Page 35 of Taking the Pitch
I set my stuff down on the bench closest to my treadmill and give Bruno the down command. He plops down and watches me with his brown and blue eyes while I stretch. I have the entire gym to myself, seeing as it’s only four o’clock in the morning.
Thank you, insomnia.
After I’m stretched, I hop onto the treadmill and start at a walk, letting my leg muscles warm up. The last thing I need is an injury. While I’m walking, I place my headphones into my ear and find my latest workout playlist, letting myself get lost in the music.
Two songs later and I’ve picked up my pace to a nice steady jog, feeling my shoulders relax slightly as my anxiety starts tomelt away. A faster paced song comes on and I increase the speed slightly on the treadmill, pushing myself, running from all my problems and uncertainty until my legs burn.
I should stop, or at least slow down, but I can’t. My brain and leg muscles are at war. My brain screams at me to keep going, that I can outrun the pain, that the pain is all in my head, while my muscles are threatening to give out at any moment.
The song ends and switches to something that has a slower tempo, breaking my focus, making my feet falter. I try to hit the stop button, but it’s too late. I’m already behind. I feel my feet near the edge of the treadmill and make the decision to try to hop backwards, but I have no idea how I’m going to do that with my feet moving forwards. I’m about to give up and just let fate take its course when I see a figure out of the corner of my eye. I whip my head to the side to see who it is. My feet falter as a strong arm grabs me around the middle and tugs me to the side.
I throw my hands up to brace myself, and they land on a solid wall of muscle. Lungs burning, I gulp down air before looking up and seeing the main problem I was running from in the first place.
Judd.
Of course.
Looking down at me with his mischievous smile, he says, “No need to throw yourself at me. I’m already interested, Shortcake.”
Something pulls low in my belly, but I pull away before it goes any further than that. Ignoring his comment, I say, “Uh, thanks for catching me. I was ready to just take the hit.” Turning back to the treadmill, I hit the stop button and grab my towel off the arm, wiping the sweat that’s dripped down my face.
“I’ll always catch you, Amelia.”
My eyes snap to the mirror and see his green eyes blazing back at me. “Why?” I breathe out, asking his reflection.
“Because I think you’re worth holding on to.” Taking a step forward and crossing his arms across his chest, he leans against the post my body would have flown into if he hadn’t grabbed me, letting his words sink in.
No one has ever thought I was worth keeping, not with my…baggage.
My eyes travel over his reflection, taking him in. He has on a pair of gray basketball shorts, and I never realized how attractive calf muscles were until I saw Judd’s very muscular ones. My perusal continues north over a slight bulge, and I quickly flick my eyes over it, not needing to be turned on any more than I already am seeing him in that damn backwards hat. He’s wearing a black cut off shirt, exposing his beautiful tattoos and muscles that are totally doing it for me. Finally, I reach his face. His beard is shorter than it was the last time I saw him, making his jawline sharper. I can’t help but wonder what it would feel like between my legs. Would it be too rough, or just enough friction?
I blink and mentally give myself a shake. Judd would eventually think my baggage isn’t worth keeping me too, which is why I need to steer clear. But when he looks at me like that, like I’m the only one who matters, it makes it harder to resist him.
His smile widens. “Like what you see?”
I bite my bottom lip and pull it into my mouth, tearing at the skin. I do, I really fucking do, and that’s the problem.
Pushing off from the post, he strides over, not taking his eyes off mine in the mirror. When he reaches me, he gently turns me around by my shoulders so I’m no longer looking at his reflection but the real thing. Gripping my chin, he tugs my lip out of my mouth and runs his thumb over it. His eyes move from my lips to my eyes. “Are you going to answer my question?”
“No,” I whisper.
“No, you don’t like what you see, or no, you’re not going to answer?” he asks, eyes bouncing back and forth between mine.
I force myself to take a step back, even though the last thing my body wants is to break contact with his touch. Turning, I walk to the bench where I left my stuff and Bruno. “No, I don’t like what I see.” I can’t say the words while looking at him or he’ll know it’s a blatant lie. “I don’t even like you, remember?” I remind him, grabbing my water bottle and chugging down half of it. Wiping my mouth with the towel I’ve draped over my shoulder when I’m done.
He chuckles and crosses his arms over his chest again. “I think you like me plenty. You’re just afraid.”
Fuck yes, I’m afraid. I’m more than afraid. I’m terrified. None of my relationships last. I’m too fucked up to love fully. They love the surface version of me, but once they get deeper, it’s too much. It’s always been too much. That’s why I’m better off alone. You can’t get hurt if there’s no one to hurt you in the first place.
As if reading my thoughts, Judd closes the distance between us and sits on the bench, dipping his head to meet my eyes. “I would never hurt you, Amelia.” He reaches for my hand and laces my fingers between his large ones, dwarfing mine.
I stare at our linked hands, wanting to believe him. “You don’t know that.” I finally look him in the eyes, letting him see my fear, my turmoil. “You can’t know that.”
“I do.”
I shake my head and pull my hand away. Grabbing my phone and keys, I release Bruno and let him say hi to Judd. Bruno wiggles between Judd’s legs while he pets him, yet not breaking eye contact with me. “I’m too broken, Judd. You might as well cut your losses now.”
He shakes his head. “We’re all a little broken, Amelia. It’s about finding the right pieces to put us back together that makes the pain bearable.”
