Page 27 of Work It Out
He squeezed her pinky tighter.
The girls finally calmed down enough to allow him airtime to answer questions. Too soon, Rayah bounded to her feet. “All right, we’ve taken up enough of Mr. Newman’s time. Remember, you promised to keep his secret. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s here. Say goodbye and take three laps. You need to warm up your muscles again.”
A chorus of groans filled the air, but they all clamored to their feet. Sammie started to jog off but whipped back around. “Can Alek stay to watch us for a few minutes? Please?”
Rayah glanced at him, letting him make the call.
“Absolutely.”
With one last squeal, Sammie was off, skipping happily after the others.
“That was sweet of you.” Rayah watched her charges fly around the perimeter of the room. “You realize the fact that you’re here will be all over social media as soon as those girls get their hands on their phones, right? If they don’t have accounts, their older siblings sure do.”
“It’s Mason I’m worried about. I think I went to high school with his dad. Dude was nuts, and Mason keeps giving me the stink eye.” He sighed. “But, yeah, I know.” And it might cost him.
For once, Rayah was looking down at Jake, where he still sat on the floor. “You aren’t upset, are you?”
“Nah.” He moved his eyes back to the kids and clapped as they whizzed past. “Good hustle!” Nodding toward them, he added, “Kids like them are the reason I have a job. Besides, this is a small town. It was only a matter of time.”
“That’s good to hear. Because they already know.”
Jake’s gaze flew back to her. “What?”
She told him about her meeting with Zandar and he relaxed. “It doesn’t matter. They were bound to find out sooner than later, and I doubt any of them even know how to use Facebook.”
Rayah laughed. “You’ve been gone a while, haven’t you? Fran says she has more Twitter followers than you do.”
“That’s terrifying, but as long as you aren’t planning on opening the gym to general membership, it should be fine. I’ll post something about returning to my roots and stay on property as much as I can, dress in layers when I’m out. I can hire security if the need arises, but I can’t see why it would. I’m not that big of a deal.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll fix that.” With an impish smile, she turned and glided away.
He swallowed hard. The sight of her ass in those leggings she always wore should qualify as a controlled substance. And that was before she bent over and pulled at a low balance beam.
She leaned her upper body to the side and pinned him with a knowing look. “If you’re done staring at my ass, maybe you could help me move this? They’ll want to show off their tumbling skills, but they aren’t that great yet. I don’t want anything this close to the mats.”
Busted.
“You can’t blame me.” He moved to his knees. “It’s a spectacular ass.”
Man, he felt old. And sore. And tired. Tomorrow would hurt, but at least he’d sleep like the dead tonight. Eventually.
She was still tugging at the setup. So impatient.
With a groan he hoped she couldn’t hear, Jake shot to his feet and hurried to his end before she hurt herself. He bent over, wrapped his hands around the beam, and lifted.
He knew his mistake even as he made it, but he was tired and his mind was full of shapelier things. As soon as he straightened, all the blood in his body rushed to his legs in a nearly audiblewhoosh. For a split second his head felt like it was floating off his body.
Not now, he thought even as Rayah shouted his name.
Crap. She’d kick him out for sure if he hurt himself. At least there were plenty of soft places to land.
Chapter Eight
Seven Years Ago
ESPN Report
Today, seventeen-year-old gymnastics phenom Rayah Summers suffered a horrific fall from the uneven bars during qualifiers. The team’s personal physician, Dr. Barry Orman, tells us the fall appears to have reinjured the shoulder that removed her from competition last year. Unfortunately, as we know all too well, reinjury is an athlete’s worst nightmare.
