3. Chapter 3
Sadie
I walked into the library at six, hoping I hadn’t missed Alyssa and Cole. I’d talked her into meeting him, and I wanted to be there to walk her home.
Through the glass walls of one of the small meeting rooms, I spotted them sitting at a table. Alyssa was laughing. Cole looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen him, but then, I’d never seen him out of the gym. He pulled off jeans and a fitted shirt better than most people.
I watched from the doorway for a minute. He leaned over, pointing at Alyssa’s paper, and explained something slowly and with more patience than I’d ever had. She nodded and wrote something down.
I stepped inside and put on a smile. “How’s it going?”
“Oh my heck, Sadie,” Alyssa said. “Cole is a hundred percent better than you at teaching math.”
“I doubt that’s true,” Cole said, his eyes shining as he looked at me.
“I hope it is,” I admitted. “I’m terrible.”
“I bet I can pass the test tomorrow,” Alyssa said, grinning. “Cole even teaches better than Mr. Easton.”
Cole stood, and I reached out a hand. He took it, giving a firm, warm shake that made me forget why I was there.
“Thank you,” I said. “We’ve been drowning in math lately.”
“Anytime. It’s good to get to use my brain for once. The gym is a little mindless.”
I laughed. “I get that.”
Why did his hand feel so nice? It was calloused, but not scratchy, and I knew it was pathetic, but I loved how small mine felt wrapped in his. Maybe I did need to get out more.
“This is the longest handshake I’ve ever seen,” Alyssa said, her lip curving up in the corner.
Cole laughed, and I pulled my hand away, trying to calm my blush.
He glanced at Alyssa. “Same time next week?”
She nodded, and he smiled, adding, “Great. See you two later.”
“Bye,” I said, watching him leave the room. I hadn’t realized how heavy everything felt until someone helped carry it. Now we could go home, and Mr. Annoying upstairs could jump to his heart’s content.
“Stop checking out my tutor,” Alyssa teased.
My head jerked toward her, and I pulled my purse close. “I wasn’t.”
“Sure you weren’t,” Alyssa said. “Cole is smart. I learned more in an hour than in the entire school year.”
“Sometimes one-on-one is helpful,” I said, motioning for her to grab her backpack. She slung it over her shoulder, and we started the walk home.
“You’re lucky you get to work with Cole every day,” Alyssa gushed.
“I don’t really know him. He’s a trainer, so I only talk to him in passing.” No one-on-one for me.
“He’s so cute. We should call him Cute Cole. Or Hot Cole.”
I laughed. “I doubt he’d like that.”
“But I can tell he can take a joke. He’d like it.”
I stopped and turned to her. “Promise me you will never call him that to his face.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You should ask him out.”
My mouth turned down. “You’re crazy.”
“Come on. What’s wrong with him? I saw the way you were admiring the fit of his jeans.”
“Oh my heck, Alyssa. Knock it off.”
“Just ask him out. One date.” She bumped her shoulder against mine.
“I’m not dating until you’re at least in college. You know that.” I couldn’t risk letting anyone ruin what I wanted for my sister, and dating was a big distraction.
“That’s stupid.”
I sighed. Explaining my desire to give my sister a good life never did any good. We went inside, and I hung my purse on the hook. After Grandma died, I’d become super clean. I wasn’t sure why, but keeping things in order made me feel like I had some control over my life.
I smiled. “Hey, we don’t have to do math today! That gives us a free evening.” I wanted to say we could do pizza and a movie, but that wasn’t in the budget. A movie and frozen chicken nuggets would have to do.
I turned on the oven and went to wash my hands. When I came back out, Alyssa was smacking the ceiling with a broom.
“Alyssa!” I snatched it from her hands.
“He’s so loud!”
“I know, but we don’t want him retaliating or anything.” I tried not to see the small dents the broom left. I didn’t want the upstairs neighbor picturing us as the kind of people who hit ceilings with brooms.
She rolled her eyes. “You shouldn’t let people push you around.”
“I’m not. I’m just trying to live peacefully with the neighbors.” Deep down, I knew it was a lie. People pushed me around. Life pushed me around. Peace felt easier than confrontation. It hadn’t always been that way, but I didn’t see it changing.
Cole
I wasn’t confrontational. Petty, maybe. But not confrontational.
But come on—the people downstairs had issues.
I might’ve jumped a little harder, just to make a point, and I definitely took it out on my punching bag.
If they didn’t knock off the complaining and ceiling hitting soon, I was going down there for a heart-to-heart.
I went to bed thinking of all the things I wanted to say to the supposed cat woman downstairs.
At work the next morning, I tried not to look as if I was smiling too hard for Sadie. I made sure it spread over Sadie and Angela, even though Angela made me uncomfortable sometimes.
“Afternoon, ladies,” I said. I used to come in the side door, but now I wanted to at least get a greeting in with Sadie.
“Hey, Cole,” Angela said, her eyes scanning me.
Sadie smiled and glanced up from her computer. “Nice to see you,” she said, then went back to her computer.
Polite. Not interested. That’s what she was giving me.
I didn’t love it.
But it was fine. I grew on people.
“Did you hear?” Angela asked. “Meeting after hours.”
I frowned. “We have too many after-hours meetings.”
“That’s for sure,” Angela said, biting the end of her pen as she watched me. “And you guys all have to be all tired, and sweaty.” The grin she gave me told me she was into that look.
“Yep. We stink,” I said.
Sadie didn’t look up, but she smiled. She was listening.
After work, I slid into the group gathering for the meeting. No one looked happy. We never were at an unpaid meeting. Angela was tapping her foot, Sadie kept checking her watch, and everyone else stared longingly at the doors.
“This will only take a minute,” Bill, our boss, said. “We can all agree we want this place to look good, right?”
We nodded, a few people mumbling halfheartedly.
“We’re a gym,” Bill went on. “We make people shine. When customers walk in, I want their first thought to be that we know what we’re doing. That’s why we’re going to begin mandatory workouts for our staff. All of you. Whether you train, sit at the desk, or clean the toilets.”
A low groan swept through the room. I didn’t mind if it meant we could finally use the equipment.
“You can do your exercise time before or after hours,” Bill said.
“Do we get paid?” someone asked.
“Of course not.” He grinned. “This is a service that benefits you. If you aren’t a trainer, you’ll need one of the trainers to work with you. No undefined arms on anyone, got it?”
He put a hand on Sadie’s shoulder, and she glared up at him. My eyes narrowed, and I clenched my fists. There was nothing wrong with Sadie’s arms.
I sighed. I could live with the policy if it meant free access to the machines, but Angela looked ready to quit on the spot.
Bill’s smile widened. “We’re also offering an employee discount—fifty percent off the passes you’ll need to buy.”
More groans filled the room. They were going to force us to work out and charge us for it? Unbelievable.
“We’ll take the money for your passes out of your paychecks each month. You can all stay after tonight to begin.”
“Mr. Parker?” Sadie raised her hand. “I can’t stay. I have obligations.”
He shrugged. “Your choice. Your job or your obligations.”
The room went silent as everyone glared at Bill.
Sadie took a deep breath, and I wondered what it would take to make that woman finally blow. I bet a few people would quit with this new policy in place. We could all get together and threaten to quit. I wasn’t sure I wanted to lead that, though.
“Paul, you train Angela. Austin and Jim, Miley and Trista, Cole and Sadie.”
My stomach jumped. I wasn’t sure if it was excitement to be paired with her, or fear. Maybe this wouldn’t be a bad thing.
I walked over.
She gave me a small smile. “Sorry you have to do this. I’m not athletic at all.”
I laughed. “No problem. We’ll start small.”
“I’m wearing a skirt.”
I nodded. “We can avoid leg exercises today.” Her outfit was completely wrong for this. I doubted she wanted to sweat on any of it. “Why don’t you take off your heels and we can start with some small weights.”
I handed her some dumbbells, and she frowned, then smiled. She lifted them in the air and giggled. “I must look stupid in this outfit.”
My smile had to be huge. “Not at all.”
“So… what should I do?” she asked, dropping her arms to her sides. “Lift them up and down?”
“Let me show you,” I said, grabbing heavier weights. Only to show her technique, not to show off or anything. I moved the weights in and out, explaining how to tighten the muscle.
She copied me, brow furrowed, completely focused.
I set my weights down and watched as she did an awkward bicep curl.
My hands itched.
No.
I wasn’t going to do it. Absolutely not going to do it…
I was doing it.
I walked over and stood behind her, close enough to smell the scent of her jasmine shampoo. I slipped my hands over hers, guiding her arms through the right motion.
Man, I was a loser. A smelly loser.
“Can you feel the way that’s working your muscles? Slow and controlled?”
“Mmhmm.”
“We can get more intense later.” Panic hit immediately. “With the weights, I mean. When you’re dressed better. Not better—more appropriately. Not that you’re dressed inappropriately. Just… when you’re wearing clothes. Obviously, you’re wearing clothes. I mean gym clothes.”
I closed my eyes. It couldn’t get worse than this.
Sadie
I laughed softly. “I get what you’re saying.”
“Sorry. I sound like an idiot sometimes.”
“No, you’re fine.” I was the one dying here. His arms were around me, and he expected me to think straight enough to understand anything he was teaching? Not a chance. My entire focus was on not dropping the weights on his foot and commanding myself not to lean back into him.
“Did they say how long we have to do this?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. I might have to find a new job. This wasn’t in my plans, and I can’t spare the money.” Why had I just dumped my money problems on him?
“It’s pretty pathetic of them.”
He moved my arm up and down again, and I wondered if he realized he was still doing it. I definitely did.
“I hope you find something better,” he said.
Angela was laughing at something Paul said, and he looked as if he’d won the lottery.
“I might just have to suck it up. I’m so tired these days. Nothing seems to be going the way I want it to.”
“I hear that. I’ve been thinking about moving back to my hometown if I can manage it. There’s a gym for sale there. I’d love to buy it.”
“That would be nice for you. I keep telling myself to deal with one problem at a time.”
“Anything I can help with?” He released my arm, and I kept the motion going as if nothing had changed. I felt cold and empty in all the places he’d been touching me. That was all I needed. To want Cole Hart’s arms around me.
“No. I think I need to deal with my neighbor first. He’s driving me crazy.”
“I hear that. I’ve got one of those crazy neighbors, too. Apartments stink.”
“Yeah. I think the guy above me is purposefully trying to bother us. It sounds like an elephant.”
“I can’t even move in my apartment without the people below me hitting the ceiling.”
I laughed. Maybe he lived under Mrs. Galloway.
“Not only that,” he said, “but they covered my door in sticky notes the other day—all of them saying BE QUIET! And honestly, I hardly do anything.”
“I wonder what makes some people so angry,” I said. “I try to deal with it nicely.” The muscles in my arm shook. “My arm’s going to fall off.”
“Oh, sorry. Trade arms.”
I moved it to the other arm.
“If your neighbor keeps bothering you, I’ll go talk to him for you.”
“No. I don’t need someone fighting my battles.”
“But you have a problem. It’s going to wear on you.”
“Maybe I should go talk to them in person. I only left one note.”
“And that makes sense. Not like the crazy below me. Sometimes I think it’s just the way apartment life is. Have you ever heard of anyone who didn’t have trouble with neighbors?”
“It is pretty bad.” I smiled.
“Angela just left. Does that mean we can?”
He looked around. “I don’t see Bill, so maybe.” He pulled out his phone. “Alyssa just texted me. She wants to know if I can come to the library and help her tonight.”
“Sorry. You shouldn’t have given her your number. She might abuse it.”
He grinned. “It’s fine. You wanna walk over with me?”
“Sure.” Anything to stop the weightlifting. And I didn’t hate the thought of walking with him either.