The Lonely Hearts Club

Chapter 6: The Guilt (Hades)

It's been a week.

I haven't gone back to see Bree.

Not yet.

I said I would, and I haven't.

Every time I think of seeing her again, I feel sick and try to ignore it.

I've never made a girl a fucking gift basket before and it's messing with my head.

At most, I've bought girls flowers...but I haven't gone into stores looking for things and assembling it all prettily in the boot of my car.

I reorganized that basket a thousand times until I was satisfied.

And I called her angel.

I cringe.

Why the fuck would I call her that?

I didn't even mean to, it just kind of slipped out.

Despite her scrawniness and the scared look in her eyes, she's strangely angelic.

At least I have extra fuel for completing this gruelling training session Joey is running.

Part of working for him means we need to stay in impeccable shape.

I hate Joey's training.

Sure, it gets us insane physical results, but I still hate the training.

Joey stands, arms crossed, face cold.

There's something about him that scares you into doing whatever he asks.

I train with Nicks, an obnoxious blonde boy who has a problem keeping his mouth shut.

Joey doesn't trust us to make our own training plans and honestly, I don't care.

He does all the hard stuff for us and gives us the extra discipline I know neither of us really has.

Currently, Nicks and I are sprinting back and forth while Joey critiques and Angelo stares at the ceiling, high off his mind.

He never works out and Joey doesn't even try to ask him if he wants to.

"You need to be able to outrun everyone," Joey tells us. "Strength is useless if you cannot keep up with your victim."

"Victim?" Nicks laughs. "Yeah, that's right I'm a ferocious beast!" he roars, and I can see Joey shaking his head in the mirror.

He can run heaps faster than me but he always slows down so he can talk at the same time.

I don't know how he has conversations; I can hardly breathe.

At least running makes me forget about her.

I haven't stopped thinking about her, about the way her face was all pleased when she got that stupid basket, about her smile, her eyes...

I push myself harder and Nicks has to pick up his pace to keep up with me.

"Something going on in your teeny-weeny little brain?" He puffs out.

I scowl at him.

"Never seen you run this fast, big guy."

"Fuck off."

I push myself harder than I ever have before, and even Joey seems pleased.

Joey is never pleased with anyone besides Lana, so I don't take it for granted.

We train in the basement under the bar and Joey has made it so it's even more professional than a real gym.

"Yo, what's your opinion on steroids?" Angelo asks, once training is finally over.