Bounded Souls

17.

The angelic sounds of instrumental jazz music played throughout the house. The sun escaped from outside and peeked through the blinds in the large living room. Kai rested his hands against the marble counter with his eyes closed tightly.

"Everyday I gotta prepare myself for this." He sighed. Hesitantly, he grabbed the small plastic bottle and swung the ginger and pineapple tonic into his mouth. He grunted repeatedly as he walked out of the kitchen and headed towards the door.

His gym bag awaited him on the floor near the door.

Slipping on his gym shoes, he grabbed his keys and made his way out of his penthouse. Once he got into his sleek black Audi, he sped out of the underground parking lot and sped off.

The gym was one of his favourite places to be. With the stress of being a business owner and still breaking traumas from things that occurred years ago, it was a great stress reliever. It helped him build his routine and become consistent, not just for his health, but to keep himself stable.

Kai entered the gym and headed towards the locker room to place his belongings away. He made his way towards the weights section and chuckled when he saw that Allen and Kyle had already been working out. Allen was working on his triceps whereas Kyle was at the bar lifting weights. His cheeks were puffed out, sweat dripped from his forehead to his ear. His long breaths of exasperation was the only thing that was heard along with the music.

Kai shook his head and stood behind Kyle. Slowly, he grabbed the bar and helped Kyle place it back onto the rack.

"How many reps was that?"

Kyle wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat up.

"Two sets of ten."

"Damn, and you're lifting almost two hundred." He patted his shoulder. "Someone's tryna get on that bulk."

"You already know," Kyle chuckled and sat up. "Lemme spot you."

Kai nodded and added another weight until it came to two hundred. Since he'd gone to the gym every week, he saw each week as a challenge to push himself. There were times where he failed and there were times where he reached his goal.

"Alright."

He wiped the sweat from his hands onto his gym shorts and laid back on the chair. Carefully, he took a deep breath, gripped the bar and pushed upward. His wrist shook at the amount of weight that he was lifting, but he still proceeded. He did it with ease for the first set, but he grew a bit weary for the second.

"You're doing good, brother."

Kai grunted and pushed his last one before Kyle helped him place the bar back on the rack.

"Thanks." He looked back at him.

Allen walked over to the two men with his towel in his hands. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and flipped his towel over his shoulder.

"What y'all working on today?"

"I'm gonna do some legs today. I would hate to be that man that got a big body and little legs."

"I'm gonna do back and triceps," Kai said.

"Same."

The men disbursed into their own areas and began their workouts.

"So, how's things been with Kayla?"

"I haven't heard from her in a while."

He meant it when he said he was done with her. Although he loved her and had love for her, he didn't think he could ever go down that road with her again. She'd lost the respect that he had for her and clearly she never had it for him.