Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 106797 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106797 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
I smiled, but my stomach was caught in a wave, dipping and surging over and over again. Rhodes was giving me a gift, and I had no idea how to react. “Wow.”
He shifted on the heels of his feet, shrugging as he ran his free hand back through his damp hair. “Yeah, I mean it’s just something I like to give my clients to help out.” He tossed it to me quickly. “Go ahead and put it on and I’ll show you how it works.”
I did as he said, but I couldn’t help the disappointment I felt when I realized it wasn’t just something he’d done for me. But why was I disappointed? He was a trainer, giving a workout-related gift to the person he was training. It made sense that he would do it for everyone.
I was overly annoyed with my emotions.
Once we’d toyed with it and figured out how it worked, we set in on the day’s training schedule. We weren’t talking much, but that was mostly because I could barely breathe, let alone talk. Rhodes went a little harder on me each day, but the crazy thing was — I was beginning to be able to handle it. In fact, I almost wanted him to push me harder. The adrenaline, the rush of endorphins, the ache in my muscles — I kind of loved all of it.
Who was I?
“Tomorrow’s our last workout before your second weigh-in on Sunday,” he told me, tossing me my water bottle as we finished up the final round of weights. “I’m going to do one of my more advanced sessions with you, if you’re up for it.”
I nodded, though in my head I was trying to figure out how it could get more intense than it already was. “Bring it.”
He almost smiled, but opened his mouth and tongued the inside of his cheek instead, staring at me amused. “You’re so going to wish you hadn’t said that. Bring your watch. I can’t wait to see how many calories we blast.” He winked before turning toward the showers and I let out a long, slow, shaky breath.
I was relieved. He didn’t bring up the night before, he didn’t ignore me or lash out at me, and if anything I’d even go as far as to say he was nice to me. I didn’t know what to think about the watch, but I decided not to dwell on it. I had two girls waiting on me to unleash their inner shopping beasts and I did not want to keep them waiting.
Packing up my bag quickly, I made my way out to the car. On my way out, I passed by several women, two of which I knew were Rhodes’ clients. I swallowed as I passed them, his words from the night before ringing loud in my ear.
“I’m not a good person, okay? I train and screw around with other people who are just as shitty as I am.”
One of the women, a tall, blue-eyed redhead, eyed me cautiously as I passed, almost as if I didn’t belong there. And I guess in a way, I didn’t. I didn’t really belong anywhere. But I was trying to figure out who I was, exactly, because I needed to know that before I could find out where to place myself. So, I held my chin up and strolled past them without cowering away.
A smile met my lips when I realized neither of the two who I knew Rhodes trained with were wearing watches like mine. Something told me Rhodes had lied.
But for once, I was okay with it.
Willow made me spill all the details when we went shopping that night, and of course she overanalyzed everything — that was her specialty, after all. She was convinced Rhodes was into me, which was the most ludicrous thing I’d ever heard. When she turned the conversation back to Mason, anger rolled through me.
All summer I had been working to get him back, but that night at the fair when he’d neglected to stick up for me, I realized I didn’t even know the guy I was fighting for anymore. So, I shifted gears. Did I still want him to see me when I dropped my weight and looked amazing? Yes. But now, it was less about getting him back and more about showing him that I could do whatever I wanted, whether he believed in me or not.
Willow co-signed.
The next day, Rhodes came through on his promise, completely murdering me in the gym. But it was worth it when I weighed in on Sunday. I had lost another eight pounds, which meant I was already down nineteen pounds in just two weeks.
It was hard for me to wrap my mind around that. It had only been two weeks, yet it felt like years. I could already feel my body changing, yet at the same time I found it hard to believe that I could have already lost almost twenty pounds. But the number on the scale didn’t lie.