Chapter 5
“Oomph.”
The chain attached to the bag jingled as I landed a right hook. Before it stopped, I followed it with a left jab. The punching bag retreated, attempting to surrender. I waited until it returned for another round. Holding my hands up, I fixed my form, narrowing my shoulders and protecting my face.
Left. Right. Right. Left. Instead of relying solely on boxing, I let the momentum carry my body. Spinning, I came around, smacking the bag with my forearm. If it were a real person, I’d kick at their knee, snapping it before going in for a chokehold.
I had my fist drawn back, ready to strike it again when the bag begged for mercy. The last hit had cut through the fabric, and the sand inside fell to the floor. Inspecting my knuckles, I could see a fine dusting coating my hands.
The trainer waved at me to stop. “These damned bags are always breaking. You’d think with how much we charge you for membership, we’d replace them more regularly.”
I gave him a slight nod before meandering back to the bench with my gym bag. My lungs were on fire, angry at how hard I was working out this morning. But if I was going to be a functional human being for the rest of the day, I had to let out some steam now.
I hated working out. Unfortunately, I loved food and with how much I ran my mouth, I needed a mean right hook to back it up.
I could be in the weight room bulking up with the other steroid junkies, or in the yoga studio proving men with guts were incapable of touching their toes.
Instead, I came to the older part of the gym with the retired vets lifting free weights and shadow boxing away their demons.
Chimes sounded from my gym bag and I searched for my phone. I didn’t need to read the text to know it was Griffin apologizing for arriving at the gym late. It had become a sick game where I tried to convince him to work up a sweat, and he showed just in time for me to suggest breakfast.
Not today.
I texted him back to meet me in the locker room. Like always, he’d show up with a gym bag to sell the charade, but today I was going to find out if he bothered packing clothes. Throwing a towel around my shoulders, I snatched my gym bag and headed toward the men’s locker room.
Through the lobby, I found Griff turning in circles. “Seriously, you don’t even know where it is, do you?”
“I was waiting for you.”
“Well then…” I take a slight bow. “After you then.”
“Jerk.”
I gave him a pat on the ass as I walked past, heading toward the back of the gym.
As we passed the studios, the smell of chlorine grew stronger until we banked right into the locker rooms. Every once in a while, I’d get lucky and there’d be a bearish man with a towel wrapped around his waist, but today it looked like all the beef had opted to stay in bed.
“Are we really doing this? You look like you’ve already been working out. How about we call it a day and head to the HideOut?”
Called it. I turned toward the row of lockers, pulled one open and tossed my bag in. His eyes were attempting to burn a hole in the side of my head. “Nope. You’re getting some exercise today that doesn’t include Sebastian’s cock.”
“Don’t be jealous that I’m getting my cardio outside of the gym.”
I hated he was right. “We’re hitting the pool. You can splash around while I swim laps.”
“But Chad has a new omelet…”
“Then we can sit in the hot tub.”
In the two years I had known Griffin, I had never seen him move so fast. Pants hit the tiles, and he was digging through his gym bag for shorts. When he finally pulled them out, I snatched the tag off the waistband. “Really? For how many months have these been in there?”
“Shut up.”
Griffin was the newest addition to our troupe.
There were times he grated on me with his comic book obsession and constantly yammering about superheroes, but he meant well.
But out of the four of us, he was our source of culture.
Alejandro was our sex fiend, Bernard our sagely dad, and me—I was the pragmatic one with a chip on my shoulder.
The things that grated on me about Griffin were what made him a good friend, a calm to my chaotic frenzy.
“Want me to draw you a picture? It’ll last longer?”
Standing in the buff, he rested his hands on his hips, baring every inch of himself.
If this were a porno, I’d have him pinned against the lockers as I railed him to the sound of a silky smooth synthesizer.
Eyeing his belly, the thought lingered. Thankfully, we swore off from hooking up with members of breakfast club.
Instead, I snapped my towel, landing a sharp strike against his stomach.
He laughed as his eyes drifted south. “Got you hot and bothered, I see.”
“Jerk.”
We both let out a laugh as we changed and headed to the pool.
True to form, I got in a series of quick laps, cursing my inability to maintain my form.
Griffin, on the other hand, doggy paddled back and forth, just enough to classify the event as physical activity.
After finishing my twentieth lap, I hopped out of the pool to find him already enjoying the bubbles in the hot tub.
Level with the floor, I took my first step into the steaming water. Three more steps and it covered my waist. The chill of the pool vanished. I positioned myself in front of a series of jets that would massage the knot from the base of my back.
“Rough day?”
I nodded. “Try week.”
“I saw the alerts on the HeroApp?. That was a full-on invasion. I’ve never seen so many heroes in one place.”
“Do you know of a hero with four arms? Alien?” There was nobody more knowledgeable than Griffin when it came to superheroes. Part of his job required him to be familiar with them, but mostly, he was a geek.
“Four-Arms?”
“Nope. This one was green.”
“Sentient Spider?”
“Nope. Eyes were more serpentine.”
“Lizard Dude?”
“Now you’re just making up names.”
“Prometheus? Yellow and Black suit?”
I knew it. “Yup, that’s the one.”
“You got to meet Prometheus? The magazine has tried to get an interview with him for the last year.”
“Do you know anything about him?”
“He arrived here from a parallel world. Rumor is his home planet took a different evolutionary turn. They’re this crazy mix of technology and magic.
Beyond that, everything is just hearsay.
He wasn’t part of a team and just randomly pops up when there’s a global-level event.
He once helped the Centurions stop the Ynieth shapeshifters from attacking Earth. ”
“I had to rescue him yesterday.”
“That’s so cool. I’m jealous you got to—”
The way he froze mid-sentence, I assumed my expression must have given away the outcome. There was a minute of silence before he switched sides in the hot tub, resting a steaming, moist hand on my shoulder. I nodded, thankful he didn’t push the conversation.
“Were you there long?”
“I got sidelined after the first patient.”
“Why?”
The bubbles worked at the knot in my back. If I didn’t have to check-in at work, I could have sat there all day. As I let go of the tension in my muscles, I focused my attention on the bubbles breaking the surface of the water.
In the reflection, I could make out the shadowy figure staring back at me. Nonchalantly, I waved my arm through the image and it vanished, swallowed by the depths of the hot tub.
“Topic switch.”
Breakfast club had a thousand rules, most of them we made and then immediately broke. However, the survival of our friendships relied on some boundaries. The moment I invoked one of the most sacred, Griffin moved on.
“Sebastian booked us a cabin up in the mountains. It started out as me asking him about camping.”
I gave a nod with my head to suggest getting out. Griffin moved to the stairs as he spoke. “Nope, not happening. Too many bugs. Impossible to sleep. No menu options. He’s a bit of a city boy. Yup, a couple of days roughing it in a cabin with only two bathrooms and a private chef. It’ll be torture.”
Walking the length of the pool, I tried to understand how he and Sebastian worked. I wasn’t sure who was dating out of their league, but they weren’t playing the same game.
We arrived at the lockers and I dropped my shorts while toweling off. “Oh, speaking of sexy men, do you or Sebastian know an Aiden at Revelations?”
“I only worked there a day, but Sebastian should. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, just somebody I bumped into.” I pulled the towel over my head, giving it a quick wipe down. The perks of having a buzzed head, easy maintenance, and I always knew the moment it started raining.
I pulled on a pair of briefs and then my work pants. “I was going—”
“Aiden Scott,” Griffin said. “Former blogger picked up by the magazine. He writes their online content.” I hadn’t even seen him grab his phone, but he was already scrolling through his texts.
“Remind me to never share secrets with you.”
“Sebastian says he’s a nice enough guy.”
“You’re getting stalkerish.” The truth was, I wanted more information. Not only did I owe Aiden a thank you for saving my life, but I wouldn’t mind seeing that scruffy face staring up at me as I plowed him.
“So you don’t want his number?”
“Whoa. Whoa. Don’t be crazy.” Okay, so this morning, I’d be paying for Griffin’s coffee. When my phone vibrated with a text message, I grinned. I had a moment imagining Aiden walking away from me and what he’d look like without jeans. Yeah, he’d be fun in the sack.
“If you’re done daydreaming about wrecking one of Sebastian’s employees, we’re going to be late to breakfast.”
I caught myself licking my lips, and it wasn’t because of Chad’s crepes.
“Bernard, are you okay?”
He stared at his coffee as if he was searching for answers to the universe. While Alejandro went on a tirade about the benefits of sleeping with a psychic, Bernard had been unusually quiet. At this point, the big guy would have been making dry, subtle quips about Alejandro’s latest conquest.
“It’s been a long night.”