Chapter Twelve
Trallis McDaniel
When the notification from Chase Bank lit up my phone, I smirked before I even opened it.
Money looked good no matter whose name it was under.
Mine just happened to say Ny’Airy Buckle.
I opened the banking app anyway just to admire my work.
Fifty thousand dollars sat in the account looking pretty as hell.
A bitch had finally gotten paid for her efforts.
I couldn’t wait to go shopping and buy so much shit I would lose count.
I typed in the man’s name and his contact information as he handed me his credit card to put on file.
I was completing a stack of new member intake forms while checking in existing members because Shelly was running late to our grand Re-opening.
A few seconds later, she came flying inside with her bag and her oversized Stanley cup underneath her arm.
“I am so sorry Trallis, there was a bad car accident on the interstate near Camp Creek Marketplace. Traffic was sitting in one place for a full hour,” she apologized as she placed her bag underneath the cabinet.
“It’s ok girl, just take care of the next customer,” I instructed as I entered in the next person’s address, date of birth, employer, and emergency contact. My mind drifted back to the fifty thousand dollars sitting comfortably in my account.
Ny’Airy probably hadn’t even looked at her credit report yet.
Poor thing.
By the time she figured out what was happening, I’d already have every dollar spent and the account would be closed. It would take her years to dispute and fight all the charges. She would have to get police reports to prove that she didn’t open the account and go through years of legal action.
“I hate being late,” Shelly whined bringing me out of my victory thoughts, as she typed her credentials in the system and began checking the customer in.
“Girl, breathe, you made it. That’s all that matters,” I assured her. The thousands of dollars sitting pretty in my account had me feeling extra nice.
“Why the hell is it so packed? Did I miss a sell on memberships? Has Brick started a new promo campaign? Did one of our videos go viral?” Shelly asked as I started on another intake form.
“I don’t know what happened, but either everybody in Atlanta suddenly decided they wanted abs or someone was recording that drama with Cozart and his wife and now all these people are here because they think this gym is going to be the workout version of Love and Hip Hop,” I shrugged.
We had been open for three days and already signed one hundred and fifty new members.
It usually took a month to see this many new memberships.
I slid the clipboard toward Shelly, before returning my attention to the computer.
Brick & Co was proving that bad publicity was still publicity.
The phones were ringing off the hook, and I felt like I needed octopus arms to keep up with everything.
“Speaking of Love and Lifting Weights, have you seen our messy ass Peter Gunz aka Cozart Walker?” Shelly cracked, causing me to laugh loudly.
She had been so spot on, because if Brick and Co were Love and Hip Hop, Cozart would definitely be Peter’s trifling tail, and I would be Amina, the dummy who loves his dirty drawers and blamed everyone but him for his behavior.
“He’s doing his fitness in the park thing this morning he should be strolling in here with no shirt and a random girl’s panties in his pocket at any moment.” I rolled my eyes and Shelly laughed.
“He’s fine as hell, but I can’t lie, I don’t understand why all of these women go so crazy over him.
I mean I have worked for a few gyms, and I have seen him so many times.
Not him specifically but so many men like him.
Gym rats whose entire personality is in their biceps.
I blame the women who make him feel like a GOD just because he can lift a heavy object in the air.
It ain’t like the man is curing cancer,” Shelly muttered.
I nodded and smiled, like I wasn’t one of the women she was speaking of who treated Cozart like a God.
“So, what did you do over your break? I don’t think I asked you. We’ve been so nonstop busy since we came back a few days ago. Girl, I got my black blown out by some fine ass African man in Miami. He knocked my wig off and my period on,” I laughed causing Shelly to laugh heartily with me.
“Well, your break was more exciting than mine. I just went down to hot ass Texas to visit some family,” she smiled.
“I’ve been to Texas once or twice, what part did you grow up in?
” I asked her realizing, I didn’t know too much about Shelly aside from what I saw while we were working together.
She was a little shy and reminded me of a pretty blonde girl in a high school movie.
I would have thought she was from Boston or Arizona, I would have never pegged her for a Texas girl.
“Waco, Texas born and raised,” she said proudly, and I could hear a hint of a southern twang.
Maybe she was really good at hiding it. I personally thought the southern belle accent was adorable.
My phone pinged, and there was another notification from Chase Bank.
I didn’t bother to check it, assuming that it was simply another alert telling me about the fifty thousand dollars in Ny’Airy’s account.
Four people came through the door at once and I put on a big smile to welcome them into the gym.
Brick & Co were getting their money’s worth out of me today and I probably wouldn’t even get a lunch break.
The hours crawled by until the rush finally began to die down.
I knew that I wouldn’t get a break today so by seven o’clock I was exhausted, the lobby looked like it had survived a hurricane, and my feet were screaming in pain.
There were half-empty water bottles thrown all over the floor, discarded guest passes were scattered everywhere, and I couldn’t remember the last time I had sat down for longer than one minute. The gym looked how we felt.
Shelly collapsed onto the stool beside me with an exhausted groan.
“If one more person asks me if Cozart does private training, I’m clocking out and never returning to Brick & Co Fitness,” Shelly whined.
I laughed, and collapsed next to her, “They don’t want a trainer.
They want to see what made that lady bust the window and act a fool.
They want to see what the D is hitting like,” I chortled.
I felt slightly responsible for the way Cozart’s pussy rating was about to go even higher.
If I hadn’t sent that video, his wife wouldn’t have come up here and gone Waiting to Exhale on his ass.
Whoever had recorded the video and posted it had made it viral on social media.
She shook her head, “I looked on social media just to see if we were tripping and the video is definitely on that ATL scoop page. Atlanta is so damn messy. It’s so many women in the comments being thirsty talking about fucking him, he might need a bodyguard to make sure he doesn’t get raped,” Shelly said just as the doors of the gym opened and the devil walked in.
Cozart was carrying his gym bag over one shoulder.
Sweat darkened the collar of his T-shirt, and he was looking down at his cell phone smiling like a high school boy who had a crush.
It was probably one of his new groupie hoes that I had helped him get.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance. A few steps behind him walking with another woman was Ny’Airy.
She wore black leggings and an oversized T-shirt with her curls pulled into a high puff.
She looked like she had just rolled out of bed and that annoyed me. She didn’t try half as hard as I did.
“Girl, I was about to collapse on that damn hill,” she laughed with another woman as she pulled her phone out of her leggings pocket. Suddenly, she began to laugh loudly as she showed the woman what was on the screen.
“Cozart you are the worst person in the world,” Ny’Airy said through gritted teeth as he turned towards her and laughed deeply.
“How could you record this?” Ny’Airy swatted him on the arm, and he held the spot pretending to be in immense pain.
“I just wanted to show you your progress later. You survived,” Cozart teased as he looked at her the way I looked at him.
“I almost didn’t survive,” she laughed. “Those hill sprints almost took me out and here you are with video evidence.”
“You know he loves to make a video,” Shelly muttered under her breath shadily and I laughed fakely and hit hands with her like his interaction with Ny’Airy wasn’t burning me up inside.
“I told you it gets easier and you are already further than you were just last week,” he assured her as he laughed.
It was a real laugh, not the fake customer service one he gave members.
The sound floated through the lobby. I hated how easily she pulled it out of him.
They seemed to be the only two people in the room.
He reached over and bumped her shoulder with his, and she bumped him back.
Their interaction looked easy, natural, and comfortable.
Like two people who genuinely enjoyed being around each other. Something ugly twisted inside my chest.
Shelly smiled as she watched them walk past the desk and towards his office while everyone else dissipated.
“They are so adorable,” she sighed.
I nearly snapped my neck turning toward her.
“You think they are together? You heard some tea that I haven’t heard about?” I questioned.