Flex Appeal (Side Hustle #1)

Chapter 1

Kari

I lie on the sleeper sofa in a room that no longer holds the familiar childhood memories I thought would live forever.

No more boy band posters papering the white walls.

The bulletin board once covered with concert stubs and dried corsages is now covered with Dad’s notes to self…

and a newspaper clipping announcing my sister’s engagement.

I’m not the tall one, the thin one, the pretty one, the gainfully employed daughter who’s well on her way to adulthood with a husband and two-point-five children in her future.

Ugh. I’m an absolute failure.

I roll over so I am not reminded of my shortcomings and continue doom scrolling on social media searching for potential clients.

A few months ago, I was well on my way with a good job, my own place, regular nights out with my bestie, and the start of a savings account I could be proud of.

All of it ruined in a heartbeat when Feds raided the office, arrested my boss and confiscated every piece of equipment and office furniture in the place.

And the bank accounts that should have paid my last paycheck.

After the initial shock I scrambled for another job, but when potential employers got a whiff of the stench my former employer left behind, I was damaged goods.

No one would hire me. I spent months in denial, living off my savings until even that dried up.

I swallowed my pride, told my best friend goodbye over sappy movies and chocolate chip ice cream, and moved back home.

When Darby took the internship and moved to Chicago, I was on top of the world. It was like the band got back together and we hadn’t missed a beat. Until my no good boss was arrested for tax fraud.

Tell me again how adulthood is supposed to feel like freedom when I’m back in my childhood bedroom living under my parents’ roof. - Kari

Three dots pop up immediately.

Look on the bright side. No rent. Free meals. LOL. - Darby

While that’s technically true, the highlight of living in Dad’s office for the foreseeable future is the stack of Sports Illustrated magazines filled with man candy.

If I start wearing socks with sandals, stage an intervention. - Kari

Could be worse. You could be engaged. - Darby

I snort. As if.

A notification pops up at the top of the screen. I click and immediately regret it. Comment number three hundred forty-two pops up on my sister’s engagement post. The one the entire family’s tagged in so I get an alert for every heart emoji, congratulatory comment, and bridal GIF.

I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the closet door. Messy bun. Oversized hoodie. Leggings that lean more toward emotional support than a fashion statement.

I’m happy for my sister. Really, I am. But…

Perfect Kelly, flashing a ring the size of a small home’s down payment. Glowing, beautiful, and happy.

Congrats to Kelly for winning life while I win unemployment bingo. - Kari

Stop. You’ll get back on your feet. How’s the call center job? - Darby

Easy for Darby to say. She’s off living her best life with an all expense paid internship at her dream job while I’m crammed into Dad’s home office, broke, while Googling diet plans and exercise routines that I know I’ll never follow through on. What I need is inspiration. Not… this.

It’s depressing as hell. I listen to complaints all day long. - Kari

If it makes you feel any better, my internship is a glorified coffee run, my brother’s still annoyingly perfect, and I’m homesick. It’s hard making new friends. - Darby

That gets my attention. The part about Grey, Darby’s perfect brother.

Nothing annoying about him. Not in my book.

But I can’t say that to my best friend. It’s too weird.

We all hung out as kids. Grey was older, but only by a few years.

It didn’t seem to matter until he graduated high school while Darby and I were freshmen.

And then he moved. Rarely came back for visits.

My thumb pauses over the screen. I haven’t seen him in years. Not since Christmas my senior year. But things were different then. We seemed a whole universe apart that Christmas. And then I left for college, graduated, got a job… and lost it because of my felon boss.

You still there? - Darby

Yeah. Just thinking. - Kari

I glance back at the mirror, and tug at my rumpled sweatshirt. When did I get so frumpy? I sit up a little taller and run my hand through my hair. Starting now, I’m a changed woman. No more feeling sorry for myself. I’m a doer not a downer.

I need to get it together before the wedding. I need to get my social media business off the ground, get an apartment, and hit the gym. - Kari

Efficiency apartment with a gym included. Kill two birds. - Darby

Bonus points if it has a pool. Ooh, and a spa. - Kari

And hot guys. LOL - Darby

And hot guys, I mumble under my breath. But men are the last thing on my mind. Except for Grey. It’s time I get myself in gear and turn my plan into action.

Gotta go. And Darbs… I miss you too. Don’t replace me. - Kari

Never. - Darby

I’m too broke for a gym membership and personal trainer, but I’ve got internet, phone service, and an endless scroll of free exercise reels and videos. No better time than the present to get moving.

I begin scrolling, this time with intention, and follow influencers whose pages look promising for my social media side hustle and who can help me on my journey to look and feel like a million bucks by the time Kelly’s wedding rolls around.

Grey

I clock out with sawdust still clinging to my boots. My shoulders ache, but in a good, earned way. I’m three ways to Sunday kind of tired, but I’ve still got a little energy in me.

Justice claps a hand over my shoulder as we head for our trucks.

“Steaks tonight. Gabby’s mixing drinks.”

Vance grins. “You coming, or is it gym o’clock again?”

The guys are always ribbing me about something.

Good-natured, but relentless. Especially from Vance.

Since we live in the same apartment complex and both use the gym facilities, he knows I’m devoted to my workouts.

But I’m keeping my dream of one day being a personal trainer with my own place to myself.

It would only add fuel to the fire with these guys.

If they knew about my Fans Only page, I’d never hear the end of it.

“I’ll pass,” I say. “Another time. Give Gabby my best.”

“Will do,” Justice gives my shoulder a squeeze before stepping off the curb in the direction of his truck.

“Whatever floats your boat, man,” Vance shrugs. “More steak and beer for the rest of us.”

“All the essentials,” Wade chuckles as he gives a half-hearted wave. “Meet you there as soon as I pick up Maggie and the kids.”

I head in the opposite direction, toward my truck.

Maybe I am missing out. But I’ve got bigger plans than hauling lumber and hammering nails forever. I want my own gym. My own space. Somewhere I can use my brain and body to help someone.

Being a Home Wrecker pays the bills. Fans Only pays for the dream. That’s the math.

It’s why I hit the apartment gym late. Fewer people and less chance of running into someone I know. Especially Vance. The last thing I need is him asking why I’m filming my workouts instead of spotting him.

I don’t bother cleaning up when I pull up outside my building. I cross the parking lot and enter the gym through the pool area. The place is nearly empty. One guy’s finishing up with a towel slung over his shoulder, ready to call it a night.

Perfect.

I drop my bag on the bench and sit, scrolling on my phone while I wait him out. Social media’s mindless and loud, full of people looking to outdo each other or pretending they aren’t lonely. But I need it to attract more followers to my Fans page.

I stop scrolling as soon as I see the post with Kari’s sister, Kelly, in it.

I don’t need to click to know exactly what it is, but I tap to open it anyway.

Kari’s sister stands next to a sharp dressed dude in a suit and tie, beaming with an engagement ring sparkling on her finger.

The rock so large it could fund a small country.

“Damn,” I mutter.

I could’ve put a down payment on half the equipment I need with that thing. Racks, weights, flooring. The good stuff.

I tap Kari’s name before I think better of it. I quit keeping tabs on her after her second year of college. It was time to move on, quit holding onto the past and what might have been if things had been different. If she and my sister hadn’t been fused at the hip.

A green dot appears, signaling she’s online. My pulse quickens a fraction. For a split second, I consider messaging her. Just a simple hey, how’s it going.

Reality kicks in just in time. It’s a bad idea.

We knew each other as kids. I was old enough to know better. Old enough to stay away. And that’s all water under the bridge.

The guy leaves, and the door shuts behind him. The gym’s quiet, save for the low hum of the lights.

I click out of social media and set up the camera. Angle it right so my face is out of the frame. My workouts are always about teaching. The movement, correct form, and putting in the work.

I do it despite knowing that Fans is more for fetishes and ogling bodies than learning.

But I’m in it with an end goal to teach.

That helps me bury whatever it is I’m feeling about Kari, the past, and the fact fate wasn’t on my side where she was concerned.

I drown out that noise with iron and repetition.

Because that’s what I’m good at.