gym and tried to ruin his career and his friendship with his best friend?”
What the hell?
“Don’t call me Shirley,” the woman hissed.
I had no heart to correct her and tell her that Mavis wasn’t calling her anything.
“And I’m back here to try to win him back. It’d be best if y’all didn’t try to stand in my way,” Maria continued as if she hadn’t just embarrassed herself.
My eyelid twitched.
I had been in the woman’s presence for all of thirty seconds, and I already felt bad for Taos having to spend even a second more with her.
“Well, good luck with that,” Mavis cheerfully replied as she caught my hand and led us away.
“Who the fuck was she?” I wondered the moment we were far enough away from both Taos and his ex-wife.
“Maria. Taos’ ex-wife. The keeper to the gates of hell.” Mavis rolled her eyes. “They were married for a few years. Shit happened that I don’t know about. Then Maria started to come here to get a rise out of him. A few of the members asked her to stop, so she did. But apparently, she got bored or something because she’s back. I don’t know all, though. Just everything that happened here. By the way, a CrossFit gym is like a bunch of gossiping girls. You won’t be able to do something in the eight thirty class and not hear about it in the six o’clock class. And vice versa.”
Gee whiz. I hoped that I didn’t do anything too embarrassing and make it to where everyone heard about it.
“Everyone back from the bathroom and ready to go?” came Taos’ lovely, deep-timbred voice.
“Ready, Coach!” Maria cooed.
I wondered if she was just trying to piss him off.
My guess was that she was.
I narrowed my eyes at Taos’ pained expression.
He looked annoyed that he even had to coach her.
And I decided, right there and then, that I was going to beat the hell out of her in the workout.
Taos grinned slightly at something that a young girl who looked more than a little frightened said to him up front, and I couldn’t help but grin myself at his smile.
Then he started pointing a remote at a clock, and I felt sick to my stomach.
“Everyone find a rower!”
Then I was on my rower, next to my sister, about to do my first workout in a very long time.
And I hadn’t even been nervous or scared or even thrown up once.
Hell yeah.
I could do this.
Taos didn’t realize it, but he was helping me.
His wife’s drama. His smile.
His voice.
They were all…
“Go!”
I hadn’t worked out in two years, and it showed.
By the time I was a minute into the workout, I felt like I was going to throw up.
By the time I was two minutes into the workout, I knew that it wasn’t a matter of if I was going to throw up, but when.
I kept glancing over at Maria, who looked like she was breezing through the workout.
But still, I kept myself in front of her.
By the last minute of me doing the workout, I was on empty.
The moment that I did the last rep, I headed directly for the door that led to the outside area behind the gym.
I kept walking until I got to the grass and promptly threw up into the weeds.
The moment I did, I felt a thousand times better.
Face flushing, I turned around to see Taos staring at me from the gym door.
He gave me a thumb up as if to ask if I was okay, and I gave him a weak one in reply.
But even that was a lie.
I might feel like shit.
I might want to melt into a pile of questionable liquid underneath my feet.
But I’d just worked out.
I’d just worked out for the first time in two and a half years since my assault.
I was… euphoric.
That, and I beat Maria.
Worth it.
It was on my way out of the gym with my sister fifteen minutes later that Taos caught my eye. “You’ll be back.”
Not a question.
Not even a statement.
A demand. One that I was more than willing to obey.
CHAPTER 3
Be a badass with a good ass.
-Madd CrossFit T-shirt
TAOS
The white-haired woman turned slowly, her long curls brushing the tops of her butt cheeks, and looked at the puddle of blood with a glowing sense of horror on her face.
She didn’t know that I’d done it for her.
She didn’t know that…
Brrrrring.
I frowned and glanced at the phone, pissed that I’d had to stop that particular scene.
“Hello?”
My terse words felt like