Page 85 of Offside Devil

I can’t live like this again.

I won’t.

“Zane’s building may have a fancy gym, but it doesn’t have the world’s best workout partner.” Taylor poses in the long wall of mirrors, sticking her tongue out while she takes turns flexing her ass cheeks. Suddenly, she stops and meets my eyes in the reflection. “Right?”

I smile for what feels like the first time in days. “That title remains yours.”

She pumps her fist in victory. “Honestly, I already knew that. Whatever your training regimen is right now, you need to add some weights back in. You’re looking scrawny.”

That’s what sleepless nights and too many skipped meals will do for you.

“I haven’t been working out much at all, actually,” I mumble.

Taylor stops and turns to me. “Uh-oh.”

“No. No ‘uh-oh.’ I’m fine.” It takes what little energy I have left to force that lie out. “I’ve just been busy.”

“If you were fine, you’d be working out regularly,” Taylor retorts. “You once told me that a gym membership was cheaper than therapy. And that you desperately needed therapy.”

I grimace and groan. “That’s what I get for being drunk and vulnerable.”

Taylor slides in front of me, close enough that my face will drag down her midsection if I try to do another squat. “Is everything okay with you? You’re usually happy after a kickboxing class.”

She’s not wrong. I walked out of the class tonight feeling happier than I have in days, which unfortunately only meant I wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack or tears. Taylor sensed my distress.

So I say the only thing I know will get her off of my back: “I think I just need a night out.”

“Oh my God, why didn’t you say so earlier?!” She twists around, scanning the gym. “Do you see Blaine anywhere?”

Blaine is one of the trainers at the gym. His clientele is almost exclusively women who want to fuck him and he has high turnover, for unspoken but somewhat obvious reasons.

“I think he finished with his last client a few minutes ago. But I meant I need a night out on the town, not another training session.”

Taylor waves me away. “I know that. Thankfully, I bet Blaine’s body looks as good in a button down as it does in gym-branded tank tops.”

I stare at Taylor for a long time before my exhausted brain finally processes what she’s saying. “You want to set me up on a date?”

“Duh! Nothing will clear the fog out of your head—and the cobwebs out of your coochie—like a date.”

I slap away the finger she’s pointing at my crotch. “I don’t have cobwebs! And I don’t want a date.”

Taylor sighs and grabs my shoulders. “You think you don’t want a date, but that’s just because you haven’t been on one in so long that you’ve forgotten how fun they can be. Daniel and I have been going out a lot recently and it’s amazing.”

“It’s amazing because you like Daniel. I don’t like Blaine.”

“You don’t know Blaine; there’s a difference,” she argues. “Plus, he has asked me about you a few times since we started coming here. He thinks you’re cute.”

I glance at myself sidelong in the mirror. There is nothing cute about the dark circles under my eyes or the sweat stains under my arms.

“Not so much right now, maybe” Taylor concedes with a wince. “But usually, you’re smoking hot. So, you’ll beautify yourself, I’ll invite Blaine, and we’ll all go out together.”

“‘Together’? Like, a double date?”

“Obviously.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m not going to set you up with some guy we barely know and send you off on your own. There’s safety in numbers. And in having a burly hockey player who knows how to throw his weight around.”

I already have a burly hockey player at home, I want to protest. Though, that’s kind of the heart and soul of my problem.

“Daniel is Zane’s best friend,” I point out. “It’s weird for him to tag along on a date with me. Plus, I’m not supposed to date. Per my contract.”

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