I don’t know what kind of psychopaths willingly got out of bed before the sun was up, but apparently, I was one of them now. I felt half dead when my alarm went off, and I came within inches of chucking my phone across the attic before Vincent reminded me sleepily, “It’s for Jess, just remember it’s for Jess.”
It was enough to finally push me out of bed.
I understood why Lucas was so irritated about the whole thing. He was fiercely loyal, but only once you had his trust, and that was extremely hard to come by. Jess was confusing to him, likely in the same ways she confused me. Every time I expected her to pull away, to fall back into her old habits of sneering at everything we did, she managed to surprise me.
Seeing her cheer for me during the competition had me flying so high I hadn’t had the slightest doubt I’d win. She didn’t need to do that. Our agreement had nothing to do with dating, or supporting us in our endeavors…but she still did. She was still genuinely excited to see me do well, and I was struggling to understand why.
The only reason I could think of, the one that kept running through my brain again and again, was that she was falling for us as much as we were for her.
Not even in a sexual way. The lust was already there; we’d all acknowledged that a long time ago. It wasn’t about that. This was different. It was like she was falling for us, for who we were and what we brought to her life.
I saw the way she looked at us, and the way the others looked at her. Even Lucas wasn’t exempt. I’d seen the furious, pining looks he shot her way.
It was dangerous to feel this good. Defaulting to pessimism usually felt safer, especially today.
There was a bad feeling in my gut, telling me something else was coming. I didn’t know if it would be Reagan, or more shit with Alex McAllister and his group, but something was stirring up alarm bells in me and I didn’t like it.
I arrived at the gym early, getting inside as soon as they opened. It was a massive place, still new enough that everything smelled like plastic and disinfectant. It was going to cost me double the monthly rate as my old gym, but whatever. I’d just been handed my new membership card when an incredulous voice said from behind me, “Jason? What are you doing here?” and I whirled around.
Jessica had her pink gym bag slung over her shoulder, and her long hair pulled up into a ponytail. She wore leggings and a sports bra; her face bare of any makeup. It was easy to forget how many freckles she had when they were usually covered. No mascara, no false lashes, nothing on her lips…
God, she was beautiful.
“I go here,” I said, holding up the card.
She stared at it in confusion, as if she suspected some kind of trick. “Uh…since when?”
“Since now.” I picked up my bag from beside the sign-up desk, heading back so I could find a spot to start stretching. Jess followed right on my heels.
“I thought you went to the gym closer to the house,” she said.
I grinned, although she couldn’t see it from behind me. “I needed a change of environment. This place is nice. Pool, sauna, a yoga room — I should have upgraded a while ago.”
There was a smile in her words as she said, “Vincent put you up to this, didn’t he?”
I turned to face her. “Vincent? Nah, he could care less about the gym.”
Her hip cocked as she folded her arms. “So it’s a coincidence that you’re here to watch me the day after I run into Manson’s creepy dad?”
Shrugging, I said, “Can’t hurt to have someone to keep an eye on you. Don’t worry, I won’t interrupt your flow. I’ve got my own routine. I’m not going to be following you around.”
Her face fell so drastically I thought I’d offended her. But she wasn’t looking at me — she was looking over my shoulder.
“Morning, Jess. Need someone to spot you today?
Oh fucking hell.
Alex’s face stiffened when I turned around. I was pretty sure I was the only guy with blue hair in this goddamn town, but he still looked at me as if he was stunned to see me.
I waved a quick peace sign at him. “Mornin’, buddy. She’s good. I’ll spot her today.”
For a second, I thought he was going to punch me in the face. His hands clenched into fists, his lip curling in disgust as he looked me up and down. He had several inches of height on me, but height wasn’t everything. I had no doubt I could kick this guy’s ass if it came down to it.
But I wasn’t trying to get kicked out of my fancy new gym on the first day.
“Later.” I gave him a dismissive nod and walked away, leaving him there to stew. Jess followed right behind me, but a prickling feeling of irritation was bubbling up in me. I’d had no clue Alex went here too. Did he work out with her? Jess didn’t even like the guy!
I was overreacting. But why the hell had he assumed he’d spot her? What the fuck was this bullshit?
I found a space to stretch out and lobbed my bag into the corner. There were lockers here somewhere, but I’d gotten distracted and didn’t want to go hunting around for them.
It was petty, but I said, “Am I interrupting some bonding time with good old Alex?”
“I don’t bond with him, Jason,” she said, bending at the waist to reach for her toes. Her ass looked good in those leggings. Juicy as hell. “I try to avoid him. Trust me, I wish he didn’t go here either.”
I stretched out my quads, alternating between legs. I believed her. I didn’t think she had any interest in Alex; it wasn’t her that was the problem.
“I get it, I get it,” I said, as I realized she was still staring at me, waiting for a response. “Pissed me off, I guess, him assuming you’d want him to spot you.”
Her face softened as she smiled. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”
“Nope,” I said quickly. “It’s not jealousy.” She tweaked an eyebrow at me skeptically as I clarified, “It’s determination that you are way too good for him, and him stealing a second of your time pisses me off.”
That small smile remained on her face. “Well…thank you. For saying that, and for showing up here. I didn’t want you guys to feel like you had to go to the trouble for me.”
“It’s no trouble.” Lies. “I don’t mind doing it at all.” This morning was hell. “It feels good to switch up my routine.” Nope, it felt awful.
But it was worth it. Waking up early, going to a different gym, dealing with Alex. All of it was worth it if it meant keeping her safe.
Honestly, it was worth it because it meant spending time with her.
I didn’t want to crowd her though. I knew that having someone insert themselves into my routine without any warning would be jarring and irritating as hell. After we stretched, I kept my distance, positioning myself so I could keep an eye both on her and Alex. But I was obviously distracting both of them. Alex looked suspicious, and he had every reason to be.
Lucas and I had been having a lot of discussions about how we were going to get back at him. We’d settled on a plan of attack but needed to work out a few logistics. After what Alex and his friends had done, it only made sense that he’d expect a response from us, and he’d get one.
Until then, I enjoyed the thought of him stewing in his own anticipation.
But that motherfucker didn’t know when to quit. I was on the bench press, lowering the bar toward my chest when he appeared above me. I had to complete the rep before I could tap my earphones and mute them, allowing me to hear what he had to say.
“The fuck do you want?” I didn’t sit up from the bench; I wasn’t going to move an inch. He leaned against the bar above me; the stench of his sweat was truly repulsive.
“You freaks really can’t stay away from her, can you?” he said, nodding his head toward the other side of the gym, where Jess was on the leg press. “It’s creepy, man. What are you stalking her for?”
I laughed, the sound rough with the effort to get it out at all. “I think it’s creepier that you dumped her on our property personally. And I think you should mind your goddamn business.”
“You think y’all have a chance with her? Seriously?” He shook his head as he stepped back, whipping his sweat towel at the side of the bench. “She’s fucking you because she’s bored. And when she’s done, she’ll find a real man to take care of her.”
Fuck him and his fucking bullshit bait. This was why Alex was such a bane to Lucas, because Lucas couldn’t control his temper over jabs like that. But I was in the zone. I was zen. Nodding and grinning at him, I tapped my earphones and shut him out again. He could run his mouth all he wanted, but there wasn’t a damn thing he could say that I hadn’t heard before.
Instead of making me angry, it made me excited. How goddamn original to try to attack the fact that I could take dick as well as I could give it. Alex’s preoccupation with my sexuality said far more about him than it did about me — but hell, if he was so curious, I was willing to assuage his “fears” that Jess wasn’t getting taken care of right.
About forty-five minutes later, she and I headed toward the showers at the same time. A sheen of sweat was on her forehead, her muscles shivering slightly as we walked side by side.
“You have an intense routine,” I said, and she smiled at the admiration in my voice.
“I like pushing myself,” she said. “If I’m not shaking by the end, then it wasn’t hard enough.” She glanced over at me quickly, her smile slightly mischievous.
My cock swelled, which was a fucking problem when I was about to undress in a public shower. “Careful, Jess. I can’t exactly hide a boner right now.”
“What did I do?” she said innocently, pausing outside the women’s shower room as she batted her eyes at me. Okay, she was blatantly asking for it now. I stepped closer to her, crowding her, pressing her back against the wall. Her eyes were bright, the scent of her sweat downright intoxicating. I wanted to take her like that, taste the salt on her skin…
“If you’re going to try to turn me on, then you’d better be prepared to do something about it,” I said. She tensed with anticipation, holding her breath for a moment…but I stepped away and headed into the showers.
Just in time to see Alex getting into one of the stalls.
I waited until he’d flicked the lock to “occupied” before I stripped down. My dick was at half-mast and the moment I allowed myself to think of Jess showering on the other side of this wall, I was rigidly hard.
There was a soft sound as I shoved my things into a locker for safekeeping during my shower. I glanced toward the door and stilled when I realized it was Jess who had come in. She no longer had her bag, and she looked around curiously before her eyes fell on me, standing there entirely naked and erect.
She grinned. “Wow. You weren’t kidding about being turned on.” Suddenly realizing we weren’t alone, her eyes darted toward the one occupied shower stall, and she mouthed, Who’s in there?
Alex, I mouthed back in silence. She wandered further into the locker room, taking her time as she made her way over to me.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
She stopped in front of me and reached out, tracing her fingers slowly across the tattoos on my chest.
“You said I should be prepared to do something about turning you on,” she said, the fake innocence in her voice driving me wild. “So here I am. Prepared to do something about it.”
Oh, hell fucking yes. I looked around, spotting a wet floor sign leaning against the wall nearby.
“Put that outside the door and close it,” I said. She complied, moving quickly to put the sign right outside the locker room. It wouldn’t buy us much time, but I could work fast.
I only needed a few minutes.
When she returned, I was wedging a rubber doorstop I’d found under Alex’s door. I didn’t know how long it would keep him in there, but I figured it would buy us enough time before he broke out by sheer brute force.
Jess gasped when I grabbed her, slamming her up against the shower door and kissing her. Her lips parted, her hands grasping me as her tongue slipped eagerly into my mouth. I gripped her throat in one hand and slid the other between her legs, growling when she whimpered with pleasure. The shower was still running inside the stall, but when I turned Jess roughly and pressed her hard against the door again, I knew it was only a matter of time.
I ripped down her leggings and panties, the tight spandex keeping her legs squeezed together. Holding her against the door by the nap of her neck, I used my free hand to grasp her hip, but she was already arching her back for me. I nudged my cock against her entrance, groaning softly when I found her wet.
“Fuck, have you been thinking about this the whole time?” I said, bearing down against her, thrusting slowly against her slick folds. I readjusted, tugged her hips back a little more, and pressed inside her. Her groan was loud, and I immediately moved my hand from grasping her neck to covering her mouth.
“I love how you take it for me,” I moaned, fucking her with hard, punishing thrusts. Her sounds were muffled against my hand, but certainly not silent.
The shower suddenly turned off. “Hey, it’s occupied in here!”
Jess’s eyes widened, but I didn’t stop. The sound of my hips slapping against her ass as I pounded her was definitely loud enough for Alex to hear it. He threw back the deadbolt, and the door jolted slightly as he tried to open it — but the doorstop did its job.
“What the fuck!” His fist pounded against the door, and I switched up my pace, filling her with long, slow strokes. Her eyes fluttered closed, her pussy clinging to me like she was trying to keep me inside.
“That feel good, princess?” I murmured, and she groaned in response, nodding her head as I kept her mouth covered. I released my hold on her hip, wrapping my arm around her to rub her clit instead. She arched back against me, eager for those deeper strokes, her thighs clenching around my hand.
“Open the fucking door! Hey!” Alex’s voice was growing louder and he was really trying to get the door open now. Even though I’d already worked myself into a sweat, I had more energy than ever as I slammed into her. My balls tightened, and my back tingled.
I was going to spill inside her delicious cunt and Alex was going to listen to every moment.
“Come for me,” I growled the command in her ear, and her muscles spasmed greedily around me. Her legs trembled, her breathing choppy with desperate gasps as I rubbed her clit. I could feel her come on me, warm and slick and throbbing with pleasure.
I bottomed out inside her, pumping my cum deep. I hooked my fingers into her mouth and she opened, her ragged cry of bliss like a cherry on top of my pleasure. Alex was cursing, and it sounded like he was about to kick the door down.
Jess gasped when I pulled out of her and hurriedly tugged up her leggings. I kissed her quickly, grabbing my bag from the locker before I took her hand.
“Looks like you won’t be getting a shower,” I said. “Because we’d better not be here when he gets that door open.”
She smelled like sweat and my cum, and it made me feel like I was on top of the world. It was some primal animal kingdom bullshit, but fucking her while Alex could do nothing more than listen was possibly the greatest ego boost I’d ever given myself.
I think I was going to like this new gym.
