Page 13 of Easy To Lose

Before I have a chance to ask him what he means, his phone goes off, pulling us both out of the moment. He looks down at the caller ID, and groans. “I gotta take this. Give me a sec, okay?” I nod silently, not having the words to explain the feelings coursing through my body.

This just got interesting.

Chapter 11

Owen

“What do you want, Bailey?” I mutter, looking behind me to make sure Morgan can’t hear me. Of course, I would get this call the second I get my hands on the one woman I’ve been dreaming about since I was sixteen.

“Is that any way to say hello to your girlfriend?” she says in what I know she thinks is her sexy voice, but right now, it only irritates the fuck out of me.

“Bailey, you know you’re not my girlfriend anymore. What do you want?” I don’t hide the curt tone of my voice as she huffs on the other end.

“Whatever. I wanted to see if I could come by tomorrow and take some pictures for Instagram.” Is she serious? She called me for this? I almost throw my phone against the wall but stop myself.

“Bailey, you know what my answer’s gonna be.”

“Come on, Owen, you never had a problem before!” she whines. I roll my eyes and glance back at Morgan, who looks at me with a sweet expression on her face. I give her a wink and smile, and a blush travels up her neck, cresting over her cheeks. Fuck, she’s gorgeous. It’s a shame she doesn’t see it.

“That’s because you were my girlfriend before. Now, you’re not. And I’m not okay with you mooching off my business. If you want gym pictures, I know a few guys that would be more than willing to help you out. But it won’t be me.” She starts huffing again, so I stop it in its tracks. “Bails, we’re over. You either accept it or don’t. Regardless, just know that we’re done, and that means I’m done catering to your demands, too.” I disconnect from the call abruptly and hope that’s the last time I hear from her. But knowing Bailey, I figure I’ll have a few more months of torture until I get some semblance of peace.

I turn and see Morgan taking a drink from her water bottle. I smile, motioning for her to follow me to the weights. I set her up, and we do a few reps of triceps curls, some shoulder presses, and then finally, I get her down on a mat and in position to do a plank.

“You have gotta be kidding me. You hate me, don’t you?” she mutters as she gets in the position and I pull out my phone and set the timer.

“It’s not that bad,” I say, smiling because I know she’s going to say something sarcastic back.

“Yeah, maybe for you, Hercules. But for us mere mortals, it’s not that simple.” I burst out laughing because this is the Morgan I knew all those years ago. The one that gave as good as she got—and without hesitation.

“I just want to see what you can do. All of these exercises are for me to get a baseline. That way, the more we train, the more I can see your progress.” She gives me a skeptical look as I motion for her to get ready. “Okay, we’re starting in five, four, three, two, one. Go!” She gets into the plank position, and I watch her. She struggles from the onset, and I’m not surprised. Most people can’t plank for longer than a few seconds the first time they do it, so when she collapses at fifteen seconds, I’m thoroughly impressed. “Morgan, that was amazing!” I shout as she looks up at me like I’m talking gibberish.

“What the hell are you watching over there? I didn’t even make it to thirty seconds!” She struggles to catch her breath, so I lean over and grab her water bottle as she reaches for it and takes a sip.

“Morgan, most people can’t do thirty seconds the first time they do a plank. You should be proud.” She takes a deep breath, and after a few heartbeats, a genuine smile crosses her face.

“Really?” I give her a reassuring smile and nod my head.

“Are you ready to go again?”

“Again? You really fucking hate me, don’t you?” I laugh as she gets back into position.

“I don’t hate you. The exact opposite, actually.” She stills, and I try to ignore the awkward silence. “This time, I want you to try and beat your last time, okay? Think you can do that?” She nods, eyes still focused on the mat, and I curse myself for opening my big mouth. I quickly shake myself out of it and reset the timer. “Ready? In five, four, three, two, one!” She holds herself in position and, right away, I notice this time is harder, just like I expected. Her arms are shaking under her weight, and her face contorts the more time passes. Before the fifteen seconds are up, she collapses into a heap on the mat.

“Did I beat the time?” she asks, and for a split second, I think about lying, telling her she did. But the trainer in me knows that won’t help.

“No. But that’s okay. We know you can do fifteen seconds, which is amazing for a beginner. Now we can improve from there, okay?” I can see the disappointment on her face as I help her up. “Morgan, you won’t be good at all of this right away. I never expected you to be. All I expect is for you to try your best. That’s it. Okay?” She nods, taking a swig from her water bottle.

“What’s next?” she says through haggard breathing, and I smile. Because no matter the outcome of this training, I know I will make her see the woman I do.

After an hour’s workout, Morgan looks thoroughly exhausted. And honestly, I’m beat, too. I tried to do as many of the things with her as I could, just so she wasn’t doing them alone, and I realized early on that I haven’t done that in a long time.

“You want to do this again tomorrow?” I ask, but she looks at me as if I just asked her to sell drugs to a cop.

“Are you insane? I’m going to be so sore tomorrow. I don’t know how I’m going to survive my boss’s visit.” I give her a guilty smile and toss her a towel, watching as she wipes the sweat from her forehead.

“Well, what about the day after? It will give you a chance to heal a bit, and I’ll make sure to change up the routine so we work different muscles.” She thinks about it for a second and then smiles.

“Sure, sounds good. Same time?”

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