Page 20 of Supernova

I was definitely not as defined as either of them but I worked out and kept mostly in shape. I stood somewhere between them when it came to boob size but my biggest asset was definitely my ass. My ancestry definitely blessed me with wider hips that I’d come to embrace. I loved that we were all so different.

“Yess girl,” Billie called.

“Look at that butt!” Kitana hollered. We all burst out laughing and the awkwardness was gone in an instant, just as Kit promised.

We all proceeded to shower and it was so nice having these girls around me to ease the nerves. Billie and Kit sang with their shampoo bottles as mics and I joined along here and there. A few girls did their makeup in the mirrors and a couple of guys showered or fixed their hair but most people stayed in their groups or kept to themselves.

As we got out and wrapped ourselves in towels in the changing area, a shirtless Carter ran through with a couple of guys, whipping each other with towels. It felt very ‘high school locker room’ but they seemed like they were having fun being absolute idiots. The girls had started to dress, Kitana in just a tiny pair of black shorts and a sports bra while Billie had just chucked on a cropped black tank and remained in her underwear. I was patiently waiting until the boys left before I changed—like the prude I was.

Carter made his way to us, laughing as he whipped Kit. “Good morning, ladies. Looking beautiful as always,” Carter drawled. I noticed he had a few small tattoos down his forearms including a gun shooting out a rose and some script on his opposite wrist.

“Oh we know, Car,” Kitana responded as she towel dried her hair.

My breath stopped as I took in Griffin walking up behind Carter.

His hair was dripping wet, as was his muscled body. A towel hung low on his hips leaving very little to the imagination as my eyes trailed down his deep v that disappeared under the towel. His sculpted form had an array of scattered tattoos across his arms and chest: a dagger, a feather, a snake, roses, some script and a detailed butterfly right in the middle. The dark lines stood out on his perfect olive skin. He ruffled his wet hair as he stopped beside his friend. Bad. This was so bad. I’d never looked at another guy like this before. Never paid attention to anybody else. But now with him standing in front of me, I couldn’t help but ogle a bit. Okay maybe a lot. I’d been with the same guy basically since I was fifteen years old. Maybe that’s why Griffin had so much of an effect on me. Like it or not, I was single now. For the first time in essentially my whole life. And here was this insanely gorgeous, dangerous and off-limits guy that was giving me attention. I had to chalk it up to that. I was just excited.

For some reason I thought he wouldn’t be here, and I didn’t really keep a lookout for him or notice if he was or not. Maybe because I was pleasantly distracted by the girls. But now that I knew he was, I was suddenly very self-conscious. Where was he showering? Was he close by? How did I miss him? Did he see me? Oh God.

“Griff?” Kitana said. “How nice of you to join us.”

He gave her a quick look that seemed like a silent command of some sort before returning his gaze to me in my tiny towel. “Looks like I missed the show.” His raspy voice combined with the sight of his heavenly body sent shivers down my spine and I gripped the towel tighter to my chest

“Likewise.” I raised my brow at him, waiting for his comeback. I didn’t know where this fire I seemed to have with him had come from.

“We’ll just have to time it better tomorrow then, won't we, Comet?” Oh God indeed. There went the little level of comfort I was beginning to build in the bathroom. I’d be extra nervous from now on at the thought of seeing him here and him catching a glimpse of me.

But even with that thought in my head, I couldn’t stop my eyes from drifting to the water droplets caught in the crevices of his chest and abs. His grey eyes shone as they held my gaze. I momentarily lost the ability to speak and forgot what we were talking about. Hopefully he just thought I was ignoring him again.

He grinned, clearly happy with my reaction to his physique and the not-so-subtle checking him out. “I’ll see you all out there.” His eyes held mine a moment longer before running them over the rest of his friends as he nodded a goodbye. Then he and Carter casually strolled away.

The girls smiled at me knowingly before putting the rest of their clothes on. “Alright, we better get a move on,” Billie suggested as she stepped into her black gym tights.

I managed to recompose myself and put on my bike shorts, black tank top and zip-up hoodie—sticking to the unwritten colour scheme of black. I tied my hair in a ponytail while Billie rocked a top knot bun and Kitana went for super cute low pigtails. We made quite the good-looking little girl squad if I did say so myself.

Now it was time to train. And boy was I nervous.

CHAPTER 15

The girls and I walked into the gym to find people grouped around stretching or chatting. I scanned the room counting around forty members, not including the ten or so officers and leaders, or the squad of officially titled Knights that apparently came and left as requested, depending on their assigned missions. The New York academy wasn’t massive but as a whole the Gray Knights had warriors around the world to protect the mundane from the dangers of the supernatural.

Kit and Billie led me to the treadmills that overlooked the benches and weight racks scattered in front of the wall of mirrors.

“We usually start with some cardio and strength training before technical sparring or boxing,” Billie explained. I was more than happy to get a gym sesh in, needing to work out some of my pent up frustration. In a matter of minutes, I stretched and broke out into a light jog and then ran on the treadmill beside my two new friends. As I observed the hustle and bustle of the academy, my gaze found Griffin’s toned, brawny body at the weight racks doing bench presses with Carter spotting. And I wish I hadn’t. I didn’t want to look but it didn’t help that he was directly in front of me—I should have picked a different treadmill. But it would be worse if I moved now, so I had no choice but to stay where I was. It was going to take all my effort not to stare at him the whole time as his muscles worked to bench the heavy bar rack above him. He was dressed in a tight black tee that hugged his chest and arms, paired with black tech fleece track pants that showed off his muscular thighs. I didn’t know what was sexier, seeing him in just a towel this morning or working out a sweat right now. In both scenarios he was wet.

His dark hair was not styled up like it usually seemed to be but instead lay flatter on top, falling slightly over his forehead. When he sat up on the bench after his first set, his eyes almost immediately found mine in the mirror and he winked at me when he caught me staring. I had to basically peel my eyeballs away from him and try not to die of embarrassment as I continued to run.

After about thirty minutes of cardio and another thirty of upper body weights—trying not to make eye contact again—we were ready for some training. I followed my friends to the boxing area. So far a good start to the morning. It helped that boxing was probably my strongest form of combat. At least that eased my nerves a bit.

I was grateful to see Sienna head to the sparring mats, meaning I wouldn’t have to run into her for a while longer at least. Another thing I didn’t need to stress about for the moment.

To my horror, Griffin and Carter followed us. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised since they were a group but I was hoping not to have to encounter him too much either, especially when it came to training. I wasn’t the most experienced fighter and I didn’t want to look like a complete idiot. Plus like I had said, Griffin seemed like trouble that I did not need right now. Not to mention I did not like the spike to my heart rate that his presence annoyingly caused.

“Ladies,” Griffin greeted as he approached. I nodded in response as he collected a skipping rope. Carter and Billie each claimed a punching bag while Kit led me to the gloves.

“Let’s start with some drills, Vee,” Kit called out as she picked up a set of gloves and pads.

“Sure.” I grabbed the gloves from her and began strapping them on. We got right into it, throwing punches while she blocked, bouncing around on the balls of our feet. After about five minutes, when Griffin was done with his warm up, he casually strolled over to us.

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