All Her Broken Pieces

Chapter 5

Saturday morning I'm up before the sun, woken up sweating from a horrible nightmare.

I was being chased through the forest, running and running and running because I know that if I stop she'll catch me, and when she does I may never be able to run again. The very Earth collapses beneath my feet and I fall through the cracks into a pile of sawdust. The grains invade my body, my soul, and I know this is the end. Closing my eyes I see darkness...right before my arm is wrenched.

Shaking the last of the dream from my brain, I throw back the covers and head to the bathroom to rinse off my sweaty face and brush my teeth, a technique my therapist taught me to settle my mind and senses into the present moment.

Coming back to myself I throw on some workout clothes, a pink and black sports bra with black leggings and running shoes, before grabbing a power bar and heading out. I take the stairs down to the apartment gym on the first floor, though to call it a gym is a bit of a stretch for a few weight machines, treadmills and ellipticals tossed into a large room.

Heading to the treadmills I pop in my headphones and crank up my "run for your life" playlist and run for a few hours. I'm training to do a marathon the weekend after Christmas two months away, it'll be my first and I'm ridiculously excited. Today I'm doing 18 miles, seven of which are at marathon pace and I feel like I'm dying by the time I'm done a few hours later.

After walking a few extra minutes to cool down, I turn the machine off and pop out my headphones before heading to the mats to stretch out. Halfway to the mats a deep, cultured voice scares the crud out of me.

"I wasn't sure if you were ever going to stop, running a marathon or something?" it says and one of my hands flies to my chest, as if to ensure it stays beneath my ribs rather than fall out in terror.

Directing my attention towards the speaker I look up, and then up some more before I meet the dark eyes of the stranger, another potential model by the looks of it. He has Native American features and sleek dark hair that falls straight and long to his shoulders. Eyes dark as night, intelligent beyond words, and full of concern and regret stare into mine before he speaks again.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you, I was sure you had noticed my entrance. Are you alright?" He speaks in a manner similar to Owen, I notice absently.

Taking a deep breath I respond. "Don't worry about it, I was a little lost in my head and didn't notice you come in, and I had the music up pretty loud, and yeah I'm doing the Charleston run soon." His eyes clear and he smiles at me, dang he's pretty.

"That's cool, are you sure you're alright?" He waits for my nod before continuing "I'm Axel Toma, fifth floor." He says and I realize he must be number 13 of the 14 guys back from Europe, Corey and Raven's team lead if I'm not mistaken.

"Sang Sorenson, also fifth floor, nice to meet you." We shake hands and recognition flits across his face at my name and I see my reputation precedes me.

"Nice to finally meet the girl all my brothers keep talking about." He jokes and I blush.

"All good things I hope?" I'm proud my voice doesn't come out squeaky.

"Of course, though they did tell me to watch my hair around you, any comment on why they'd say such a thing about such a lovely creature as yourself?" He's teasing me now and I fight the urge to make home beneath a rock. "Kidding, promise." He laughs and I groan.

"I'm never going to live that down am I?" he shakes his head and I sigh "Oh well, too late now, I'm going to go find a nice rock to live under." I feign leaving and he gently grasps my wrist, stopping me and sending tingles up my arm from his touch.