“Nothing,” he said flatly. “Come on, Kass, it’s time to start your set.”
Darios left me there to follow him. He walked clear across the gym to put distance between him and Jason or Jason and me. Honestly, I don’t know, but either way my brother wasn’t in the best of moods.
“So how close are you two? Since he saw fit to save you from your own brother?” he quizzed me, as he rolled the free weights to me. I picked them up, looked in the mirror and began to do my arm curls.
“Not that close. We’re just friends,” I answered, only looking at myself and not my brother.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you! Does he not know that?” he asked, annoyed at what had happened. “I would never hurt you, not after…” His words trailed off. It was rare when my brother lost composure, but when it did happen, the man was like the Hulk.
I put my weights down and walked over to him. I placed my hands on his arms and felt him shake.
“Dar, nothing in the world makes me feel as safe as you do. You’re my brother and I love you. No one is ever going to replace that. Our relationship is stronger than others so don’t worry about anything. Guys will come and go, but you’re always going to be my big brother.” I said the last part purposefully to be cheesy and he laughed.
“No Hulk Smash,” I pouted.
“Yeah, yeah, just go and finish your set.” He pushed me towards the weights.
The rest of the time, we spent shooting the shit, as he called it. Work was getting hectic with him, his businesses were booming and so was his job with the Giants. He was worried, because eventually, he’d have to make a choice and he didn’t know which one he would choose. I thought the choice was obvious, but not to him.
“Go wash up and I’ll meet you at the health bar. I’ll make sure a berry protein shake will be waiting for you.” He winked.
I showered and changed. My body felt weak from the intense two-hour workout he had me do, but I loved the feeling of it.
“Hey!” I heard someone say from behind me. I didn’t bother turning around and kept going. “Hey, I'm talking to you,” the guy said, but more forcefully.
He jogged ahead of me and blocked my way. We had walked by a small alcove, which had housed the mats, but the mats were all gone. I now filled the space. He leaned up against the wall with his one arm high above him.
“So you work out here, that’s nice,” he said, kind of sleazy. Kind of sleazy didn’t cover it, the man was a scuzzball. It’s a real word, look it up; you might see his picture. His hair was greased back and his wife beater barely contained the hair protruding out from his chest.
“Do you mind!” I said, not asking, as I tried to pass him.
“No, I don’t, not when I get to see such a hot, tight, little thing like you.” He smiled and leaned in closer and closed his eyes. Was he trying to kiss me? I leaned away, but all he did was sniff me. “You smell nice.” He grinned and opened his eyes.
“Get the hell out of my face,” I warned and tried to move, but he cornered me.
“You’re a fighter.” He smiled. “I like that,” he murmured.
“If you don’t leave me alone, I swear I'm going to kick your ass,” I hissed.
“Sure, baby, you can do whatever you want to my ass, as long as you ride me.” He smirked and inched closer.
I reached my hand back, clenching my fist and readying my punch, when I saw him fly across the gym. He literally was lobbed up into the air. Seconds later, Jason was on top of him, punching him. I ran and grabbed Jason’s arm and stopped his punch in mid-air. He turned his face and glared at me; his grey watery eyes were now filled with fury and anger.
“Jason, stop! It’s okay now.” I looked at the half-beaten man on the floor. His hands were up, protecting him from Jason’s relentless attack.
“What in the fuckin’ hell is going on here?” my brother yelled at the top of his lungs, as he peered down at Jason.
“It’s okay, Dar. Jason was just taking care of this guy. He was coming on too strong and he wasn’t leaving me alone.” The look on my face must have triggered something inside my brother because Hulk appeared again.
“NO HULK SMASH!” I yelled and threw myself in front of my brother.
“This is my sister, dipshit!” The guy on the floor froze. “You’re lucky she’s here to stop me, ‘cause I would have wiped the fuckin’ floor with you,” he roared.
“Guys?” He called over his shoulder and a few of my brother’s boxing friends showed up. “Escort this mo-fo out of my gym.” He pointed to the scuzzy on the floor. “Jessica?” he cried out. “Revoke his membership!”