Sapphire

Chapter 33

Shay's sneaker-clad feet hit the dirt one after the other, her pace quick as she sprinted around the loop in the forest. As she dodged tree roots and kept her eyes on the beaten-down path in front of her, she kept her breathing controlled as she past the entrance to the circle for the fifth time. Then she slowed, keeping her strides long but walking instead of running to get her heart rate back down. She looked up and saw the sun's early rays penetrating the canopy of fiery leaves, adding even more color to the sunrise.

Once she completed her morning run, she jogged to the side entrance of the house and down the stairs to the basement where she would begin phase two: strength training. It had been a routine that she hadn't maintained for more than a couple of days since moving in, but it was one she was determined to turn into a habit.

Shay was on the stairs when she heard the pounding. It wasn't until she got to the landing that she saw who had been delivering the quick blows to the punching bag, and as soon as she did, she stopped. Stopped walking, stopped blinking, stopped breathing.

Noah was shirtless. Sweating.

Shay's eyes scanned every inch of his glistening back as his muscles tightened and loosened, watching as he threw punches using the force of his entire body. There was something about seeing a guy working out that turned Shay on. She liked the strength it demonstrated, feeding into her primal desire to be dominated and overpowered.

Though he had headphones in and couldn't hear her, he turned before she had a chance to make it look like she hadn't been staring. Clearing her throat, she raised her eyebrows and shot him a look as his lips lifted up into a smirk.

"Whatcha doin?" Noah asked.

"Just working out." Shay finally found her momentum and walked over to the weight rack, lifting up two fifteen pound dumbbells and starting her first rep of bicep curls.

"Uh huh." Noah was unconvinced but went back to what he was doing. Since there were so many mirrors in this goddamn place, she could still see him even when she was trying to watch her own form.

Once Noah was done with the punching bag, he made matters even worse by joining her. Grabbing two fifty-pound weights, he started his own round of bicep curls.

"Had to show off, didn't you?" Shay said impatiently.

Noah wiggled an eyebrow at her and grinned. "Of course."

After spending most of her session discreetly checking him out, Shay excused herself before she could embarrass herself further. She spent thirty minutes relaxing in the tub before spending the rest of her day reading and sorting out her life. Though she had so many more answers than she used to, the amount of questions stored in her mind seemed to have increased. At least she now knew what side she was on. That had been the biggest decision to have ever plagued her indecisive mind, and she felt about ten times lighter now that she didn't have that rope tied around her waist pulling her in two different directions.

Screw Alec and Cristina. All they did was push her to go against her family's back and piss her off with loose definitions of morality. Maybe they were just upset that Val had more success in getting scum off the streets than they did. Really, they should be working together since they had essentially the same goal.

Really, the only questions left in her head involved Noah. What started as an innocent crush all of those years ago had blossomed into a full-blown case of heartache and longing. There was hardly a time where she was thinking of something that hadn't had anything to do with him.

So when they were both staking out the McAuley house for the fourth time that week, her brain often found a reasons to turn her eyes from doing surveillance on the target to checking out Noah and his attractiveness not well hidden by dark jeans and a hoodie.