Page 44 of Between Commitment and Betrayal
But the question lingered. My ex in my mind lingered. When Declan made the extra effort, I remembered how Andy hadn’t, how he’d always reminded me of his status in the community, how I was lucky to have him.
And Declan was so much bigger than Andy would ever be. Yet, he worked for everything he’d got, he didn’t quit because he’d already made it, and he didn’t shove his reputation in my face.
Even now, he didn’t try to skirt around the work. I made sure we covered every base—because above all else, I needed to get his wrist back to one hundred percent to show him I was capable and because he deserved it with how hard he worked—I saw the athlete in him. I admired how he pushed through pain, and I knew it was infuriating and painful to work a small muscle around all the bigger and better ones. Yet, he didn’t quit. He just worked it harder, like he wanted to prove no part of him was breakable.
“Last rep, give it your all,” I encouraged quietly. The TVs and music and most of the lights were off now that Declan had shut everything down. I planned to get an Uber considering it seemed he wanted to work out on his own after this. He’d never shut the gym down this way, but I realized he’d been working upstairs on meetings with lawyers and shareholders all day. He probably needed to clear his head.
“Done,” I announced but didn’t let go of his wrist as I massaged it, making sure we broke up the scar tissue right after the workout and allowed for correct healing this time. “I’ll get myself an Uber right away. I can wait to shower so you can have some time to yourself.” I needed to get away from him too, try to shake off the desire building in me for him even after I’d told him time and time again we couldn’t indulge in it.
“You’re staying,” he said matter-of-factly. “Don’t you have pull-ups to do? Ten?”
“I can do those tomorrow.” Why had my heart started beating so fast as he held my gaze?
“You’ll do them now.” He grabbed my hips and turned me toward the bar. Before I could stop, he nudged me forward and walked behind me until I was directly under the metal.
“Declan, I—”
He didn’t wait to lift me. His strong fingers held me up like I was a feather, and I immediately grabbed the bar I normally had to use a step to reach. I stared in front of me at the mirror, looking at his reflection behind me. His eyes were on my body, on my form, on how I hung there for him to see.
“Ten. Everly. Give it your all.” He repeated my words back to me, then smiled as he said, “Commit.”
That smile… it was menacing, daring, and filled with heat that slithered through my body, even in that dead hang position. This was a closed chain exercise that I’d been trying to master for so long. With the hand or foot being fixed in these types of exercises, the muscular growth impact was much more. It’s how we pushed our body further, how we made strides for growth.
I tensed every muscle to raise my chin to the metal. Slowly. Efficiently.
“One,” he counted. Or taunted. I wasn’t sure which. Every time I hit another, he said it without praise, without encouragement.
I pushed harder.
“Eight, Everly.” My body weight was getting the best of me as my arms shook halfway through this one. He stepped close and murmured in my ear, “Can you commit, Drop?”
I glared at him as his sea-green eyes narrowed before he raised one arm up and suddenly, I felt the inside of his fist wrap around the bar against the outside of mine.
Then his chest was against my back, his other palm gripping the bar next to mine as he hopped up, caging me in.
Our bodies pressed against one another’s as he crisscrossed his calves under my shins and lifted.
My body weight was gone.
The shake in my muscle gone.
The strain of hitting number nine in my reps gone.
“Nine, Drop,” he whispered against my neck, and my whole body shook for another reason.
I watched as he pulled me up and then lowered me down again. “Ten.”
I bit my lip as his tongue dragged across my neck, then his teeth latched onto to my ear, and I gasped at the same time I felt his cock hardening against my ass.
“Should we keep going?” he questioned. “Or did we commit well enough for you?”
Commitment.
That stupid word. The way we flirted with disaster and how I knew my heart couldn’t handle it had me dropping off the bar fast. He dropped with me, like his body knew mine already, like they worked in sync together even if our minds didn’t.
“There’s no commitment in cheating the system,” I murmured to him, breathless. “I don’t even need a spot for pull-ups. You shouldn’t have helped.”
“Haven’t you been cheating your whole workout?” He lifted a brow at me in the mirror, my back still against his chest. When he pulled me closer and wrapped his arm around me, my hands immediately went to his forearm to hold on as he said into my neck, “Men everywhere spotting you at every turn.”
