Page 2 of A Step Too Close
“There ya go. Up. Come on. Push, Arden. Almost there,” he says, keeping his hand on my belly. It reminds me to engage my core muscles rather than using just my back muscles. I don’t know what it is, but my core is weak as fuck. “One more, Arden. Let’s go.”
“Ugh!” I complain but force myself up.
“There ya go. Push, Arden. Come on. Up. Just a little more… Alright. Slow. Don’t drop… There ya go. Good girl,” he says, offering me his hand. He helps me up, and I put my hands on my knees to catch my breath.
“You did well, Arden. I’m proud of you,” he says, patting my back.
“You are an evil, evil man,” I groan and stand up.
“Get some water and breathe. Your face looks like a tomato,” he says.
“Well, fuck you too, buddy,” I say, and he chuckles as he hands me his bottle. “Thank you. I should get my own bottle. I’m always stealing yours.”
“I don’t mind,” he says simply. “You need to remember to breathe when you are pushing yourself like that.”
“I forget,” I say. “I know that sounds dumb.”
“It doesn’t. You are focused on other things,” he says. “I’ll remind you. Want to do some squats?”
“No, but you’re going to make me anyway,” I say.
“You know me so well, Arden,” he says, taking a sip of his water and closing the lid. We go over to the bar, and he gets set up while I stand back and watch.
I can see in the mirror that there is a man behind me with his phone out, and it looks like he is taking a picture of me. I turn my body so he can’t get a full picture of my ass. I don’t know what else to do because freaks like him rarely take it well when confronted. I look directly at him, hoping it will make it known that I can see what he’s doing, but eventually I give up, and my mood changes drastically.
“Okay. Let’s get it, girl,” Levi says. I position myself, and he stands behind me with his hands out at my sides to spot me. “Keep your back straight. Use your legs, Arden.”
I drop deep and grit my teeth and nearly growl as I push back up. “There ya go. That’s great, Arden. Four more.”
One by one, my anger at the brazen motherfucker taking a video gets let out. He is being so obvious about it, too. “Shit, that’s heavy,” I huff as I rack my weights.
“That was one hundred and fifty pounds, Arden. Good job,” he says, giving me a high five. “We will keep today short since I am pushing you so hard. Let’s do some deadlifts and finish out cardio.”
“Kay,” I say.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, turning to look at me.
“That asshole has been taking pictures and videos of me the whole time we’ve been over here. It’s just getting to me,” I say. “It’s not a big… Levi!”
Levi turns with no hesitation and walks over. The guy tries to put his phone away, but it is snatched out of his hand. He taps around for a second but I slap my hand over my mouth when Levi abruptly throws the phone across the room and it smashes against the wall. The man runs over to grab the remnants of his phone before leaving and Levi comes back and helps me wipe everything down and put the weights away.
“Get your stuff. Let’s go grab some breakfast and we can shower at the office,” he says, gently squeezing my shoulder. I simply nod and scurry off to the locker room.
When I come out, Levi is waiting for me. “Ready?”
“Mhmm.”
“Arden?” Levi says, narrowing his eyes at me. “I’m the grumpy one, remember?”
I shrug, and he sighs before we turn and walk out of the gym. I toss my bag in the back seat, and before I can get into my car, he grabs my hips and pushes me back against the door. “I scared you, didn’t I?” he asks.
“Uh. I don’t know. I don’t think it was you. He was just… He reminded me of someone, is all. I’m sorry,” I apologize.
“Don’t apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong, Arden. I’m sorry if I frightened you. He… took a lot of photos,” he says.
“Gross,” I frown.
“Let’s go to the office,” he says.
