“I’ll show you something too hard in a minute. Again.”
I see the fire awaken in her eyes. The fire I’ve grown so damn attracted to recently. Every time she’s faced with a challenge, every time she’s put in front of an obstacle, those blue eyes glimmer with a hunger to succeed, to prove everyone wrong. It’s how she’s managed to do so well in just two weeks. It’s how she’s managed to survive her whole fucked-up life. Out of pure spite.
Fiz keeps his hand where it is as she squats all the way down, hitting it and pushing back up with a subtle groan.
“Keep going.”
She does, pushing her body all the way down, beads of sweat appearing around her hairline. I stay back, watching the spectacle, watching her push herself over and over, only a sliver of guilt roiling in my stomach.
“Good,” Fiz says after she completes ten deep squats. He straightens up. “Now every time you squat down, I want you to jump up into the air and then squat back down.”
El obeys, but as soon as she does the first one, she gasps. “That’s way too hard.”
“That’s how we improve. No one builds strength by doing easy shit. Come on.”
She huffs her reluctance but does another one.
He steps back until he’s beside me again, crossing his arms and mimicking my stance as we both watch her.
“You’re a real prick, you know that?” I murmur.
“I do. And I’m so good at it too.”
“Did you do it to be a prick, or because you don’t think Cade could catch her now?”
He lifts and drops a shoulder. “Bit of both.”
We watch as El does ten squat jumps, her face red and damp, her breaths laboured and heavy. Then Fiz gets her to do two more sets. The sight of her gets my blood pumping hotter, every muscle in my body tightening.
She collapses onto the floor after, rubbing at her thighs, then her calves.
Fiz gives an approving sound and drops his arms. “Good. This guy’s too easy on you. You should train with me.”
“No way,” she pants.
He chuckles. “I’d get that stamina up in no time, baby, you’d need it to keep up with me.” He winks at her.
She grimaces. “There’s no way in hell that will ever happen.”
He stalks over to her, crouches down, and cups her chin gently. “We’re going to have so much fun together. Just you wait.”
She jerks away from his touch. “Not going to happen. Tomorrow I’m going to outrun Caden and you’ll never see me again.”
Fiz just chuckles, gets to his feet. “Yeah… good luck with that when you wake up tomorrow and can’t walk.”
She frowns as he turns away and winks at me, heading towards the back.
“What d’you mean?” El calls.
He glances over his shoulder. “Oh, those squat jumps will have your legs stiff as a board in the morning. Running’s going to be the most painful thing you could do to yourself tomorrow.”
She gasps in outrage and spews profanities in his direction as he heads into the back room.
He turns to face her and walks backwards, a cunning smirk on his face. “Or come have an ice bath with me, that might help.”
“Fuck you, you sick son of a bitch!”
He laughs again. “Suit yourself.” Then he’s gone.
