"Two days in, and I'm ready to die, looking in the mirror hoping that I magically dropped two dress sizes," Milan, my client sighed, taking a break after doing a few sets of weighted squats. She had a problem getting used to the form, but I made her keep her ribs high, chest puffed out, and her legs slightly bent. I made her do three sets of ten with no weights on the bar while gradually taking it to the next step with fifteen pounds. "Be honest. Do you think I'm fat?"
I scratched my head as my eyes widened. The girl was damn near almost as small as Cassie, talking about fat. "No, I don't, but I'll help tone you up. Why do you think that?" I asked, making conversation. Outside of photography, I've been training to help Frank. I have a few clients, but I didn't officially start taking them until I got situated with my photos. Elizabeth got me a good connection, and I'm finally in business for doing what I love, and the support is insane.
Then I led her to an open area to do kettlebell squats with weights. I handed her the lightest one to start, watching her wrap her hands around the metal bar.
"My stupid ex. He broke up with me because I'm too fucking fat for him. How crazy? Right?" She said, lifting the weights above her head and coming down in a squat.
I narrowed my eyebrows as my face twisted. "The fuck? Is he stupid?"
"Maybe I should ask myself that question," she laughed as I crossed my arms. Her session was coming to an end, and I wanted to take an easy on her. She probably wouldn't last long because she's not here because she wants to be. "Why can't I ever find a decent cute guy? Like you?"
I laughed. "How do you know I'm decent?"
"I've been in here for three days, barely dressed, subtly trying to get you to talk to me, and you haven't hit on me yet. I gave you so many opportunities, like girl thinks she's fat because of a shitty ex and nothing. Are you gay?"
"Do I look gay to you?" I spat.
She dropped the weights and walked toward me. "Didn't mean to offend you, just a question that hopefully requires an answer."
"I'm not gay. I have a girlfriend," I replied, not giving in to her giving me googly eyes. She was attractive, don't get me wrong, but I'm not into that cheating shit. I'm a firm believer that if I want to fuck someone else while I'm dating someone, just fucking leave. It's not worth it, and I don't want to hurt Cassie.
"Bummer," she pushed, reaching closely behind me to get her water bottle. "So, I guess drinks are off the table? I'll keep my hands to myself."
"I'll pass," I stared at her before saying, "I'll see you tomorrow."
I laid my sweat rag across my neck and walked up to the front desk to check the rest of my schedule. On my way there, I grabbed my phone from my pocket, scrolling through messages to see if Cassie texted, and she did.
Hey baby. I know you were going to stop by when you get off, but I'm just going to try and relax and will see you tomorrow. I love you.
Everything good?
It will be. Tell me you love me back lol.
You know I love you, babe.
Just like hearing you say it. Alright, kick ass at work, and I'll talk to you later.
"Wife again?" Frank said, breaking me from my phone. "Not used to seeing you boys so pussy whipped. Can't even tell you when a pretty one comes in anymore."
I laughed, sliding my phone in my pocket. "Fuck you. I'm not whipped." I may be overthinking things, but Cassie has been pushing me away, it seems. I've only been trying to help and make sure she's good, but she doesn't want that. But when I don't do it, then I'm a bad guy. I know she's just worried about me getting sick, but I'm fine. Damn, I'm acting like fucking Noah. Being clingy and shit. This is not me.
Frank snickered. "You're not whipped, but I know all about how your lady is sick, just got hired as a teacher, and—"
I wet my lips, raking my hands through my facial hair. "Damn. I told you to put me out of my misery if I ever get like that." I didn't even realize that I talked about her that much. Maybe I am fucking whipped? Nah, what the hell am I saying?
"It's not a bad thing, Kid," Frank walked around the desk, patting my shoulder. "Back in my day, I was just like you. Chasing every woman that walked by and loved it. No one could tell me shit, and it lasted for a long time."
Interested in his story, I said, "Then what happened?"
"I got whipped, married, and became a dad," Frank said like it was nothing.
I glanced over the scheduling book, seeing I had a client coming in thirty minutes. I had time to squeeze in a quick workout. "Damn, I'm not there yet," I brushed it off, laughing as I crossed out Milan on the list. I doubt she'd be back.
"How do you know that? Hell, I didn't until it happened," Frank wiped a smudge off the glass window to the concession stand.
"It's too early for that," I waved my hand. "But I'm not fucking whipped."
"Whatever you say, G."
~~
I sat at the bar, teetering on the barstool, waiting for the bartender to become available. It was a little after ten when Noah and I decided to meet at a local bar, getting a few drinks. It's been a while since we've been out together, and we both needed it. At least for me, it was.
It was a light night, not too many people, but enough to keep it running. This place was different than any bar we came to before, old with inexpensive drinks. We work in two opposite directions, which was our middle point, but it wasn't bad. The lightning was dim over the bar with shabby, outdated decorations, neon bar signs, and cash-only signs.
Work was cool. I had a good amount of clients, most of them trying to hit on me. I got in a good workout but showered before I met up with Noah because I would've probably run the whole bar away.
While Noah walked back from the bathroom, I tapped the counter, finally getting the bartender's attention for another draft beer. He's been in there for a while, probably taking a shit or something.
When he sat down, I asked, "How was work?" He still had on work clothes, a black collared shirt, khaki pants, and Nike tennis shoes.
"It was good; the kids are kids. They reminded me of us when we were in school. I got to watch some of the gymnastics meet today, and it was alright. Just a long day," Noah answered, adjusting his bracelet.
I took a sip of my beer. "Sounds more interesting than my day. That's cool, though. It sounds like you like it. Keeps you busy."
"I like it," He chuckled. "I could do without all the cheerleaders tryna get at me, but it definitely keeps me busy."
"Can't believe you just said that," I laughed, taking a look around the bar. Every time I'm out somewhere, It's a habit to pay attention to my surroundings. "Damn, we finally grew up, I guess."
"Man, you're telling me. I'm proud of you, though, making it work with Cass. How is she?" Noah curiously asked.
"Appreciate it, and I'm proud of your crazy ass, too," I cupped my jaw, tapping my fingers along the counter. "Sick as fuck, weird as fuck, but she's good. I don't know; she doesn't want me around too much. I guess it's because it's the flu, but I'm not sick yet."
"Yeah, it is flu season, but damn. Is she bad, like her symptoms?"
"It was all week, throwing up and shit, but she got medicine. I haven't really seen her since, though," I responded. I wanted to check up on her, but I didn't want to bother her. She could be sleeping, and I could be....whipped.
Nah, fuck that.
"Why not? You care about getting sick? I'd take time off of work already, shit," Noah chuckled, taking a drink.
"I was hoping, but I don't even feel fucking sick," I said, swirling my glass on the table as I focused.
"Must not be contagious," Noah shrugged. "Were you with her before she got medicine?"
I nodded, gulping down another sip. "Yeah, I was all up in her face and shit. I would've been got sick."
"Huh. That is weird, Bro." Noah paused and then shrugged. "What are you getting Cassie for Christmas, y'all doing gifts?"
"Fuck," I huffed, completely forgetting." It's almost Christmas? Shit, I don't know. Time slipped, but I'll figure it out. What are you getting, Brooke?"
"What the fuck could I get her? She goes all out for Christmas. She has everything, and I'm not getting any damn Gucci and whatever. She'll be happy with a box of air."
I hysterically laughed, knowing that wouldn't pass with Brooklyn. "Yeah, right. She'll probably kill you."
"She'll definitely kill me."
Before I could reply, I was thrown off guard when both of our phones chimed simultaneously. Noah creased his eyebrow and shot me the same look that I did him. I had a bad feeling, and in a way, I knew what was coming. With the lives we lived, you never leave a situation like that with ease. Consequences will come down the line, and I hope that's not what this is right now.
But then I saw it was Zane:
You both must've forgotten that you have debts to settle with me. I gave you multiple warnings, and now I'll be taking matters into my own hands. But just so you know, I'm feeling creative. I've been slacking lately.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Noah grumbled, forcefully pressing away on his keyboard. As he did, I immediately blocked his number, staring into place.
I aggressively wiped down my face. "Fuck. What the fuck!" I barked, having no idea what the hell to do now. We're fucked.
"What do we do now?" Noah asked, just as lost as I am.
"The only thing we got left to do. We can't keep lying to them when Zane is crazy as fuck. But I do know that he only has beef with us, so we'll deal with it, I guess?" I suggested.
"Fine, we'll tell them. Tomorrow." Noah slammed his glass down and pushed it away.
I huffed, finishing my drink. "She's going to be pissed at me. Might even hate me." I wished I would've told her sooner when I realized how serious this was, but I know I'm fucked. I have every right to whatever she throws at me tomorrow because I deserve it.
"Well, I'm getting my ass beat," Noah snickered.
"I wouldn't say that out loud, pussy," I tried making a joke, but it was useless.
~~
The next day, I felt like I was walking on eggshells. I know I fucked up bad this time, and I'm not sure I know how to fix it. I wasn't sure how Cassie was going to take this, but I can't keep lying. Zane doesn't just go the fuck away, and I said I'd keep her safe. I don't know what creative Zane is, but I don't want to find out. His problem is with us, and I don't want her a part of this anymore, my fuck up. Usually, I'm the one to get us out of shit like this, but I don't have the answer. And I don't want to live on this lie any longer.
When I stepped out of my apartment, Cassie did too. I went to check on her this morning, and she said she was feeling better but wanted to take a bath. After she closed the door, she looked at me with a smile, slowly walking over toward me. She had on an extremely oversized turtleneck sweater with biker shorts and slippers. Her hair was in a messy low bun with two pieces draping past her cheeks.
I said the first thing on my mind. "I miss you."
"It's my fault," Cassie laid her hand on my cheek. "I've been a little down and all over the place lately, and I just needed to think. You're not doing anything wrong at all. I love you, baby," my girlfriend stood tall, placing a kiss on my cheek.
"You know I'll always be here even when you get in your little moods," I said, hoping we last through this, but I wanted her to know.
"And I will too," she assured.
I scoffed. "You sure?"
"Why wouldn't I?" She asked, "Besides, what's up with all of us meeting at Brooke's? Are we planning Christmas?"
I tapped her side, leading the way to Brooklyn's apartment. Noah and I sent out a text to meet in there to come clean about some things. When I twisted the knob, the door was already unlocked as we let ourselves in. I let Cassie enter first as she took a seat on the couch, confused. She thinks we're here because of Christmas plans. Fuck.
Brooke and Noah were sitting on a loveseat across from Cassie, and he looked just as fidgety as I did. I grabbed a random chair, flipping it around before taking a seat as everyone stared around.
"What is this, an intervention?" Brooklyn joked.
Cassie pushed her knees to her chest. "Hopefully, a short one," she said, roaming her eyes around the room.
"Gael?" Noah peeked at me, wanting me to talk first. But the problem was that I didn't know exactly what to say.
I rubbed my hands together and stalled. "Uh, it's a nice day. Right, Noah?"
Cassie sighed, knowing we were delaying what we wanted to say. "I know we're not all sitting here to talk about the day. Spit it out."
"Yeah, Noah," Brooklyn taunted, "What's going on?"
Noah sat up and rubbed his knees. "Gael and I have to tell y'all something. We haven't been entirely truthful..."
The moment of truth.
"The cruise, what you both saw, you weren't crazy. It actually happened," I slowly confessed, avoiding eye contact. I gripped the bridge of the chair in front of me, picking at my watch.
"As you know, Zane is crazy. Gael and I had to work for him, and we were on the cruise to do a job. Unfortunately, you both witnessed something, and that's why Zane wanted you to work for him. We fucked up," Noah said as Brooklyn inched away with a baffled look on her face.
Cassie sarcastically laughed and nodded her head. "So, wait. Let me understand what you just said. You both were on the cruise to watch someone get murdered and made us think we were drunk and crazy? Then you somehow got us to work for him?" She calmly said, and it was scary as hell. Every time I looked at her, she stared at me with her lips frowned, trying to understand.
"We thought we were doing the right thing, looking out for you both," I answered, hoping it was enough, but who am I kidding?
"We didn't know what he was going to do to you or us. If we had a say, we obviously wouldn't have let you come work, but we owed Zane," Noah added. The tension in the room was weird, almost too quiet and calm. I didn't want this to get blown out of proportion, but I expected shit to get worse.
"Wait. This is a joke, right? I don't get it," Brooklyn breathed out, looking around the room.
"So, this—" Cassie motioned her hand in a circle. "Was pretty much to save your own asses? That's what it sounds like to me," she exhaled a long shaky breath, dropping her knees from her sitting position. I could tell she was pissed because her face turned red and her eyes were wide.
"We had our lives turned upside down because y'all couldn't do your fucking job, right? So what did you do for Zane? Y'all killed people, too?" Brooklyn stood up, raising her voice.
"No," I matched her tone but quickly relaxed. "We didn't fucking kill anyone. We didn't know that's what we signed up for, but we were already too deep. I didn't do it to save my own ass, but I thought we could watch over the situation more because who knows what Zane will do." Cassie still remained silent, crossing her arms to her chest.
"But you stood there and watched. You might as well have killed him! You're just as bad, both of you," Brooklyn flailed her arms and paced around the table, giving me a headache.
"So, what?" She muttered, "This job in my email was you all along? All this bullshit about coincidences and fate is all a lie. You both willingly put us in danger because of some illegal shit going down on a cruise. And wow. I didn't expect this, and you're both fucked up." She shouted, bringing out the screaming match.
I sat there, taking the hit because I deserved it—we both did. They're right. I'm not arguing back to prove a point, but to get them to understand that I didn't think of it as saving my own ass. I thought having Cassie here with me; I could keep my eye on her while she starts the new life she wanted. As crazy as that sounds, I thought I had the upper hand against Zane. Clearly, it backfired.
"Y'all didn't think to tell us the truth before? With all the shit that's happened—with Venus and AJ. Neither of you thought it would be a bright fucking idea to warn us? To say, 'hey, we got you into this, here's what happened?" Brooke said sarcastically, waving out her hands.
I huffed, raking my fingers through my hair. "It's not fucking like that. We thought we had it under control, but it got out of hand. It's not bullshit because it's not a fucking lie. Yes, being here wasn't entirely you, but I didn't lie about anything else, and I don't kill people," I said, trying to keep my voice down.
"You think we wanted any of that shit with AJ to happen? We wanted to quit a long time ago, even before you came around. We're trying to do the right thing, can y'all just—"
Brooke cut Noah off. "The right thing was telling us the truth before wasting seven months," she barked, standing by her window.
When I looked up, Cassie had her eyes closed, shaking her head as a tear slipped down her cheek. "So, how did this benefit you both? You don't get touched by Zane if you got us in there, right? What now?" At that point, she couldn't even sit still, moving around on the couch in anger.
"We didn't get anything out of this. This is fucked up. We're trying to fix it; that's why we got y'all out of the playroom." Noah explained, talking with his hands.
Cassie dramatically slammed her hand into her thigh. "Then what was the fucking point?" She yelled loud enough to get everyone's attention. Damn, I never heard her scream like that and become so angry. It was fucking terrifying.
"What do you want, a fucking cookie? Ooo, you got us out of the club after two people had to die. Yeah, good job, boys," Brooklyn sarcastically clapped. "Not only did y'all lie, but you put us in danger. What do you want now, what was the goal of telling us this? You want us to accept it and be glad you finally told us?"
Noah said, "Brooklyn-"
She put her hands up, unable to look him in the eyes. Then she looked at Cassie for her response. I knew I had to get her alone and talk to her because this group shit is making everything worse.
"Do you really think we'd let something bad happen to y'all? That wasn't the plan, but yes, we were fucking wrong for letting it happen," I stammered, trying to clear the air.
Brooklyn scoffed. "Exactly, you let it happen. That's it. There's no taking it back or sorry for this. It's been months! I could've been still living large back at home, not in this dumb ass apartment with two fucking liars." Noah exhaled, sinking in his seat. Usually, I wouldn't give a fuck and move on, but I love that girl.
"I trusted you both," Cassie shook her head, wiping her tongue across her teeth. "And I would think you would be decent fucking guys, but what if something happened to us? We went into that place blind. I don't know what's worse. But that's not love." She darted her eyes in my direction, wiping under her eyes.
"You're both spineless. Lesson learned. There's nothing else to say, get the hell out, both of you." Brooklyn ordered. I lingered in my seat a second longer, trying to figure out how to fix this. I caught Noah looking at me, shaking his head. I kept parting my lips to say something, but nothing came out. I didn't want to make it worse.
Cassie scoffed, her face blank. "Fuck this," she jumped off the couch and stomped out of Brooke's apartment.
"Fuck," I said, puffing my cheeks before getting up to go after her.