Weightless (11 page)

I sighed, resting my forehead against the passenger side window of Dale’s Corvette. It was raining, so I had no idea why he chose that car in the first place. It’s not like he could put the top down. But then again, that was Dale — he liked to show off his toys.

“I heard you on the phone last night,” he said, stirring me from my thoughts. I glanced at him and he was staring at me carefully. I just sighed again and put my head back on the window. “Was it Mason?”

“Yep.”

He paused, gripping the steering wheel a little harder. “And?”

“And he talked to me about his new girlfriend.” I swung back to look at him, hoping my eyes would convey that I didn’t want to talk about it. The truth was that it stung, and I realized on the phone with him that I wanted him back even more than I realized. I didn’t want to hear him talk about Shay because I wanted to be the only girl in his world.

Dale frowned, but nodded. “How’s training going?” he asked, changing the subject.

My stomach did a small flip when I thought about Rhodes and the night before. The dinner paired with Mason calling made for an interesting night. “It’s good,” I said, smiling.

He appraised me carefully. “I can see a difference already, you know,” he said. “I know it’s just been a little over a week, but you can tell. In the way you carry yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

Dale grinned, shaking his head. “I don’t know, I can’t really explain it.” He glanced over at me again. “You’ve always been beautiful, Natalie, but the confidence you’re gaining with this training takes you to another level.”

I smiled, trying to take the compliment but not really feeling up to the challenge. My self-esteem was low, and though Dale always seemed to see the best in me, I just couldn’t see it myself. Adjusting the messy bun on my head, I smirked. “Let’s just hope taking it to another level doesn’t mean another level up on the treadmill because I don’t think I can handle that.”

He laughed as we pulled into the parking lot of the club. Rhodes was standing outside beneath the overhang, sheltering himself from the rain. His arms were crossed and he was leaning against the brick. His signature pose. I swallowed at the sight of him and unclicked my seatbelt, my eyes still on his.

“Come here,” Dale said as he threw the car in park. He pulled me in for a long hug, squeezing me tight, and when he pulled back he leveled his eyes with mine. “You’re an amazing girl, Natalie. Don’t ever forget that. You can do anything you want to do. Talking to Mason hurts right now but one day you’re going to wake up and not even care about what he’s saying or doing because you’ll have moved on from him.”

“Isn’t it Mom’s idea to get me back together with him?”

He waved his hand at me. “Your Mom and I don’t agree on everything.”

Grinning, I leaned over the console and grabbed my gym bag from the tiny backseat. “Thanks for the Dadvice, Dale.”

“Always.”

“Don’t forget I’m staying the night with Willow tonight. She’s picking me up after my session,” I added.

“Got it. Have fun tonight. You deserve it.” He threw me another wide smile as I stepped out of the car, opening my large bubble umbrella as I did. I returned his smile, feeling a little more like I could conquer my training session, and waved him off before turning to Rhodes. When I did, my feet wouldn’t move.

Rhodes was staring hard at the Corvette as it pulled out of the lot, his green eyes piercing through the rain like laser beams. I glanced back and saw Dale glaring at Rhodes with the same disapproval. When I turned back toward Rhodes, he shifted his gaze to me in an instant and kept the same dark expression as I moved toward him.

“Who was that?” he snapped.

“My step-dad?” I answered hesitantly. “Why?”

He blanched. “That’s Dale Poxton?”

I nodded. Most people in this town knew who Dale was, but hardly any of them knew what he looked like — not unless they were in his circle. Dale liked to keep to a certain type of crowd.

Rhodes still hadn’t moved. His eyes were hard for a moment more before he shook his head, kicking off the wall and making his way toward the gym. “Let’s head back.”

“Wait,” I said, jogging a little to catch up with him. “Why? Why did you ask who that was?”

“It’s nothing. He just looked at you funny, I wasn’t sure...” His voice faded to a low murmur and he shook his head again. “Nothing. I was mistaken. How are your muscles today? Are you still sore?”

I eyed him cautiously, but let him change the subject. I was ready to work, too. “I feel a lot better. A little sore, but I can move.”

“Good,” he said, patting the treadmill as we entered the gym. “Hop up and turn the incline to six, speed to four.”

I groaned, but tossed my bag down in the corner and did as he said.

We worked in mostly silence for just over an hour as he moved me around the gym. He had set up an obstacle course similar to the one the week before, complete with the ropes and all. When I bent low in my squat to do the snake in the grass move, I shivered at the memory of his arms around my waist when he showed me how to do it before.

“So what are you doing tomorrow night?” I asked as I lunged across the gym with two plated weights in my hands. My leg muscles felt stronger, steadier, far from the shaky mess they were the first time I did a lunge.

“We don’t train tomorrow, it’s your day off,” he replied simply, head down, eyes on his clipboard.

I huffed, straining against the pain in my quads. “I know that. So what are you doing? Want to come to the fair with me and my friends?”

“No.”

I dropped the plates and put my hands on my hips, turning to face him. “Why not?”

“Pick up the weights, you’re not finished,” he answered, standing straighter before dropping the clipboard and crossing his arms over his chest. I mimicked him in the stance and instantly felt tougher.

“Not until you tell me why you won’t come tomorrow night.” Since when did I have the courage to ask Rhodes to hang out?

He sighed, running a hand through his dampening hair. “Natalie, last night was just me showing you how to cook a decent meal, okay? It was about your training. You’re my client. We have a relationship in the gym, but not outside of it.”

I swallowed what felt like a wine cork wrapped in sandpaper and uncrossed my arms, picking up the weights again. He was right, of course, and I knew that. Still, he was friendly last night — we had fun. I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t just be a one time thing.

Which was stupid of me.

Because Rhodes was Rhodes and I was me. He could hang out with anyone he wanted to, including the beautiful women he trained that he seemed to find company with often. Why in the world
would
he want to spend time with me?

“Okay. Sorry.”

He nodded, his eyes watching me carefully. “Three more sets. Watch your back, you’re leaning forward too much.”

I muttered under my breath but kept my eyes forward and made my way back across the room, lunging each step. My teeth still worried my bottom lip as I thought over the night before, wondering if I looked too much into it. Was he acting like a friend or was he really just showing me that eating healthy could work? I didn’t recall us really talking much about food, other than when we were doing dishes, but even still we talked about other things, too.

Sighing, I shook my head. Whatever. It was fine because he was still my trainer, which was what I needed him to be. He knew how to help me reach my goals, and that was enough for me.

Each lunge burned more than the last and I knew I was about to hit my limit. When I reached the other side and turned around, I hit something with the weight in my left hand.

“Oh!” I turned to check on whatever I’d hit, thinking I’d be apologizing to some tiny club member in booty shorts and a sports bra, but when I came face-to-face with Mason, I dropped both weights and stumbled back a bit. One of them fell on my foot and I howled out in pain as I fell to the ground.

Rhodes cursed and rushed toward me while Mason bent down to my level. “Oh my God, Natalie. Are you okay?” He moved to touch my leg but Rhodes beat him to it, pulling my foot up and tugging my sneaker off to inspect it as he squatted down next to me. His thumb moved across the delicate skin of my ankle and I hissed at the pain as chills raced up my legs and straight between my thighs. Rhodes followed the chills and lifted his eyes to mine. I blushed and looked away.

Which left me staring at Mason.

He watched Rhodes and made a face before turning to me and asking the same question again. “Are you okay? What are you doing here?”

Rhodes dropped my foot gently, leaving the sneaker off as he helped me to my feet. Mason stood with us. His eyes never left mine and I leaned on Rhodes for support, putting weight on my foot as slowly as I could. I was fine, but it smarted. “I… train here.” I swallowed. I wasn’t exactly ready for him to know that, but I guess I didn’t have a choice.

“Oh,” he said simply. This time his eyes shifted to Rhodes and then back to me before he spoke again. “I didn’t realize you were into fitness.”

I shrugged. “It’s, uh, a new hobby.”

He nodded. “Cool. Well I don’t want to interrupt your session or anything. I was just dropping off a donation bag from my mom for the fundraiser this weekend and saw you through the window. I wanted to say hi.”

I smiled, though it was strained. “Hi.”

He chuckled, and for a moment his chocolate eyes shined the way they used to when he looked at me. When I was his. It warmed my stomach and made me want to throw up at the same time, shooting an all-too-familiar pain straight to my chest. “It was nice talking to you last night. I’ve missed that, our late night phone calls.” He shifted. “Is that weird?”

Every muscle in my body was wound too tight, but I shook my head. “No. I get it.”

He smiled, just a tiny little curl on his lips. “Are you going to the fair tomorrow?”

I glanced at Rhodes then. He was still gripping onto my forearm and steadying me, though I had practically put all my weight on my foot again. “Yeah, Willow is dragging me,” I said, still watching Rhodes. When I faced Mason again, his smile was warm.

“Cool. Well I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” His eyes landed on Rhodes again and he looked him up and down slowly with a slight snarl in his lip. I waited for him to extend a hand to shake his or at least introduce himself, but he did neither.

I wasn’t sure how Mason was surviving Rhode’s glare.

After a moment, he nodded to me once more, his smile returning, before he stepped out of the gym and I was alone with Rhodes again.

“Thanks,” I said, pulling free from his grasp and rolling my ankle around before bending down to tug on my sneaker and retrieve the weights again. “I’m good. You want me to do another round?”

Rhodes was staring at me, his face completely void of emotion. “Not about a guy, huh?”

I swallowed, and suddenly the weights felt too heavy for me to hold. I placed them back on the rack and turned to face Rhodes. He hadn’t moved. “He’s my ex.”

“Yeah, I caught on to that after you dropped a weight on your foot at the sight of him.”

I blushed. “I haven’t really seen him much since it all happened. I was caught off guard.”

He crossed his arms. “You told me this wasn’t about a guy.”

“It’s not,” I tried and he scoffed, heading toward the back of the room. I followed. “It’s not, I swear. This is about me. Yes, at first, it was about him.”
And still kind of is.
“But I want this for me, too.”

He stopped mid-stride and spun to face me. My eyes leveled with his chest and I had to strain my neck to look up at him. “Do you want him back?”

I chewed my bottom lip, unsure of how to answer. Rhodes’ eyes fell to where my teeth worked the tender skin and I watched the muscles in his jaw tense before he found my eyes again. “That’s what I thought. This is about him.”

“It’s not
just
about him.”

He swallowed, but didn’t argue. Instead, he sighed, his chest deflating, and stepped back to put distance between us. “It’s okay. It actually makes sense now.”

“What does?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I’ll help you get your boyfriend back, Natalie.” He pointed to the elliptical. “Finish with the cardio drill we did the other day. The intervals. Do thirty minutes.” He pulled the white towel from his pocket and wiped his forehead before turning away from me.

“Wait,” I tried, but he kept walking. “Where are you going?”

“I have another client to tend to. We’re finished with weights today so just finish with the cardio and you can go. I’ll see you Thursday.”

He didn’t face me again as he said the words. He just threw them over his shoulder and let the door close behind him as he exited the gym. I stood there for a moment staring at the door he’d walked through like it would open again, but it didn’t. Sighing, I climbed onto the elliptical and took a long drag from my water bottle before starting the session.

Rhodes told me to do thirty minutes but I did an hour. I texted Willow when I was finished and told her I was going to hit the hot tub but she could start heading that way. She was just finishing up at her weekly coffee house poetry slam, which was just about a half hour from the club, so it worked out perfectly.