Her Secret Urges - Sombre nights - Book 1

Chapter 59 - Early morning workout

Jane woke up startled. She could not remember what she had been dreaming about, but she knew it must have been a nightmare, based on her erratic heartbeat and drenched body. It was the day before the anniversary of the accident, so she decided not to try and remember her dream as it probably had something to do with that. In some way, Alek's presence was soothing, as there was someone else nearby that shared her pain, but it also made every memory more vivid. There was no hiding her suffering under some well applied make-up and a fake smile.

The digital clock next to her bed showed it was 6:43am, so instead of spending the next hour in bed, dwelling on her sorrows, she got up, put on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt and off she went to the gym to work out. As soon as she was by the door, she could hear Alek was already inside, by the music pounding and the treadmill screeching under his weight.

"Morning, Alek," Jane said, walking into the gym.

"Morning, L.J.," Alek replied, smiling at her. He was only wearing a pair of shorts, his sweaty t-shirt discarded on the floor next to him. "Did you sleep well?"

"Not really," Jane whispered. "But it's OK," she added quickly.

"I understand," he said, looking at her.

There is no hiding the pain, she thought again. "Yeah," she walked to the yoga matt and started doing her warm-ups. A few minutes later, she walked to the elliptical machine and put on a half-hour program. Alek was directly on her left, still running on the treadmill. They were looking at each other through the mirror in front of them. Twenty minutes into her workout, she spoke again.

"What are your plans for today?"

"Work; nothing else planned," he replied quickly.

"I was wondering if I could take you somewhere after work," she said hesitantly. She had been wanting to do this for a while now, but she had been too scared to ask him.

"Yeah, sure," he whispered, looking surprised.

She breathed in deeply and let it all out slowly before she spoke. "When my parents bought the house here in Madrid, there was this huge maple tree in the corner of the garden. I used to spend a lot of time there, when I got back from London, after the accident. On the first anniversary of the accident, I decided to bury the ashes of our baby under the roots of the tree and with my dad's help, we did a beautiful engraving on the trunk. I usually go there every year; it makes me feel better somehow. I thought you might want to go with me this afternoon." She finally looked up into the mirror and saw that he had stopped running. She stopped the elliptical machine too.

Alek got off the treadmill and walked in front of her. He just stood there, looking into her eyes silently for a long minute before he could speak again, "I would love that, L.J.!"

"Really?" Jane asked worriedly.

"Absolutely," Alek replied, looking into her eyes.

She stepped off her machine and he took her in his arms, holding her close to him for a long moment, neither caring for their sweaty bodies. "I won't be able to leave the office until six. I hope that won't be a problem."

"Not at all. I'll call my parents later and ask them to give us some privacy for a while."

"Even better. I'll pick you up at HG when I'm done, and we can ride together."

"Perfect," she said, as they finally let go of each other.

He kissed her softly on the lips once, twice, and then smiled at her. "This must sound crazy, but being with you now makes this whole thing a bit easier to carry, you know?"