Agony

8

Ace left for the gym after speaking to me. We'd agreed to discuss our first moves once he finished his tournament. I'd fallen asleep until three in the afternoon.

I was still taken aback by Ace's boldness. 

He still likes me in that way?

Everything he had told me was buzzing about in my mind as I drove to the gym. My parents never mentioned anything about a vault, not that they would considering I was only ten when I last spoke to them. I wondered who the leader of Venom was. Was it a creepy old man? A bold woman? Either way, I wanted them dead for what they were doing. They were terrorizing me, and now what seemed to be all of America, with the robberies they were strategically committing.

Pulling open the door of the gym, I said hello to Hudson, who had seemed wary of me ever since I mentioned being held at gunpoint. Even so, he politely directed me to where I was going to be working out. 

It was supposed to be my second session with Kyle.

"Evening, Cher." He greeted me as I stepped into the same room as last time. He was wearing a white muscle-tee as well as grey sweats. He looked stunning. Gah.

"Hey." I smiled, setting my water bottle and keys on a bench before walking towards him at the centre of the room.

Without warning, Kyle threw an arm around my shoulder.

I jumped into action. I wrapped my arm around his shoulder, grasped the hand wrapped around mine, and pulled him forward. I kicked the back of his knees with as much force as I could muster, forcing him to the floor.

"Excellent! Absolutely excellent." He grinned from the ground, slowly getting up on his feet.

I smiled sheepishly. "I learned from the best."

"Today we're going to work on your upper body strength," Kyle announced. "When we're done, you'll be able to throw me over your shoulder." He joked, earning a smile from me.

Kyle demonstrated a number of moves, using various equipment. Dumbbells, resistant bands, medicine balls, and even cowbells.

I zoned out, my mind racing back to how the magnet had stuck to my shoulder. I was chipped. Like some kind of object. It frightened me to think that maybe someone was watching me. What if the chip had some sort of tracking device in it? Would ever be safe?

"Cher?" Kyle called, pulling me from my paranoia.

"Yeah? Sorry, I zoned out for a bit."

He chuckled softly, "I noticed. You seemed a bit distracted at the end of our last session as well. Is everything alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's okay. Just some family and ex-boyfriend drama." I expanded vaguely.

"Well, use whatever emotion, be it anger, stress, sadness to fuel your workout. I want to see you pushing yourself to your limits and then some."

I liked the way he spoke, it was like he always knew exactly what to say and how much to ask.

Kyle turned on the radio once again, before asking me to proceed with the first circuit he laid out.

* * *

After multiple rounds of three circuits, I was exhausted and simply collapsed to the matted floor. The ceilings were so high and the floor was so nice and cool against my sweaty body.

"Cher?" Kyle called out in concern, rushing towards me. "Are you okay."

I smiled up at him. "I'm okay, just extremely tired, I didn't get much sleep."