Love Cursed

by Julia Derek

  “Does it look like I’m okay?” she hissed. Amazingly, she managed to get to her feet on her own. She limped over to a workout bench and sat. I followed her.

  “Can you move your foot?” I asked cautiously, fully expecting her to bite my head off, but I had to say something. I couldn’t just stand there and stare at her like a jackass.

  She moved the foot around in a couple of very slow, painful-looking circles. Then she put her face in her hands and… began to cry.

  I stiffened as I watched her body tremble. I couldn’t handle watching any woman cry, not even those who were pains in the ass. I didn’t know what else to do but to walk over to the fitness desk and get some tissue for her. When I returned, she was still in the same position, but her body had stopped trembling. I extended the tissues in her direction, not sure if she saw me. She must have because she took them without a word and began blotting at her eyes.

  Ricki

  I was beyond embarrassed where I sat on the sticky workout bench, crying like a little girl. How did I manage to twist my friggin’ ankle all of a sudden, just doing lunges? So I wasn’t the most athletic person in the world, but I didn’t go around tripping all the time, either. Well, it might have something to do with the fact that Dante had all of a sudden wrapped his arms around me when I was on that box. His action had made me so nervous my legs felt totally unstable when he let go of me. Still, it shouldn’t have made me trip that hard. And then I’d snapped at him as if it was somehow his fault, topping the whole incident off by falling apart and turning into a blubbering mess.

  There were no words for how mortified the last three minutes of my life had made me. All I wanted was for the ground to open and make me disappear. But I knew that wasn’t about to happen, so I had to make do with the second best option—call someone and ask them to come get me as soon as possible. Because I didn’t want Dante to take me home even if he offered. That would only prolong my mortification and I didn’t think I’d survive that. I probably didn’t have to worry about him taking me anywhere, though. The way I’d snapped at him, I couldn’t imagine that he would ever offer. He must think I’m a total nutcase. Not that I could blame him. I was starting to worry that I might in fact be one, judging by all the different moods I’d just gone through.

  With what felt like an enormous effort, I pulled myself together and turned to face Dante, who’d remained next to me, looking like he couldn’t wait to get out of there. I had to say something to lighten the atmosphere. I sucked in a breath and cleared my throat.

  “I’m sorry I snapped at you like that,” I mumbled.

  “No problem,” he replied, barely looking at me.

  Great, I thought. He must totally hate me. Oh, well. I’d never see him again anyway. I’d switch to another Crunch location; there were a few in the Los Angeles area. There was no way I’d continue training with any trainer at this particular Crunch after such a debacle. But first I had to get out of here. I glanced at him again.

  “Do you happen to have a cell phone I could use?” I asked. “I want to call someone to come get me.”

  “Um, sure,” he said. His right hand disappeared behind his back and returned with a phone in it. He handed it to me.

  “You just need to swipe the screen and you can use it,” he explained.

  “Okay. Thanks.” I swiped the screen and thought about who I could call. I had everyone’s numbers pre-programmed into my phone, which meant I had no idea what their actual phone numbers were off the top of my head. I tried my hardest to remember Nina’s or Nixon’s, who were the only ones I could think of who were actually around to come get me. Both my parents were at work and my younger sister was in school and my older one didn’t even live in the state any longer. Damn.

  “I can drive you home,” Dante said suddenly, taking me by complete surprise. And there was that searing gaze again that made my insides feel like they were lit on fire. He must have guessed that maybe I couldn’t think of anyone’s number from the way I just sat there and stared at his phone.

  After how I had treated him, I had to admit I was impressed. That was pretty mature of a guy… especially one who seemed like he might belong in a gang. Well, I really didn’t think he was a gangbanger, current or former. I knew from having researched my college paper that once you were in a gang getting out was close to impossible. No, Dante was just a regular guy who liked tattoos. A lot. Still, the idea of him driving me home didn’t appeal to me. But what choice did I have?

  It hit me suddenly that all I needed to do was get my phone out of the locker room and I’d be all set. But Dante couldn’t go into the women’s locker room and get it, so who would? I supposed I could jump on one foot over there, but that would take forever considering that the locker room was at the other end of the gym.

  “Um,” I began. “That’s really nice of you to offer. But if we could somehow get my phone out of my locker, I could call one of my friends to come get me.”

  He rubbed his chin. “Right. Well, let me see if I can find someone who can go into the locker room for you…” He scanned the huge gym floor for several seconds. Finally, his eyes stopped on a brown-haired girl with a body to die for who seemed to be heading for the exit.

  “Gabi!” he called to her. The girl stopped walking and turned in our direction. She broke into a big white grin and waved to Dante.

  He waved for her to come over to us. Hesitantly, she started walking toward our side of the gym floor. She stopped before us, throwing a couple of glances in my direction. Her long, honey brown locks were pulled back in a loose braid at the nape of her neck. She was one of the best-looking girls I’d ever seen, making me wonder if she wasn’t also a model.

  “Hey,” she said, looking at Dante. “What’s up?”

  “This is Ricki,” Dante said and nodded to me. “Ricki, this is Gabi. She’s one of the group ex instructors here.”

  “Hi,” I said and smiled at Gabi. She smiled back and said hi.

  “Ricki just hurt her foot and needs to get her phone out of her locker,” Dante explained. “Do you think you could run in there and get it for her?”

  “Sure,” Gabi said. She looked at me. “Do you have the key?”

  I untied the locker key that I had attached to my workout tights and handed it to her. “Maybe you can bring the entire bag that’s in there?”

  “Sure,” Gabi said. “I’ll be right back.”

  The minutes that followed as Dante and I waited for Gabi to return were awkward to say the least. Dante was still looking like he hoped he would magically disappear, and I was fighting the need to blow my nose in front of him. I could barely breathe it was so full of snot, but for some reason I really didn’t want to blow it in his presence. Neither of us seemed to know what to say, so we just remained there, glancing at each other every now and then. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Gabi to return with my big red tote bag over her shoulder.

  She handed it to me together with the key.

  “Thanks,” I said and shoved my hand into the bag to find my phone. When I found it, I discovered to my horror that it was dead. Damn. I guess I’d have to take Dante up on his offer then. I sighed as discreetly as I could. I was sure he had only offered to be polite and absolutely did not want me to actually accept his offer. Wait, maybe I could drive on my own… I moved my hurt foot a little. The pain that shot through my ankle made me gasp out loud.

  “Are you okay?” Dante asked with a concerned face.

  I threw him a glance and made myself smile. “Yeah.”

  There was no chance in hell I’d be able to push any pedals the way my ankle hurt. I looked up again, preparing to ask Dante if he’d been serious about his offer. Both he and Gabi, who had remained, were looking down at me, watching what I was doing.

  I exhaled. I might as well spit it out… “Um, it looks like my phone’s dead.”

  “Do you wanna use my phone?” Gabi asked.

  “Thanks, but I already tried using Dante’s. I can’t remember any of t
he numbers to people who can come pick me up. They’re all pre-programmed into my phone.”

  “Where do you live?” Gabi said. “I have to go to Santa Monica to pick up something. If you live in that direction, I could drive you.”

  “Really? That would be great. I live in West L.A.” I’d much rather she took me home than Dante.

  “Okay, perfect. Come on, let me help you to my car. Do you have all your stuff?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” I said.

  Gabi looked at Dante. “Help me get her to her feet, will you?”

  “Um, all right,” he said, looking a bit lost. The two of them bent down on either side of me and grabbed me under my arms. “Are you ready?” Gabi said to me.

  “Sure,” I mumbled. She glanced back at Dante. “One, two, three!”

  In a matter of seconds, I was standing on my good foot. I didn’t dare putting any pressure on the one with the hurt ankle. I still remembered how painful it had been when I somehow managed to get up from the floor and over to the workout bench, all on my own. I’d been so embarrassed it had trumped all the pain shooting through me each time I stepped on the foot. But unless I expected Dante to carry me out of the club now, I’d have to put some pressure on it, or jump on my other foot to get to Gabi’s car. I didn’t think I could do either.

  “Do you think you can walk on the hurt foot?” Dante asked me, his arm around my waist. Gabi was on the other side with her hand around my waist, too.

  I put as much pressure as I dared on my foot and took a step. I couldn’t stop an “ouch!” from escaping my lips.

  “Okay, you won’t be walking on that foot at all,” Dante said. “Just jump on your good foot. Don’t worry. Gabi and I will support you. You’ll be fine.”

  I nodded and we got moving. Ten awkward minutes later, I was sitting next to Gabi in her car, on my way back home.

  Dante

  Jesus. That’s one nutty broad. I walked back into the club, glad that she was out of my life at last. I had obviously way overestimated her athletic abilities when I’d asked her to do those lunges. I had never before seen anyone trip and twist their ankle when performing that exercise, but this chick somehow managed to do it. A little part of me still wondered if maybe she had faked the entire incident just to get out of the session. She did seem like the type who would do something like that rather than admit that she was exhausted.

  Nah, I doubted she was that good an actress. If she was, she deserved a fucking Oscar for that performance.

  As I walked over to my drawer where I kept my client files to exchange the file on my clipboard, I bumped into Tonya. The feisty African American woman had an afro that put Rihanna’s one-time red afro to shame. Today she was sporting one of her formfitting Hugo Boss dresses. As always, she was wearing sky-high heels with her outfit to make up for the fact that she wasn’t more than five feet tall. I couldn’t help but think that if she ever tripped wearing her heels, she’d not only twist her ankle but surely break it, too.

  “Dante, I need to see you in my office when you have a moment,” she said. Her nostrils flared the way they always did when she was excited for some reason. Fuck. I hoped this didn’t have anything to do with Ricki. Maybe someone had watched us work out with me putting my hands all over the chick’s body. Why the hell did I do something so stupid? Another trainer had recently been fired for inappropriate conduct with a client, stretching her with his dick more or less. Not that the client had complained at first; rumor had it that it was only when the trainer told her he wasn’t interested in dating her that she’d snapped. It couldn’t be that Ricki herself had called and complained; she and Gabi just left the building, so that was pretty much impossible.

  Whatever it was, I could only hope it had nothing to do with the gym wanting to get rid of me. Except for my somewhat questionable behavior with Ricki, I couldn’t think of anything else that made me a case for termination. I shrugged as I switched the files on my clipboard; surely it was nothing serious. Then I headed to meet Lindsey for our training session.

  I got through the session being only halfway there mentally. My upcoming rendezvous with Tonya must bother me more than I had thought.

  I gave Lindsey a big hug good-bye and headed to Tonya’s office. I knocked on the door before I stuck my head inside.

  “Is now a good time?” I asked her. She was typing with frenzied fingers on her computer keyboard, while talking to someone on her headset. She signaled with her head that I should come in. I stepped inside and took a seat on one of the chairs in front of her desk and waited for her to finish her call. She did only a minute later. Then she turned to me, moving the corners of her fleshy, deep purple lips in a way that made her look like she was a sad clown.

  “Dante, we’re having some issues,” she finally said.

  “Oh, yeah? Mental ones?” I gave her a sideways grin, hoping it would make her stop looking at me with such a gloomy face. Whatever the hell it was, it couldn’t be that bad.

  “This is no time for jokes,” she said, rearranging her expression into a more neutral one. “I had a meeting with the regional manager earlier today and he told me you need to increase your sales and session numbers if the company is going to keep you employed.”

  “Increase my sales and sessions? By how much?”

  “You need to double both of them. Starting this month.”

  “This month? Is he effing nuts? We’re already a third through it.” And I had outside clients I needed to attend to. Ones I’d bring with me to my own gym when my probation was completed.

  Tonya sighed and had a sip of the mineral water she always had standing on her desk. “I know it’s a lot to ask for, but you can do it. You just have to work a little harder. Your schedule isn’t that full. And if you think about all the extra cash you’ll be pulling in, it won’t be so bad.”

  I rubbed my hands over the lower part of my face. I didn’t need this right now. With my private clients, I made more than enough cash. What I needed was enough time to get Jose ready for his fight, so I had planned on potentially giving up some of my Crunch clients, not taking on tons more. After what had happened with Carlos, we’d better get him ready to jump out sooner than planned. “Are you saying I’ll be terminated if I don’t double my sales and sessions by the end of this month?”

  “I’m sorry, but, yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not fair. Why are they doing this? Is the company really doing that badly, or should I take it personally?”

  Tonya sat up in her chair. “I’ll lay it out to you straight. Someone on the board of directors found out that you’re a former gang member on probation and got pissed. His exact words were ‘why the hell are we hiring jailbirds?’” She smirked. “Sorry to be so blunt, Dante… In any case, I had to convince them you were one hell of a trainer the company couldn’t do without. Which means you need to prove to them that you are exactly that by upping your numbers. I have no doubt you can do it. As much as the ladies love you at the club, it should be no problem.” She grinned knowingly and winked at me. “Especially not since I’ll be helping you. So don’t worry.”

  I exhaled. “Fine. Is that it?”

  Tonya arched one of her well plucked eyebrows. “Isn’t that enough?”

  I laughed. “I guess it is.” I got to my feet. “Well, I’d better get started then.”

  She handed me a few sheets. “Here are some leads for you. All women and one guy. You should have no problem closing them.” She gave me another wink. “Just kill them with that million dollar smile of yours.”

  I raised the papers in a salute. “I’ll do my best.”

  I left her office, trying to cheer myself with the fact that at least I still had a job, even if it meant I’d have to bust my balls twice as hard if I wanted to keep it. I sighed, thinking that I should have been nicer to that Ricki-chick because, pain in the ass or not, now I really needed to keep her on my roster of clients. Ricki had mentioned that she wanted to train every oth
er day, so adding her would make my life a lot easier since most clients only trained twice a week.

  Well, I’ll find a way to make sure she continues with me. Kiss her ass like I love her. It would take some effort, but the thought of Jose dying and me ending up in prison was way worse. I didn’t think I’d survive behind bars; the Devils had too many rivals there who’d find a way to kill me now that I was no longer part of the gang.

  As soon as I was done at Crunch today, I’d call Ricki to see how she was doing, act like the most concerned trainer in the whole world. She’d be crazy not to keep training with me when I was done with her.

  Ricki

  “I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you think,” Nina said in my ear. After Gabi dropped me off at my house, I’d stalked Nina on her phone until she picked up hours later. She’d taken a midday nap that lasted a lot longer than planned due to her raging pregnancy hormones. At last, I could share my mortification that had grown and grown within me all day.

  “No, it was even worse,” I said. “Oh, God, I’m such a loser…” I closed my eyes, reliving the moment when I had tripped and collapsed on the gym floor in my mind again.

  “Stop calling my best friend a loser,” Nina said in a fake stern voice. “She just got a little freaked out when the hottie trainer insisted on laying his hands all over her. Could have happened to anyone. You know what, Ricki?”

  “What?”

  “It sounds like this trainer is sort of into you the way you described his behavior. You know, the way you said he was holding you everywhere all the time. That doesn’t sound like normal trainer behavior. We should ask Nixon and see what he thinks. He’s supposed to be back this week.”

  Nixon was our friend, who was also a trainer, and who had spent the last three months traveling in Asia with his boyfriend.

  Something between a snort and a laugh came out of me. “What? No. This guy hates me. Trust me, I could tell. He was just worried I’d kill myself if he left me to my own devices, even for a second. And considering that I —oh, God…” I sighed and shook my head, still not sure how I’d managed to do something so incredibly clumsy. “That I tripped and almost broke my friggin’ ankle doing lunges, I honestly can’t blame him for worrying.”