Yearn A. Ellis (carter reed .TXT) 📖

“One, I can’t keep up with you running. Two, we’re not going to the same sessions? Three, can I please have coffee first?”

Khi snorted. “I’ll keep it slow and easy. No, it’s best if we split so we can attend the most sessions and get the most information. And you can have coffee with breakfast after our workout. Get. Up.”

Khi allowed me five minutes to brush my teeth, wash my face, and take a piss before I pulled on something suitable for running on a cold morning. We reached the sidewalk and Khi glanced at his phone.

“We’ll just keep it slow, enough to pump some blood and get the oxygen flowing.” He stretched a bit more and glared at me until I did the same.

“It’s freezing out here,” I grumbled.

“More reason to get moving and warm up,” Khi retorted and took off at a slow pace.

I wasn’t a workout junkie. I loved walking and I ate mostly healthy, but I didn’t get off on the muscle burn and adrenaline high of working out. Give me an exciting call-out or amazing design concept come to life on paper and I’d ride that high to the absolute last wisp. But pumping iron and hardcore cardio just wasn’t my thing.

Which was why I could only sulk as Khi kept to his promise of keeping it to a slow jog. Not that I wasn’t already feeling the effects, but I wasn’t in pain or anything like I would have been if Khi had insisted on a full-out run. Still, I didn’t really want to keep at it. “We’ve gone two blocks; can we snap the pic and head back?” I wasn’t exactly sucking air, but my words were definitely breathless.

“No, this is good for our bodies. We’ll go up one more, turn, and then head back. Make a rectangle around the hotel.” Khi wasn’t breathing hard in the least bit.

“It’s cold.”

“Run faster,” was all Khi had to say.

I grunted. “Kinda hate you right now.”

“That’s our thing, it’s what we do. No worries.” Khi flashed me a wink and I nearly tripped over my own two feet.

Danger, danger!

Khi was hot and I’d been drawn to him since the first time I ever laid eyes on him. Our past and his refusal to clear the air had always been enough to keep me at arm’s length. Kinda a look but don’t touch or get attached type thing.

Winky Khi? Conversation Khi? In-bed-next-to-me Khi?

That was a different monster indeed.

With the rising sun beginning to paint the downtown buildings with golden pinks, we snapped a picture for the challenge. Our plan was to continue posting on social media to get those points slowly and surely, but we hadn’t yet earned any points for putting our pics on the bulletin board. We agreed that we could probably take a sizeable lead once we printed all of our pictures and hung them up. Right now, we were assuming that the rest of the crew wasn’t suspecting us of much since we’d only posted a few and hadn’t added to the board. Let them think we were slacking. We’d come out of nowhere and shock them all.

It was actually kinda fun because most of the crew knew there was no love lost between Khi and me, so they weren’t expecting us to do much with a team challenge. We were using that to our advantage.

“Oh my God, that was terrible,” I grumbled, pulling off my hood as we entered the hotel lobby.

“You didn’t die. Come on, we’re gonna hit,” Khi said as he veered away from my intended destination of the elevators.

“Hit? Hit what?” I wrinkled my nose. “I smell coffee. Can we please just get coffee?”

“After. I need someone to hold pads for me.”

The gym area was state-of-the-art and deserted. I ventured a guess that most of the attendees were either doing their run outdoors, had already taken advantage of the space and left to get ready for their day, or were smart and still asleep.

“Let’s get this over with. I want a shower, food, and coffee. No, I want coffee, a shower, food, and coffee.”

“Stop bitching. You’ll get your damn coffee. I don’t know why you think you have to have coffee all the time, it’s not that amazing.” Khi took advantage of the tape and wraps provided by the hotel—again, nice amenities; I wondered how many people actually came in here to hit—and got his hands all wrapped.

“You’ve never had my coffee. I make you some every damn morning before shift and every damn morning you refuse it. Once you give in and accept my offering, you’ll understand why I want it flowing through my veins at all times.” I took the pads Khi handed to me. “What exactly am I supposed to do with these?”

“You’re going to hold them up and I’m going to punch them. We’ll move around a bit. Just keep them in front of you and you won’t get hit.”

“This sounds dangerous and completely unfun. I definitely should have been provided coffee before this.” I put the pads in front of me. “Is there a waiver to sign?” I yelped as Khi landed a punch to the foam I wielded like a shield.

“It’s best if you just shut up, let me hit, and we’ll be done.” Khi was bouncing on the balls of his feet, moving from side-to-side, and throwing quick jabs. He soon fell into a rhythm and I found myself mesmerized by his every move.

Too involved in fantasizing about Khi, I lost focus and one of his hits shoved the foam into my chin, waking me up. He barely noticed. I grinned as a thought filled my head. Khi was in a zone. I wondered if I could do a bit of talking and he’d listen.

With a mental shrug, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to try. He’d either listen, completely ignore me, or get angry and quit. Which actually wouldn’t be such a bad thing because I’d get coffee even sooner.

“Sooo, since you’re