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“Byeeee!” Alanna hooked her arm into Sully’s and practically dragged him from the vet clinic. She made to open the new card.
“If you’re getting tired, we can skip the next clue.” His voice sounded a little nervous.
“Nonsense.” Alanna Sandoval was no quitter. Walking a few miles in sneakers was child’s play compared to working a 12-hour day in stilettos. She read the next clue card.
Here you’ll run and go nowhere.
She considered the clue, then tugged on Sully’s hand. Did he seem just a little reluctant? She was probably imagining it. She proudly led him to an old building with faded paint and a drumming base coming from within.
“You know what? Why don’t I just give you the next clue now. I have it in my phone here…” Sully said.
“What? You scared of a gym?” She pushed open the door to Junkyard Dogs.
“You have no idea,” Sully muttered before slowly following her inside.
As Alanna approached the front desk, two men lifting heavy barbells in the back of the gym turned their heads to stare at her. Their conversation fully halted. One of them, an insanely good-looking blond man, dropped the barbell from his back with aclang.
He whispered something giddily to the other man. Alanna could have sworn he said,It’s her!He then practically sprinted to the reception desk. The guy was so ridiculously jacked, he looked like a 90’s action figure come to life. He wore a loose tank top—size XXXX-L was apparently a thing—with the wordsI Squatin large letters. Beneath the top line, in smaller font, Alanna readSee back for details.
“Hi there,” he said, a grin widening on his face. “I’m Cam. The owner. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Such a pleasure.” He engulfed Alanna’s hand in his.
“Co-owner!” a female voice called from the corner of the gym, where a well-toned older woman contorted her body in a way that seemed to defy medical science.
“Co-owner,” Cam said, rolling his eyes.
“Is that woman okay?” Alanna hissed.
“I ask myself that question every single day,” Cam confided.
“You’d be able to do this too, baby, if you ever took my yoga class,” the woman responded serenely.
“Just ask the question, and we’ll get out of here,” Sully told her. He seemed distinctly uncomfortable.
“What’s the hurry?” Cam studied Alanna with undisguised curiosity. “You just got here.” He glanced to the back of the gym where the other man remained. “Hey, Hue, come say hi to Alanna.”
Alanna was sure she hadn’t offered her name. She arched an eyebrow at Sully, who suddenly seemed very interested in the line of protein powders behind the reception desk.
“I’m good,” the red-headed giant in the back grumbled while hefting massive dumbbells in each hand. “You’re probably scaring the shit out of her.”
“No, I’m not,” argued Cam. “I’m merely introducing myself.” He turned back to Alanna. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Oh, have you?” Alanna crossed her arms.
“Yeah, so the guys, um,” Sully stammered. He seemed to be blushing through every shade of red on the color wheel. “They kind of…”
“Support him in his quest for lo—,” Cam began proudly.
“—We’re just a weightlifting group,” Hue interrupted quickly from the back of the gym. “And we shoot the shit sometimes.”
Just exactly what had Sully told them about her? Alanna would interrogate him on that topic later, but for the moment, what Cam had said—what he had almost said—was causing her banana-kale smoothie to churn in her stomach.
“Do you, by chance, have a question for me?” Cam asked bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Coming here was a mistake,” Sully muttered dolefully. “I see that now.”
“Of course it wasn’t.” Cam waved away his concern. “So, what’s your question?”
Alanna sucked in a breath to regain her composure. Once, in L.A., she’d been staring at her phone as she walked down the sidewalk and had gotten tangled in the leash of an exuberant Golden Retriever. This situation felt eerily similar. She flipped her card and read, “If you were a superhero, what power would you want to have?”
