Free Overworld Chronicles Books 1-2: Sweet Blood of Mine & Dark Light of Mine by John Corwin

agony, ready to drop dead on the floor. Victoria made me walk back and forth until the incredible pain in my body faded. I had pretty much lived down to her expectations. On the bench press I'd struggled to lift a meager hundred pounds. For back, shoulders, and legs, I'd performed about as well as a person with no muscles.
    "It's normal to do crappy your first day in the gym," she said in a not-so-reassuring way. "A month from now you'll be doing much better."
    "A month from now I'll be dead," I said, feeling as though I would keel over at any moment.
    "Drink two gallons of water between now and tomorrow," she said. "I prepared a list of foods you can have. Stay away from everything else."
    I glanced at the list: chicken breasts, wild-caught fishes, whole grains, and all the green vegetables I wanted. "I can't cook."
    "It's easy. Just broil chicken breasts. Google for recipes and you'll be okay."
    I wondered if there was anything Google couldn't help me with. "What about fat-free microwave dinners?"
    "Absolutely not. Anything processed is crap. You know all the agony you went through today?"
    "Yeah."
    "Do you want it to be for nothing? I'm not lying when I say eighty percent of body composition is what you eat. Exercise can only do so much. Garbage in, garbage out."
    I sighed. "Okay. I'll do whatever it takes."
    She smiled, revealing straight white teeth. "See you Wednesday. Rest well until then."
    I gulped what felt like a gallon of water from the water fountain before I left and still felt thirsty. I turned to leave so my fat bottom wouldn't keep other parched souls from enjoying a drink and plowed into a cute girl in tight gym shorts and a yellow tank top that adhered to the kinds of curves men drooled over. "Sorry," I muttered, trying to get out of her way.
    "You are rather hardcore," she said in a very proper British accent. "It is quite awesome, dude."
    "That's me," I said. "Zero to hardcore in ten minutes." I wondered if she was making fun of me or if the British naturally had issues using the words "dude" and "awesome".
    She laughed, deep throated, sexy, and hormone-sizzling. Compact but muscular and a little shorter than me, she wore her yellow blonde hair in a tight bun. Her skin was pale but slightly flushed. If she'd been working out, it didn't show. Not even a sheen of sweat glistened on her body.
    "I'm Stacey." She held out her hand.
    I took it, noticing how warm it felt. "I'm Justin."
    "You are quite the handsome one," she said and ran a finger up my arm.
    My hackles rose. My vision snapped like someone had put a picture on a rubber band, pulled it taut, and let it go. Two Staceys looked back at me and then my eyes lost focus. I massaged my forehead and rubbed my eyes under my glasses, trying to ward off the inevitable headache.
    "Are you quite all right?"
    I pinched the bridge of my nose and opened my eyes. The dizziness faded and my eyesight returned. I looked into her amber eyes. Her pupils weren't round. They were vertical slits. I massaged my eyelids again, convinced my eyesight had gone crazy. "Just a headache," I said. "Must be allergies."
    "I was just about to depart," she said. "Would you be so kind as to walk me to my horseless—my auto-mobile?"
    "Sure," I said in a very cool and experienced manner so as not to give away the sudden tidal wave of hormones threatening to overwhelm me on the spot. One workout and I already had a hottie after me! Things were looking up.
    Okay, so I was probably counting my chickens way before hatching—and possibly before the eggs were even laid—but the rough workout combined with a sudden flush of testosterone made me dangerously full of myself. I grabbed my keys from the locker room, forcing myself to walk in a composed manner even though I had a sneaking suspicion she'd be gone by the time I came back out. When I returned, she was still there. Amazing. She flashed her pearly whites in a full-lipped smile that almost caused an accident in my pants. We stepped outside