Page 94 of Zoinks! Nice Pack, Bro

The dress's strap is slipping down her shoulder as she shoves her arms into a cardigan. It was longer on her too.

I had seen her in this dress when we first were around her and now she was swimming in the fabric.

When did that happen?

“Have a good day, princess.” Paxton kisses her as she moves through the kitchen, grabbing the lunch Ant packed for her and leaning in to kiss him goodbye before spinning to me and hugging me.

“Text me?” I ask like we wouldn’t be texting all day. She smirks at this, kissing me and rubbing her thumb over my upper lip again.

“Always.”

She gives a wave before grabbing her bags and walking out with Jace to start their day together.

As soon as the door clicks shut behind them, I turn to look at Ant and Paxton. Ant is scrolling on his phone while Paxton is reading over reports for today, already consumed with work.

They didn’t seem to have seen what I had just seen.

“Sadie is upset about something.” I might as wellhave told them we were getting bombed because the two frantic faces were looking at me in horror, “This morning she said she wanted to go shopping for clothes without any of us coming with her. Which is weird. And then I saw her this morning and her dress was so big it was falling off her shoulders. She lost weight. Like a lot of weight.”

It took them a second to process this and try to make sense of what I am telling them.

“She’s been eating here and going to the gym but I thought she liked that. What if she doesn’t like that? What if she thought she had to do this for us?” Anthony is freaking out as Pax just stares like he can’t make sense of what is going on.

Poor Anthony has bonded with her over the gym time so I can see why his mind is racing. I don’t think that’s the problem though. Something else is the problem.

“We’re taking her clothes shopping tonight. Fuck whatever plans we had. We’re taking her out to eat and shopping and fuck- Doesn’t she know we lo-like her for her?Fuck.” Pax rubs his jaw, his hand flying to his phone, “We’re leaving now to go to the properties. Jace can meet us there. We need to finish fucking early and get to our omega.”

He stands up, heads the wrong way and curses before moving towards the garage. He’s lost as he worries about Sadie. He can’t even think straight.

Anthony doesn’t even complain about leaving early but follows behind Pax to the car.

But I get it because I love Sadie too.

CHAPTER 25

NIGHT SHIFT

Sadie

My hands are doing that thing where they move without me realizing it.

Tapping fingers, trying to crack knuckles, and shaking my hand back and forth until my wrist aches. Pushing my sleeve towards my mouth, wanting to bite and suck at my fingers.

Anxiety.

I’ve been going to the gym for a month. And the boxing gym is owned by Paxton, so I know it’s a safe space. I’m even in his office, where I have a key to change as the boys work in the women's dressing room they’ve already started to install because of me.

They want me to be safe and work so hard to make sure that I always feel comfortable.

Maybe that’s why I feel guilty as I drag the scale out from where Paxton has it for fight weigh-ins. Stepping on it, I track my progress, watching the numbers as I sweat in the yoga pants and sports bra I’m wearing.

I’ve already warmed up with jump rope and some punches but it’s been on my mind. The number on the scale. Something I hate seeing even though over the past month I’ve lost around twenty pounds.

This has mostly been because of the huge amount of exercise I’veadded to my everyday life. But there's also the Lexapro that took my appetite away for weeks and the healthy food Ant always makes. And the fact that I try to not snack and have been skipping whenever I could. Instead of eating I’m walking and chugging water down.

But none of them have noticed my weight loss.

And every time I look in the mirror I see the same fat girl I’ve always been. The same omega that everyone looked over and I feel the insecurity like a cloak falling over my shoulders.

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