No Rep (Madd CrossFit #1) - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,17

time I was situated, Taos was beeping the locks and waiting for me to catch up before he headed into the diner.

When I breached the entrance, it was to find the entire place filled with cops. Not a single one of them had their back to the door.

My mouth formed into a smile that I quickly hid when the waitress glanced at me suspiciously.

“Two today, Taos?” the waitress asked, sounding like she was mad that Taos had brought me.

I instantly stiffened.

“Three,” Taos corrected, bouncing the little boy in his arms and causing him to giggle.

That giggle caught the attention of an older gentleman that was seated at the bar. The bar that was facing out instead of in, forcing the waitress to come around the side that would usually be designated for staff and serve them from the other side.

“What you got there, T?” the older man asked.

“Chief Wilkerson.” Taos jerked his chin toward him and caught my hand, guiding me through all the tables full of cops toward the older man.

I smiled at the older man whose eyes immediately came to me.

His gaze went to the baby in Taos’ arms, then back to me.

He narrowed his eyes, and I wondered if he recognized me.

I recognized him.

This was the chief of police of our small town.

I’d gone to him months after my assault, given him a few things that I wanted him to give to the officer who saved me as a thank you, and had given the older man a hug before leaving.

At that point in time, I was still healing. Still had a pink scar on my chin from it being split open, then stitched up.

“Chief, this is my… this is Francine. Fran for short. She’s in one of my CrossFit bootcamps, and has graciously volunteered to drive me around town for the next two days while my car gets a tune-up. This is her nephew, Vlad,” Taos introduced us.

A little wave of disappointment rolled through me at how he’d introduced me.

It wasn’t wrong. I was indeed driving him around, but I almost wished I’d gotten a little… more.

But we weren’t more.

We weren’t anything more than what he’d said. Even if I wished that to be different.

“Ahhh.” The chief smiled. “Well, it’s very nice to meet you.”

He tilted his head slightly to the left, as if he was trying to see me in different lighting to ascertain how he knew me.

I had a feeling it wouldn’t take him long to figure it out.

He looked like a very intuitive guy.

My face might not look the same, but my hair and body, plus a couple of pounds, did look the same.

He finally looked away, and to the man at his side.

“Have you met Wilhelm Schultz?” the chief asked Taos.

Taos looked toward the man beside Chief Wilkerson and shook his head. “No, I have not.”

“He’s your replacement.” The chief’s eyes gleamed.

Schultz, who looked mildly interested before now, jerked in his chair. “You’re Taos?”

Taos nodded as he held his hand out to the other man. “I am.”

I glanced between the two men, curious as to why that comment by the man was said the way it was said.

I eyed the other man intriguingly.

He was tall. Actually quite a bit taller than the older man at his side.

He had curly brown hair, a trim beard, and eyes that looked like they would see straight into my soul.

He also had a scar on his cheek that looked like once upon a time, he’d been sliced open pretty good.

It wasn’t an unattractive look for him, either. It made him look even hotter. And meaner.

For some reason, I liked my men to look mean.

And Wilhelm Schultz, despite his funny name, had that working well for him.

“Did I hear you say CrossFit?” Schultz asked.

I grinned.

I wasn’t looking at Taos, but I was fairly sure that he was grinning, too.

There were two types of people in the world. Those who did CrossFit, and those that thought CrossFit was an abomination.

Obviously, Schultz wasn’t of the abomination variety.

“Taos quit his day job to open a CrossFit gym. Now half the force goes there to get their PT in, and he offers a discount to first responders,” Chief Wilkerson explained.

Schultz jerked his chin in understanding, then switched his view to the child that Taos was holding.

“I’m all about going to the gym as long as you have childcare,” he murmured.

Taos nodded his head. “We have childcare at two classes we hold in the morning and the evening, eight thirty in the