Page 44 of Quake

Page List

Font Size:

She had a point. I didn’t care about the money. I was charging Jules a fraction of the usual rate, and I never trained anyone other than the boys, so the time and income weren’t a problem if we dropped it. Take the client part out of the equation, and things became a whole lot kosher.

“Did I do the right thing?” I asked, kind of liking the way Ren, of all people, had become my confidant.

“Firing Tommy?” she asked. “Yeah. It was the right call and a tough one you handled well by the sounds of it. Juliette? From what I can tell, you and her…it’s got potential, and that’s a good thing.”

“Potential for what?” I asked, scowling.

“Pfft. Boys are so dumb.”

I rolled my eyes, hankering for another go at that punching bag. “Then use little words with one syllable.”

“Love, you moron.Love.”

17

Juliette

On my wayto Beat on Saturday, I couldn’t stop thinking about everything that’d happened in the last few days.

It felt like forever since I had seen Caleb, but I’d been hearing from him every day since he’d walked me home after breakfast. The occasional text message would appear on my phone, making my heart soar. Never in my entire life had a guy made me feel so special, and that was the problem.

I felt guilty for not opening up to him. I was keeping one hell of a secret from the guy, and he’d been nothing but supportive. Hell, Juliette wasn’t even my real name. I had it legally changed, so technically, itwasmy name, but that in itself was a fucking huge thing.

Then there was everything else.

We usually trained Saturday afternoons at three o’clock? sharp. When I walked through the open roller door, I wasn’t surprised to see other people making use of the gym. My confidence had picked up significantly in the last month, and I no longer gave them a wary side-eye glance as I moved about the studio. Caleb had been right, of course. Most people didn’t even look twice at me. In here, they were too busy looking at their muscles flex in the mirror.????

I found Caleb waiting for me at the back of the gym.

“Hey,” he said as I approached, his hand caressing my cheek when I stopped in front of him.

He looked good today, but he always did. His hair was messy and unkempt—though I suspected it was purposely styled that way—he wore his usual T-shirt and shorts, his feet were bare, and his mouth was curved into a grin that had my knees weakening.

My thoughts immediately went to the moment we’d been entangled in one another,naked, and I flushed, my thighs clenching.

“Hey,” I replied.

“Hmm,” he murmured. “Do I want to have a guess at what you’re thinking about right now?”

“I doubt you have to guess,” I shot back, smiling from ear to ear.

“Temptress.” He lowered his mouth toward mine and kissed me softly on the lips.

Luckily, he took the initiative because I was completely clueless when it came to displaying affection. I’d never had a relationship start off with such a bang…or go on long enough for the endearment part to settle in. Should I kiss him? Should I call? Should I text? Did I have to wait an allotted amount of time before I would hear from him? I was a chaotic mess, which wasn’t anything new.

“You good?” Caleb asked, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

“I…” I began, falling back on bad habits. My words were stuck.Again.

“You don’t have to filter yourself with me, Jules,” he said, saving my ass.

“I don’t know how to do this,” I blurted, forcing my insecurity out. “Being…together.”

“You’re doing pretty fucking awesome so far,” was his reply. Smirking, he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. “I’m not exactly a pro either, you know.”

“Seriously?” I look him up and down. “Don’t say stupid shit to make me feel better.”

Caleb held up his free hand in mock defense. “Honestly.”