Page 23 of Little Fury

Well, this seems like it's going to be less than fun.

We get changed and meet Harry outside.“Alright, let’s go,”and we follow along like a couple little ducks trailing their mother.

Harry takes us to the gym, and I can't stop the sigh that escapes me when he opens the door.

Twelve years.

We got twelve years of being kids before our parents' sins catch up with us. Wes, Parker, Carter, Theo, and Sebastian await us inside. Harry’s watching us; I give him a nod that he returns. My eyes go to my best friend as he greets the guys like it’s any other day. He misses that the usually joking Parker is replaced with a serious one.

“Marcus shut the fuck up,”Harry growls at him.

He looks at him, his tone taking him by surprise.

This is the man the others get, the one people pay for. The Harry who does bad things.

"Get on the treadmills.”Theo tells us.

“Yeah, I’m not in the mood for a run today, guys. I have some insane jet lag,”Marcus says to the room, still not catching on that today is a very different day than yesterday was.

Theo steps towards Marcus. He easily has a solid foot or more on him height-wise. Never mind that Theo is scary looking even when he’s smiling. “Not messing around” Theo is every bit the predator I've heard Wes call him.

“Shit, man, back off.” Marcus raises his voice at him.

He cocks his eyebrow and gives a low menacing chuckle.“Marcus, I’m not going to ask twice. I never ask twice. So, you can either comply, or I will force you to comply, and I promise you, if I force you, you will hate me for the rest ofyour days. So be a good kid and do as I ask, please.” he drags a hand through his hair.“I like you and Ava a lot. What’s about to happen here today and over the next few years of your stay, well, all of us here are sorry for it.”

Marcus looks from him to the rest of the guys. They all nod. They all look sad and sorry but have the same determination.

Marcus realizes it now.“Who? My father or my grandfather?”he asks Harry.

“Both, son,”he saysquietly,“both of them feel like it's time for you to learn what you have been sent here to learn.”

“And her?”he asks with a hint of fire in his tone.

“Ava is here for the same reasons. So, if one of you is starting, you both are.” He tells us, focused on me.

“It's ok. I knew this was bound to happen. I thought it would happen sooner.” I answer as I step on the treadmill.

“This is going to suck, Ava, but I need to get a baseline for what your fitness level is at the moment, so I know what I need to do to get you started,” Theo tells me as he starts up the program.

Marcus makes his way over to one of the other treadmills and steps up.

“Same for you. This will suck today.”

“I know you two are in good shape for kids, but this is a whole new world now,”he tells us his voice quiet.

Our program starts, and we look at each other. I wink at Marcus, and he flips me off, and then we run.

I have no idea how long we ran. I only know I thought I was going to die. From there, Theo made us lift weights, do crunches, try to do a pull up, and so many other things that I have no idea what they were or what they were for. By the end of it, every muscle in my body is jelly. My lungs feel like they are going to explode, and I look over to Marcus and see he’s fared no better.

Pretty sure this is child abuse assholes.

“What was that, Ava?”I hear Theo ask me. I realize I didn’t say that in my head; I said it out loud.“I said I’m pretty sure this is child abuse assholes.”

I hear Parker and Wes chuckle, and I swear I see Theo nod at me. Harry, however, didn't find it so amusing.“Oh, little Ava, you just bought yourself 50 more crunches for you and Marcus.”

I glare at Harry, hating him a wee bit at that moment.

We do our crunches then slowly make our way back to the house. Beth has dinner waiting for us. Marcus and I scarf the food down so fast that I honestly couldn’t tell you what it was. We head upstairs to shower and go to bed.

---