Page 13 of Stolen

Bradley squinted before he tilted his head to the side. “I have a bad feeling.”

“How bad?”

“I think we might be here for about a week, until things finally settle down?—”

“A week?!” Leo’s shock interrupted our conversation. Suddenly, he was standing in front of us, his eyes open wide. “Did you just say we’re going to be stuck here for a whole week?!”

“If we’re lucky.” Bradley shrugged. “We have to wait for the storm to stop. Then for the snow to settle. And then, we start shoveling.”

“But we can’t be stuck in here for a whole week!” Leo pleaded. “By then, the time we booked for the photoshoot with the guys will be completely over! We won’t even be able to get any pics outside?—”

“Sorry. Just the way the cookie crumbles.” Bradley took a swig of his drink. “There’s no point in trying to argue with nature.”

Leo turned his attention to me. “And? What do you think about this? Is it really going to be a whole week?”

“I think we should listen to Bradley. He’s never been wrong about this kind of stuff before,” I replied. “But I also think that there’s a way to compromise here.”

“Compromise? How?” Leo chuckled but it was hollow. “How are we supposed to work through this one, Jacob?”

“Well, what was your plan for today? Assuming we weren’t snowed in.”

“All the guys were going to hit the gym for a morning workout. And then, we were going to set up with Tommy to take photos outside.”

“We can still do the first thing, can’t we?”

“Sure, but what’s the point?” Leo threw his hands up in the air. “They’re supposed to get all pumped up, and for what? To hang out in the lobby?”

“I have an idea.” I got up from the couch. “But I need to get changed first. After that, we’ll go over to the gym.”

“What’s the idea?” Leo pressed, even as I was already walking away from the conversation. “Jacob? Jacob?!”

I turned around to offer him a playful wink before I headed off to my room.

5

LEO

Jacob and I made our way to the gym, with him now dressed in a thin, black t-shirt and a pair of shorts that clung to his thighs. I struggled to keep my eyes to myself, my gaze desperate to take in every inch of him in an outfit like that.

Once we entered the gym, I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the moment I had to tell everyone the photoshoot was off. It was hard enough for me to let people down in general. The idea of letting down a group of men who had enough cash to buy me?

Enough cash to break me?

I was shaking on the inside, even though I was doing a good job of hiding it on the outside.

“Hey, boss!” Diego greeted me with a wide smile. He held a heavy weight in each hand from where he sat on a workout bench. He looked right at home among the expensive machinery and the red-and-black color scheme of the gym, his outfit matching it perfectly.

“Hey! There we are!” Chris was the next to greet me, taking a seat beside Diego. He scoffed as he noticed Diego’s weights. “Really? Is that all they have you lifting in the league?”

“Shouldn’t you be more concerned about your feet, soccer boy?”

“Hey! No bickering in the gym!” Andrew called out from the treadmill. I didn’t think I’d ever seen anyone run that fast before. “We’re supposed to treat this place like a temple!”

“Yeah, yeah. Right.” Chris nodded before he offered Diego his hand. “Truce?”

“Truce.”

Just then, Keith slithered toward us from somewhere out of the corner. He was wearing a relaxed workout look, with an old jersey and tennis shoes. I rolled my eyes nearly as soon as I spotted him, everything about his demeanor instantly annoying me.

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