Catch the Trust [Completed]

Gym's Open

14

Emmy

I sighed and sat back in my chair in the office at Locke Enterprises. Tia and Leah are here and decided to move down here to keep their jobs-- Gino offered Tia a place rather than working with a team in Winnipeg. Apparently something was going on so she was searching anyway. Now she's the social media and marketing head of Locke Enterprises. Leah is still my assistant but that is just how she likes it. She likes the random tasks I give here each day rather than having to lead. They decided on sharing a place down here and have begun to convince Hailey to move down here and work at a coffee shop, or she could become a TA at USF.

I looked out the window and onto the streets of San Francisco. I've had nightmares of that night for a week straight. Last night, Mateo woke me up again and handed me the anxiety pills. It was hard waking up this morning but they worked. I blacked out after taking them and got the sleep I needed. Mateo has his first game this afternoon, it's preseason but it's still the first game of the season. He says the real first game is the one he has at the beginning of September. They call that one the season opener.

The nightmares are awful. It varies each night. Sometimes I'm walking from the Locke Enterprises in Seattle and sometimes it's between this building and the gym. Last night it was from the condo with Mateo. The seven of them came at me with beady eyes. Needy and greedy. I would fight back in some of the nightmares and in some I just took what came to me without fighting back. I've been on edge about men for the past week. Mateo wants me to meet his friend Cole and his girl Winnie with a few of his other teammates. I have been telling him I'm busy with the gym, which is opening tomorrow, so technically I'm not wrong.

In the nightmares the men say harsh things like they did that night, but it's more than that. I can feel and remember how it felt to be punched and kicked by a group of them. I licked my lips again, a nervous habit. I pulled out my chapstick and put some on. Mateo wants me to talk to a therapist but I just don't know. I'd have to admit that I didn't fight back that night. That it would be good to feel the pain of loss.

Mateo has been kind and helpful with my nightmares but I know he hasn't been sleeping well either.

I spent the day following online stats for Mateo's game. Gino and I worked on setting up the final touches for Locke Enterprises. Come Monday, we will be fully operational. Tomorrow is Friday, so Mateo has dedicated his time to coming with me to the gym grand opening. We've been promoting it online and Gino even got to talk about it on a televised interview for the area.

We're going to open it at nine tomorrow morning and be there all day. Gino hopes to get some gym memberships, but we also have Tia and a few of our new interns from USF to set up a table at the university to get students to join. We have a special college and kids, under the age of 16, price for 20 dollars. Our overall membership is 45 dollars a month. My dad charged similarly so I wanted to keep it low to start and go from there. The only upcharges are if members want to work with Terry or Mitch for competing in boxing. That requires more.

"Okay, how about we go out for lunch. Seems the team has won, so let's go find a sports bar and watch the highlights." I nodded and grabbed my purse following Gino out of the building. "Mateo told me about you having nightmares. I'm surprised it's taken this long to get to you." I closed the passenger door and looked over to Gino.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, to be honest, I never suspected you were okay. I knew deep down that you were suppressing what happened that night. The trauma of it. You haven't talked to anyone about it or gone to any therapist, so I wonder what triggered it."

I shrugged and was silent for the entire time of the car ride. I think I know what triggered it but I didn't want to voice it. Mateo would think it's his fault. It's not his fault.