Free Body By Night by Zuri Day Page A

forgot.”
    “What do you mean you forgot?”
    The truth of the matter was after getting laughed at by her mother, sister and her sister’s kids when she tried sit-ups at home, D’Andra abandoned the effort. She knew their mocking was no excuse and that she could have gone to the gym, but she’d chickened out.
    “Look, let’s get something straight right now, D’Andra. My normal personal training sessions are a hundred dollars an hour, minimum. My time is too precious to waste on someone who isn’t serious about what I’m doing. This isn’t extracurricular for me; this is my job.”
    Night was normally cool under pressure but being fit was the one area where he didn’t mess around. Though his voice was soft, his seriousness was unmistakable.
    “I offered my services to you because you seemed to have the determination needed to make real change in your life. If I was wrong about that, let’s stop this right here, right now. I’m putting one hundred and ten percent into your workout; I expect no less from you. Now give me twenty, let’s go!”
    Night’s chiding caught D’Andra unexpectedly and immediately pissed her off. Who was he to have expectations of what she should and shouldn’t do? And who was he to talk to her like that? She took it from her family, and she’d taken it from Charles. This fool didn’t even know her. She couldn’t get off the floor fast enough.
    “Look, nobody asked you to take your precious time to teach me anything! I was minding my own business when you stepped up to me at the gym.” She snatched her towel and water bottle off the nearby bench press, brushed past him and headed toward the steps.
    “Damn, that’s as fast as you’ve moved all day,” Night said from his position behind her. “Looks like you’ve had plenty practice running away.”
    D’Andra kept moving. I don’t need this asshole trying to get in my business! He doesn’t even know me! She rushed up the steps and to his front door and slammed it behind her. She was almost to her car before she realized she’d left her keys on the coffee table in the living room.
    “Damn,” D’Andra said, busted. What am I going to do now? She had an extra car key but it was on top of her dresser at home. She would have taken a cab to go get it rather than look at Night’s face again tonight but her purse was locked in her trunk.
    She crossed her arms in a huff and leaned against the car. “Come on out with my keys and the smirk on your face,” she said to Night’s closed front door.
    He’d come up the steps behind her and couldn’t possibly have missed seeing her large key ring with a rubber Betty Boop decked in fluorescent yellow, pink and green. D’Andra stomped her feet even as she consciously kept her breathing slow. “This fool ain’t worth my pressure rising,” she warned herself.
    D’Andra checked her watch, waited a couple minutes, and then checked it again. She looked up and down the street for who knew what, and then inside her car, as if the keys would magically appear in the ignition. Even if they did, her car was locked. As chagrined as she was, there was no delaying the inevitable. She had no choice but to add an encore to her dramatic exit. She had to go back and get her keys.
    “I knew you had too much heart to stay away,” Night said with a smile as he opened the door. “I’m going to add ten more minutes to your workout though since your heart rate has probably slowed some.” He paused when she made no move to enter the house. “Then again, maybe not.”
    “I left my keys on your coffee table.”
    “Oh, and you think I’m going to give them to you before you finish your workout.”
    “I’m through working out; at least with you. Look Night, this was obviously a bad idea. I’m too lazy for your workout and too old for games.”
    “Who said you were lazy?”
    “If you’ll just get me my keys, please, I’ll make sure not to take up any more of your precious time.”
    Night made