Somewhere Between the Depths

Chapter Three

Silas

I pushed my reps higher and higher, enjoying the burn in my muscles. Sweat dripped down my body and the death metal blaring in my ears helped drown out the noise. I was still pissed, anger coursing through my veins steadily, but with every weight I added to the bar, my body calmed a little more. I focused on my workout, pushing my body past its limit until the veins in my biceps and forearms protruded. I dropped the bar at my feet with an obnoxious clang, but no one so much as batted an eye. I paused my search for my towel when the door to the gym opened; the doorbell signaling the front desk staff echoed through the whole building. I half expected it to be one of the brothers popping in to make sure I hadn't killed anybody, but I was wrong. All the breath expelled my body at the sight of her... She strolled in, not giving me or any other sorry fucker the time of day as she grinned brightly at the front desk clerk. She had deep brown hair that tumbled past her shoulders in waves, the late afternoon sun streaming through the doors catching the lighter brown pieces. 

The overly helpful clerk, whose name was Jeremy- I think, grinned back at her. His usually useless ass was overly helpful now as he pointed out the locker rooms for her as if she couldn't read a goddamn sign by herself. He offered to give her a tour, the sad sack even threw in a wink, and I couldn't help my burst of laughter at his sad attempt to woo probably the hottest woman to ever step foot in here. Naturally, she declined his offer. Instead, she strolled onto the main floor with her chin up and a clear, 'don't fuck with me' attitude. It was an actual chore to keep my jaw from dropping to the floor as she floated toward me, my tongue begging to loll out of my mouth like the fucking dog I was. She turned her head just barely in my direction as she passed, her eyes sweeping up my body in a slow, suggestive way before they landed on my face with a sexy as hell smirk. 

Fucking woof. 

I watched her as she strolled into the locker room marked for the ladies, blowing out a breath as I chugged half my water. I marched over to the front desk, rapping my knuckles against the countertop. "Yo, Jer." 

The lazy fucker barely lifts his head up for me, guess he has a thing for brunettes. "New girl. What's her name?" 

"Can't give out club member's info, Silas. You know that." He sighs as if he's bored. I narrow my eyes, leaning closer to him. He catches my eyes, his own widening as he sees the look on my face and with trembling fingers begins tapping away rapidly on the computer. 

"N-Nora Prescott..." He stammers. 

I nod, rapping the countertop with a manic grin to replace the death glare I just gifted him then head back for my weight bench, only this time the little vixen is standing in front of it. She watches me walk around the bench until I'm standing in front of her, then she eyes the bar I abandoned, her eyebrow cocked.

"You actually lift or are the heavy weights just to stroke your ego?"

My mouth parts at her voice... Jesus, fuck. It has a slight rasp to it and sounds hot as fuck, but then her words register, and I glare down at her. 

"Don't worry. It's not like the rest of us want to work out, I'm sure everyone is cool waiting for blondie to finish his invigorating set."

Static sizzles across my brain as I narrow my eyes at her. Gone is the flirty smirk from before, now she only regards me with annoyance. 

"I... Who... What?" I bark, unable to even form a coherent sentence. Who the hell is this bitch? 

"Wow. Beauty AND brains. Damn, you must be a catch." She rolls her eyes.

I throw my towel over my shoulder with a scowl, bending down to remove the four one-hundred-pound weights from each side of the bar, all the while grumbling to myself about how I am, in fact, a great fucking catch when her shoe lands on my hand to halt me. My eyes snap up to hers and that damning smirk is back in place.