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“Christ, you’re nosy. Got to take a piss.” He knocks on the restroom door to make sure it’s empty and then pushes the door open. Before disappearing inside he gives me a once over while his hand brushes the front of his pants. “Did you want to watch or something?”
I swallow hard. “You’re disgusting.”
He’s not offended. He simply shrugs. “Some people are into that. Anyway, keep an eye on the register.”
Ben disappears. I’m irritated. And weirdly turned on. The combination is confusing.
It’s also left me with a very determined thought.
Ben’s backstory is strange. No one in their right mind would choose to move from Chicago to far flung, struggling, tiny Devil Valley. Not unless they were hiding from something.
And if there’s anything phony about Ben Beltran then I plan to discover exactly what it is.
Ben
“Please. We’re family.”
“Not anymore.”
It’s just a fragment of a conversation. An old one, overheard years ago.
Yet it creeps into my mind at random times and has the power to tear my soul in half.
The echoes of voices in the weight room have receded and I’m somewhere else entirely when Kent snaps his fingers in my face.
I swat his hand away. “What?”
“What?” he mimics, then crosses his thick arms. “You’ve been dragging ass all week. Now you’re squatting in a corner and daydreaming like a fucking weirdo.”
“Not daydreaming for fuck’s sake,” I grumble and bend down to tie my left shoe. Daydreaming is definitely not a good description for the flares of violent memories that decide to take my brain for a spin with no warning.
Kent jerks his head. “Get your ass over there to spot me on the bench.”
He doesn’t wait for me to agree. He heads for the bench and strips off his shirt. He doesn’t really need me to spot him but if the coach catches anyone not following safety measures there’s all kinds of hell to pay and it’s just not worth the drama.
I stand by while Kent begins pumping out a set, lifting over three hundred pounds worth of weight with so little effort he might as well have been lifting cardboard.
He’s hardly broken a sweat by the time he’s done and he wipes down the bench with his shirt. “Hold on, Beltran. I’ll take off some of that weight so you don’t hurt yourself.”
“Fuck you,” I grumble and get positioned.
I can handle the weight, although my arms feel like gelatin by the time I finish the set and sit up. Meanwhile, Kent stands beside me and blabs on and on about all the creative ways he plans to screw his pretty girlfriend tonight.
He pauses when I stand and snatch my backpack off the floor. “You taking off already?”
“Yeah, I’m working tonight so I’ve got to go catch the bus back to paradise.”
He yawns. “So what’s going on in Devil Valley this weekend?”
I shrug. “Nothing good. Just as well. I’ll be on the clock tonight, tomorrow and Sunday.”
He twirls his sweaty shirt into a rope and snaps it in my direction. “Your dick is gonna shrivel up if you don’t find it a playmate soon.”
“Don’t worry so much about my dick.” I flip him off. “See ya Monday.”
“Later, asshole.”
On my way into the locker room I nearly collide with Landon Blackwood. He gives me a nod of acknowledgement before throwing out an invitation to a party tomorrow night. Blackwood has always been cool with me but I don’t feel like explaining to the celebrity god of Black Mountain that I need to work so I tell him I’ll try to make it.
