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Some of the things she did in tricks were nuttier than a five-pound fruitcake. The long distances she leaped. Free running wasn’t something he had ever watched, but it was mesmerizing. Going from building to building couldn’t be safe, and he had wanted to shake her by the shoulders, and tell her to rein it in. But almost every video caught the pure joy on her face as she seemed to fly through the sky.
It was like he blinked and instead of being morning, it was already past three in the afternoon. Ink had forced himself to stop and get some food before heading over. It was late afternoon when Ink finally pulled into the parking lot at Leap. He had hoped to catch her at a slow time, but from the look of the parking lot, he was going to be out of luck. Over twenty cars were in the lot.
He parked his bike near the back and headed in. Unlike the previous time he had been here, there was a young woman sitting at the desk in the entryway wearing one of the gym’s polos.
Her smile faltered slightly as she looked him up and down. “Are you here for the open gym?”
Her tone clearly said she didn’t believe he could possibly be there to work out. He looked down at himself and smiled. They probably didn’t get many people coming into the place wearing cowboy boots, jeans, a black Henley and a motorcycle cut.
“No, ma’am. I’m here to see Jade.” Ink gave her the smile he knew fooled people into believing he was an innocent country boy.
“Oh.” Her smile returned. “Does she know you’re coming?”
“No.” He gave her a wink. “I was hoping I could surprise her.”
The woman’s cheeks flushed. She looked over at the clock on the wall. The time read 5:55. Ink knew the gym didn’t close until nine. Maybe he should have waited to catch her near the end of the shift.
“She’s scheduled to do a free run demonstration in about five minutes. You could go in and watch if you want.”
“Is she teaching more classes tonight? I could come back later. I don’t want to interrupt.”
“No, she usually does a demo at the beginning of the open gym, but there are no private lessons scheduled. We have almost the full staff here tonight, so she should be able to break away after she does her thing.”
She probably shouldn’t be sharing that much information with a stranger, but he was grateful for the intel. “Thank you, kindly.”
Maybe he could convince her to step away and talk for a bit.
“Have you ever seen her free run? It’s an impressive sight. She’s one of the best there is.”
“I’ve seen videos, but I’ve never seen her do it in person.”
“You should definitely go in then.” He nodded and gave her a grateful smile.
It wasn’t hard to figure out where Jade was doing her run. A group of about thirty people were milling around an interesting multi-level structure. He tried to be as unobtrusive as possible and stood near the edge of the crowd.
Jade’s smile was strained as she talked to some of the younger students. She seemed worn down with stress and something more than working a long day. Ink had seen the same fake smile on people too many times to believe it. Something was wrong with their little Jewel. Was it the people here causing her stress?
He watched as she interacted naturally with the surrounding people, looking for a clue. All of them were vying for her attention, but no single person stood out.
It didn’t take long before the crowd was backing away. Jade set herself up at the start of what looked like the entrance of the giant wooden structure. What was the purpose of all the outcroppings, bars, and holes?
Several of the spectators held up phones and started recording. The countdown clock on the wall started a countdown from ten. When it reached one, it was like Jade had been shot forward from a cannon.
She bounced upward, back and forth between two completely sheer walls until reaching the top of what had to be a fifteen foot climb, gripped the top of the structure and swung herself with a flip over the top. She ran forward and did some sort of side cartwheel onto a lower ledge. Ink lost sight of her for a minute as she slid through a small hole.
Then she was flying across the back, swinging from a set of bars he hadn’t noticed. People were moving, spreading out around the structure. It was hard to describe or even process the different movements as she moved so quickly.
She was in constant motion. Her feet never slowing or stopping. She hurled her body in, up, and through the structure. Each movement was designed not only to get her from A to B, but to do so in a way that had him catching his breath in awe.
There was no way he could do half of what she did. And he didn’t even think he would have imagined trying a quarter of the tricks that she executed. It was an acrobatic dance that had her moving back and forth, up and down.
Loud beeping rang through the room. The clock showed it had been almost two minutes since she had begun. Jade had to be in superior shape to maintain that level of activity for that amount of time.
As the clock hit one minute and fifty-eight seconds, she leapfrogged up to the top of the structure, which had to be almost thirty feet off of the ground, and threw herself somersaulting off the edge. Ink’s breath caught in fear. Terror of what a fall from that height might do, racing through his mind.
The crowd roared as the final tone sounded. Ink weaved through the crowd, desperate to make sure Jade was okay.
A laugh burst out of him. He’d forgotten about the foam pits scattered under the different dangerous obstacles. People were whistling, cheering, and calling her name. Ink added his voice to theirs.
