16. - Jason -
Chapter sixteen
- Jason -
H eavy guitar riffs were blaring through the speakers. Jason had chosen an old The Plot in You album to play while he trained. He was just warming up with some resistance bands as Kayden and Corey walked into the home gym.
He watched Corey take in the large space. It was Jason’s personal haven. She was still in her leggings from earlier, wearing a new sports bra and her ratty sneakers. She needed new shoes, especially if she was going to be running. It always amazed Jason how some people picked up running, even in the worst-fitting shoes. It just made the entire experience so much harder and less enjoyable. Maybe he only understood the difference because once upon a time, he had been the one running in shoes with soles worn down to the bone. Only now that he had a myriad of different shoes depending on the length and type of run he was going on, did he realize how shitty it had been.
Corey started stretching near the treadmill and Kayden grabbed a barbell from the rack, placing it lengthwise across his shoulder caps and stretching his wrists and elbows. Jason wanted to tell him to get a band and do some proper activation, but Kayden never listened. He didn’t take his warmups as seriously as Jason did.
Corey was just getting on the treadmill as Jason finished up with the bands, moving on to some mobility with the barbell, like Kayden was still doing. The treadmill faced the interior of the gym and out the window, so you weren’t staring at a wall the whole time. She set the pace at a brisk walk and seemed to zone out.
Throwing the barbell around through gruelling workouts without his brother to accompany him in the suffering had been shit. It was nice to have his training partner back, even if the girl had now infiltrated this space in their home, too.
“What’s the workout?” Kayden yelled over the screaming and growling vocals of the music.
“Power cleans, muscle ups, rope climbs, echo bike sprints,” Jason replied, going over to the whiteboard to write the workout down.
Kayden watched him as he wrote out the rounds and rep scheme. “That looks horrible, dude.” But his brother still seemed stoked.
They moved through some technique drills with the empty barbell before loading up some weight plates on either side. Over and over again, Jason pulled the barbell off the ground, catching it in a front rack on his shoulders and popping it back to the ground, adding weight as he went, building the bar heavier and heavier. Kayden was working in tandem beside him.
Jason melted into the complex rhythms and changes in the music's tempo, turning his brain off, his movements habitual and mechanical.
“Ready?” Jason asked, Kayden’s traps straining from his last pull. Kayden caught the barbell, stood up and dumped it back down.
“Yeah,” he got out, between heavy breaths.
Jason grabbed the remote for the wall timer and set it for forty-five minutes. He gave them a ten-second countdown, and then they started chipping away at the ten rounds of work they had before them .
They moved in concert. Each one tried to move faster than the other, which only led to that one moving faster, neither of them able to get ahead of the other. The friendly competition was what he needed from Kayden, that extra push to work harder.
It took him exactly three pulls every time to get up the fifteen-foot rope hanging from the high ceilings, Kayden right there at the top of the rope with him. Every round, they got off the echo bike at the same time and picked up the barbell at the same time. Kayden was like an extension of himself, the only constant in his life and the only thing he ever really cared about.
Jason’s heart rate was peaking, lungs labouring under the effort, his muscles straining as he worked. Sweat was pouring down his face and lactic acid was feeding his forearms. He felt his pulse in his eyeballs, but he didn’t let the booze affect his performance—he never did. They only stopped moving in between exercises to chalk up their hands and take a sip of water before continuing on. The drumming in the songs was aggressive and technical, with intricate patterns and powerful beats that were driving Jason’s energy as much as they drove the songs.
Finally, Jason finished his last calorie on the echo bike just as Kayden did, and they collapsed on the rubber mats of the gym floor, both of them drenched, both of them groaning in exhaustion. The clock showed 42:35. Not a bad time for all that work, considering how hungover he was.
The two of them laid on the ground until the timer went off on the wall. Jason felt around for the remote and shut it off, turning down the music.
As the music quieted, he could hear shoes steadily hammering away on the treadmill.
He had forgotten the girl was there.
This was what he loved about training. Aside from the obvious physical benefits, it cleared his mind completely, wiping the slate clean, leaving him blank.
The treadmill slowed and eventually stopped .
She rounded the machine and came into his field of vision, but her beat-up sneakers and long legs were all he could see from where he still lay.
“How was your run?” Kayden asked her, still panting.
Jason finally sat up, leaning against the fan of the bike.
“Good!” She was flushed and sweaty, but her breathing was more or less even.
“How far did you get?”
“Oh, let me check.” She went back to the treadmill and peeked at the display.
“Just over 13 kilometers,” she called over to Kayden.
She had been running for about an hour. Jason couldn’t deny he was impressed with her time, but he guessed he didn’t really know much about her.
“That’s a great time,” Kayden said to her from the ground.
“Is it? I only ever run outside, and I don’t map anything, so I never really know how far I’m going. The music really helped. I love The Plot in You. Those old albums are some of my favourites,” she gushed, smiling widely.
Her endorphins must have been flowing from the run. She wasn’t usually so peppy. Runner’s high, he guessed, but this was the second time she’d recognized his music choice by album.
“What size shoes do you wear?” The question was out of his mouth before he even realized what he was saying.
Corey looked at him oddly before replying that she was a size eight. Given her height, that made sense.
“Babe, will you pass me my water bottle?”
The casual endearment from Kayden caught Jason off guard. Since they’d first found the girl in Kovack’s driveway, reaching for the gun in that crushed hand, Kayden had been smitten with her. Evidently, it had gotten worse than he’d thought. Kayden wasn’t usually this way. Both of them had gone through a revolving door of women, never staying with one for too long, tiring of them after a few nights. It was usually their thoughts that had them drawing the line.
He wondered if Kayden would be so interested in her if he could hear her like they did with other women. Regardless, there was an ease to Kayden now in the way he interacted with her, like something had settled for him. Maybe that was the reason Jason hadn’t figured out a plan to dispose of her yet.
“No problem, baaaabe. ” She drew out the syllable of the term of endearment teasingly, walking over to scoop up the water bottle, and bringing it back to Kayden who had pulled himself up to lean against his echo bike.
Kayden reached up to take the water bottle from her, but as she stretched her arm out towards him, she tipped the bottle, dumping the water over his head and soaking his already wet body.
“Oops.”
Jason burst out in a bark of laughter. The sound was so surprising to him, he clamped his mouth shut immediately. Kayden looked at him, startled—over his laugh or the water, he wasn’t sure.
The girl was snickering to herself, but Kayden ripped the water bottle from her hand and shot up so fast that she stumbled back. Kayden was also laughing as he dumped the rest of the water on her head.
Jason had to fight hard to stop the smile that was trying to form on his face.
He got himself up off the ground, finding his face towel. He threw another one at Kayden, who was looking at Corey like she was his next meal.
Well, he’d leave them to it.
“I’m going out,” Jason told Kayden. “I have a meeting today to… supervise a transaction.”
Kayden sobered quickly. “I should come with you. ”
“Nah, it’s all good. I’ll have Archie wired up. It’ll be quick.” Kayden looked like he was about to protest. “It’s fine, Kay. Just enjoy your afternoon.”
Kayden’s eyes shifted to Corey, who was watching with interest. “Okay. I’ll keep my phone on me.”
Jason tried to ignore his brother’s palpable apprehension and turned his back on the two once again.