Royalty

Thirty Eight

"What the fuck was that? That wasn't a squat!" Ronnie yelled at me from the other side of the gym.

"What are you talking about?!" I shouted back at him as I pushed hair off of my forehead. "I just did fifty fucking perfect squats!"

"That last one was terrible! Absolutely poor form, you're getting lazier and lazier. Start all over!"

"No!"

"Defiance only makes your workout harder, motherfucker."

I cursed some more under my breath as I started all over, loudly counting each squat from the beginning. I moved slower, sarcastically making sure my form was how he wanted it as I shot him death glares. He didn't care; he found amusement in my anger and frustration each time we were in the gym.

As much as I liked Ronnie, there were times I fucking hated him.

Mostly when it was a gym session.

I had probably been here for about forty minutes, and I was completely dying. This was one of the most difficult sessions I'd ever had with him. I couldn't tell if he was making these workouts harder or if I was slowly getting out of shape. I hadn't been to the gym in a little while, so it was probably me getting weaker.

It had been a few days since my parents had made their surprise visit, and my mom had been texting me every day just to say hi. She'd ask how Summer was and what my plans for the day were. It was a nice gesture, kind of weird since she never did this before, but it was nice.

Summer had been coming over almost everyday, either just hanging out or having a brief heated moment in my room or bringing me a smoothie in the afternoons when I got back from the kitchen. I didn't even ask her to do that. She had just randomly showed up when I had gotten back one day, and she continued to show up after that. I never complained because I always loved seeing her. I did feel bad about her always spending money on smoothies, but every time I brought that up to her, she just told me to shut up before her lips were on mine.

I stood up after the fiftieth squat, breathing deeply from exhaustion, and scowled at Ronnie, "Fucking happy now?"

"I guess," he shrugged as he gestured for me to follow him towards the free weights. "Let's work on arms for the last bit of the session."

That felt like the longest gym session I'd ever had with him before. I was just so exhausted, I probably could've collapsed. The thought of Summer bringing me a smoothie once I had gotten back to the apartment was very appealing.

As per usual, I sat in Ronnie's office for a little while after the session. I had changed my clothes into some dry ones and situated myself into one of the chairs opposite his desk. Before everything with Summer had been settled, I had gotten so used to coming in here for a 'therapy' session. Even Ronnie had gotten used to acting like a therapist for me, he just expected me each time.

He walked into the office and sat down in his chair, opening up his water bottle and pouring some protein powder inside, "So what's up with you now? Shit or no shit?"

"No shit."

"Well that's a surprise," he chuckled, shaking up his bottle. "Any new developments with your chick?"

"We're officially together."

"Isn't that exciting. Is that all the news you have?"

"Kind of. She met my parents and-"

"Wait, she met your parents?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair. He folded his hands behind his head and raised his brow at me. "It must be really serious if you're introducing her to the 'rents. Gettin' wifed up, eh?"