AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
Baker
I glanced at the clock above the locker room door, stalling as I combed my hair back for the third time. It was two minutes after seven. She should be parking her fancy sport hybrid out front by now, and walking toward the entrance of Big B’s Gym in the next few minutes. That was when I wanted to be leaving.
My stomach twisted with the anticipation of seeing her again.
Her.
Andi… last name still unknown. And I only knew that much because Brooks Bigby, who owned the gym, called out to her once.
Andi.
I wondered if it was short for Andrea or something else. Add that to the list of things I wanted to know about her.
Except it was a short list, with one entry: Everything.
Unfortunately, the only time we crossed paths was when the gym closed for people like me.Meatheads, Brooks called us. People who spent their free time lifting weights and building muscle instead of… well, anything else.
I had to wonder if all the other meatheads were as lonely as I was. From the outside, you could never tell. We were all focus and energy and endorphins. But surely some of them had lives outside of the gym.
I had my business.
I builtBeast Mode Towingfrom the ground up myself, and I was damn proud of the company. Four trucks serviced the entire Lake County area, and a handful of employees worked their asses off for me. For the past eight years, I’d lived, breathed, and spit the towing business. And I didn’t regret a minute of it.
But I’d be lying to myself if I said I didn’t want more. Someone to share it all with. Someone to come home to at night. And it wasn’t even because Pops was always asking when I planned to meet a girl and settle down. As if I’d had time to do anything but work until now.
Building a business was a twenty-four hour job.
And ladies weren’t exactly knocking my door down.
Sure, I grabbed some eyeballs at the gym. Other meathead types—did Brooks refer to the lady gym rats as meatheads too?—but none of them captured my attention. Not until I came face to face with Andi one night on my way out.
It was a moment I would never forget because she’d stopped me dead in my tracks… with nothing more than her eyes. Pale green, set in a face so beautiful it could send a man straight to his knees begging for a second look. Glossy red hair, curled just enough to roll over her shoulders and frame her cheeks. Brows that arched with sass, lips that pursed in judgment.
She felt so elite. So off limits for a man like me.
Always coming as I was going.
I’d only ever seen her in workout clothes as we passed each other at the gym entrance, but I’d bet half my business she wore fancy suits on the daily.
She was highbrow, I was blue collar.
And somehow, she let me know it every time we crossed paths.
It was the way she looked away without answering when I said hello in passing. The way she opened the other side of the double doors when I held one open for her to pass. How her shoulders stiffened when I tipped my head at her instead of speaking.
But that didn’t keep me from seeking her out at every opportunity.
Stepping out of the locker room, I made my way down the stairs, my eyes already scanning for her.
The gym was filling up, a complete clientele switch taking place while I’d stalled. Gone were the meatheads, and in their place, a different body type.
7pm was Chub Club hour. A time reserved for the thicker built crowd to come and work out with others like them. The only meatheads allowed were the trainers—Brooks, Konner, Vance, and Tobin. It assured a judgment-free zone, I figured, and that wasn’t a bad thing. Whatever made people feel comfortable.
I knew what it felt like to be stared at while trying to get stronger. The circumstances were different, but the feeling was the same.
Looking out on the crowd, I wondered which of the trainers worked with Andi, and a spike of jealousy hit me hard.They’re all paired up, don’t be an asshole. It was true, they each had significant others. But the idea of any of them getting close to her like I wanted to… made me edgy.
