Chapter 5
Leo
“Stop staring,” Grant mumbles, elbowing me in the side as he passes.
I quickly turn away, but it’s hard not to watch Clara. Especially when she’s walking around our gym with a clipboard, jotting down god knows what.
When I arrived this morning, she asked me a few questions, then asked to see our marketing materials. The flyer was literally all we had, so that took all of two seconds, then she spent the rest of the day observing and looking around on her own.
I didn’t know what to do with myself. What did I do here all day? Workout? Talk with the guys and clients? Occasionally I’d do some cleaning, but since we had little clientele, there wasn’t much to do.
She lifts her tiny hand to push a strand of her long brown hair behind her ear. She’s wearing it in a low braid over her shoulder again today, and it hasn't escaped my notice that she’s in the same clothes as yesterday, too.
“We need to pay her cash,” I say, getting Grant’s attention. “How much does a marketing person make, anyway?”
“How should I know? Sixty an hour?”
“No, that’s way too high; she’ll think something's up.”
“Well, what do I know? I’ve never owned a business before.”
“Me either. I’ll ask ChatGPT.” I pull out my phone and type in the question. “It says thirty an hour is more than fair for this area and industry.” I look at him as I ask, “Can we afford it?”
“We’ll be fine for a few months.” I nod, hoping she can actually help us bring in some more business. I’d hate to have to shut this place down and go work for someone else. I love the freedom of this place and being our own bosses. Plus, spending every day with my best friends was a big bonus.
And now I’ll get to spend every day with her.
“Alright, thirty it is. I’ll pay her when she’s done at five. What’s the time now?” Grant asks.
I look at my phone as I tell him, “Four thirty.”
He nods and heads to the back office.
Unable to leave her alone any longer, I make my way over to where she’s staring at a piece of weightlifting equipment.
“What’s put that frown on your face, shortcake?”
“Shortcake?” she asks, her nose scrunching adorably.
“Yeah, cause you’re tiny and sweet like cake,” I say, smirking down at her.
“I’m only tiny compared to you three giants.”
I laugh as I tell her, “You’re shorter than we are tall.”
“I beg to differ. But there is something you can help me with.”
“Sure, what is it?”
“That,” she says, pointing at the machine in front of us. “What is it?”
“It’s a reverse hyperextension machine.”
“How do you use it?”
I place my body against it, my legs hooking under the padding cylinders, then look at her as I curl them back. “Like this.”
“Ahhh, okay, I see now. I think I figured everything else out, but this one stumped me.”
“You should have told me you wanted to know how everything worked; I could have shown
you.”
“No, I wanted to look at it through the lens of someone who’s new to the gym. I’ll only have that chance once.”
“You’ve been here a day now; you got any recommendations for improvement yet?”
“Definitely. But I want to write up a plan before I tell you.” She glances up at me. “If that’s okay?”
“Sure. You’re the businesswoman; we’re just a couple of guys who know how to lift weights.”
She studies me for a second before she adds, “I’m sure you know how to do more than that. How long have you owned this place?”
“About three years.”
“And what did you do before that?”
“We were in the military.”
“Really? All three of you?” Her eyebrows raise in surprise as her eyes take a quick glance down my body. I wish I knew what she was thinking right now. Is she thinking about how much I look the part?
“Yeah, we were in the army together.”
“Is that how you met?”
I nod as I explain. “We were in the same unit. I was the medic, Grant was our squad leader, and Asher was infantry.”
“Why did you leave?” she asks with a tilt of her head as she hugs the clipboard to her chest.
“We saw ten years of combat. That was more than enough for us to realize we wanted more from life.”
“And running Iron Oaks, this is what you dreamed of?” she asks curiously.
I let my eyes trail over her face as I think about what I really want from life. A family. I sort of feel like I’ve found it with Asher and Grant, but something is missing. Or someone.
“Something like that,” I finally answer.
“So you’re a medic and you were in the military. I think you have a lot more to offer than you think.”
I nod in agreement. “You’re right. I know how to take care of people and how to protect what’s mine.” I know she’s referring to the business, but my answer has a double meaning.
A small blush touches her cheeks, and I try not to react.
What is she thinking about right now?
Is she thinking about me protecting her?
“You know that includes you now, too?”
“What?” she asks, her eyes going wide.
“You work here now, so you’re under our protection. If you run into trouble or ever need any help, you just let us know, okay?”
She stares at me as if trying to read between the lines, then she slowly nods her head. “Okay.”
“Great, now why don’t you go see Grant, and he’ll pay you for the day.”
Her eyes widen again at the mention of money. “I get paid today?”
“Yes, we’ll pay you at the end of each day you work, if that’s okay?”
“That’s perfect!” she says excitedly.
“Oh, do you have that employment form filled out?”
“Yeah, I have it here,” she says, pulling it off of her clipboard.
“I’ll take that; you go find Grant in the back.”
“Thanks, Leo.”
I nod my head as she scurries off, giving me a chance to read it. Under address and phone number, she’s left them both blank, making me frown. She needs to give us her phone number; how else will we contact her?
I think about whether I’ve seen her pull her cell out at all today and realize she hasn’t. She’s been holding that clipboard all day. Does she not have a phone?
I scan the paper and flip it over, and my eyes widen, realizing I forgot to delete the question asking which one of us she finds the most attractive. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Asher asks, stepping up to look over my shoulder. “You idiot, you left that in?”
“I didn’t mean to! I thought I deleted it. I blame Grant for distracting me.”
“Look, she answered it.” He points to her handwriting underneath, and I lift the page to read what she wrote.
“Grant ten out of ten. Leo ten out of ten. Asher ten out of ten.” I lower the page as Asher frowns.
“What does that mean?”
I smirk at him as I look back in the direction she went. “She gave us all perfect scores. She likes us.”