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She had no idea what she was going to do with this story when it was done. Knowing Rhea, she would never let anyone see it. Sometimes, her favorite tales were better off that way.
Chapter 16
Itwastheweekbefore Independence Day, and Paige faced two pressing dilemmas: her clients wanted her to work over the holiday weekend, and her wife had momentarily lost interest in anything beyond kisses to the cheek and the occasional smack on the ass.
“Not me,” Carmen said at the beginning of their workout session on Wednesday. “I already have to work this weekend. Why would I ask mytrainerto work too? Gross.”
She and Paige hit the weight station, where the trainer had already set up the exact weights she had assigned her client that week. Since beginning with Carmen, Paige had assessed the woman needed more than ten-pound weights, but less than twenty. They had to be careful, in Carmen’s words, to not make her “too buff.” She wanted to be toned but not muscular. Paige was so used to that request from female clients that she almost forgot thatshewas allowed to do whatever she wanted with her own body.
“It’s the long holiday weekends when we get the busiest with one-on-one clients,” Paige explained while waiting for Carmen to finish stretching. “Actors.”
“Don’tIknow some actors.” Carmen adjusted her yoga pants and sports bra before sitting on the bench. “Of course, not the kind you usually see on TV.” She leaned back, assuming the position for skull crushers. “Unless you’re watching something besides Netflix, I guess.”
Paige ignored that. If there was one thing Carmen liked to do, it wasalmosttalk too much about her job before realizing this wasn’t the appropriate venue. To her credit, she had also mentioned that she was so used to being around people in her industry that she sometimes forgot how to act in “proper” public.
I can relate to that.Ever since Paige went down a specific rabbit hole, she had to refrain from talking about it with everyone she knew. Not that she had issues with avoiding sex talk with her coworkers.Yeah, let’s not.Yet when someone asked her,“What did you do this weekend?”Paige had to refrain from talking about the videos she watched “for research” because she was left on her own when Rhea turned in early or suggested she wasn’t “in the mood.”
Not in the mood? Since when?They’d spend the whole evening flirting only for Paige to be on her own in the shower if she got herself worked up enough. In all their years together, Rhea had only rejected Paige’s advances a handful of times. Usually, because she was too tired or not feeling well.Isn’t she the one who wants to have more sex? I don’t get it.Paige almost brought it up with Dr. Seville but didn’t feel comfortable hashing it out with her wife. Rhea had become more open about speaking in therapy, and Paige didn’t want to get in the way of any breakthroughs they had.Considering how much we’re spending on couples’ therapy…
Carmen sensed her trainer’s mind was elsewhere. “Am I supposed to do another set?”
Paige snapped herself out of her thoughts. “Sorry. No. We’re moving on to dumbbell raises. Hop up. One knee on the bench, the other on the floor while I check your form.”
“Yesma’am.”
Paige did a doubletake but decided to not say anything. It was all in her head. Carmen was naturally flirty but had never gone too far in this professional setting. Yet Paige was alwaysveryaware of what her client did for a living. How could she not think about it when Carmen always showed up looking picture-perfect, even for an hour at the gym? Everything about her, from the decent plastic surgery jobs to the workouts she requested to keep her figure, only served to remind Paige that her client made her living off her body.Not the way a bricklayer does.
It didn’t help that Carmen was open about who she was and why she requested what she did. She only wanted a female trainer but was friendly to all of the men working at the gym – and some of the other clients as well. It wasn’t until shortly after Carmen arrived with the money to afford Paige’s services that she discovered how many of her coworkers’ clients were also in the sex work industry. That included one of the guys working out with another trainer. Carmen mentioned she recognized him from a shoot she did a few months ago.
The things you learn about people’s sex lives doing this gig…
Paige didn’t know if it was knowing as much as she did about Carmen that made her more inclined to check out in the mostunprofessionalway possible.Or maybe it’s because she’s kind of my type.Yet Paige’s surreptitious glances at Carmen’s cleavage or her ass when she bent over would have normally been brushed off as accidents… not so much glimpses of opportunity.What makes her different from the others?Carmen was not the most attractive client who came to the gym. Hell, Paige could list at least three women who were more arguably the kind of person to get her going. Except here she was – with Carmen, a woman who occasionally winked at her. Was that on purpose? Or was that one of Carmen’s tics at this point in her life?
When Paige first realized she was attracted to Carmen, she felt guilty. So much so that she confessed to her wife that there was a client who kept catching her eye. Paige was not a cheater – even if Carmen offered, Paige wouldneverfollow through. Unless Rhea was on board. And Rhea was probably not on board.
So it was foolish to think about. Besides, Carmen was a client, and professionalism was paramount. The honor and image of the gym were at stake. The first trainer to start sleeping with a client? Out on their ass. It was in their contracts.
Rhea had not cared. At least, not visibly.Does she care about anything right now?Paige seriously wondered if her wife was suffering from a funk. It wasn’t like her to not be turned on so easily… or to have no comment about her wife thinking about someone else. At the very least, shouldn’t it have been fodder for discussion? A chance for them to think about what they found attractive and wanted in their marriage as they approach their fifteenth year together?
One would have thought!
“Your mind seems elsewhere today, Coach.” Carmen had taken to calling Paige that after overhearing Pedro. “Like, no offense, but there was a time when I had done my seventieth crunch and you were staring at the lights like you were determined to make yourself go blind. We have a joke about blinding yourself in my industry… ah, never mind.”
Carmen closed the locker door as Paige sat on the bench nearby. She hated to admit it, but her mindhadbeen elsewhere.Thinking about my marriage. Thinking about my wife.Thinking a bit about Carmen, but that was hardly a threat to everything else.
“You’re right. I apologize.”
“Everything good?”
Now that she was brought back to the living moment, Paige hunched over, touching her fingertips to her toes. “Personal things that I should not be letting get in the way of my job.”
“Oh? You’re married, right?”
That wasn’t hard to guess since Paige often wore her wedding band to work. It was a simple gold ring on her left hand, but that spoke volumes in a town where everyone was either married or pretending to be married for show. Especially women. Especially conventionally attractive and physically fit women like Paige. Telling some of the especially dense men of Hollywood that she was a lesbian meant nothing. Athletes?If I have to hear “you miss every shot you don’t take” again, it will be too soon.
“Yes. It’s nothing serious. Just a lot going on right now.”
Paige wanted to drop it there, but Carmen was too discerning. Maybe that was why she had made it far in her industry: Paige supposed there was something to being able to easily read people, be they head of companies or customers handing out tips on a livestream.Gotta have a thick skin, too.That was true for everyone in LA who put themselves “out there” for public consumption. Wasn’t that part of Paige’s job? To make everyone perfectly presentable for all the hate they received?
