The wind seemed to be angry, branches haphazardly swaying from right to left, leaves holding onto the branches for their dear lives, and those tired falling to their death, onto the ground – to be trampled upon and soon wither.
It violently licked the bare skin of the five who ran up a hill, Hendrichs in front – seemingly leading the pack, but really just wanting to be in his own mind, ahead of the group as he dwelt within his true element. Secluding himself from the group, when he wanted to, was nothing new – quite frankly, the boys had just learnt to let him be and allow him to come back into the circle when he was ready.
Behind him ran Logan and Amaru, who both were in conversation as they ran – talking about the robbery that happened in Amaru's apartment building the previous night, and how lucky he was that it did not touch him, neither did they get to his place.
The robbers had attacked his neighbor, having been tipped by the security guard on how the couple had just recently come back from their honeymoon, with loads of gifts on their wedding day. Thus they attacked them and wiped their place clean of all the new gadgets and appliances, leaving them with just the bare minimum but the expensive stuff gone.
Because Amaru was a deep sleeper, he had only known about the robbery when he later woke up and heard the surrounding neighbors talk about what had happened. It was crazy to him, that others were just watching the robbery occur from their little peepholes but had not gone out to try and help or even called the police. Maybe people these days only cared about saving their own skin, and not lending a hand to those who need it.
The thing about life though is things always circle back around, and when you then need the help – no one will be there to help you as well.
However Michael kept laughing at Shane who seemed to be out of breath as she ran behind the whole pack. Michael jogged slowly, his back facing the pack as he watched Shane struggle to follow behind.
"Stop laughing," Shane whines with short breaths escaping her lips, trying as hard as she can to keep pushing, and running. Her calves felt heavy, quite frankly every stride felt like she was carrying dead weight. It did not help that sweat had made its home on her face, and down the dips that formed her waist into her sport leggings that hugged her skin for their dear life.
"C'mon, we're almost at the top, then we'll rest," Michael puts on his playful smile, blue eyes low – looking seductive as ever. Looking at him, Shane could not deny the attraction that sat on its high seat between them – he was an attractive man, especially with his chest out and sweat cascading down his muscular body, his well-defined chest as ravishing as ever.
Looking elsewhere, Shane chooses to pay attention to the road, trying not to look at the distance ahead of them. That's something Hendrichs had said in his speech before they started the jog from the auto shop – start slow, then pick up your pace. Don't look too far ahead – and don't give up. It's all in the mind, so tell your mind to get with the plan.
But honestly, that was better said that done. If your body was naturally fit, without intense exercise – then there was no need for intense exercise, Shane thought to herself. She only had short distance jogs like once in a week, and walks to explore – as well as staircase exercises, so she never expected her body to betray her like this – and slightly knowing Hendrichs, he'd probably have a field day about this.
"Tell me why this is necessary again?" Shane asks, as she lifts her eyes to meet Michael's, who still maintains his position, jogging backwards with his eyes on Shane.
"To stay fit," Michael retorts with a smirk on his face, "thought you said you could match the energy?"
Shane rolls her eyes, "do y'all have a gossiping chat or something? Cause I told that to Hendrichs and Logan. Besides that, you're sounding very much like Hendrichs right now, and I don't like that,"
"We're friends, we're gonna talk about the latest challenge in the group," Michael shrugs his shoulders, slowing down his pace so he can match Shane's and run besides her.
"Why am I being described as a challenge?" Shane furrows her brow, quite puzzled at the revelation,
"Because you are one. You two waged a bet, and we know the details,"
For the rest of the short distance left to the top of the hill – Shane kept her silence and so did Michael. Both sharing an air pod as they listened to Shane's random song playlist. He had asked Shane to listen along, then offered to share his air pod since Shane was a firm earphones believer and not a fan of the tiny things that would easily get lost.
Arriving, Shane's eyes land on Logan who is stretching his legs against a rock, and Amaru who is drinking water from his bottle. Her chest feels as though it's on fire as she sits on the ground, and Michael walks to Logan, joining him in stretching his legs.
However, Hendrichs sat on the edge of the hill, legs spread wide – his knees wrapped by his arms as he gazed into the city – air pods in, blocking the rest of the world from his mind.
Letting air invite itself into her body once again, Shane stayed on the ground as others continued to stretch, wishing she had not taken that bet – because now she had to make sure she stayed fit, something she never had to worry about before. Looking at everyone else, you would have thought that running was within their second nature – so easy and effortless, especially Hendrichs who seemed to not be bothered by the run.
"Look at you ma'am," Logan smirks as he offers his hand out for Shane to take, "tired?"
"I feel like a train wreck," she admitted to him, taking his hand, and trying to stand up – but standing felt like a mission and a half. It was as though her muscles were personally protesting against her for the punishment they had been put under – and her legs felt like jelly as she almost lost her balance standing to her feet.
Logan laughs as she shakes his head, "That was light work Shane. How are you gonna stand doing this three times a week?"
"Light work for you!" Shane defends herself, as she tries to keep herself up without her legs possibly failing her, "I'll find a way,"
"Yeah, it's not like you can cheat your way out of this either," Amaru joins the conversation as he approaches Shane, his black traditional bandana around his head, "good morning, madam,"
"Hey Amaru," Shane sighs, placing both her hands at her waist – still feeling out of breath, "how do y'all do this?"
"Constant practice, but I got faith in you lil sis, this was just your first go," Amaru says as he hands her his bottle of water, which she thankfully takes and opens the lid before taking a chunk into her mouth.
"Definitely should have done the stretches that Hendrichs recommended," Logan says, and she automatically rolls her eyes at the sound of his name,
"We spoke about this last night," Shane simply says after swallowing the water that was trapped within her mouth,
"But he didn't lie," Amaru says, coming to Logan's aid, "might have been the wrong messenger in your eyes, but he wasn't lying. You always stretch out before running and after running – otherwise you will not know how to walk by the time tomorrow comes,"
"Gon' be looking like a sex walk," Logan says, which makes Shane side eye him before laughing along with Amaru ,
"Yeah, yeah – whatever, I don't care what Hendrichs said. I did what I did, managed to run – and now I'm not sure I can make it back on my two feet," Shane whisper-ly admits, which makes Logan chuckle, "and don't you dare go tell your bestie that I said that,"
Removing her pointed finger from near his face, a playful smile on his face, he responds, "I don't need to tell him when he knows it for himself,"
Choosing to ignore Logan, she makes her way to Michael slowly, trying to keep her balance and really save face from losing the first round, "can I help you?" he lifts an eyebrow up, as he continues to stretch his legs,
"They are being mean to me," Shane pouts, pointing a finger back to the two whom she had left slightly behind,
"What, you want me to fight them?" Michael chuckles as he stands up straight, his chest catching her attention briefly before she meets his eyes,
"Yes," Shane uses a small voice before she laughs it off, "no, but I need a ride back to the workshop – this is me admitting that I might not be able to make it back in one piece,"
Scratching his budding chin hair briefly, he chuckles, "Uh,"
"Look, if you can't it's fine. I'll make it back but after a bit of time. I literally feel like a train wreck, and I'd call an Uber if I had my phone with me," Shane nonchalantly says now, catching an attitude when she realizes that Michael would not be saying yes easily like she'd assumed.
"You can, I do that a lot," he points out, as he flexes his red-band apple watch that lay perfectly on his wrist,
"Is that you saying no?" Shane lifts an eyebrow, as she unashamedly taps onto her screen, ready to request an Uber,
"Look, I'm attracted to you. I'll tell you that upfront, so – I'm not trying to intensify that fire, when our relationship should remain strictly professional," he bites his lip as he stares down at Shane, who chuckles, looks to the side before focusing on the man before her,
"I know, but it only becomes a thing if we make it a thing. This is a strictly co-worker, helping a co-worker out. If it's too much to handle, I won't force you," she shrugs, before laying a sigh out, "anyway, let me go out there and get ready to request an Uber, somehow,"
Turning around, she starts to walk away from Michael, slowly emphasizing how much of a wreck this run had left in her in, "two, one," she counts, before she hears his voice,
"Strictly co-worker, I'll help out," she hears him say before she smirks, then completely wiped her smirk away from her face before turning around and looking at him with a face of relief,
"OMG, really?" she rhetorically asks, "thank you. I really did not want the boss man seeing me in absolute defeat. At least you get exercise whilst carrying me,"
"I just know Logan is about to make a big deal out of this," Michael sighs as he receives his air pod back from Shane, who has a small smile of gratitude,
"As if Hendrichs himself won't. With his, I'll cause drama within the workplace mentality," she mentally rolls her eyes, and Michael chuckles at her words,
"He's just trying to look out for his business and implement a good organizational culture. Can't blame the man for that," Shane furrows her eyebrows at this,
"Why do y'all worship the ground that he walks on?" it's something that she had noticed, the men always spoke highly of Hendrichs, and she just simply could not get it.
"It's not that we worship the ground he walks on. We just respect him, besides Logan – he kind of took a chance on my skill, and on Amaru's too, Xavian too," Michael sighs at the last name, "he's a good guy who's trying to keep his business afloat. You can't fault him for that. This is his place of business, and though we are a family at his business, he still is the CEO, and what he says goes – though he listens to us from time to time. He's a good guy,"
"So what's happening with this two-girlfriend situation? You like being a player because you're a pretty boy?" Shane lifts an eyebrow up as Michael squats down, allowing her to jump onto his back, as she wraps her arms around his neck,
"You think I'm pretty?" she could hear the smirk clouding his voice, so she lightly hits his shoulder with her hand, a small chuckle escaping her mouth, "I didn't say all that,"
"I didn't say all that," Shane smirks, definitely intentionally admitting that she found him pretty looking,
"Right," Michael taunts her, as they both wind up in small chuckles, "they know of each other, I'm not precisely cheating. I'm just not a firm believer of monogamy,"
"Everyone says that though, until they meet their one – then monogamy becomes a thing," Shane responds as Michael starts walking back down the hill, effortlessly carrying Shane.
"True. I just don't think one person can entirely make me happy," he admits, with melancholy lacing his voice, "this situation I'm in currently, it sorts of makes me happy. Meets my needs and all,"
"Hmm," Shane says as she lets silence engulf them. A minute passes before she speaks again, "I usually would say do you, but I just kind of sense that you just haven't met your person as of yet, and when you do – you'll know it, and you won't need Felicia and Tasha anymore longer,"
Laughing, Shane could feel the vibrations of his laughter through his back, "Their names are not Felicia and Tasha. It's actually Marie and Nia,"
"Now what kind of name is Marie now? Sounding like someone's grandma's name," Shane scoffs, humor drenching her throat,
"Leave my baby alone," Michael says, finally coming to her defense even though he laughs, "so that means you don't want to join the family,"
"Boy you wish I could share my man. I am not the one or the two. I am not boo-boo the fool. I like what belongs to me, to belong to me. I'd rather choke than share a man," she rolls her eyes as her tone goes an octave higher, defending her morals – what she stood for.
"And if I say I'd drop them for you?" Michael jokingly asks,
"I'd say you're smoking crack sir. I don't steal people's men, neither am I interested in a work affair. But if you quit, maybe I'd consider it, you are pretty after all," she says running her nail against his shoulder blade.
"Shane," his husky voice warns, and she laughs, before wiping down her trail of seduction,
"I'm kidding. Take a joke or two,"
Silence once again engulfs the space between them until fast paced feet are heard against the concrete. Shane glances back, taking into view Logan and Amaru who were jogging lightly behind them,
"You tell a girl he has two girlfriends, and she decides to touch the stove," Logan says, a smile not on his face like he usually does. He is now walking besides Michael, and Amaru slightly behind as he glances up, meeting Shane's eyes before smiling and shaking his head. He definitely knew girls like Shane,
"What can I say? I like playing with fire," Shane admits with a sultry voice, as she glances Logan's way who has a look of disapproval,
"This is unnecessary Shane," Logan addresses her, recognizing the game she was playing,
"What did I do?" she innocently asks, a little shrug playing off her shoulders as she gives Logan an innocent smile,
"She is just tired, I'm a friend helping out," Michael answers to Logan, not necessarily being a fan of where the conversation was headed,
"She literally could have asked anyone," Logan says, his eyes still on Shane,
"Would you have said yes? Or you Amaru?" she retorts as she shifts her gaze, her face becoming a little hot.
"Hell no, but we would have walked back, slowly – accommodating you," Logan answers, a vein of his coming to view on his temple as he clenches his jaw,
"My legs don't work bruv, relax ya' tits. Your homie is just helping me out, not that it's any of your business," Shane says, not liking how Logan was coming down her throat, a straight face now laying on the surface,
"Guys. Chill," Michael says as he stops, "we all know how it first started when we ran up this hill, be graceful,"
"See you back in store, Amaru, you coming?" Logan asks.
"I'll catch up," Amaru says before Logan starts his jog again, "I don't mind you helping Shane out, just...,"
He pauses, trying to find the right words perhaps, "Keep this professional. We both know what happened last time,"
After saying that, Amaru runs off, and then there were two.
"What happened last time?" Shane asks, as she places her head at the crook of his neck, trying to find out. He shakes his head trying to avoid talking about it, but Shane wouldn't stop,
"Was there another female mechanic before? And you messed with her?" she asks, in her head, that would definitely make sense, why Hendrichs did not hire a female for the position ever. Was that why?
"No Shane, now stop asking about that, unless you want to continue this walk alone," he says, before Shane nods her head and leaves him be. Now she was definitely curious, and would definitely be asking Amaru about this, that's if Logan did not tell her first. He seemed pretty upset at her, and she definitely knew why. She was not going to play dumb about that, that was for damn sure. But she knew she could easily get back into his good graces again, not that she wanted to. He just did not seem like the type to stay mad forever.
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here's the update, finally.
Now, what is my girl Shane up to when it comes to Michael? Is she attracted to him? Does she want him?
Why do you think Logan is so upset?
And what do you think happened last time? What's Amaru talking about?
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