They were bulky from eating berries and fish, not thin and svelte as they trained for a marathon.
Oh, don’t get him wrong. Gene Cantrell could haul ass and run with the best of them, but it was never fun.
EVER.
At his age, he’d rather shoot than run.
Heading in, Ivan was still at the gym door, and now, Gryphen was at the locker room door, isolating the two of them from anyone coming in.
In case she wanted to talk.
As he got onto the treadmill, she had her earbuds in, and she was hitting a hard pace. Not only that, from the video on the screen, she was running through the mountains, off some trail. The treadmill was auto-adjusting, so the hills felt real.
She was punishing herself for this, and he knew it.
Well, misery loved company.
Pulling the HDMI cable that allowed the treadmills to connect to the same program, he plugged hers into his treadmill, so they could run together.
And still, she said nothing.
As he began running, his pace the same as hers, he was aware that she didn’t look over once.
She didn’t try to connect.
But she hadn’t said no, either.
So, that was a victory.
From the look on her face, Elizabeth was doing battle with the devil himself on this one.
This run was brutal.
It wasn’t lost on him that she was doing it with no sleep, no food, and no joy.
He wasn’t running with her.
He was chasing her.
As people tried to get into the gym, Ivan turned them away. Gene could see them from where they ran. Not only was he doing that, but he was looking in at them every now and again to ensure they were safe.
Well, that Elizabeth was safe. Ivan had a very large soft spot for her, and this was just more proof.
As for them being safe…
Who the fuck was getting them in there?
It wasn’t like the treadmills were going to take off and they were going to be running them down the sidewalk and into danger.
Just as Gene was about to beg for mercy, and ready to tap out because he was weak, he saw that magic number on the screen.
‘Ten miles.’
That was generally her breaking point. When she hit the button to stop her run, he did the same. He’d only run half that, and he was nearly dead.
Gene wanted off of that death machine, and back on the ground.
As he assumed they were going into the showers, that’s when she hit the other side of the gym, punching the fuck out of the bag.
