Elements

42. the gym

After a while I get off the couch and wander around seeing the rest of the house. I walk down the walkway and into a room with a fogged glass door.

I open it to find Cliff inside sweating as he leans against the gym equipment laid out. His face lights up when he sees me.

"Sorry" I say going to shut the door

"Nah, come here" he says shouting across the room to me and I stop.

"Come spot me" he says moving across the room to the bench.

I shut the door and follow him hesitantly, watching as he stacks the weights heavier and heavier onto the ends

"How much is that" I say literally scared of the amount

"A lot" he says grinning as he watches my reaction

He then lays flat on the bench and wipes his palms on his shorts before gripping the bar

"Cmon" he says motioning his head to behind the bench. I walk around the bar and watch as he looks up at me before gripping it tightly.

I watch carefully as he lifts the bar and starts pressing it down and back up again through even breaths.

He continues through his rep before placing it back up on the bar, I grab it helping direct it.

He then sits up sweat coming off him before turning to me.

"You want to try" he says with a small laugh.

"I'm good" I say looking at him, his arms are huge, that would kill me.

"Obviously not that much" he says laughing as he stands and starts taking weights off the ends

"I'm not exactly the weights type" I say warning him

"You're strong" he says watching me before slapping the bench. "Cmon" he says grinning

I roll my eyes and lay down on my back on the bench and he grins.

"don't let me kill myself" I say and he lets out a laugh

"Cmon" he says as I grip the bar as tight as I can

He watches me as I begin lifting it, letting out a groan as it's fucking heavy.

"You can lift it, it's heavy though" he says encouraging me as he rests his hand on the bar carefully watching me as I begin to let it down

"Lower" he says and I get it to around my chest before lifting it again out of breath.

"One more" he grins and I let it down again to around my chest

I start to lift it again and it feels so heavy I can't, I keep pushing it up but it starts to fall

He quickly swings his leg over my body on the bench grabbing the bar and pulling it up like it ways nothing, setting it on the bar.

He looks down at me and laughs and I can feel something change in the atmosphere and him basically straddling me isn't helping

He steps back grabbing my hand as he pulls me up on the bench into sitting position in-front of him

"We gotta work on that" he laughs and I roll my eyes

"I told you I wasn't good" I say and he shakes his head laughing in amusement

He then walks over to the pull up bar and jumps up gripping the bar as I watch him start doing pull ups.

Where the hell do these men get all this energy from.

"So what's the story with you and that kid" Cliff says finishing his rep as he grabs his water and drinks it, looking down at me as I sit on the bench.

"Malek?" I say and he rolls his eyes at his name grinning

"He's not a bad guy" I say defending him and cliff nods before coming and sitting down beside me

"I don't really know what we got going on" I say and he nods

"You guys just fucking or-" he says and my cheeks go red and he nods

"I feel bad for you" he says and I look at him confused

"You're settling for mediocre sex" he says confidently and my jaw drops and he laughs

"It's not mediocre" I say defending Malek, if he's good at anything it's definitely that.

He nods to himself for a second biting his lip as I watch his attention shift from my eyes down to my lips then back up and my stomach twists

"How many people have you slept with" he asks grinning

"A lady never tells" I say, knowing if I say 1 he will laugh and not trust my judgement but I know Maleks good.

He grins and shakes his head before standing off the bench. I look up at him as he extends his hand out for me so I take it as he pulls me to my feet

He grabs his water bottle before walking away towards the door

"That's it?" I say confused as he doesn't say anything

"I'm walking away before I start something you're not ready for" he says grabbing the door and opening it for me as he waits.

I walk towards the door and he grins letting me out.

We walk together down the hall and I feel his eyes on me as we make our way out into the kitchen where he breaks away heading for the fridge.

I scan the room and see everyone's basically gone?

I see Holly sitting alone on the couch and decide now is my chance to get her side of things.

I walk across the room and around the couch before sitting down near her.

"Hi" I say giving her a small smile

"Hey" she says sitting up turning to me

"We haven't really had a chance to talk yet" I say and she smiles

"No not really" she say agreeing

"I missed it back at the airport you where saying how you had met Malek?" I say pretending not to know to hear her side of it

"Oh yeah, he's like my brother kind of, not really" She says and a sigh of relief passes through me, he wasn't lying

"My mother was dating his father before the incident" she says and I shake my head confused

"What incident?" I ask casually

"He hasn't told you?" She says just as confused

"Told me what?" I ask

"He went to prison and- he didn't tell you anything?" Holly says looking at me confused

"Prison? Why?" I say floored, he's a convict??!

"This isn't my place to say anything, I've already said too much" she says and my head starts racing

"I'm confused" I say

"I'd ask him about it" Holly says clearly upset with herself she said anything at all

"I will" I say

"Please don't tell him I said anything" she says and I nod agreeing.

And with that the front door opens and I turn to see Aaron, Jesse and Malek coming in from outside with willow and Ledger?

"Guess we found where everyone went" I say turning to Holly

"Willow was telling Malek about the hotsprings down the mountain so they went on a walk to see them" she says and I nod. Of course she was.

Malek sees me sitting with Holly and I watch his jaw clench, what is he hiding?