Page 35 of Astrid
“I’ll do them,” he said, and proceeded to do just that. The others sat around for a few minutes until Alan got up to help Lucas. The older man put the leftover food away, while Lucas cleaned the dishes. In less than thirty minutes they all headed downstairs to the gym.
Wyatt, Dillon, and DJ got the mats spread out on the floor, and it wasn’t long before Dillon, Morgan, and the other women were giving instructions to the men. As Astrid watched, she continuously shook her head at the action happening on the mat. At one point, she sighed in frustration so loudly, that the people working together turned and stared at her in confusion.
“What?” John asked as he lifted his tee and wiped his brow.
“Stop being a pussy,” Astrid ground out, as she glared at him, after blowing the blonde curl that had come loose from her ponytail and hung in her face.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” John demanded as he put his hand on his hips, and turned to glare at her. Neither of them realized the other men and women in the room had exchanged looks, and then backed off, leaving only Astrid and John on the mat.
“You’re pulling your punches, you ass,” Astrid said as she strode forward, and didn’t pause as she tried to hit him in the face. John wasn’t fast enough, and took the hit on the chin. He shook his head and glared at her. Before he could do anything to stop her, she did it again.
“Stop being a pussy,” Astrid yelled at him, and this time when she went after him, John put up his hands to block her blows. They went at it for a good five minutes before Dillon braved the skirmish and stepped between them, putting his arm out, calling a halt to the fight.
“I’m good,” Astrid said as she stepped back and glared at John. “See, that’s how you fight hand-to-hand. Don’t think because you’re going against a woman that she won’t use that to her advantage. If you go easy on her, then you’ll be in trouble.”
“How do you figure that?” John demanded as he wiped his face again, and this time he was breathing hard. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, especially to Astrid, but she’d gotten him good several times, and he knew he’d be sporting some big bruises in the morning, if he hadn’t already gotten them. Before he could do anything, she rushed him, and after only grabbing his arm at the wrist and elbow, he found himself flying through the air, and landed on his back so hard that the wind was knocked out of him. He had ringing in his ears, and he heard several people laughing and clapping.
Astrid looked down at him, and nodded once. “That’s how I figured it. I’m done here.” She ignored him, turned on her heel, and walked away, going up the stairs to the first level of the house, then to the second. She went directly to her room, then into the shower.
“What the hell?” Morgan asked in confusion, and started to go after Astrid, but Joyce, Ava, and Chuck stood to block her way.
“No,” Chuck said, and for the first time, he stood up to Morgan. “You weren’t here last night, and saw the way John treated Astrid. I say what she just did was warranted.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and looked down his nose at her, until she backed away.
Morgan walked over to where her brother lay on his back, trying to get his breath back. When he looked at her, she only asked one question, “Feel better?”
It took several seconds before he could answer, but as he took the hand Justin offered him, he grinned. “Yeah, I do. I need to go apologize to someone.” Before he could leave them, Justin clamped his hand on his shoulder to stop him.
“Not yet, let her cool down. We’re done here, so why don’t you help the boys pick up the mats, then meet us out at the firepit?” The tone of his voice, and the expression on his face brooked no argument, so he did as told, and wondered when the women disappeared if they were going to go to talk to Astrid. As he helped DJ and Lucas, he realized he had treated Astrid all wrong yesterday. After what he’d seen while he’d been in the tunnel, he should have realized she’d been doing her job, and not getting another man’s phone number, because she was stepping out on him. At that thought, he stopped dead in his tracks, and stared in shock.
“What?” Lucas asked as he walked into the back of John when he’d stopped. “What’s wrong?”
He was saved from answering when his phone went off, and after looking down at the number, he groaned. Instead of ignoring it like he wanted to, he went over to the area where the men slept and answered the call.
“Stuart,” he said firmly and professionally into his phone.
“John?” Came the hesitant reply.
“Yes, who’s this?” He knew who it was, but he didn’t want to give the woman any ideas. He might have yesterday when they’d gone to lunch to discuss the work Kate wanted done, after he’d seen that man give Astrid his number. John had implied he might be interested in taking Kate out.
“Kate, we had lunch yesterday.” The way she said it, it was like that was all they did.
“Oh, yes, Kate, we discussed the deck you want to add to the back of your house.”
“We did, we also discussed the possibility of going out.”
“No, we didn’t. I don’t date clients, and besides, I’m in a relationship.”
“You didn’t act like it yesterday,” Kate’s voice had turned hard. “If I don’t hire you, then we can date.”
“No, I’m in a relationship. You can hire me or not, but either way, I won’t be dating you. If you set up yesterday’s meeting to see if you could get someone to date, you barked up the wrong tree, lady.” John waited to see if she would say anything else, and when she didn’t, he told her to contact him if she wanted to hire him for the job, nothing else, otherwise, he suggested she lose his number.
John looked up when he sensed someone had come into the room, and rolled his eyes at his brother Josh.
“What did you do?” Josh asked as he folded his arms across his chest, and glared at his older by five minutes brother.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit,” Josh said as he glared at him.
