Page 4 of Ashley & the A-Listers (Sweetverse)

4. NEW CLIENT

ASHLEY

“That. Asshole,” she hissed.

She should’ve known better.

“Nic!” she growled. “I take back everything I was thinking yesterday,” she told the computer. “He’s a terrible boss. A meddling, nosy, no-good cupid wannabe.”

Turning to the camera behind the desk like she was on a sitcom, she glared at it and hoped he would see it when he ran the tapes back, if he ever even did that.

For good measure she flipped the camera off too, with both hands.

So naturally, that was when the door beeped, opening.

She spun, pulling her hands behind her back and trying to look professional.

“Everything alright?” Dylan asked, lips twitching.

Ashley’s glare glared further.

Ew.

That was another downside to this whole situation, she’d have to put up with this jerk for the next… her gaze trailed to the screen. Eight weeks!

Her eye twitched.

“Okay, I get it, still not happy to see me,” Dylan said, lifting his palms in a gesture of innocence.

Her stare returned to the alpha, her scent biting in irritation.

Dylan looked struck, mouth opening before closing. She wished his scent didn’t take her back ten years, to Sunday mornings when they were sitting outside together before the dew on the grass had even evaporated. To when she was just a sad, hurt, confused eighteen-year-old who’d lost her best friend.

“So you’re an alpha now.” His eyes widened as if those hadn’t been the words he’d intended.

Ashley blinked. “Actually, I am.” She was an alpha, and he was in her territory, and she wasn’t a teenager with a crush anymore.

Dylan’s lips parted, but before he could spout some bullshit she cut him off.

“Don’t bother,” she snapped. “I’m here to train Cameron, not you. I can be civil. Just don’t get on my nerves.”

“But I?—”

Her scowl interrupted him again, and she was glad, in that moment, that she’d finally gotten that growth spurt, and used it to her advantage. Even though Dylan was still taller, it wasn’t by much, so she met his gaze, a challenge.

Dylan swallowed and dropped his eyes first. “Got it. I’ll stay out of your way.”

“Good,” Ashley said. “Go wait for Cameron over there,” she said, and pointed to the corner.

“Yes ma’am,” Dylan said, and spun on his heel.

Annoyance filled her, because once upon a time that light, teasing tone would’ve made her laugh, but this time she locked it down and tried to collect herself.

So what? Dylan was here. Get over it. She had Cameron to focus on.

Speaking of… The intake forms were filled out impeccably. Cameron was serious about this.

Which shouldn’t surprise her. Axel Stevens, the character on screen, was a serious, no-bullshit kind of guy. But the Cameron she’d gotten a glimpse of yesterday was… playful. Cute.

She pursed her lips as she jotted down a few notes, comparing where they had to start and where they’d end up.

By the time she was psyching herself up for actually putting it into action, the door beeped. She smelled him before she saw him, and even dulled by his suppressants, his honey and vanilla scent made her mouth water.

He pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head and grinned that million-dollar smile. “Good morning, Ashley,” he practically purred.

She swallowed and leaned against the desk, crossing her arms, playing the cool and confident alpha, and tried to remind herself of what she was here to do.

What this omega was here to do.

Right. Despite what Nic wished, this wouldn’t be a thing.

Though it was rather convenient that the day after meeting him, she was now his trainer for the next eight weeks.

Even so, it was Cameron fucking Thomas. She wasn’t going to fuck it up.

“I hope you’re ready to work your ass off,” she told him.

He blinked, gripping his bag tighter to his shoulder. “Uh…”

“Dylan beat you here,” she said, nodding to said alpha, who’d dutifully waited.

“Go wait with him and start stretching. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Cameron nodded absently, looking a little starstruck himself, and padded across the gym. She had been charming and awkward the day they’d met—she’d been out of her depth, talking to a movie star.

Now she was his trainer, and she was going to act like it.

The two of them immediately started whispering in hushed tones, and she ignored them as she gathered her tablet and followed after him.

“Alright,” she said in her trainer voice. “There’s a lot on this schedule to learn in just eight weeks, but I’m hoping that you’re as capable as you were the day before yesterday.”

“Y-yes,” Cameron said, eyes wide as she tapped at her tablet.

It felt good to be a little intimidating. To be taken seriously. Ah, the perks of being an alpha.

“Show me how you usually stretch,” she told him. “I might have to switch it up.”

Cameron and Dylan shared a look and Ashley hid her smirk.

That’s right, I’m no-nonsense Ashley. I’m Trainer Ashley.

If Cameron had asked Nic to be on her schedule because he thought it would be a breeze, he had another thing coming.

“You aren’t gonna ask what happened to my other trainer?” Cameron asked as he began with arm and leg swings.

“Well, I’m assuming it fell through for whatever reason. It’s not really my business,” she said, eying him. “I’m here to train you. Nothing more.” Her gaze landed on Dylan when she added the last bit, and she watched his cheek dimple as he must have bit it from the inside.

“Riiight,” Cameron said, frowning. “You were more fun the other day. Is it Dylan? He can leave.” Cameron shot Dylan a pointed glance.

Before Dylan could respond, Ashley arched a brow. “He’s your bodyguard. Hard to guard you if he’s not here.”

Cameron sighed, and Ashley bit down on her own smile. Antagonizing him was too fun.

“Let’s get a good baseline of where you are physically, and I’ll be able to organize the training program for efficiency.”

He grumbled, but let her direct him through a set of stretches. He knew most of the stretches by name, including the standing straddle stretch, which was basically a wide-legged forward fold. It targeted the inner thighs and would help an athlete kick higher and harder.

Ashley only checked out his ass once.

It definitely fit his action-star physique.

“You’re pretty limber,” she noted eventually, and figured many of the basics were probably already covered.

“Well, I’m not useless,” Cameron muttered. “I actually do know some stuff. I’ve been paying attention over the years.”

“Good, because we’re gonna put it all to the test today,” she told him.

It turned out Cameron wasn’t wrong. He did know some stuff, as he’d put it. He only required a bit of correction on his placements. “Keep your elbows in tighter,” she told him, tucking her arms back into a cross. Usually she was touchier with clients, or at least maybe didn’t think so much about it, but she was overly conscious. She didn’t want to scent mark him by accident.

He listened anyway, and actually listened. He adjusted based on her critiques and with his brow furrowed in focus, he was… well. Hot.

She was a total professional though, watching Cam front kick at a stand bag over and over again.

A total professional, who found herself leaning a little closer, his scent drawing her in. “Extend—reach up with your foot,” she told him, clearing her throat.

A professional, who got so lost in watching her client she forgot about… bystanders.

“Why is he kicking with the ball of his foot? Wouldn’t it make more sense for him to land with the heel?” Dylan interjected.

Ashley glanced over her shoulder, irritation prickling again. Dylan was sitting on a padded bench that lined the wall, a thumb tucked between the pages of a paperback.

“Uh, no?” she said in that tone that definitely sounded more like what the fuck are you talking about than anything civil like she’d promised.

“Why not? Wouldn’t it hurt more?” he asked.

Cameron tried to demonstrate without even being asked, and she watched him wobble as he tried to hit heel first, toes curled back.

They shared a grin, and Ashley pointed at his extended knee, the heel that didn’t quite reach the bag. “The heel connects to the hamstring, which is tighter. With the ball of the foot, you’re reaching . Gives you extra power, extra extension.”

Cameron flexed his foot and kicked the bag gently, able to reach further with the ball of his foot instead.

Dylan lifted his hands in a gesture of innocence. “Alright, alright, I digress.”

Satisfaction pinged around her chest. Fuck, it felt good to be right.

As he lowered the book, Ashley wasn’t able to catch the name.

Not that she cared.

Dammit.

Had he been watching the whole time? Ashley tried to remember how many times she’d stopped her eyes from lingering on Cameron, or how many times she’d leaned into his scent, or halted just before touching him somewhere.

As Cameron reset his stance, she glanced once more at Dylan, and he met her gaze, all knowing and content with himself.

She felt like a teenager again, with a crush that Dylan was certainly going to tease her about until the crush faded from the force of embarrassment.

A growl slipped out, and she cut it off at the alarmed glance from Cameron. It had been low enough that Dylan hadn’t likely heard.

“Sorry,” she offered to Cam. “Don’t mind me.”

“Don’t worry, he pisses me off, too,” he whispered, and Ashley couldn’t help the way a laugh almost bubbled up.

She covered her mouth and shook her head, but as she met Cam’s stare, she saw the same mirth reflected back.

As they worked through a few more stances, Cam was further along than she thought he’d be, and she would have to adjust the training schedule once he left.

Dylan was… present. She tried to ignore him, but she couldn’t get her mind off him. Every so often she would catch a whiff of him, fresh-cut grass and childhood memories that she tried to bury so, so fucking deep.

After ten years, he was just sitting there and watching her.

All the questions she’d had all these years kept distracting her.

Why’d you leave? Where did you go? What did I do wrong?

Dylan’s attention was heavy on her form as she corrected Cameron and showed him a proper stance. Part of her wanted to overlook him, to pretend he didn’t exist. And part of her wanted to show him just how good she was at her job. That she’d become her own person in his absence, that she’d built a whole life without him, despite the fact that at one point she couldn’t have imagined such a thing.

Her chest hurt, and she battled with anger and pride and sadness, avoiding his eyes the rest of the session.

Cameron was a good distraction from her thoughts, she had to admit. He cracked the right jokes, made her laugh, though she tried not to give in, tried to remain stern so he’d take her seriously.

But it seemed Cameron had no issue with that. His brow furrowed in concentration whenever she spoke, focused squint intent and warm as he absorbed everything she said. Even when she had to correct him, he only nodded and tried again. There was no arguing, no posturing, no attempting to save face if he slipped up.

It only took one session for her to build a solid respect for him, if only for the respect he held for the craft.

Some men came into the gym and refused to listen to her, a woman. It didn’t matter to them that she was an alpha.

The bar might have been on the floor, but she was relieved when Cameron proved himself to be different than that.

And strangely competent in his ability to learn.

Once he was covered in sweat, face bright red even against his sun-kissed skin, and legs wobbly, she relented, even though what she really wanted to do was push him down to the mat and crawl right atop him?—

Bad alpha. No.

After they finished stretching to end the session, he practically collapsed to the mats, groaning dramatically.

“Bodyguard, I finally have a job for you,” he said, and tilted his head back.

The alpha she’d been ignoring put his book down and glanced at the omega. “And what’s that?”

“Go find a wheelbarrow, and wheel me home, because I can’t walk,” he complained.

Dylan rolled his eyes, and his gaze flashed to Ashley. Instinctively she wanted to return the smile, share the humor in this moment, and for a second she was eighteen again and they were best friends, about to have the night of their lives, and everything was perfect.

But then reality rushed in and her smile faltered and she averted her gaze from Dylan back to Cameron.

Cameron clocked all of it, his head swiveling between her and Dylan and back. Curiosity was in every line of his expression, but he had the decency not to ask. Instead he rolled to his feet, only a little less lithe than when they’d started, and groaned.

“This is going to hurt later,” he whined.

Ashley chuckled. “Go hydrate. Your nutritionist sent me your chart, so don’t forget the protein,” she mused.

Ashley shook her head. As much as she rubbed elbows with the glamorous, she found nothing glam about being told what and when to eat to keep up appearances.

Ashley wouldn’t be able to handle it, and she reflected on how unfair it was that the public held regular people to such an impossible standard.

The omega didn’t even blink, and nodded. “Yeah, we’re gonna start filming at the end of next month, and I’ve got to make sure I look consistent throughout the scenes.”

“Makes sense,” she responded. “If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.”

And then, finally, Ashley handed him a card with her cell phone number penned on the back. “Do not make me regret this,” she added.

The way Cameron’s gaze lit up was downright comical, and she rolled her eyes before bidding them goodbye and turning on her heel.

Bravely, she let her attention linger on Dylan on her exit. If she wasn’t imagining it, she thought she saw a bit of disappointment in his expression.

Which was sure to keep her up at night. She hated people being disappointed in her.

Ashley stayed late at the gym, clocking out but putting the equipment to use as she ran through her favorite reps, sweating out the chaotic emotions she couldn’t help but feel around that particular alpha.

Just—ten years? With no word, after practically an entire childhood together? If anyone had the right to be disappointed, it was her. How dare he give her the most magical night of her entire life—which was sadly still true to this day—and then disappear?

By the time she was done with her reps, she probably looked no better than Cameron had after their session. She packed her stuff, and left with a wave at Nic, who she had yet to chastise for his little game.

After picking up a protein-heavy bowl from her favorite local Mexican place, she went home.

It was a blissful night in, and to avoid thinking about Dylan, she turned on the first movie of the series Cameron starred in.

Heat of the Moment.

Now that she knew him at least a little bit, it was almost embarrassing to see him on the screen. But with only a few moments into the movie, she forgot all about being embarrassed because Cameron was just that good.

The movie wasn’t your run-of-the-mill action flick. There was a surprising depth to the character that didn’t have to do with some long-awaited revenge or vendetta. He played a regular guy who’d been thrust into an impossible situation and despite all the odds stacked against him… prevailed. There was no tragic death for the love interest, which was refreshing, and she watched them both sail off into a happily-for-now.

Ashley went to sleep with a flutter in her chest—for Cameron’s craft, of course—and vowed to whip him into shape.