Page 135 of Hell Bent
“I’m fine. It’s only when I’m having my period. I’mnothaving my period, and I want to go for a run. Plus, you know—” She lowered her voice. “Exercise endorphins. Increased testosterone. The harder you go, the more it increases. Isn’t that good news?”
I was smiling. You bet I was. “That,” I said, “is excellent news. Oh,” I remembered. “Ben.” And yelled, “Hey, Ben!”
He came around the corner and said, “You don’t have to yell. I was right there.”
“Want to go running with us?” I asked.
He looked at Alix, who was all but bouncing on her toes, and said, “I’ll pass. I’ll stay home and stir the chili.”
“You sure?” Alix asked. “I want to get into a better routine, and I need a partner.”
“Hey,” I said.
“You leave tomorrow,” she said.
“Yes,” I said, “I’m aware.”
Ben said, “I’m looking up schools, actually. Researching.”
“You are?” I said. “Why didn’t you mention it?”
He shrugged. “You’ve got other stuff to think about. Anyway, it’s going to be my school. Alix said I wasn’t just a passenger on your bus, and OK, that’s symbolism, but I get it, all right? So I’m doing the research.”
“You going to share that research with me?” I asked.
“Sure,” Ben said. “When I’m done with it. After the Super Bowl.”
I digested that, then told Alix, “Go get ready, then, and let’s go.”
She wasn’t blazing fast, but she was fast enough, and she was strong, too, powering up the hills with Lexi’s leash in her hand as we headed into Washington Park. She didn’t sayanything for the first mile or so, and I didn’t, either. I ran behind the two of them, partly so she could set her own pace and partly so I could look at her ass in her stretchy running tights—hey, I needed to get in the mood if she was expecting high-testosterone sex after this—and did not think about the Super Bowl, my first Media Day, or any of the rest of it. I thought about how championships are won during the offseason, because I wasn’t counting any chickens. I was going to make sure I came to training camp ready to contribute, wherever I was, and trail running was part of that. A gym in that new place wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. Ben would like a gym.
Eventually, we got to a wider trail, and I sped up to run beside Alix and asked, “Why haven’t we done this together before?”
“Well, first,” she said, “because we both work too much, and second, because you get plenty of exercise. I want to run something by you, if you don’t mind.”
“Shoot.” My heart had started to beat harder, for some reason. It was that vibration she was giving off.
“The boss called me in again this week. Howard, the one you met. I didn’t realize you’d invested.”
“Yeah, I did. Seemed like a decent bet. No worries, I don’t have that much sunk into it, if you’re about to tell me that the site’s on a fault line or something.”
“I wonder what your version of ‘not that much’ is,” she said.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Not right now. And this was something else.”
Ah. We were getting into it. “Go.”
“I thought I was getting fired,” she said, “because I did ask for a half day off for the Monday after the Super Bowl. Ben and I will fly out Saturday night. Or maybe—” She broke off.
“But you’re not getting fired,” I said.
“No. He told me he was recommending me for a project engineer job. For a promotion. Man, was I surprised.”
I stopped running and laughed out loud. “That’s awesome. That’s great. Come on. Bring it in.” I gave her a hug in the near-darkness. “I’m proud of you. You’ve said that to me, and I don’t think I’ve said it back. I don’t know why, because it’s true. AndI’mnot surprised. Other than that you called him out before.”
“Yeah,” she said, “but you know—it’s the trades, not the diplomatic corps. I thought I might not get away with it, being a woman, but I think it actually helped.”
