Page 18 of Hiding for the Holidays
“Sure, which ones are we moving?”
“All of them.”
I look at her in surprise, and she shrugs. “I have a plan.”
“In that case, let’s get the other two to help us.”
She takes a couple of minutes to explain how she wants everything rearranged, grouping similar equipment together.
“People need flow,” she tells us, gesturing around the scattered machines. “If someone’s working legs, they don’t want to hike across the room for the next machine. Grouping things makes it easier for beginners to figure out. It’s also safer, so no one’s weaving through chaos, and way more efficient for anyone doing circuits. Plus, it just makes sense for cleaning and maintenance.”
“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Leo says, gazing around the space. “Where do we start?”
“I think we should move all the cardio machines to the open space at the back, just to get them out of the way. Then we should have the space to rearrange the rest of the equipment,” Clara tells us, tapping the arm of the closest treadmill.
“Let’s work in pairs for safety,” I tell them. “Clara, you’re with me.” Leo shoots me a knowing look, but I ignore him.
“Let’s start with this one,” I say, gesturing to the treadmill she was touching. “It’s on wheels, I’ll lift it and you stand at the other end and help guide me.” This way she doesn’t have to actually do much of the hard labor.
We work perfectly together as the four of us move all the cardio equipment out of the way.
“I guess it’s a good thing there are no clients in here today,” she says, stretching out her back as we take a water break.
I frown, looking around the space. “Is it normally this quiet?” I ask the others.
“Aren’t you here every day?” She asks in confusion.
“Yeah, but I spend a lot of time on the punching bags.” I take a seat on a weight bench and take a sip of my water as she moves to stand in front of me. She watches me for a second as if she wants to ask something, then changes her mind, spinning away, giving me a glimpse of the bruises on her neck.
My fist clenches as anger rolls through me. Who could harm a woman like that? Especially someone as sweet and kind as Clara. The urge to punch someone becomes overwhelming, so I stand up and make a beeline for the punching bags.
I don’t bother to wrap my hands; I just move in and start throwing jabs at the closest bag, imagining it’s whatever asshole laid his hands on Clara.
After a couple minutes, I hear my name being called. “Asher?” I drop my hands, panting heavily as I turn around to find a concerned-looking Clara watching mecarefully.
Shit, I hope I didn’t scare her.
“Are you okay?”
“Huh?” I ask in confusion.
She steps closer, her eyes dropping to my hands as she gently grabs my wrist and inspects my knuckles. They’re not bleeding, but they are red. My skin tingles with awareness from where she touches me. My heart feels like it picks up speed, as if it’s sitting up and paying attention to her.
“When I saw you doing this before, you were wearing gloves. I was worried you would hurt yourself.” I stare at her, unsure what to say. I don’t think anyone's worried about me like that in a long time. Leo and Grant care, but they wouldn’t stop me to tell me to put on gloves.
“Is there a reason you suddenly started doing that?” She asks, still holding my hand between both of hers, as if she’s completely unaware of what her small touch does to me.
I shrug, unsure how much to tell her. “It’s a coping mechanism.”
“Did I say something to upset you?” she asks in worry.
“No, of course not.” I turn my hand and grip hers, dragging her closer to me, so there’s barely any space between us. I use my free hand to ever so gently glide a finger across her neck. I see her swallow, and I lift my eyes to meet her beautiful blue ones. Lowering my voice to a whisper, I confess, “I see these marks, and it makes me angry I wasn’t there to stop it from happening. It makes me want to kill the man who put them there.”
“I…” she trails off, unable to say the words I long to hear, to ask me for help.
I nod my head and, hiding my disappointment, drop my hand and take a step back as I clear my throat. “Well, I think we’ve had a long enough break, why don’t we get back to moving the machines?”
She nods and quickly turns away, as if happy for the change in subject. I’d only known her a few days, I knew it would probably take her a while to open up to us. I just hoped she wasn’t in any trouble in the meantime.
