After one feverish night with Tyler Evans, Rory is never supposed to see the man draped in enigmas and devilish charms again.
Six months later, she's deep into a summer fling with Chace. As their fling becomes a committed relationship, she's adamant...
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Exhaustion creaks through my bones as I collapse against a hotel bed for the fifth time this week. This room is better than the last one, comfier with better room service. Each state has something different to offer than the previous, which makes this trip easier. It's still not home. Rory is still missing from each of them. I call her when I can, but I know it's not enough. She's lonely and struggling without our intimacy. I've been trying not to think about it.
Two more days.
I trust her. I trust her more than anything. Still, it's concerning that every time we talk, she has a new exciting story about something she did with Tyler. Just the other night she called me in a panic while high on ecstasy. It took the strongest part of my will not to fly back overnight just to keep my brother from indulging her in drugs. It arouses her like nothing else, and that night she was on the brink of stimulation as she called me. Perhaps on the brink of relapse.
I felt sick just knowing she was struggling alone.
After about five minutes of my face planted into the mattress, my phone vibrates in my back pocket. I roll over to my back and pull it out to see a name that's not Rory. "Hey," I say as I pick up, trying to keep the fatigue out of my voice. "Calling to tell me you've burned the place down?"
"Exactly the opposite, Mr. Evans."
I cringe. "You're never going to stop addressing me that way, are you? Miss Valentine."
A beat passes. She must not know how to respond to sarcasm. "Your gym has seen a two percent increase in members just in the past week. Projections will only increase until you'll need to expand your locations at home."
"I- Really?" Numbers like that don't come around until New Years and the beginning of summer break. People are dying to get in, but by the two-week mark, half of them fall off.
"Yes! A fresh coat of paint on the walls and more diverse music has encouraged curious on lookers. I say, with a more forgiving policy, we could encourage newer customers and keep sales steady."
"Yeah? What kind of idea are you thinking of?"
"You should implement a forgiveness period. If a customer can come in regularly for a month, say the following two weeks they miss due to lack of motivation or time, their bill will be cut in half. A forgiveness period, if you will."
"Hmm." It's not a terrible idea. Could keep the new customers I tend to lose. "We could set something like that up. But how do we keep people from leaving after that forgiveness period? It's hard to keep people who lack motivation."
"Trainers!" She sounds far more excited about this having only been working with me for a couple weeks. "You can hire them to coach and inspire people who they believe are struggling. Since you sell supplements and whatnot, you could hire a nutritionist as well to give knowledge and advice to those who want it."
