Chapter Eleven
Terrance
(Monday, One Month Later
I sighed deeply and ran my eyes over the building that had become my second home recently, even more so than before. I had always enjoyed working out, it was one of those things I did a lot, but now it had become an essential part of my daily routine. There was no way I wanted to get caught out like I had done on that fateful night...
And I knew it wasn’t over. I could feel it in my bones. One day – and I wasn’t sure exactly when – it would come back around. I was certain of it.
“Ready, boss?” Braxton grinned as he sidled up next to me, bumping my hip with his. “Ready for me to make your body as awesome as mine is?”
“Well, I need to be able to look after myself, don’t I?” I smiled thinly, trying to get the reason for me doing this off my face. Braxton was already worried enough by what had happened, which was why I tried my best not to bring it up anymore. “You can’t always be there for me, can you?”
“You better not be doing this just so you can fire me,” he exclaimed with a glint in his eye. “I won’t let you keep on coming, otherwise. You get yourself too much muscle, there won’t be any use for me. I’ll end up cast aside like last night’s dinner.”
“Oh come on, you know that I could never fire you. Who else will keep me company through the long, lonely days? Come on, let’s go in.”
I pushed the door to the gym open and was instantly hit by the pulsating music that seemed to get people working harder, and a, intense rush of adrenaline boosted through me. Maybe there was something to say for that pulsating beat, maybe it worked much better than I gave it credit for.
“Straight to the weights?” Braxton enquired, knowing the routine by now.
“Actually, I think I’ll go on the treadmill for a bit first. I’m in the mood for a bit of a change.” I wasn’t sure why, but there had been a pensiveness to my mood for the last few days, and I wanted just a moment alone to deal with it. Running seemed like the best place to brood, if only for a moment. “I’ll get straight on the weights afterwards.”
“Okay, boss, whatever you want.”
I watched as Braxton moved over to the other side of the gym, and I hopped up onto the treadmill. As the machine whirred and the pace sped up, my heart began to beat faster. This was good; it made me feel better in the way that only the gym could. The problem was I knew why things were shit. I just didn’t know what to do about them.
It wasn’t just the imminent fight that I could constantly feel clinging to my shoulder, although admittedly that was getting me down. No, there was also the nagging sensation that I was missing something, that I’d had someone awesome within my grasp and I’d let them go.
Morgan – fucking Morgan the beautiful God damn nurse that I couldn’t get out of my mind however had I tried. She was there all the time, taunting me with her beautiful plump lips.
This just wasn’t like me. Once I screwed a woman, that was it for me. She barely ever crept up in my mind at all, and that was how I liked it. I didn’t want to be plagued with images of her. I didn’t want to wonder what she was doing or if she was thinking about me. I was always just onto the next. Sometimes even within the same day; I never got hung up.
But this time there had been no next, and it had been a long, dry month.
For some reason, no one could compare to her beautiful looks, her sweet smile, or the wonderful expression she made as the orgasm consumed her. Every time I tried to even think about taking someone else to bed, she was the only one I could think about. It was absolutely nuts and driving me crazy. Even a trip to the strip club had done me no favors.
“Hey, there...” Almost as if I’d summoned her up using sheer will power, an exotic beauty stood by my side, running a towel over her perspiring forehead. She had a slim, firm body that looked incredible in the purple latex skimpy outfit she had clinging to her skin. “Are you going to be long?”
“Huh?” I felt dumb, totally out of the loop, because I’d been forcibly dragged back to reality from my own little world.
“On the treadmill.” She smirked and giggled like a school girl with a crush. “Silly.”
As her cheeks heated up, I started to recognize where this was going. She was flirting with me, which was a nice feeling since she was so undeniably hot... But there was nothing. No fizzing in my stomach, no excitement in my underwear. If anything I felt a little pestered.
“Oh, here.” I jumped off and indicated towards the machine, offering it to her. “Go right ahead. I’m done now, anyway.”
“I’ve seen you here before,” she persisted, not taking even one step towards the treadmill. “You’re Terrance, right?”
“I am. And you are?” I extended out my hand, politeness overcoming me. I didn’t want to be a dick just because I wasn’t in the mood. That wasn’t fair to her.
“I’m Lassie.” As she slid her fingers through mine, still I felt nothing. There was no way in hell this was going to happen, even if I really wanted it to. For some reason, I just felt bored.
“Lassie, like the dog?”
“I get that a lot,” she laughed loudly, not insulted one bit. “Yes, like the dog. I’m also a little bit fierce like a dog, but we’ll leave that to your...imagination, shall we?” The wink was too obvious, it did nothing for me.
“Right, well, I better go, my friend is waiting for me.” I used the lamest excuse ever, but it was all I had at the moment. “It was nice to meet you, Lassie.”
“Oh, right.” Her face fell, her entire body looked disappointed, but that still wasn’t enough to have me changing my mind. “Well, I’ll see you around, okay?”
I didn’t even bother to respond because I had no interest in seeing that woman again, I simply turned and made my way over to Braxton who was pumping iron like it weighed nothing. I grabbed a much smaller set than him, but one which showed my personal improvement, and I sent him a smile.
“What was that?” he gasped unhappily. “That woman was so clearly hitting on you, and you turned her down. What is going on with you? You’ve changed so damn much Is it-” he started before catching himself at the very last moment.
“Go on, say whatever it is you were going to say,” I encouraged him. One way or another, we needed to get it out of him.
“Well,” he pursed his lips and looked concerned all over again. “I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of what happened outside Lights Out. You haven’t been yourself since. I don’t want you to feel that way – you know I won’t allow anything bad to happen again.”
Braxton was continually killing himself with guilt. I needed to put him out of his misery. “No, no, it’s nothing like that.” I was going to have to suck up my pride, to just confess the truth.
“It’s a woman...the nurse, actually.” I hated saying this and going back on everything I’d ever expressed about women before, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “Morgan. Ever since we...spent time together at Lights Out, I can’t stop thinking about her.”
Much to his credit, Braxton didn’t make a huge deal about this. He simply nodded slowly and bit down on his lip. “Right, and you haven’t made plans to see her again?”
“I didn’t get her number or anything.” I never did, but this was the first time it actually pained me to admit it. “All I know about her is that she works at the hospital.”
“Problem solved.” He clapped his hands together with glee. “I’ll hit you with a car, and bam. We have a meet cute right there.”
“Oh ha ha, very funny.” I said it sarcastically, but I couldn’t help bursting out into laughter at his funny remark. “No, of course I can’t accost her at work. That would be super creepy. Plus, what if the car crash killed me? So many things could go wrong.”
“You met her at Lights Out, right?” He continued undeterred. “Both times? We’ll just keep on going there and try to find her.”
I nodded gratefully, too embarrassed to admit that every time we’d gone, I had spent the entire night with one eye open, just waiting for her to appear. If she was going to do so, I felt like she would’ve done it already. It seemed that she didn’t want to know me as much as I did her. Somehow I’d wrecked it with the one person I actually liked, and I didn’t even know how.
“Sure, sure. It’ll be great,” I lied, just to keep him happy. “Thanks, Braxton.”
***
“Fuck!” I called out in annoyance as I opened my bare fridge. The one thing I needed to remember to get from the store on the way back from the gym was milk, and I’d forgotten. I’d been so distracted as I walked back with Braxton that it had totally slipped my mind, and now, I was seriously hankering for a bowl of cereal.
There was no getting out of it. I had to go back out.
I huffed and kicked my gym bag in temper before stomping out the door. I’d worked out until I was completely weary, so this was the last thing I wanted to be doing, but I had a craving that needed to be satisfied.
By the time the elevator reached the ground floor, I felt a little calmer. It wasn’t too far to the store, and it would probably be a good thing to walk off this work out just a little bit more. Plus it was a nice day; there was no point in wasting it all indoors.
As I walked, I thought about Braxton’s words when it came to my Morgan dilemma. It felt crappy to keep going to the same night club every weekend looking for a woman who wasn’t going to turn up, but what other choice did I have? I couldn’t actually create some kind of accident to take me to the hospital, so that really didn’t leave me with much choice.
If only sleeping with her had made me forget her, rather than causing my feelings to intensify. The opposite of what I wanted to happen had definitely occurred.
What the...
The hairs stood up on the back of my neck as the intense feeling of being watched overcame me like a slap in the face, as if from nowhere. I glanced from side to side trying to work out why there was such a powerful chill careering through my body...and then it became clear.
One of the men from the nightclub was standing at the end of the street, his arms folded in front of him. He was watching me, staring me down, intimidating me – and I had to admit it was working. While I’d been expecting something like this to happen, it felt all the more real now.
He wasn’t doing anything, he was just watching. Waiting. Giving me a threat. This wasn’t over, there was definitely more to come.