Free BEAST by Pepper Pace Page A

up.”
     
    “Green apple, a tiny bit of watermelon, pears and green tea.”
     
    “Green tea?! That’s cheating. Whoever heard of a green tea smoothie?”
     
    He smiled. “It’s good though, right?”
     
    “Delicious.” He stood and then helped her up. Whenever he gave her a hands up she was again amazed by his height, and of course his big hand swallowed hers. Being a fat woman next to a man that was feet taller than you was good for the ego. She felt dwarfed by Christopher.
     
    “What’s it like being so close to the sun?” She had asked him once. His charcoal grey eyes had twinkled.
     
    “Amazing.”
     
    They went through their workout and when they got to the tenth rep she didn’t even believe it. “We’re done?”
     
    “Done.”
     
    “No way…I’m still breathing.”
     
    “Maybe it’s an indication that it’s time to up the reps?”
     
    “I’m game….um, tomorrow?”
     
    “Tomorrow is fine.”
     
    “ Bye Christopher.” His eyes followed her as she walked out of the room. Christopher headed to the security door grinning and humming and when it opened three guys were standing on the other side. The smile left his face.
     
    “If this is about y’all damn bet, I’m not interested.” He brushed past them.
     
    “Beast. There is no bet.”
     
    “ Hmph .” He grunted and headed for the showers.
     
    “Beast. Christopher!” He stopped and turned. All three men were standing there glaring at him. “What the hell are you waiting for? Ask her out for Christ sakes!” A slow flush ran up his neck and enveloped his face.
     
    “What are you talking about?”
     
    “Dude, you’ve been training her for a month. T he girl likes you. Why else would she drink that shit you make every morning? And no girl works out five days a week!”
     
    Christopher looked away. “Don’t turn this into a game.” He turned back to them with a cold look on his face. “This isn’t a game.” His heart was drumming in his chest and he was angry but unsure.
     
    Carlos stepped forward. “There is no bet. We’re all routing for you, Beast. That’s all. Just ask her out…or else.”
     
    He looked at Carlos in confusion. The big man flexed his muscles. He was a foot shorter than Christopher. He looked at the other two guys. They were flexing their muscles, too.
     
    “What in the hell do you mean, ‘or else?’” Christopher liked each of the guys he worked with. But he had never been threatened by any of them.
     
    “You got three days to make something happen.” One of the men said. “Or we’re going to make it happen for you.”
     
    Christopher’s face paled. “You guys got way too much time on your hands…”
     
    They gave him angry looks. “We know.” And then walked away.
     
    ~***~
     
    There was nothing much worse than 16 Marines with nothing better to do than to butt into his personal business. Christopher sat back in his armchair and drank a beer, something he seldom did. If they weren’t lying about there being a bet, then this was worse than he thought. Because it meant that they would keep pushing and pushing until they were satisfied.
     
    He groaned. They couldn’t understand , they hadn’t been in this same position before. He knew how it worked. He squeezed the half empty bottle and tried the shut away the memory. But it replayed despite his reluctance to relive it.
     
    Debbie Roberts lived down the street from him down in Corbin. He knew her only in passing. She had something like ten brothers and sisters and it seemed that all she did was take care of the little ones. They were always running wild and Debbie would come to their house and ask if anyone had seen this or that one.
     
    Sometimes she would look so tired. They’d catch the school bus which was all the way down at the bottom of the hill. It took a good fifteen minutes to walk it, worse was when you had to walk up it. You actually had no choice but to be in good shape if you lived on Cobb Mountain.