I said. “Let’s pretend it never happened.”
Gratitude filled her eyes as she held my gaze. “Thank you,” she whispered, leaning forward to kiss me. Then she sat back and her smiling eyes warmed me once more. “I am swept,” she said, popping her door open. “Totally, hopelessly swept.”
T W E N T Y T W O
- Gemma -
I walked over to my car after Alex drove away and studied it, wondering if last night had even been real.
It was so clean it was hard to remember what it looked like with spaghetti dripping off the mirrors, takeout boxes stuck to the wipers, and crushed egg shells up and down the hood. Even the asphalt beneath had been hosed down so there wasn’t a stray candy bar wrapper or a dusting of coffee grounds in sight.
It really was like it never happened, and the gesture was such an incredible gift I didn’t know how I’d ever thank him. Or why someone would do something so nice for me. Sure, I knew there were good men in the world, but to clean up another person’s mess like that? Like it was nothing?
He’d changed the whole course of my day for the better. I patted the frame over the driver’s door before heading towards the gym entrance, letting my mind wander back to his admission that he’d been watching my videos.
To be honest, I was initially embarrassed at the news, my brain recalling every blooper and unprofessional camera wobble I’d recorded over the last six months, but I was too happy to dwell on those mistakes for long. After all, if he thought they were cringy, he never would’ve mentioned that he’d watched them. He was too nice a guy to lie to my face like that.
And the fact that he’d shown his mom?! Maybe our chemistry wasn’t all in my head. Maybe he was thinking about me when his head hit the pillow at night, too. Lord knows I was having trouble thinking of anything or anyone else, especially last night after he celebrated my body in that steam room like I was the most beautiful woman in the world.
I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, though, especially since I knew what the opposite of that bliss was. Hell, the memories I had of hitting rock bottom—of feeling totally worthless—hadn’t even collected cobwebs yet. Besides, I couldn’t afford to lose my mind over some guy. I was already homeless and broke.
I mean, I wasn’t totally broke. My dad said he’d pay me back, and I believed him. What choice did I have? Except I couldn’t stay at Jeanie’s forever, and the money I loan
ed him would go a long way towards a down payment on a place of my own.
But I wasn’t going to feel bad about that now either. There was no point. I was better off reveling in the fact that this gorgeous man thought I was a YouTube sensation. Hell, maybe the videos would go viral someday, and I could have my pick of sweet apartments.
That was a long way off, of course. But if the comments on my videos were anything to go on, I was steadily finding super fans, and they were the ones who made it all worthwhile, the ones whose support kept me going even when I felt tired and uninspired. They were proof that my videos were more than a self-indulgent vanity project, which is what I feared on those nights when my mind played tricks on me at three a.m., reminding me of all my worst qualities and biggest mistakes.
I shuddered at the thought and shook it off, wondering if Alex had tried to do any other digging about me online. Not that he would’ve found anything.
After Ray, I’d disabled all my social media accounts, partly to avoid his trolling and partly because checking them only made me feel like crap. Plus, that girl that used to sit on the couch, stuffing her face while she lusted after other people’s lives, was the old me. I was someone else now. Someone with promise. Someone with fans.
Someone with a man.
I skipped over the curb and pulled the front door open, greeting some regulars at the watercooler on my way to ditch my purse.
“Someone looks like they got out on the right side of the bed,” André said, smiling at me from where he was folding towels behind the wraparound front desk.
“Against all odds,” I said. “And how are you?”
“Better now that you’re here,” he said, lowering his voice and shooting eyes at Mary’s office door.
“Why?” I asked, stashing my purse in a cubby below the counter. “What’s up?”
“Let’s just say not everyone’s so chipper this morning.”
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no customers were in earshot. “Any idea why?”
He shook his head. “She’s usually in a slightly better mood when she starts the day with a swim, but not today, apparently.”
A moment later, Mary’s skeletal frame peeked out from behind her office door. “Gemma. A word.”
Shit. I flashed eyes at André after she disappeared.
“Good luck,” he said, turning his focus back to tidying the front desk.
I swallowed and hurried towards the door. It was nothing new that I should be the one to suffer the brunt of Mary’s wrath, but it wasn’t something I ever looked forward to. Usually, I made the time pass by imagining throwing scraps of bread to her like a duck. Lord knows her starvation diet played a role in what a bitch she was most of the time.
“Good morning,” I said, slipping into the office.
She didn’t ask me to take a seat. She just looked up from her desk, her face looking especially gaunt since her hair was damp.
I lifted my brows.
She sighed like she was extremely disappointed in me.
I pressed my lips together and hoped she couldn’t hear the tightening in my chest.
“I heard about the stunt you pulled with your new favorite trainee.”
“Pardon?”
“Mr. Edwards told me all about how you and your little boy toy disgraced him in front of the other members.”
“He’s the one that—”
She raised a palm. “I don’t want to hear it. I know you like to play boss when I’m not around, but you took things too far this time.”
“I apologize.”
“Too little too late, I’m afraid,” she said. “I can’t have the rest of the staff following your lead and going rogue.”
“He harassed those girls, Mary. He’s a sexual predator.”
“Says who?” she asked. “Your little boyfriend?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I suppose you don’t know anything about this either?” she asked, dropping a Ziploc bag on her desk.
“What’s that?”
Her face twisted with ugliness. “You don’t recognize your own underwear?”
I stared at the bag, suddenly seeing that the contents were wet, white cloth. The moisture left my mouth, and I felt lightheaded.
“Should I take them out so we can see if the shoe fits or—”
“Mary, I—”
“Save it,” she said. “You’re fired.”
“What?!” I stormed forward. “You can’t fire me.”
She squinted at the ceiling like she was listening for a noise in the distance. “I said that out loud, right? Do you need me to say it again?”
I parted my lips to speak.
“You’re fired.”
I blinked at her.
“That means you don’t work here anymore.”
“I can explain,” I lied.
“Don’t bother. You’ll need all the bullshit you can muster to get another job. Because I guarantee you won’t be getting a reference from me.”
“You can’t do this!” I said. “You don’t even care about this place! I’m the one that keeps it from burning to the ground every day!”
“By squeezing your wet underwear over it?”
“That’s not fair,” I said. “I’ve never put a foot wrong. Don’t you have to give me a warning first?”
“Not if you got naked on the premises, I don’t.”
“Mary, come on. You know how much I care about this place, how much I need this job.”
“Don’t beg, Gemma. It’s unbecoming.”
I clenched my jaw. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps I was wasting my breath. Not only was she the last person I wanted to beg for anything, she never liked me, and I knew it. And now she had the perfect excuse to get rid of me.
“That will be all,” she said, lifting her eyes to me one last time. “Good luck.”
T W E N T Y T H R E E
- Alex -
I leaned back in the booth and dropped my hand like a gavel on the table between us. “That’s all there is to say about it.”
Jimmy’s lips twitched with frustration.
“Don’t bother objecting. Just cancel the meeting. End of.”
“Alex—”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, okay? It’s that no negotiation was ever improved by another voice chiming in.”
Another twitch.
“This behavior only supports Cliff’s accusation that you’ve been belligerent.”
“Lucky you,” I said, tapping a sugar packet on its side. “That makes it easy for you to blame this on me.”
He rested his elbows on the table and covered his face in his hands.
“Next order of business—”
“Fucking sell it then!” he said, throwing his hands in the air.
“Excuse me?”
“If you’re not going to lead this company like you give a shit about its future, fucking sell it to him already. Might as well give it to someone who wants it.”
I glanced around the café, but no one seemed interested in my best friend’s hissy fit.
He stared at me, his breath shallow.
I took a sip of my steaming coffee.
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “Not even a reaction.”
“I figured that’s why you said that.”
“And?” he asked, his neck hinging forward.
“I’m not going to dignify that kind of emotional outburst with a response,” I said. “What’s more, you’ve just proven to both of us that you’re not in any shape to be cutting deals behind your boss’s back.”
He pressed his palms on the table. “You sound like a dictator.”
“Pump isn’t a democracy.”
“I’ll cancel the meeting,” he said.
“Good.”
“On one condition.”
I raised my brows.
“You sit down with the board in three weeks and tell them what you’ve decided,” he said. “I don’t even care if it’s ba
d news. Just put us out of our misery already.”
I leaned back. “Misery? What misery?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Is this the kind of language you were going to use with Cliff?”
He clenched a fist and extended his fingers as he took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter and more controlled. “The misery of not knowing whether your employment is secure.”
I held his gaze.
“The misery of wondering whether the boss that once inspired you is ever going to break out of his funk and make you feel like the way you’re spending your days—your life—actually matters.”
“Okay,” I said. “Three weeks. No matter the verdict.”
His shoulders dropped as if someone had let the air out of him. “Okay, what else did you want to discuss?”
I pulled a piece of paper from my pocket and unfolded it.
“What’s this?”
“This is the new sexual harassment clause.” I tapped the page and sat back so he could examine it. “Run the wording by our lawyers. I want all the member and employee contracts updated accordingly.”
His eyes continued scanning the page.
“And I want a new form mocked up so people can make complaints anonymously as well.”
“What brought this on?”
“Harvey Wankstain.”
“You too?” he asked, his face full of concern.
“It’s not a joke. This is an important issue, and I want women to know that Pump is a safe place to be.”
“Because you’re a feminist now?”
“Because I’m a gentleman, and I don’t want anyone in my gym who isn’t.”
His eyes flicked up at me, as if he, too, was surprised by the sudden conviction in my voice. “Consider it done.”
The waitress arrived with our breakfast sandwiches and neither of us spoke for the next few minutes.
“Anything else?” he asked finally.
I washed a large bite down with some coffee. “Yeah. I need you to fire somebody.”
“Why can’t you do it?”
“Because it would blow my cover.”
He furrowed his brow. “Who is it? That girl who’s got you so eager to get to work?”
“Why would I want you to fire Gemma?” I asked. “She’s fantastic.”
“So you can bang her?”