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As much as I wanted to take my bike, the truck was going to have to do today seeing as I had a bag full of exercise shit that all ‘experienced’ CrossFitters needed, according to a blog Blaise had found off of Google.
Personally, I saw no reason to invest in wrist straps, or special shoes. I’d worked out in prison in a pair of prison-issued tennis shoes for years. I was more than capable of working out in a new pair of tennis shoes I’d found at the store.
But again, I needed to look like I fit in, and did this a lot.
Which also meant that I would be fitting in. Whatever it took.
“Are you still going to act like you know what you’re doing?” she asked curiously as we parked outside the gym.
Surprisingly, there were quite a few people here.
Including Zach who’d reluctantly agreed to accompany me.
Trouper and Trick would be joining me tomorrow if today didn’t go as planned.
When we arrived in the truck, I pulled my bag out of it and headed toward Zach who was leaning against his bike waiting for me.
“Didn’t think you were coming,” Zach said as he saw us approach.
“Almost didn’t,” I admitted. “Stayed up late with Blaise looking at real estate around the city and didn’t want to wake up this morning.”
Zach’s lips twitched. “There’s a house for sale next to me. Not that you’ll have me as a neighbor for long or anything since I’m just renting like y’all.”
Blaise grinned widely. “You could buy it. Then we could raise our children together.”
Zach’s eyes dimmed in the pre-dawn light at her comment. “No kids for me, babe.”
Blaise rolled her eyes. Hard. “Whatever. I’ll bet if you found the right woman, you’d be willing to do anything for her.”
Zach’s eyes narrowed.
“Juniper wasn’t the right woman, Zach,” she said softly. “Or she’d still be here.”
My eyes went between the two of them as I wondered what in the hell they were talking about.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Zach grumbled. “Thought you said last night that you didn’t do early mornings. Which was why I had to come.”
Blaise allowed the change of subject and hooked her arm around Zach’s as she all but pulled him into the building.
I followed behind, wondering who the hell Juniper was, and why the hell Zach had closed down so fast.
Entering through the front door, I was surprised to see quite the crowd of people there.
All of them were laughing and talking as they rolled out on foam rollers, but all talking ceased when the three of us walked through the door.
A decade of experience talking to new people settled in, and I walked up to the owner and introduced myself as well as Zach, who put on his doctor face.
It was Blaise who all but faded into the background as she observed, listened, and eavesdropped.
But just as suddenly as the talking started, it stopped because class had commenced.
“All right, class,” the older man I was investigating said. “Today’s class is running, strict pull-ups, push-ups, and overhead squats in a partner WOD—workout of the day—that’ll have you each doing twenty a piece while the partner rests. When you’re through your sets, you’ll finish it up with a mile and a half run.”
“A bad one for y’all to come to,” one of the obviously experienced CrossFitters said as he looked Zach and I up and down, finding us lacking.
I looked at Zach and grinned.
He just had no idea at all.
Because Zach and I had spent the last few years in prison, and we were well and truly in shape.
Beyond anything that these men and women could imagine.
When you had nothing else to do but workout, you tended to get in really great shape.
“Ready to do this?” I grumbled as Zach and I found our area of the gym.
Zach ripped off his shirt, and I did, too.
Blaise whistled between her teeth, causing us both to laugh.
Then the coach had us doing a warm-up before starting the actual workout.
We finished first.
All the while finding plenty of time to talk to the owner while everyone finished.
I got exactly what I needed and got to show up a couple of men who thought they were hot shit when they weren’t.
As we walked out an hour later, it was to Blaise giving us a recap on what had occurred.
“Those poor guys,” she wiped tears from her eyes. “They kept trying their damnedest to keep up with y’all. They started out their mile about a minute after y’all, and I could see the determination in their eyes to catch you. But as I watched them try to catch up with y’all’s all-out sprint, I knew that they were going to die trying.”
Which explained why the two men were currently still on the floor trying to recover while Zach and I were headed out for the day.
