Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Sunday, I went to the gym when I knew the twins were working. I spotted Keelan the moment I walked inside. He was talking to another employee near some of the weight machines. I had a feeling the other employee might have been a personal trainer by how buff he was, and he also wore the same dark navy polo with the Desert Stone Fitness logo on the breast pocket that all the other employees wore. Keelan, on the other hand, wasn’t wearing a polo. He was wearing a black gi.
As I went to pass him, heading toward the locker room, he saw me. “Shiloh!”
I stopped walking. He quickly parted ways with his coworker and walked over to me. I smiled. “Look at you,” I said, gesturing to his gi.
Keelan put his hands on his hips and glanced down at his outfit. “I’m filling in for another instructor who’s out sick today. They teach a jiu-jitsu class for beginners and it’s about to start if you want to join?”
I adjusted the strap of my gym bag on my shoulder. “I’d love to, but I think I’m a little too advanced for a beginner’s class.”
“How advanced do you think you are?”
I winced. “I’m not entirely sure.”
“Hmm.” He appeared to contemplate something. “If you truly want to take some classes, I could set aside some time to work with you to determine the best placement for you.”
“Really?” I beamed, beyond thrilled.
“Yeah. Let me look over my schedule and I’ll text you?”
“Sure.”
“Great. I have to get to that class. I’ll talk to you later,” he said, and we parted ways.
I locked up my gym bag before starting my stretches by the indoor boxing ring. I did some lunges with side bends, then worked on my quads and hamstrings. As I was bent over touching my toes, two sets of shoes came into view. I had a feeling I knew whose feet they belonged to.
“You shouldn’t be allowed to stretch in public,” Creed said.
“What?” I stood up straight. As soon as I saw them, or should I have said what they were wearing, I gaped. “You both look adorable!”
And they did. Both of them had on the navy Desert Stone polo with black pants. A couple of guys stretching a few feet away chuckled. Creed, who was already frowning, folded his arms over his chest. Colt scrunched his nose.
“What?” I asked again.
“Guys don’t like to be referred to as adorable,” Colt explained.
Oh . “Would you have preferred handsome?”
“Or hot,” Colt supplied at the same time Creed said, “Or sexy.”
I snorted. “Noted.”
Creed’s frown lessened. “Are you planning on going up to the track?”
I nodded.
He held out his hand. “Jacket.”
My stomach dropped. I was only wearing a sports bra underneath. The scars on my arms, I could suck it up and deal with the stares. It was the scars on my stomach and shoulder I refused to have people gawk at. I had been lucky so far that the guys hadn’t asked how I’d gotten the others, but if they saw the ones on my stomach, they’d ask. How could they not? “I can’t take off my jacket.”
“You’ll overheat,” Creed argued.
“I can’t take it off, Creed.”
“Why?” Colt asked.
I sighed and stepped closer to them. “I’m only wearing a sports bra underneath. I’m not comfortable running around in just that.”
They both stared at me, surprised, then Creed said, “I’ll be right back,” before walking away. I gave Colt a questioning look and he shrugged.
Creed returned pretty quickly with a navy T-shirt that had Desert Stone Fitness written on the front. He held it out to me. “You can wear this while you run.”
I took the shirt. “You can’t just give this to me, Creed. I need to pay for it.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Colt assured.
I looked back and forth between them. “Are you sure?”
Colt grabbed me by my shoulders. He turned me around to face the locker rooms. “Yup, go get changed and we’ll see you after your run.”
I returned to the locker room and replaced my athletic jacket with the Desert Stone T-shirt. It fit perfectly. After locking up my jacket, I headed up to the track.
I ran for a little over three hours. To cool down, I walked one more lap. Movement to my right caught my eye and I glanced to see there was a good-looking guy walking next to me. He was tall and had, despite being a little sweaty, silky brown hair. He smiled at me, revealing a dimple. I pulled out one of my earbuds.
“Are you training for a marathon?” he asked me.
I was breathing heavily but I still managed to get out a, “No.”
“Really? I think you should consider it. You ran for a long time.”
Did that mean he’d been watching me the entire time? I gave him a tight smile.
“I’m training for a half marathon that’s next month and I’m hoping I’ll be ready for the full one by next year,” he told me, and he continued to follow and talk to me even as I veered off the track toward the cubbies, where people kept their water bottles. I scooped up my bottle and began chugging it.
“I’m Jacob, by the way,” he said, holding out his hand.
I didn’t want to be rude and not shake his hand, but something about this guy didn’t sit right with me. He was coming on too strong.
“Shiloh,” a deep, rumbly voice said. I turned and to my utter surprise, I found Knox standing by the stairs. He was wearing the same Desert Stone polo as the twins, but with khaki dress pants and black dress shoes. His hands were in his pockets and he held a cold expression as he looked from Jacob to me. “It’s time to go.”
I was slightly unsure whether he was kicking me out or giving me an escape. Either way, I was relieved. To be polite, I said goodbye to Jacob and scurried over to Knox. He stepped out of the way so I could go down the stairs. Once back on the main floor, I turned to face him. His attention was fully on me. Gosh, he was intense and seemed even bigger up this close. He made me feel incredibly small as he stared down at me.
“Thank—”
“Colt and Creed are waiting for you at the front desk,” he cut me off, and then he walked away.
I tried not to scowl at his back. Colt had warned me that Knox was a thousand times pricklier—my words, not Colt’s—than Creed.
Air from a vent directly above me blew over my exposed neck and arms, giving me goosebumps and reminding me that I was soaked with sweat. I quickly grabbed my stuff from the locker room and headed for the front desk. Colt and Creed were sitting behind it. They had changed out of their uniforms and were now wearing T-shirts and basketball shorts.
As I approached, I saw the pretty blonde receptionist sitting with them blush and laugh at something Colt had said. Creed spotted me first and got to his feet. “All done?”
Colt got up next. Both him and Creed slung their gym bags on their shoulders and made their way around the desk.
I nodded.
“Good, let’s go eat,” Creed said as they came to stand next to me.
I gaped at him. “Can you not see me? I’m soaked and I’m pretty sure I stink.”
“We can stop at home real quick for you to shower,” Colt said before his twin could argue.
Thank goodness because I really did stink. “Alright, what are you buying me for dinner?”
“Buying?” Creed scoffed. “Who said we were buying?”
I grinned and started for the exit. “Well, since you didn’t give me any say in the matter...”
Colt chuckled. “She’s got us there.” He gave a small wave to the receptionist, who had been watching us. “Have a good night, Stephanie.”
“You too!” she said enthusiastically.
Once outside, I glanced at Colt. “I think she likes you.”
His brows rose. “Stephanie?”
Creed snorted. “Colt isn’t the one she likes.”
“Yeah, she’s had it bad for Knox for a couple of years now,” Colt said.
“Really? She blushed when talking to you,” I pointed out.
They both laughed. “You blush all the time,” Creed said.
“That’s because I’m shy,” I grumbled as my cheeks scorched.
Creed gestured to my face, laughing harder. “You’re like an innocent cherry tomato.”
My mouth fell open slightly as I gawked at the both of them. Were they making fun of my height? I might have only been five-four, but that wasn’t that short. I wasn’t going to even attempt to decipher the innocent part.
“Whatever,” I grumbled and tried to veer off toward my car.
Colt grabbed my hand and pulled me back to them. “We think it’s adorable that you blush.”
I frowned. “I understand your reasoning for not wanting to be referred to as adorable.”
“Would you prefer hot?” Colt asked and Creed followed with, “Or sexy?”
Even though they were teasing me, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing no matter how hard I tried.