Royalty

Twenty Two

I stepped into the all familiar building, waving at the lady at the front desk. She flashed me her friendly smile before going back to the computer in front of her. My feet carried me up the stairs onto the main floor where there were a lot more people inside than usual. I saw some guys that were regulars and others who were new faces. In the back corner of the room, I saw the person I came for.

He was talking with someone else, the two of them sitting down in chairs and ignoring everyone else around them. It was only a few moments later that he turned in my direction and instantly recognized me. I gave a quick nod of my head as he excused himself from the guy he was talking to. 

I started walking towards him, weaving in and out between all the guys in the room. It was only a few short seconds until I was standing face to face with him, his arms crossed over his chest and a skeptical look on his face.

"Well well, look who decided to show up today? What've you been doing? Sulking in your apartment and blocking out all forms of sunlight?" He laughed.

"Shut up, Ronnie," I narrowed my eyes at him and adjusted the bag on my shoulder. "I was not doing that."

"That's not what Isabella told me."

"She doesn't know anything," I rolled my eyes as he just chuckled.

"Yeah sure. Anyways, you've bailed on me more than once, so you best be prepared for hell today."

Fuck, I knew that was bound to happen. Exhaling a breath, I walked over to the lockerrooms and stuffed my bag into a locker. I tightened the laces on my shoes and fixed the headband I had wrapped in my hair before I grabbed my water bottle and headed back to the main room.

Ronnie was on the other side of the gym setting up some free weights and making conversation with the guys near him. As I approached all the weights, I was a little anxious of what he had in mind. He had set out weights I'd never used before and some that were much lighter than I typically use. It was intimidating, to say the least.

When he stopped talking to the other guy, he focused all his attention on me. He immediately starting barking out commands, telling me to run one way, pick up certain weights, do n amount of pullups, whatever else he could think of. It was almost like he was just making up a random workout, making me do exercises that weren't usually put together. 

We had only gone about twenty minutes before I was already panting and pouring sweat. Ronnie kept badgering me about how I was out of shape or how I was being weak or how slow I was moving. I had to hand it to him, I usually did everytime, he could seriously kick my ass in the shortest amount of time. Give him only ten minutes and he'll be sure you couldn't lift your arms the next day or bend your legs. He was like this killing machine in the gym. 

I worked out with him for about forty more minutes, and by the end of that, I literally thought I was going to die. I could barely stand up because my legs were already so sore, and it hurt just lifting my water bottle to my mouth. I don't know how he comes up with this shit, but it destroys me each and every time. 

I sat down on the bench in the lockerroom shower for a good ten minutes just letting the water run over me. I was too exhausted to do anything else, and it seemed to take me forever to just rinse my hair. It took even longer to get dried off and changed into some fresh clothes. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to survive the next couple of days. I might just end up staying in my apartment the entire time until I'm no longer feeling pathetically sore. 

Ronnie was sitting at his desk in his office when I walked out of the lockerrooms. I noticed no one else was around him to strike up a conversation, so I took this as my opportunity. In just a few quick strides, I was standing at his door, knocking on the frame before I sat down in the empty chair. He looked up at me from his computer and folded his arms on top of his desk.