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Arden

I am so damn nervous, and I don’t know why. I have known for months that when Levi had a break in cases, he would bring me on. The time has come, and today is my first day. I have done everything I need to do to become a private investigator; I just need field hours. In the last few months, I focused a lot on strength training. Every morning at four, I meet Levi at the gym.

I met him through college in my final semester when he came to talk about serial crimes. Although he has never worked as a detective, he has done the research to investigate. His primary goal with serial crimes is to recover bodies. Active crimes obviously go to city detectives, but he will also take on cold cases when he is contracted by the city. This means he is the perfect man to learn from. The moment he stopped talking, I jumped up and asked if he took on trainees. He said no because newbies slow him down. So, then I proceeded to visit him every day at his office until he finally said yes. He was clear that not only would he push me, but he expected me to be able to keep up with him. I said I wanted to get better with physical fitness, but all people wanted to do with me was focus on weight loss, not muscle gain. He said to pick a gym, and he would meet me every morning.

I am wide awake and on my way to the gym. I am so excited, but this man… he is so damn grumpy. Levi is also dangerously hot, and I have definitely caught feelings for him. His energy is magnetic, and I can’t get enough of him, no matter how little he smiles.

I walk into the gym and go back to the locker room to set my bag down. It’s always so fucking hot in here, so I usually wear spandex shorts, a sports bra, and a drop armhole tank top. When I step out of the locker room, I am quickly reminded why I hate wearing this here. I picked the creepiest gym, and if it weren’t for the fact that I stick with Levi, I would never come here alone.

“Good morning,” I say, walking up behind Levi.

“Hey,” he says with a half-smile. I will take it. He must be in a good mood today. I have seen him every day for six months, and I can tell what his mood is based on the kind of expression on his face. I’m like a grunt translator now too. He sounds different to express different things.

“Well, well, aren’t you just a chipper little peach today, Levi,” I say proudly, and he actually smiles. Like a full-on grin. That makes me giddy.

“Ready?” he asks.

“To get tortured by you?” I ask. “Always.”

“You know the drill. Cardio first,” he says. I decide not to complain today, and we go toward the treadmill. He sets mine up because he knows I will cheat the moment he lets me pick the setting. He starts us out with a fast-paced walk on a slight incline. “No complaining today?”

“Nope. It’s a good day today,” I say.

“Mmm. I miss whiney Arden,” he smirks and speeds mine up to force me to start running. I immediately reach over and bump his up so he has to run with me, making him chuckle.

“Sorry, Levi. You’re smiling. I’m in a good mood. It’s a good day,” I say as I run.

“Mhmm,” he grunts.

“There he is. I thought I’d never hear that famous grunt,” I remark. Instead of responding, he speeds mine up before his own.

He’s a fucking sadist. A sexy and ripped sadist. He is hardly breaking a sweat, yet I’m fucking dying. I won’t stop, though. I haven’t so far, and I don’t plan to now.

I owe Levi so much after he helped me with Wilder and putting that psycho bitch in jail. After Tina plead guilty, she was given twenty years with a possibility of parole after ten. Macie and Wilder finally had a real wedding a few weeks later, and I forced Levi to come celebrate. He usually keeps me at arm’s length, but when he lets himself relax, I am able to get closer. I will be as patient as I need to be for him to really let me in.

Once we are done running, we go to the decline sit-ups. I am usually in a lower setting, so I am wide-eyed when he increases it to nearly what he does. “Are you trying to kill me?!”

“Was that a complaint, Arden?” he asks.

“No,” I say. “Nope. Let’s do it.”

I put my feet in place to lock me in position before laying back. I am upside down, and I start to doubt if I can do this. “Let’s start with ten. Let’s go.”

“Ugh!” I groan. I cross my arms over my chest to touch my shoulders before I sit up. “Fuck!”

“There ya go. You’ve got it. Keep going,” he encourages. I do another, and he continues to praise me. “That’s it. Keep going, Arden. Four down. Come on!”

“Ah. It hurts,” I whine.

“Come up. Pull yourself up, Arden. Let’s do it,” he pushes. “Five. Let’s go… Six… you’ve got this, girl. Keep going. Seven…”

“I can’t,” I groan. I try but can’t get myself up again.

“Tighten your core, Arden. Come on,” he says. He lays his hand on my lower belly, and it’s like a burst of energy. I sit up again but can’t hold myself as I lower back down.

“Fuck,” I growl

“There ya go. Up. Come on. Push, Arden. Almost there,” he says, keeping his hand on my belly. It reminds me to engage my core muscles rather than using just my back muscles. I don’t know what it is, but my core is weak as fuck. “One more, Arden. Let’s go.”

“Ugh!” I complain but force myself up.

“There ya go. Push, Arden. Come on. Up. Just a little more… Alright. Slow. Don’t drop… There ya go. Good girl,” he says, offering me his hand. He helps me up, and I put my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

“You did well, Arden. I’m proud of you,” he says, patting my back.

“You are an evil, evil man,” I groan and stand up.

“Get some water and breathe. Your face looks like a tomato,” he says.

“Well, fuck you too, buddy,” I say, and he chuckles as he hands me his bottle. “Thank you. I should get my own bottle. I’m always stealing yours.”

“I don’t mind,” he says simply. “You need to remember to breathe when you are pushing yourself like that.”

“I forget,” I say. “I know that sounds dumb.”

“It doesn’t. You are focused on other things,” he says. “I’ll remind you. Want to do some squats?”

“No, but you’re going to make me anyway,” I say.

“You know me so well, Arden,” he says, taking a sip of his water and closing the lid. We go over to the bar, and he gets set up while I stand back and watch.

I can see in the mirror that there is a man behind me with his phone out, and it looks like he is taking a picture of me. I turn my body so he can’t get a full picture of my ass. I don’t know what else to do because freaks like him rarely take it well when confronted. I look directly at him, hoping it will make it known that I can see what he’s doing, but eventually I give up, and my mood changes drastically.

“Okay. Let’s get it, girl,” Levi says. I position myself, and he stands behind me with his hands out at my sides to spot me. “Keep your back straight. Use your legs, Arden.”

I drop deep and grit my teeth and nearly growl as I push back up. “There ya go. That’s great, Arden. Four more.”

One by one, my anger at the brazen motherfucker taking a video gets let out. He is being so obvious about it, too. “Shit, that’s heavy,” I huff as I rack my weights.

“That was one hundred and fifty pounds, Arden. Good job,” he says, giving me a high five. “We will keep today short since I am pushing you so hard. Let’s do some deadlifts and finish out cardio.”

“Kay,” I say.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, turning to look at me.

“That asshole has been taking pictures and videos of me the whole time we’ve been over here. It’s just getting to me,” I say. “It’s not a big… Levi!”

Levi turns with no hesitation and walks over. The guy tries to put his phone away, but it is snatched out of his hand. He taps around for a second but I slap my hand over my mouth when Levi abruptly throws the phone across the room and it smashes against the wall. The man runs over to grab the remnants of his phone before leaving and Levi comes back and helps me wipe everything down and put the weights away.

“Get your stuff. Let’s go grab some breakfast and we can shower at the office,” he says, gently squeezing my shoulder. I simply nod and scurry off to the locker room.

When I come out, Levi is waiting for me. “Ready?”

“Mhmm.”

“Arden?” Levi says, narrowing his eyes at me. “I’m the grumpy one, remember?”

I shrug, and he sighs before we turn and walk out of the gym. I toss my bag in the back seat, and before I can get into my car, he grabs my hips and pushes me back against the door. “I scared you, didn’t I?” he asks.

“Uh. I don’t know. I don’t think it was you. He was just… He reminded me of someone, is all. I’m sorry,” I apologize.

“Don’t apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong, Arden. I’m sorry if I frightened you. He… took a lot of photos,” he says.

“Gross,” I frown.

“Let’s go to the office,” he says.