Page 41 of Christmas with my Three Best Friends

“And what if you can’t? What if the gym fails to grow its clientele?” Richard replies.

“Ye of little faith.” I sigh deeply as my little joke falls flat. “We’ve come this far, haven’t we?”

“And you remember the deal we made in the beginning, don’t you?” he shoots back.

His doubtful demeanor is starting to get on my nerves. I love this man like a brother. We’re sharing an incredible woman, a business, and a fitness passion—all three were supposed to be elements that brought us closer together, not pushed us apart. It’s too much for me to handle at this hour. The idea of losing this gym, of losing him as a partner… I can’t fathom any of it. So I stand up to my full height, giving him a hard look.

“Listen, Rick. I’m not ready to discuss failure just yet. You shouldn’t, either,” I say. “It sounds to me like you were never truly into this gym like Marius, Shay and I were and still are. You might as well admit it.”

“Jax… I’m a businessman, first and foremost. I have to consider every possibility, and I have to know your thoughts on each possible scenario so I can better plan,” he replies. “This isn’t personal. And trust me, my heart is in it all the way through, but my pragmatism forbids me from simply jumping head first without asking reasonable questions. You would do the same if you were in my place.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” I say. “I would devote myself to the business and go out of my way to make sure it survives its first two years before I call it quits.”

“Rick, Jax has a point here. We feel like you’re getting ready to jump ship, not merely weighing your options for the future,” Marius interjects. “And I get where he’s coming from. We may not have as much invested in this place as you, but we’ve got hours, sweat, and plenty of nerves at the foundation of this business. It counts as much as your cash…”

Richard concedes. “That’s true, and like I said, I’m not pulling the plug anytime soon. I simply wanted to know how—”

“No, you simply wanted to know the best way to weasel out of this deal, and I’m not ready to let you bail out just yet.” I point a stern finger at him. “I’m done for now. We’ll talk about this again next month, Rick, after we see an inevitable uptick in our sales figures.”

“Jax, hold on.” Richard tries to stop me, but I’m already out the door.

I need more than a few deep breaths for this anger to subside.

I stand by the reception desk, mindlessly watching some customers come and go. A few head for the lockers to change. Others get their gym passes back before they can leave. Somehow, this gym functions smoothly, regardless of our difficult conversations. We shouldn’t be having any difficult conversations. We should be working together. Sticking together through thick and thin.

Alice is busy sorting through the locker keys. For the umpteenth time, they’ve been scrambled and moved around. Either she or her colleagues put them in the wrong boxes again, and now they need to be taken out and put back in their appropriately numbered boxes. I watch her mumbling and grumbling like an old lady at the supermarket counting coins at the register. I can’t help but chuckle softly. For a moment, my mind is pulled away from the gym and relationship troubles I never thought I’d have to deal with in the first place.

“Hey, handsome,” Alice says when she notices me. Almost immediately, she shifts in her seat and turns to face me. “What brings you around here at this hour?”

I check my watch. “I’m always here at this hour.”

“No, you’re usually in there,” she replies, nodding at the training room behind me.

“Ah. Fair enough. Just needed to clear my head for a minute. I had a meeting with Rick and Marius.”

“You seem worried,” Alice says. The expression of concern on her face doesn’t stop her from straightening her back so I get a better view of her perky breasts. I don’t think she’s wearing a bra underneath our branded polo t-shirt. Not that it’s doing much for me. My mind is glued to Shay in every possible way. “Is something wrong?”

“Not really. Business stuff, mostly. Nothing for you to trouble yourself over.”

“You’re under a lot of pressure, I get it,” she says and slowly gets up. “I could give you a back rub to help with the tension in your shoulders.”

I stare at her, wondering where she gets the audacity. Fully aware that she and Richard had a bit of a thing before she came to work here, I know Alice only has a job here because he felt bad for her. She comes from a rougher neighborhood and had it rough growing up, but I also believe we are responsible for our choices and behaviors. Right now, her behavior is telling me she’s itching for something that would get other employees here in trouble.

“I’m good, thank you,” I reply with a dry smile. It should be enough to get her to back down.

But Alice comes closer. “Oh, come on, it’s not like I’m gonna bite. Besides, you need to chill out for a bit. Don’t you have clients coming in soon?”

“I do, which is why I’d rather just go in and work on my training program.”

“It’ll only take a minute,” she says, closing the distance between us.

The tension in my shoulders is certainly real, and it’s only getting worse as she puts her hands on my chest. She feels the muscles underneath the fabric of my t-shirt, fingers traveling upward over my shoulders as she squeezes gently. I can’t lie, it does feel nice, but her gesture carries an erotic component that is beyond inappropriate.

“See? I can already feel you relaxing,” Alice murmurs, inching closer.

“Maybe you should—”

“Oh, shush, Jax, we both know it feels good,” she purrs softly.

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