Page 21 of The Reluctant Hero

Until red hair appears in the doorway. She looks at her friends in confusion, checks her watch, shrugs, and takes her shoes off. Today, she’s in a tighter pair of sweats. It shows off her lush ass and thick thighs. Her chest is restrained tightly under the top, so I can’t tell what else I’m looking at.

She’s going to melt again.

I wait for her to join us, but she settles on the mats, eyeing the men left warily.

Jake doesn’t like it. I don’t like it. We’re right here and acting available. Why is she looking atthem?

It isn’t until Jen or Jan gets into my line of sight that I remember why. We have three women vying for our attention already, and she obviously thinks she doesn’t rate in comparison. She couldn’t be more wrong.

Amanda settles to the back and struggles through everything Asher throws at them. He’s giving them the basics but putting in enough reps that it would be impossible to keep up without a lot of muscle and endurance training to begin with. We take more breaks out of pity, I’m sure. We all know the three women buzzing around are faking and putting in minimal effort. The outlier is Amanda as she gives it everything she’s got.

“She’s going to have a heart attack,” one of her friends comments with a snicker. We’re watching her gulp water like she just ran through a desert.

“Bad heart?” Jake’s eyes narrow on Amanda as she drains her bottle and frowns when no more magically appears. She’s going to make herself sick drinking like that.

“Fat,” Jan says with a smirk. The other two laugh.

I can’t stop the sharp glare I give her. She isn’t fat. She’s lush in all the right ways. A body that won’t break at a firm touch and soft as silk.

Luckily they’re too busy in their little huddle talking shit to pay attention.

“How long do we have to do this?” The brunette, Beth, asks with a whine.

“Until she gets it,” Jan or Jen says.

“Gets what?” The idiot with dyed blond hair, Jessie, asks with confusion.

The other women give her a glare for it.

“The fact that no man is going to want her,” Jan hisses softly. “She’ll go back faster.”

“Oh,” Jessie says in surprise. “That’s a great idea, Janine.”

Beth rolls her eyes.

Go back to what? A man? They’re trying to force their friend back into a relationship byhumiliatingher?

This goes a lot farther than a vulture wanna-be.

“We should get her out of here,” I mutter to Jake.

“Why? I want to watch her bounce.” It’s my turn to get a glare. The bad part is that Jake’s fake boyish charm drops when he does it. I’m staring at cold shark eyes that could swallow me up with no remorse. I haven’t gotten that look in a long time.

“They’re manipulating her. And if she’s working herself this hard, she could get hurt,” I whisper back with my own frown.

“She isn’t fat,” Jake tells me like I can’t see it myself. “She’s perfect.”

My head tilts as I take him in. Looks like we still have the same interests, even if this woman is nothing like any of the others we’ve shared. Nice to know I’m not pathetically falling alone.

“Help me get her out.”

“No,” his voice is flat with denial. He’s not budging.

“We can find her. It isn’t like we’d never see her again. We can get her exercising somewhere safer. Not in a class that’s going to tear her down.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Jake assures me flatly.

“I’m not if it keeps her from passing out,” I insist. “Back me up. Do you want to watch her suffer or bounce around with a smile?”

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