Athena
All three of them look up when I walk in.
“Athena?” Dean looks incredulous. “What the hell are you doing in here?”
Might as well just meet it head-on. I’d hoped that I wouldn’t see them here so that the one thing I could do to take care of myself wouldn’t turn into an argument or another opportunity for them to punish me. But I’m here now, and so are they, and there’s really nothing for me to do but stand up for myself and why I’m here.
“Why does anyone go to a gym?” I drop my backpack and unzip my hoodie, shrugging it off and tossing it on top of my bag. “I’m here to work out.”
“Nope.” Dean shakes his head. “Go do your Pilates or whatever at the house, Athena. This is our place.”
I grit my teeth, forcing myself to stay calm. “You don’t own the gym. I can work out here if I want to.”
“There’s no yoga teacher,” Cayde says, smirking. “So I don’t think there’s much you can do here, really.”
I glare at him. “Before I got basically kidnapped by you three, I didn’t spend my time doing yoga.”
“So, what did you do?” Dean crosses his arms.
I notice that Jaxon hasn’t joined in on the conversation. He’s just standing there watching, like a lot of the conversations that happen lately. I can’t look right at him without staring at the bruises on his face, wondering where they came from, so instead, I look away, back at Dean and Cayde.
“Probably a lot of what you guys do,” I say defiantly, crossing my own arms in a mirror of Dean. “I lifted weights, I took martial arts, I took boxing classes. Practiced on the bag for cardio.”
“Like hell.” Cayde sneers. “No fucking way. You didn’t do shit like that.”
“Want me to show you?” I glare right back at him. “I’m not making it up.”
“No, I want you to get the fuck out of our gym,” he snaps.
“Let her stay,” Jaxon interrupts, and my head swivels towards him as I stare, surprised that he jumped into the argument at all.
“What?” Dean raises an eyebrow. “You want her in here, taking up our time, interrupting our vibe?”
Jaxon shrugs. “I don’t see the harm, really. She’s just gonna fail. And it’ll be funny to watch, right? She’s not going to lift more than what? Ten-pound weights at best?”
Cayde smirks. “Alright then. Let’s see what you’ve got, little Saint. The baby weights are on the end, there.”
It makes me wish I’d never let myself slack off because once upon a time, I’d probably have really impressed them with what I can do. But I’m not so out of shape that I can’t lift a decent amount.
I’m more than a little annoyed that I’m basically being forced to audition for a spot in the gym, when all I really wanted to do was come and work out and clear my head. But if this is what I have to do, then so be it.
“She’s just going to bench the bar,” Dean says under his breath as I head towards the weights. I ignore him, stacking plates onto the bench-press bar as I lay back, positioning my hands and taking a deep breath.
Honestly, I don’t really care if they’re impressed by how much I can lift. I just don’t want them to force me out. For the first time since I woke up in my bed at Blackmoor House, I feel like I might have a way to reclaim some of my own agency.
So instead of showing off for them, I just focus on my workout as if I were alone. I do my reps for the bench press, move to the squat machine and the leg press, and then go to the free weights, doing some flies and curls. When I can feel my muscles burning, I switch to the bags, getting my heart rate moving as I go through a series of punches and kicks, wracking my memory for some good combinations.
When I take a step back and look at the three of them, it’s possibly the most satisfying thing that’s happened to me since I got here to see the surprise on all three of their faces.
Maybe even better than an orgasm, if I’m being honest.
“Which one of you is going to get in the ring with me?” I challenge, my hands on my hips as I blow a piece of hair out of my face
“Oh no. No,” Cayde says, shaking his head. “You’re not fighting.”
“Like hell, I’m not.” I glare at him. “It’s half the reason I came here. I want to be able to protect myself. And I used to anyway. As I said, I did martial arts and boxing. It’s not like I’m brand new at it.” I cross my arms, fully prepared for this to be the hill that I die on. “Besides, there’s nothing in the contract that says I can’t workout or fight.”
“It’s not in the contract,” Cayde agrees. “But I’m making an amendment. I don’t think you should do anything that could result in you getting hit or injured. You’ve got a pretty face; I want to keep it that way. And the rest of you isn’t bad either,” he adds with a smirk. “So I don’t think there’s any reason for you to be putting yourself in a position to get hurt. Right, guys?” He glances at the other two, waiting for them to back him up.