Page 24 of Lumi

“Are ya close to killing each other already?” Brenna asked.

Lumi and I exchanged a glance when I answered, “So far, so good. We’re friends. It would be different if we were strangers.”

“So, you two are only friends?” Simon, the cross-fit trainer, asked. He was in his mid-twenties and dressed to impress with his t-shirt a size too small.

“Only friends,” I confirmed.

Simon changed his focus to Lumi and asked with a charming smile. “How does your boyfriend feel about it?” He nodded to the handcuffs.

I shifted my balance, well aware that it was Simon’s way of asking Lumi if she was single.

Lumi smiled back at him. “I don’t need to ask for permission.”

“But do you and Damian have to shower together?” Simon asked with an intense gaze at her that I didn’t like.

Lumi shook her head with a smile of amusement.

“If you need another volunteer, I wouldn’t mind taking Damian’s spot next time,” Simon offered with another one of his charming smiles.

Lumi did forty-five minutes of cross-fit with me, and I was losing my mind over how many times Simon came over to correct her posture or show her how to do an exercise.

I scowled at him when he placed his hands on Lumi’s hips to show her how to rotate her body. And when he flirted with her after class and asked for her number, I had to look down and close my fists to avoid telling him to eff off.

“No, I don’t think so,” Lumi said.

Simon didn’t take the hint and kept digging. “So, you do have a boyfriend?”

Lumi shrugged. “A boyfriend? No, I’m not interested in boys.”

“Oh, I see.” Simon nodded. “That’s cool. My sister is a lesbian too.”

“I didn’t say that I was a lesbian. I just prefer men over boys.”

“Awk, that was cold,” I muttered low as we walked away.

“What was cold?”

“The fella is twenty-five or twenty-six. Calling him a boy was unnecessary.”

“I didn’t call him a boy. He asked if I had a boyfriend, and I said that I’m not interested in boys.”

“Lumi, don’t pretend ye don’t know he was coming on to ye. I salute ye for shuttin’ him down, but did ye have to be so rude?”

She sighed. “What do you want me to do? Go back and apologize?” With her stopping abruptly, we collided, and I had to take a step back.

“All I’m saying is that you can turn down men in a nicer way. It takes courage to ask for a woman’s number.”

“Noted!” Lumi had her free hand on her hip. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you at your gym. That wasn’t my intention. Can we go home now? I’m hungry, and I need a shower.”

“Come on. We’ll buy lunch on the way.”