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“Sadist!” Greg says with a mock gasp. I watched him unleash that agent on my girl when they were sparring. I stand by her diagnosis.
“She’s not wrong,” I agree, throwing my two cents into the ring. “You pushed Lennon hard during training, so I feel like her assessment is accurate.”
“Traitor!” Greg laughs good-naturedly. “She may need to run one day, so this is just a smart adjustment to her training schedule.”
“Ugh,” Lennon groans. “I thought training was over.”
“Greg never suspends training once he starts,” Miguel says with a shrug. “Why do you think Tori is still going to those classes?”
If there was some kind of mercenary Boy Scout badge for preparedness, I’m sure Greg would have earned it.
26
LENNON
Six in the morning does come too early, but I’m downstairs and ready to go. My high impact sports bras came just in time, and I don’t feel like I’ll knock myself out anymore when I run. Bleary-eyed, I take the bottle of water from Roark, and walk out onto the porch.
Tori is waiting with a cheeky grin, her hair up in a high ponytail.
“Ready?” she asks, beginning to stretch.
“Uh-uh. Am I supposed to do this stretching thing? Greg promised I could hit things and they’d hit back if I did this,” I tell her with a yawn.
“Good luck, take care of my girl, Red,” Roark says, closing the door behind him.
Tori snorts. “I’m gonna kill Greg,” she says, shaking her head. “Okay, I’ll walk you through stretching, and then we’ll run to where you can hit things, okay?”
I nod. “Okay. I’m pretty sure your version of killing will involve your vagina, and it’s very different from the things I want to do to him,” I tell her, following her movements.
I’m pouting, but damn, it’s really fucking early for me.
“Lennon, don’t ever change,” Tori says, chuckling. “I just want to make sure your muscles are warmed up so you don’t pull anything. Trust me, that would suck.”
Nodding because she may as well be speaking another language, I just do what she does. Ten minutes later, Tori gestures for me to follow her, popping in her headphones. I don’t have music with me today, but I’m grateful knowing that she won’t talk to me the entire run.
Twenty minutes into running, I’m hating my life. Digging in deep, I force myself to keep pace with the endorphin seeking redhead who doesn’t appear to be suffering at all. Tori takes me through the quiet streets of Georgetown, until the gym comes into sight.
Lungs heaving, I bend over, struggling to regulate my breathing. We took a few water breaks, but damn, she pushed hard towards the end.
“You okay?” Tori asks, pulling out her AirPods as she takes a sip.
“Only half-dead, I’ll be fine,” I tell her, my heart thundering.
“We’ll take it easier next time,” she promises, opening the door to Hit it or Quit it Gym.
The name of the gym makes me smirk, which is all of the energy I have at the moment. The gym is all one level, and has various classes going on. Even though it's now seven-fifteen in the morning, there’s a decent amount of people here.
“How are you doing in your sparring with Greg?” Tori asks as she leads me through the facility.
Shrugging, I walk her through everything I’ve learned so far. “I can get out of chokeholds, break zip-ties, break noses, and kick people’s legs out from under them. I started learning how to use weapons during sparring sessions recently, too,” I explain, careful of my voice level.
Tori nods, chewing her lip as she thinks. “This is a decent class level for you then, but I think the instructor will move you up quickly. There’s a lot of different classes at this time, so I’m sure we’ll be able to continue coming together,” she hurries to say.
Blowing out a breath, I nod. “I don’t think I’ll be allowed out of the damn house otherwise, so I hope so,” I tell her. I’m cranky after running, and I think the runner’s high that Roark, Turner, and Derek swear they feel is a myth.
Or maybe I’m just broken.
Tori looks on sympathetically as she moves into a part of the gym where our instructor is. “Hey, Lane, I have a new addition to the class,” she says to him with a smile.
