Another busy day at the gym; I swear, it’s like every other piece of equipment decided to break today. Thankfully, I don’t have any classes to teach until tonight, but still this is driving me crazy. I feel like I’m spending half the time in this storage closet looking for parts and the other half on my hands and knees repairing treadmills. This is supposed to be a high-end gym where only professional athletes and wealthy soccer mom types hang out; you would think the equipment wouldn’t be so flimsy!

I’m digging around through some unlabeled boxes, trying to find a replacement part for one of the now damaged speedbags, when I hear the door to the storage room open. Assuming its Alex, I call out, “Still looking for that part. We really need to organize this room better. I’ll see what I can do about that after the marathon, but right now I’m overbooked up here.”

“Good to know,” I hear Laurel’s voice quip, and I turn around to see her standing there with her hands on her hips.

“Sorry,” I say as I stand up from the ground. “Thought you were Alex.”

“Figured as much,” she says and begins sorting through some of the shelves. “Just looking for the mat cleaner. I swear, it was here yesterday.”

“Like I said, we need to organize this room big time,” I say. I help her look, and we make awkward small talk. She asks me about my upcoming match, and I smile slightly. “Should be good. It’ll be the first actual challenge I’ve had since getting back in the game.”

“Aren’t you high and mighty?” she teases.

“Awe, come on, you know what I mean. So far Caleb has set me up with nothing but amateur pin-heads who thought they could take on someone with nearly ten times more experience and muscle than them.” I laugh slightly. “This guy I might actually have something to worry about if I let myself get sloppy. He’s up and coming, but he’s good.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of Mits,” Laurel says. “Britany has a poster of him in her apartment.”

I laugh, loudly. “Oh, God, I can’t wait to screw with her about that one.”

“Don’t you dare tell her I told you that!” Laurel chastises, but I can’t help but to pick fun.

“Any bit of ammo you can give me against Britany, I’m going to use. She gave me hell when I first started here, remember?” I can feel my voice becoming lighter and softer as I become more comfortable talking to Laurel. We’re not even looking for the mat cleaner anymore.

“Oh, believe me, I remember. I helped you clean up that mess she left in the locker room,” Laurel laughs loud enough that a slight snort emerges. She blushes and covers her mouth and looks away from me for a moment.

“Come one, you know I’ve always told you that little snort is cute,” I say, trying to reassure her not to be embarrassed.

“It’s not that,” she says and looks at me with these big, sad eyes. “I just miss you, Jonathan. I miss talking to you. I miss being around you.”

I share her solemn expression. “I feel the same way,” I say.

Laurel’s eyes glance over to the corner where some beanbags are laid out. Her eyes glisten slightly. “Do you remember the last time we were in this room together?”

I have to angle my stance slightly so she doesn’t notice my hard on in these gym shorts. “I remember,” I say and glance back at the beanbags we had tainted.

There is a pause.

I’m not sure who moved first, but soon we’re locked in this tight embrace and our lips are pressed together. I run my hands up the back of her tank top, tracing the contours of her back. I feel her reach around my back and slip her fingers into the rim of my gym shorts, giving my lower back a slight massage. God, I miss this.

I squeeze her tightly in my arms, and a slight moan erupts from her throat that drives me insane. We scoot back over to those beanbag chairs, and she falls down on them, and I fall on top of her. I throw my shirt off, and she wiggles out of her tank and sports bra. I miss those breasts. I lean down and suction my mouth onto her left tit, and she squeals slightly in her delight. Her arms wrap around me, and she scratches my back with her nails; it sends a slight shiver up my spine.

She’s got her hair in her typical ponytail she wears at the gym, and I tug at it slightly, making her tilt her head back so that I can bite at her neck. Her hands work their way down, and they slip into my shorts; one of her hands grip my now incredibly hard cock. Damn it, what am I doing? Something about her touch snaps me back into reality, and I jolt back and away from her. I feel myself slip out of her grasp, and I wind up falling back and landing flat on my ass on the concrete floor. There’s a lump in my throat as I say, “I can’t,” and hurry to my feet. I look away from her, and I can hear her scurrying to get her bra and tank back on.

Her voice is shaky, and I wonder if she’s crying –I hope she’s not, but I can’t bring myself to look at her. “I’m sorry,” she says. “Look at me, Jonathan,” her voice is stern now.

I turn and look at her; she’s fully dressed now. “I’m sorry, Laurel.”

“Jonathan, I get it. I really do,” she says, this sad expression taking away that gorgeous smile of hers. “I respect your decision to try to make things work with Brandi. You’re trying to salvage your family. I understand. This is my fault. I only came in here because you were in here by yourself. The damn mat cleaner is out on the gym floor. I’m sorry.”

“I still love you,” I say, but I shouldn’t have said it. It only makes it hurt worse.

“I still love you,” she says back. “I’m sorry, Jonathan,” she says and then hurries to leave the storage room. She pauses, turns back around, and points over by the beanbags. “Um… that part you’re looking for is in a box right there. I, uh, noticed it when we were lying down.” She blushes slightly and hurries out.

I turn and see what box she was talking about. I have to wait a minute before leaving because my damn cock is still standing straight up. It’s kind of hard to hide something like that in loose fitting gym shorts. Once I’m good, I head out to the main floor gym and try not to look up at the ring where Laurel is taking her sexual frustration out on poor Katie. “Shit, Laurel, calm your ass down,” I hear Katie say after taking a serious punch during their sparring session.

Lunch does not come fast enough, and I practically run out the door to get to my Volkswagen. I had brought my lunch, but fuck that. I’m going out and putting some distance between me and this gym for an hour. As I am heading out, I spot Brandi in the parking lot. It surprises me, and I hurry over to her. She looks so miserable. “Brandi? What are you doing? You should be home resting.”

She smiles at me. She had driven my Ferrari here. “I just thought you and I could have lunch together,” she says, clearly regretting her decision to leave the house.

I laugh and I lean down and kiss her forehead. “Getting bored sitting around the house all day?” I ask.

“You have no idea,” she gripes. All of a sudden she looks past me and starts waving her arm. “Hey! Laurel!” she says, and I cringe and look over my shoulder to see Laurel heading towards her car.

Laurel looks anxious and wide-eyed, but she does not deny the unusually perky pregnant woman a wave. After a moment Laurel and I both realize that Brandi is waving her over. Brandi leaves my side for a second and walks towards Laurel, and I can hear my own heart pounding. The two women meet in the middle, but they are too far away for me to hear their conversation. They’re both smiling, so I assume it’s fairly pleasant. Soon Brandi returns, and Laurel practically sprints over to her car to get away –Brandi doesn’t notice, though. She’s all smiles when she comes back to me. “What was that about?” I ask nervously.

“I just wanted to thank her,” Brandi says. “I’ve been meaning to.”

“Thank her?” I question. “For what?”

She touches my arm and smiles this very sad smile my way. “For helping you, Jonathan. God, I just ran when things got rough. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know what would have happened to you. She helped you, right?”

“Um… yeah,” I say.”

Brandi smiles. “I mean, I suppose I could be jealous, but I’m not. She was really good to you. And I’m just sad that she had to be the one to be your support system. I should have been the one who was there for you, but I wasn’t.” She kisses my cheek. “Come on, let’s go to lunch. You have an hour, right?”

I smile and we climb into the Ferrari. I’m not really sure what to think about this little interaction between Laurel and Brandi, so I move past it for the time being. Brandi feels so guilty, but she shouldn’t. I did shatter her elbow, bust her lip, and give her a black eye when she got in the way with my fight with Donte. I did fall to alcoholism. I did lose my job. She was pregnant and scared. She had every right to walk away, yet she feels guilty. How did I get so lucky? Brandi obviously cares about me. And I almost cheated on her! I am the one who should feel guilty.