Page 64 of Not That Impossible

I shuddered.

I’d find a better way to approach the story. I was creative, damn it! I could do this!

I opened up a new document and settled in for some focused, serious brainstorming.

An hour later, I read the last page of the document back.

“Bring him to me,” the feared warlord Nash said.

I struggled in my chains as I was dragged to the bottom of the throne steps, then shoved to my knees, but not in a sexy way.

Nash spoke over my head. “One last time, King Adam. Renounce your right to the throne, or I will execute your favourite peasant.”

King Adam tossed his shining curls. “I will never renounce the throne. It is my sworn duty to rule over the good people of Fayreford. I will never let the kingdom fall into darkness!”

“Why does he need to renounce it, though?” I said. “You’re sitting right on it. You’re there. Maybe we should all take a moment and consider—”

“Silence, mewling peasant.”

“That’s a bit…I didn’tmewl. Such a gross word. I’m just saying that, logically, I don’t think it’s necessary.”

The warlord nodded to his second-in-command.

“Let this be a warning to you all,” he boomed.

His fierce general smiled at me as she hefted her war axe in a two-handed grip, swung it up in a glittering arc, and—

I sighed, dragged the document to the trash can, and went to the gym.

* * *

I hadthree classes back to back. Melanie had called in sick, and after the two classes of my own I had scheduled, I had to take her yoga class. It went well, I thought. Everyone seemed impressed when I did the splits. After a spin class, Legs, Bums and Tums—during which Mike the uncooperative policeman was as sorry as I’d promised he would be—and the yoga, I was starting to feel it.

I decided to drop in to the weights room and finish my day with some lifting, in the hopes that I’d make it home, crawl into bed, and fall straight to sleep.

I was grunting at the leg press when Kevin Wallis came and thumped down in the machine next to mine. He’d been talking to a group of his friends, all of them guys a few years younger than me, and I’d ignored the noise as they laughed and hooted.

“All right, Jasper?” he said cheerfully.

“Hey, Kev. How’s it going?”

“Eh. You know.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Same old, same old,” he said.

“Uh-huh.” I focused on the opposite wall, and continued my set.

“Except for the dead guy in a tub thing earlier in the week. That was new.”

I turned to stare at him. “What?”

“What?” Kevin’s neck veins bulged and he grimaced as he struggled to lift the weight.

“Dead guyin a tub?”

“Yuuuuuhhhhh.” The weights clanged. “Whee,” he said. “That one wastough.”

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