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Four
Practicing an Approach
Vannah
Inevitably, thoughts of possibly seeing her mystery guy again were on Vannah’s mind as she and Xochitl walked into 5thStreet. Xochitl had been witness to the first time Vannah had been taken by him here at 5thStreet at the signing, then again at Starbucks a week later. Her irritable roommate had since labeled him Mr. Duplicity. She’d been as equally intrigued as she’d been annoyed by the odd demeanor. Though in his defense—because yes even though Vannah didn’t know the gorgeous guy, she was already defending him—she’d reminded Xochitl that she too must’ve looked like a basket case. The way both times she’d been smiling giddy one second then completely froze the moment their eyes had met. Vannah was only glad that first time he hadn’t been near enough to hear her literally stutter when she tried to speak after being thunderstruck by his smile.
The first time Xochitl had immediately asked her if she knew him and they’d taken him in thoroughly and exchanged their thoughts of him. But because Matt was there the second time, they’d had to wait until later that evening to discuss. That first day at the signing they’d debated on whether he was a trainer or an aspiring boxer at the gym. He was big enough to be a fighter that was for sure. But clearly, he’d been working the lines not doing any signing. Then later walked off talking to Beast, so they hadn’t been sure what to make of that.
Vannah had barely sat down in her first class that morning after seeing him at Starbucks that second time, when Xochitl, the queen of research and online stalking, had texted her a full report. They didn’t have much to go by the first day, but after hearing his name called out at Starbucks her clever roommate had Googled his name, 5thStreet, Beast, the word boxing andvoila. Byron Ledesma was the much younger brother of Leonardo “Beast” Ledesma. He was twenty-five, single and though he had a black belt in Jiu jitsu, as far as they could tell,notan aspiring boxer or even trainer at the gym. But apparently, he was likely just helping out that day for his brother’s signing.
It was almost shameful, not to mention kind of creepy, how much you could find out about a person these days by just Googling. Vannah also knew he was a recent graduate from ESU and was even privy now about his talented work with car restorations. What wasn’t clear, was whether he just worked for his brother at what appeared to be a very big and like the gym—popular with the celebrities—auto restoration shop. Or if he was now part owner as well. But he was listed on the website as part of theteam.There were lots of workers but the four main guys in charge appeared to consist of Byron, Beast, a tatted-up stud namedNinewho they recognized as one of the guys with him at the signing, and another tatted-up, hottie named Orlando. It’d been just one more thing for Xochitl to be unnecessarily annoyed by and it’d had Vannah giggling.
“Geez, so what is it about California? Specifically, the East Los Angeles area. Look at these guys. They could all be models. It’s an auto shop for crying out loud. They’re supposed to look like dirty grease monkeys.”
Xochitl had done the initial researching of the guy which got them the basics about Byron. But Vannah who was far more interested in him than her friend, had continued to secretly dig a little further. She stopped when it began to feel wrong. Obviously, the sudden death of his mother was public knowledge since she’d come across the articles like the many about his brother, the gym and even the auto shop. Just a little over a year ago his mother had died in a tragic freak accident when she’d fallen after standing on a step stool in the kitchen. She’d broken her neck when she’d hit her head on the marble island counter. But it felt too private—too delicate a subject to be delving into someone’s life—without their consent.
Especially when Vannah had read the side notes and follow up articles that read more like intrusive tabloid stories than news. It was first rumored that perhaps her husband had played a part in her tragic accident, then later ruled out. Still the articles speculating that maybe he’d gotten off, ran rife. But the articles about Beast’sgrief-strickenyoungerbrother, selling the house his mother was found dead in because he refused to step foot back in it. The articles about the famous boxer’s younger brother who was reported to be inconsolable after her death felt especially intrusive.
Clearly, this had been a very traumatic occurrence in his life. Vannah’s heart went out to him because she couldn’t evenimaginelosing either of her parents—much less so tragically and unexpectedly. She was only glad that for the most part all the photos she came across of him online he was surrounded by friends and family. At first, she’d just assumed he and his brother, whose nicknameBeastwas apparently for good reason, shared the same hardened demeanor. But upon revisiting all the photos, before reading about his mother’s death, she wondered now if she’d misjudged what she saw in those dark penetrating and at times haunting eyes.
Even as Xochitl had jumpedwayahead of herself and it was completely nerve-racking. “Oh my God, Vannah this isBeast’sbrother we’ve caught eyeing you twice now. We stood in line for that man’s signature for over two hours. Girl, the next time you see him you need to unleash that inner Goddess and light it up.”
As if. Only time Vannah’s inner Goddess ever showed up was when she was in the kitchen. She doubted she’d ever be in that situation with this guy, so that wasn’t happening. Daydreaming this much about any guy was absolutely new to her and already she’d done more than her share about Byron. Her silly thoughts had gone as far as secretly pondering what her parents would say about their just turned eighteen-year-old daughter dating a twenty-five-year-oldman. She wasn’t sure what her mom would say but she was pretty sure her dad would have issues with it.
While Nena would likely have a field day since she was still teasing her about staying friends with Matt who clearly was looking for more than just a friendship, she’d likely be excited about Byron being related to someone so famous.Tooexcited. Which was exactly why she hadn’t shared anything about him with her. The very idea that amanlike Byron would have any interest in her silly freshman ass was just ridiculous. Besides, there was nothing to share since she had no idea when if ever, she’d run into him again.
In any case, Vannah had since forced herself to squash such senseless thoughts and stop snooping on the otherwise complete stranger’s life. It’d been days since she’d last done so. Only reason he was back on her mind today was because she was back at the gym and of course it’d be the first thing that came to mind.
Like Vannah, Xochitl had wanted a jumpstart on school. So even though the fall semester had just started, technically they’d been in school since summer. Shaking the thoughts away of what she now dubbed a daft crush on the first guy in that long, she focused on the Zumba class she was now stretching out for. Xochitl being a little overweight, had asked Vannah to help motivate her to lose some weight. So Vannah had agreed to try Zumba class at 5thStreet. Compared to all the other harder workouts this seemed the easiest. They’d be dancing to salsa songs. How hard could that be, right?
The catchy, jumpy, music started, and they were off. Thoughts of Byron were instantly gone when the giggling started up as she and Xochitl tried in vain to keep up with the instructors moves.
Twenty minutes later.
After taking the walk or rather dance of shame and sneaking out the back door of the thankfully large workout room, Vannah sniggered once outside despite having a hard time catching her breath.
“Oh. My.God!” Xochitl gasped collapsing against the wall and holding her red sweaty face against it. “What infuckinghell?”
That only made Vannah laugh even more as she bent over and held her hands to her knees for support. “That . . .” She sucked in chunks of air as she glanced up at Xochitl who was still holding on to that wall for dear life. “Wasnoteasy.”
“Yeah, I’m calling BS on that.” Xochitl finally pulled away from the wall and took a long swig of her water bottle. “There is no way that was the beginner class and that instructor.” She stopped to catch her breath again shaking her head. “She’s gotta be on crack or steroids. No way can someone just keep going like that nonstop and not evenseemwinded.”
They started through the gym, still trying to calm their breathing, and feeling like epic failures, though Vannah couldn’t stop giggling. Vannah wasn’t even surprised. Her athletic aptitude was her weakest strength and she’d never even denied it. Itwasfunny that they’d both walked into that class feeling and acting like it would be a breeze and they’d gotten their asses handed to them. Xochitl pulled out the brochure they’d been given when they signed up for their free week pass.
“Beginner class, my ass,” Xochitl huffed. “Someone’s getting a strongly worded letter!”
“Hey.” Vannah smiled big, bringing her hand onto her annoyed friend’s shoulder. “We didn’t failtoobad. We almost held out the whole way.” She took the brochure from Xochitl knowing full well their Zumba days were over, but still laughed as she flipped through it anyway. “Look, ten more minutes and we would’ve done it.”
Xochitl didn’t respond and after looking through the brochure for a few seconds more, Vannah glanced up at her friend smiling again because the girl had gone uncharacteristically quiet. Vannah had a feeling why. She fully expected Xochitl to be playfully sulking and make the situation even funnier.
“Don’t—” Xochitl started to say but then went quiet, and when Vannah followed her roommate’s eyes she knew why.
Just like the other times Vannah had made unexpected eye contact with Byron, she nearly choked on her own chuckling now. He and another guy were walking in their direction. They were on their way into the gym in the same pathway she and Xochitl were taking on their way out. If it weren’t for her friend nudging her along Vannah almost stopped in her tracks. But her reaction to those piercing eyes locking onto hers was hopelessly the same as the previous times.
Like the other times, Vannah practically held her breath. The way he peered into her eyes was also the same—minus the beautiful smile he’d worn the other times. The moment was over a few seconds later as he looked away and stalked past her without a word.
“Breathe and keep walking.”
