More to Us (26 page)

As soon as I'm outside, I take off. I probably should warm up first but I can't. I'm too pumped. Too angry. Too determined. I sprint down the sidewalk that goes by my apartment, running as fast as I can as I replay those videos in my head.

I never should've fallen off that beam, but I did, and now I have to get back to the place I was before that happened. But in order to do that, I have to work my ass off. Pain or no pain, nothing's going to stop me. I'm doing this. I'm going to get back to where I was before. And nothing and nobody is going to stop me.

Austin

"Did you get enough to eat?" I ask Kira as we finish lunch. "Because my dad could grill you up some more burgers."

"No, thanks." She laughs. "One was plenty."

I've been teasing her for not eating enough. I told her how much my family eats, especially me and my brothers. She has brothers too, but they're younger and smaller than us so don't eat nearly as much as
my
family does. My dad and I each had two burgers and I also had a grilled chicken breast. And then we had sides; grilled corn, coleslaw, baked beans, and my dad got brownies from the store bakery. So yeah, we pigged out. I eat whatever I want on holidays.

"It's nice you could join us," my dad says to Kira. "We usually have a much larger crowd on a holiday but now that my sons all have girlfriends, they tend to want to do their own thing." He smiles. "Except for you two."

"I wouldn't leave you all alone on the holiday, Dad." I smile at him. "And as for Kira, I lured her here with your burgers. I told her about your talents on the grill."

"It was all really good," she says. "Thanks again for having me."

She's thanked him at least three times and I smiled each time she did it. I like a girl with manners. Sadly, that's hard to find.

My dad stands up from the table. "I suppose I should clean this up."

Kira jumps up. "I can do it."

"Thanks, but I don't need any help. You two stay out here and relax. "

"Are you sure?" She looks desperate to help.

He glances at me, a smile in his eyes. He likes her. I knew he did, but now that he's had more time with her, he likes her even more.

He nods at me. "Just keep him out of trouble. Can you do that for me?"

"Okay." She smiles as she sits down.

My dad takes our plates and goes inside the house.

I hold Kira's hand and lean back in my chair. "Awesome day. Not too hot. Not too windy."

"I know. I went out and ran this morning and it was perfect."

I look at her. "You went running?"

"Just a few miles. I did sprints."

I smile at her. "You work out more than I do."

"I like working out. And I really need to get in better shape."

My eyes fall over her curvy yet muscular body. "You're already in great shape." I lean over and kiss her. "You're freaking hot. Your body's perfect."

"Thanks, but I want to be in better shape. I need to get stronger. I was thinking we need to up the intensity of my workouts. I want to push myself."

I turn to face her. "I'm already working you pretty hard. If you push it much more, you're gonna get hurt."

"I won't. I know my limits."

I shrug. "All right. Then we'll push you harder." I kiss her, then talk over her mouth. "But you're gonna be sore, which means you'll need a massage."

She smiles. "From you?"

"I'm your trainer. It's part of my job."

My phone rings but I ignore it.

"You better get that," she says.

I pick my phone up from the table and see it's Dylan. I answer it. "What's up?"

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Hanging out with my girlfriend." I look at her, a grin on my face. "Why?"

"K6 had their band cancel at the last minute and they called and asked if we could play. Craig said they always get a big crowd on Labor Day. It'd be good promo for us."

"What time?"

"We'd start playing at nine. You good with that?"

"Yeah. Let's do it. I'll see you there." I set the phone down and talk to Kira. "This club wants Vandyl to play tonight so I told Dylan I'd do it. I know we were going to hang out but—"

"Austin, don't worry about it. You need to play. Like you said, with Van and Dylan back in school you won't have as many opportunities to play, so you should do this."

She actually understands. Girls never understand. The ones I've dated in the past used to get pissed if I'd cancel a date for the band, which would then lead to us breaking up. They didn't get it that gigs don't just come along every day. You take what you can get.

"Will you be there?" I ask.

"I can't. I have to do some reading for class tomorrow."

I check my watch. We had a late lunch and now it's after four. "Then let's get out of here and have some alone time before I have to meet up with the guys."

"I don't want to leave yet. We just finished eating. It's rude to leave right after eating."

"My dad won't care. He didn't expect us to be here all night."

The deck door opens and Nash comes walking out. "Hey." He notices how close I'm sitting to Kira and our linked hands. "Am I interrupting something?" He smiles.

"You're always interrupting something," I joke. "This is Kira. Kira, this is my brother, Nash."

She gets up and shakes his hand and they say hi.

"And that's his fiancé, Callie," I say as she comes outside, holding a tray of cupcakes. "Callie, this is Kira."

"Hi." She smiles really wide. Callie's been wanting me to find a girlfriend for months. She's constantly trying to set me up.

"Did you make those?" Kira asks, pointing to the cupcakes.

"Yeah." Callie sets them on the table. "I went to see a friend who owns the bakery I used to work at and we ended up making cupcakes. We also made cookies but Nash ate them all on the way here."

He pats his stomach as he sits down across from me. "I was being a pig but I couldn't help it. They were these chocolate caramel cookies that melted in your mouth."

"Nice of you to share," I say.

"Like you would've eaten them." He looks at Kira. "Is he driving you crazy with his diet?"

"No. I eat the same way."

I put my arm around her. "Told you she's perfect."

I haven't said much to my brothers about Kira, but I did mention that she likes to work out as much as me.

"You guys doing anything tonight?" Callie asks, sitting next to Nash.

"I'm playing at K6," I say. "Kira's staying home because she has class tomorrow."

"Me too," Callie says to her. "I have class at eight in the morning. Early morning classes are the worst."

"I go to the gym at six, so eight isn't a big deal."

"You work out that early?" Nash asks. "And eat like him?" He looks at me. "Shit, you two are made for each other."

I smile at Kira, then look back at Nash and Callie. "So what are you two doing here? I thought you weren't coming back until tonight."

"We wanted to stop by and see Dad. This is the first time I've missed the Labor Day cookout so Callie and I thought we'd stop by for dessert." He shoves the tray of cupcakes over to us. "Here. Try one. She made all kinds."

"The lemon coconut is really good," Callie says. "Or the chocolate peanut butter if you're in a chocolate mood."

"I'm always in a chocolate mood," Kira says, taking a cupcake.

My dad joins us and we all hang out there and talk for a few hours. I was hoping to go back to Kira's place and have us hide away in her bedroom until I had to leave, but she seemed to want to hang out with my family. The other night she told me she misses her family, so maybe she wants to borrow mine. If so, I have no problem with that. In fact, I like that she's comfortable around them and wants to spend time with them, because if we continue to date, she'll be seeing a lot of my family. We're all really close and spend a lot of time together.

At seven, I take Kira back to her apartment but I don't go inside, knowing that if I did, I'd be late meeting the guys. So we say goodnight at her door.

Later that night, as I'm playing with the band, I see all those girls in the crowd yelling my name and all I can think about is Kira. She's in my head all the time now.

The next morning, we meet up at the gym at quarter to six. Starting tomorrow, I'm back to a seven-thirty to four shift, so if Kira wants to train with me, it has to be early.

"How are you feeling?" I ask Kira after pushing her hard on the free weights. We've been lifting together for a half hour. She's working mostly legs today combined with a little upper body work.

"Good." She wipes the sweat off her brow. "What's next?"

"You just need to do the machines and then you're done. Let's start with the leg extension." We walk over to the machine and I wait for her to adjust it. "Okay, go ahead."

She does one rep. "It's not enough weight. Add some more."

"You sure? This is what you did last time."

"It's not enough. Add fifty pounds."

"Fifty pounds?" I smile, assuming she's kidding. "I'll add ten." I move the pin.

"No. Fifty. I can do it."

I step around the machine so I can see her face. She looks serious, like she really wants me to add fifty pounds.

"Fifty is too much," I tell her. "Ten is plenty."

She gets up and moves the pin herself, adding fifty pounds. Then she gets back on the machine.

"Kira." I hold her legs down. "Don't. You'll get hurt."

"I told you I wanted to push myself," she says, sounding angry.

"Yeah, but we can do that by adding ten."

"It's not enough." She pushes my hands off her legs. "Why don't you go do something else?" Now she sounds annoyed.

"Kira, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she snaps.

"Are you mad at me? Because I wouldn't add more weight?"

She sighs. "No. But I don't appreciate you telling me what I can and can't do. I know my limit, and my limit is fifty more pounds."

"Fine." I stand back. "Go ahead."

"You don't have to watch me."

"I'm your trainer. That's what I do."

She starts to extend her legs and I can already see it's way too much weight. But she grits her teeth and grabs the side handles and pushes through it. One rep and her face is already red.

"Kira, I'm serious. That's too much weight. Straining that much raises your blood pressure."

"I'm 21. My blood pressure is fine." She does another rep, forcing a breath out as she extends her legs, gripping the hand bars even harder as she lowers her legs.

Why is she doing this? Why is she pushing herself like this?

"Would you please stop watching me?" she asks after the fourth rep. "I've got this. I don't need you to spot me on the machines. And it's getting late. You need to finish your own workout."

Why is she in such a bad mood today? She wasn't like this last week when we worked out together.

I walk away, feeling frustrated and a little angry. I'm not someone who gets angry very often, but I do when someone I care about is doing something that isn't good for them. Like my dad and his smoking. He goes outside after meals and smokes and I yell at him for it but he never listens. He says a couple cigarettes a day won't kill him, but I don't want to risk it. I already lost my mom. I don't want to lose my dad too.

I return to the free weight area and do some pull-ups on the bar. Just as I'm starting my fifth one, I hear weights clanking down. I let go of the bar and turn back and see Kira still on the machine but grabbing her leg, her eyes squeezed shut, biting her lip.

I race over to her. "Kira, what's wrong?"

Her eyes pop open. She looks panicked seeing me there. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me." I put my hands on her leg. "Where does it hurt?"

"It doesn't. It was just a leg cramp. It's gone now."

"Your leg cramped because you were using too much weight." I step back. "Get off the machine. You're done."

"I was already finished anyway. Hamstring curls are next but that guy's on the machine." She motions to him. "Maybe I'll do the calf press." She slowly gets up.
 

"You're not doing any more today. You've done enough."

"I'm not done. I have the whole circuit to go through." She takes a step and her right leg buckles. I catch her before she hits the ground. "Another leg cramp," she says, holding onto me as she stands up.

"That was more than a leg cramp. You shouldn't have been lifting that much weight. Now you hurt your leg."

"I didn't hurt it," she says in a hushed, angry tone. "It cramped up. Everyone gets leg cramps. Now would you let go of me?"

"Only if you don't do any more."

"But I'm not—"

"You're done." I keep hold of her arm. "You still have to bike to campus, then walk to class. Trust me, your lower body will get plenty of exercise."

She sighs. "Fine."

I let her go. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up for work, then I'll drive you back to your apartment so you don't have to take the bus."

"I don't mind taking the bus."

"Just let me take you. I guarantee you'll like my truck better than the bus." I smile. "And if you ride with me, the driver will give you a kiss when he drops you off."

She smiles back, that angry look finally going away. "Okay. I'll get my stuff and wait by the front desk."

I watch as she walks to the locker room, limping a little. Damn, she's stubborn. If she'd just listened to me she wouldn't be limping right now.

She's quiet as we drive back to her apartment.

"What time do you have class?" I ask as I pull up to her building, parking right in front of the door so she can just go right in.

"Not until ten," she says.

"You need to get some ice on that." I point to her leg.

"I don't need ice. It was a leg cramp." She opens her door and turns to leave.

I hold onto her arm. "Why are you lying to me?"

"I'm not." She sounds angry again and keeps her back to me.

"You hurt your leg. It wasn't just a cramp. Leg cramps go away."

"It was a cramp." She pulls on her arm but I don't let go.

"You were limping when you went to the locker room. You hurt your leg, and I want you to put ice on it."