Chapter 39 Club Houses
Aria
I walked into the gym at the back of the clubhouse because Jax told me Grayson was waiting for me, and I could hear the sound of someone hitting a heavy bag before I even opened the door. The room was huge and filled with weights and mats, but it felt much smaller once I saw Grayson standing in the middle of it.
He was wearing a thin black t-shirt that was damp with sweat, which made it easy to see the muscles in his back as he moved around. He stopped what he was doing and watched me walk toward him, but he didn't say hello or ask how I was sleeping.
"You need to learn how to stand properly, because if someone grabs you, you're just going to tip over like a doll," he said, and he didn't even wait for me to put my bag down before he started pointing at my feet.
"I've been standing just fine for twenty years, Grayson, so I don't think my balance is the biggest problem I have right now," I told him, though I still moved onto the mats like he wanted.
"The men outside these walls don't care about your sarcasm, Aria, so pay attention and do exactly what I do," he replied, and he stepped in front of me to show me a basic fighting stance.
"Keep your weight on the balls of your feet and don't lock your knees, because you need to be able to move in any direction without thinking about it."
I tried to copy him, but I felt like a complete idiot standing there with my hands up near my face while he circled me. He wasn't satisfied with how I was doing it, so he stepped in close and put his hands on my waist to shift my weight to the side.
The heat from his palms soaked through my shirt immediately, and I felt a sharp buzz go through my skin that made it very hard to remember what he was saying. He didn't let go right away, and I could feel him looking at the top of my head while he adjusted my posture.
"Your center of gravity is too high, so you need to sink down a little lower," he whispered, and his voice was so deep it made my chest feel tight.
He moved behind me to fix my shoulders, and I felt his breath against my ear as he reached around to grab my wrists. He pulled my arms up into a defensive position, and for a second, his chest was pressed right against my back.
I could feel his heart beating, and it was fast, which made me realize that this was just as hard for him as it was for me. He stepped back suddenly, like he had been burned, and he held up his hands for me to strike them.
"Hit my palms as hard as you can, and don't hold back because you're not going to break me," he told me, but he wouldn't look me in the eye.
I took a swing at his right hand, but I was so distracted by him being near me that I missed and ended up stumbling forward. I lost my footing on the smooth mat and started to fall, but he caught me by the waist and pulled me back up against him.
We were standing so close that I could see the sweat dripping down his neck, and I could feel the tension in his arms as he held me steady. Neither of us moved for a long time, and the only sound in the gym was our breathing.
"You're not focusing, Aria," he said, but his voice wasn't cold anymore, it just sounded tired.
"It's hard to focus when you're treating me like a soldier one minute and then touching me like this the next," I told him, looking up at his face.
"You act like you hate being near me, but you're the one who keeps pulling me into these rooms."
Grayson let go of me and walked over to the water fountain, taking a long drink before he turned back to look at me.
"I'm doing this so you don't get killed, and that's the only reason, so stop trying to make it into something else."
"You're a liar," I said, and I walked over to him because I wanted to see if he would stay put or run away.
"I saw how you looked at me in the garage, and I felt how you were shaking just now when you were holding my waist, so don't tell me this is just about training."
He slammed his hand against the wall, but he didn't look angry, he just looked frustrated.
"It doesn't matter how I feel, because I can't be with someone like you, Aria. I have a life that ruins everything it touches, and I've already lost enough people to know that I shouldn't be near you."
"Is this about Elena? Because the women in the kitchen told me what happened to your mate," I said, and the room went completely silent after I mentioned her name.
Grayson’s eyes went dark, and for a second, I thought he was going to tell me to leave. He didn't yell, but his voice was like a piece of ice. "You shouldn't listen to the gossip in this house, because they don't know the whole story and neither do you. What happened back then has nothing to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me if you're using it as an excuse to treat me like a headache," I argued, but he just turned his back on me and picked up his towel.
"We're done for today," he said, walking toward the door without looking back. "Go back to your room and stay there until I send someone to get you for dinner."
I watched him leave, and I felt a mix of anger and sadness because I knew he was just trying to protect himself. I stayed in the gym for another twenty minutes, hitting the heavy bag until my knuckles were sore and my arms were shaking.
I wasn't a wolf, and I didn't have his strength, but I wasn't going to let him hide behind his past forever.
When I finally walked back to the kitchen to get some water, I saw Jax and a few other guys looking at a computer screen with worried expressions.
They didn't notice me at first, and I heard them talking about a signal that was coming from inside the clubhouse walls. I didn't know what it meant, but I knew that the peace we had right now wasn't going to last much longer.