Page 7 of Every Move You Make

“I’m used to it.”

Dell sighs. “Okay. One of my goals will be to teach you to listen to your body and not ignore pain.”

I didn’t exactly think my Greek god-like personal trainer would be asking such probing questions.

After our unexpectedly deep dive into my life, he takes notes while I tell him about my medical history. I follow him out of his office to the gym, and Dell drops Chester with his… boyfriend… on the window perch. Dell has me take off my sling and neck brace and go through a list of stretches and positions to demonstrate my range of motion, which are either incredibly easy or total agony. He doesn’t let me stayin those poses as soon as he sees me wince.

“You can either tell me your limit, or I can watch you like a hawk and assume you’re in pain. I’d rather you tell me, dude.”

Nosy bastard.

When my body heats up, I zip off my hoodie and toss it to the side. Before I have the chance to try the next position, he guffaws. “Is that aTwisted Sisterstrue crime podcast T-shirt?”

I glance down at the logo across my chest, and pain shoots down my neck and spine.Fuck.“Yeah,” I say, slowly repositioning my head.

“That’s my favorite show,” he cheers. “I have the same shirt. Did you listen to the one that dropped last week?”

I nod.

“Dude, I think Frank did it.”

That has me riled up. “No way. They said he was coerced by the police into admitting he killed Shannon.”

“Yeah, but Shannon’s sister Wendy was sleeping with that detective,” Dell muses, crossing his large tattooed arms over his chest. “I think Wendy was trying to get Frank back for breaking up with her all those years ago.”

“You think?”

“Oh my god. I can’t believe I found anotherTwisted Sistersfan! Who’s your favorite host? Kate or Tiffany?”

“Tiffany, obviously.”

Dell chuckles. “Obviously. Kate is only there to create mayhem.”

“Yeah, but her mayhem is always what takes Tiffany down new avenues of thinking, which, more often than not, leads to fresh evidence.”

My burly trainer looks taken aback, like he hadn’t put that together until now, and I wonder if that’s what he looks like when he listens to the podcast. I wonder how he listens. In the car? Working out? In bed? I wonder what he wears tobed…

“I never thought about it like that,” Dell chuffs, “but you’re right! Okay, stop distracting me from my job you, Big Rugby Daddy.” His smile is so big and genuine that my gut drops like a lead balloon.

There’s something else though—something I don’t often feel. A quiet fluttering in my stomach. Like a single butterfly flitting about. That’s unexpected. I usually only feel flutters once I really know a person and can trust them. There have only been three people I’ve been attracted to my whole life.

The first: my best friend in junior high, Conner, who quickly became my bully once I finally mustered the courage to tell him my feelings.

The second: my college girlfriend, Jessica, a religious girl who took me to church with her every Sunday and held my hand. She never pressured me for sex because she was saving herself for marriage. It allowed me time to develop my sexual attraction to her as our romantic attraction grew. It’s fucking laughable looking back on that relationship now.

And then there was Robyn, the third. The woman who unknowingly consumes me whole. The wild freshman I met all those years ago, who snuck her way into my heart, and I’ve never let her go.

No one has ever given me butterflies since. Not until this big blonde beefcake caught me in his smile like a live trap and called me Big Rugby Daddy.

One butterfly.

I’m going to ignore it.

He holds out a rubber resistance band for me to pull apart, and I have to shake myself back into reality when he says, “Next week we can talk about the newest episode. Twenty bucks says Detective Wilson gets murdered.”

1.TEXAS HOLD 'EMby Beyoncé

Chapter 3

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