Burn for you (English)

Chapter 15

This morning, the sun displaced the thick clouds of the last few days, the few remaining remnants of the oppressive winter. There was no longer any sign of the frosty weather. The view was clear, allowing me to see some jagged rock faces in the distance, which had previously been hidden in the fog of the cold, like scouts for the enemy for the first time. They didn't seem dangerous to me. Rather inviting, as if they stoked my curiosity for the unknown. I wanted to explore them, climb them, conquer them. I had never felt a desire like this, but when winter fled, it took my inhibitions with it.

Spring was slowly coming.

The power of the sun was deceptive at the beginning of the day, which is why I wore a gray hoodie over my light T-shirt. I'd rather sweat than freeze before I even started exercising.

Almost all the members of the club knew by now that I went for a run every morning and that I had a partner by my side for most of the time. However, it was a surprise that this partner would be someone other than Beau today. One that I didn't believe myself.

"When were you going to tell me you were going jogging with me?"

"Now," Reaper said bluntly, with that confident grin that betrayed he'd made the decision without me.

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Why?"

Maybe because I had never seen him jogging. Or doing sport in general. It was obvious to everyone that Reaper wasn't lazing around in his little free time. The authoritarian aura was not only due to his height and title, but also to his physical strength. The president was muscularly built, with broad shoulders that supported his well-trained arms and not a single gram of fat on his body.

He was an athletic man, but I still thought he was jogging with me as a joke. We hadn't agreed on a time or a meeting point to back up his words.

It was just hot air, which was confirmed as soon as I walked into the bar and found no one downstairs except Tiara and the usual faces for breakfast. Not Reaper. I was disappointed as I waited, ordering a water from my dark-skinned colleague in the hope that he would turn up. My eyes kept darting to the stairs or the door of his office. His behavior last night, this small concession that we wanted to get along and talk about topics other than work or my past for the first time, had sent me the wrong message.

I had believed him too easily.

"Shall I prepare your breakfast then?" Tiara asked.

Breakfast consisted of honey toast, a latte and yogurt with fruit. Balanced and nutritious to prepare me for the day. I no longer demonized coffee, I loved it.

"That would be lovely. Thank you."

I handed her the empty glass and left the bar. Instead of stepping out through the door, I collided with a chest that appeared in the doorway. "Before you showed up, I was already jogging, having breakfast and polishing my Harley to a shine!"

Speechless, I stared at the giant in front of me. "You're here."

Reaper's full eyebrows furrowed. "Where else would I be? We were supposed to go jogging together, or have you already forgotten?"

Without warning, he poked the tip of my nose, laughing. A gesture that proved to me once again that the dismissive Pres of last night had been replaced by a more relaxed and apparently mischievous young man. A version of Reaper that I had to get to know, but with whom I already felt comfortable.

"Of course not. I just thought you weren't being serious," I confessed to him.

"I'm a man of my word, Adina."