Noah (4 page)

“I can’t,”
Veronica
started saying but found she could barely talk
,
“
b
elieve…I let you… talk me
…
into this.”

Nellie was breathing just as hard. “But aren’t you excited?” She stopped to catch her breath. “You’re gonna lose so much weight.”

Two loud
bangs
brought the
ir
attention up toward the office door, where
Noah
stood with the phone to his ear
,
h
is
hand on the wall he’d apparently slammed it against and his
expression
seemed
menacing but at the same time sexy as hell
. It surprised her that at a moment like this she would even be thinking like that.

He pointed
his finger
up forcefully,
as in, “pick up the pace.” Both Nellie and
Veronica
groaned and changed the speed on their treadmills back up
,
but
Veronica
didn’t go back to the speed he’d left them on—she
couldn’t
. She already felt ready
to
drop.

Half
an
hour later and one of the most excruciating work outs she’d ever endured done,
Veronica
and Nellie sat on the floor
with
their backs against the wall as
Noah
handed them both a suggested diet.
Nellie took a couple more hits of her inhaler
,
shaking it after each time.
“Now it’s not mandatory for you to stick to this particular diet, but I highly suggest
that you do
if you want to get the most of your training and lose weight as quickly as possible.”

Veronica
watched what Nellie called his
suckable
lips
as he spoke and had to admit they were. Probably the most suckable she’d ever encountered. Too bad she’d never see them again because if
he
thought she was coming back for more of this torture tomorrow he was out of his mind. Luckily, after today’s work out, she was pretty sure Nellie wouldn’t be anxious to come back either
.
 

Tomorrow—gads! Just the thought. She’d probably be
too
sore
to even walk
.
Once
Noah
was done with the rundown of the week
’
s schedule, they were finally out of there. They started very slowly to the door as
Noah
began picking up their mats from the ground. “
Veronica
.”

Veronica
turned to him her body already aching. “You did good. I’m proud of you.”

His
smile alone was enough to warm her insides and she immediately
felt
ashamed.
First
,
for dismissing the next workout so quickly, but then for the
scandalous
thoughts that
followed
about her and he
r
young trainer.

“Thanks
,
”
s
he said, glancing at Nellie.

As soon as they were out the
door,
she knew Nellie would have something to say and she did with a smirk. “He didn’t tell
me
I did good, or that
I
made him proud.”

Veronica
rolled her eyes. “That’s probably because he
expected
you to do well. Obviously
he wasn’t expecting much from me
.” 

She moaned as she sat in Nellie’s car. “God, I need a hot bath and a glass of wine.” She glanced down at the list of food on her
suggested
diet and frowned
.
N
o surprise
that
wine wasn’t on it. She sat
back and
tossed the paper in the back seat.

She heard Nellie wheeze as she took another hit from her inhaler cursing as she shook it. “Damn, I’m out.”

“You have another one?”

Nellie frowned. “At home.” She must’ve seen the concerned look on
Veronica
’s face because she smiled, turning on the car. “I’ll be fine. That just goes to show how out of shape I am.”

Even as they
drove,
Veronica
could hear the low wheezing in Nellie’s breathing.
She saw Nellie reach for her phone from the cup holder.

“No texting and driving, Nellie.”
Veronica
warned.

“No, I’m just checking my voicemail.” She hit a couple of buttons and put the phone back in the cup holder as her voicemails started on speaker.

“Nellie
,
I have news for you. It’s not good. C
all me as soon as you get this message.” Nellie’s younger sister, Courtney didn’t sound too happy and
Veronica
and Nellie exchanged a concerned glance. Nellie’s face was more than concerned almost as if she
already
knew
what it could be
.

When t
he second message started it was Courtney again. “Nellie, Rick is having dinner with her right now. You need to call me. I know you don’t want me doing anything
but I can hardly stand this.
”

Veronica
began to understand the situation. Rick was Nellie’s husband and her suddenly labored
wheezing
said it all
.
Whoever he was having dinner with was not someone Nellie approved of. The third message started and Nellie pulled over to
listen to
it.
Courtney was louder and sounded furious. “Nellie,
I followed them, when they left the restaurant. H
e just checked into a hotel room with the bitch
and the
ir
hands were all over each other
. I know you said to call you first if I ever found something else
,
but
I can’t wait for you to call back.
I’m gonna confront the bastard!”

The line clicked and Nellie was now wheezing out of control. “Honey are you okay?”
Veronica
asked, in a complete panic.

Nellie gestured to the glove compartment her hand on her chest trying desperately to catch her breath.
Veronica
flung it open
,
praying for another inhaler. There was none.

She tried to relax
,
remembering the worst thing Nellie could do was panic. The slower
the
breaths she took
,
the better. She grabbed Nellie’s hands and spoke calmly. “Deep breaths, Nel. Relax.”

Nellie’s wide eyes were frantic.
Veronica
picked up her phone but
continued to
strok
e
Nellie’s arm calmly. “Slow breaths. You can do this.”

Her own heart felt as if it were about to burst through her chest but she managed to remain as calm as possible as she explained the situation to the 911 operator.

Nellie’s wheezing was only getting worse and her lips were beginning to darken reminding
Veronica
of the attack Nellie
had
when they were kids that nearly killed her. “Please hurry!” Her calm was now almost completely gone, but she had to hold it together for Nellie’s sake.

The four minutes it took the paramedics to arrive had to be the longest of
Veronica
’s life. Nellie was barely conscious when they arrived and at this point
Veronica
was the hysterical one. They let
Veronica
know what hospital the ambulance was rushing Nellie to, but the paramedics
refused to
let
Veronica
drive until they checked her vitals to make sure she wasn’t going into shock.

When it was determined she wasn’t they finally let her go. Almost at the hospital, she broke down again in hysterics. She remembered overhearing one of the medics urging the other medic to call the hospital to have a team waiting
outside
the emergency room for Nellie. This was bad.

What in the world would she do without Nellie? She was all
Veronica
had now. Surviving her mother’s death was hard enough, but it was expected. She’d had years to contemplate and accept it that was coming. But this
—
Veronica
was certain she’d never survive losing Nellie.
      
      
     
          
    

~
*
~

“How’d it go?” Jack asked
as
Noah
closed the supply room.

“It went good.” He smiled. “I went easy on them since it was their first day. I wanna make sure they come back.”

“Good thinking. Too many times these beginners come in here all gung ho, get their tail whipped and never come back.”

Noah
nodded. That’s exactly what he’d been thinking. Especially about
Veronica
for obvious reasons, the workout had seemed so much harder on
her
. That’s why he’d made sure to tell her she did good.

“So they’re coming back tomorrow?”

“That’s what they said.”
Noah
really hoped they did. He needed this money and if something didn’t change soon, he’d have to look for a job somewhere else. He really didn’t want to have to leave the gym. It’d been like his second home for years now. He felt more comfortable there than
he did
at the garage
where
he was now staying.
He even showered here instead of using his foster parents’ bathroom. A lot of his personal belonging
s
were here in his private locker, too.

“Noah
,
I wanted to talk to you,” Jack said, scratching the back of his head and looking a bit nervous. “I already talked a little to Gio about this. You boys are all I got. It’s not that I didn’t think you had it in you to train. I hope you know that. I just wanted to wait until I thought you were ready. I’m counting on you guys to do more an
d
more around here as
my tired ass gets older
.
”

Noah shook his head. “Nah, you still have a few more fights in you,” Noah kidded him. “And don’t worry. You can always count on us, Jack.”

Jack had done so much for them already. He
’d never married and had no kids of his own. 5
th
Street and the people he met through it were his life.
Gio told Noah that when his dad died Jack took him under his wing and taught him everything he knew about boxing and being a man. When Gio introduced
them
and Jack found out he was an orphan, raised in foster care his whole life, he’d done the same with him.

Noah clapped Jack
’
s back. “And thanks man for giving me the opportunity to train. I’ll make you proud. I promise.”

Jack smiled and with that their man talk was done. Noah headed for the parking lot.
He hopped on his motorcycle and headed
home
. His bike sputtered reminding him of the other reason he needed more money. The motor on his bike needed a major overhaul. There was no way he could afford to buy a new one. He didn’t want one anyway. This was another one of his comfort zones. H
e
and his Ninja had been together now for over t
wo
years. Even if he ever could afford a newer
and
better one, he’d never sell this one. 

He saw the gang as soon as he came around the corner of
First Street
. Abel was already laughing. Hector smirked but Gio
didn’t
seem as amused as the others. They were leaning against Abel’s old pickup truck. He was forever working on it.

Noah
slowed as he came up to them.

“So how’d it go with the
chicks
?” Abel laughed
.
Clearly,
this was hilarious to him.

Hector, Abel’s younger brother added, “So did you
work them out
good
,
Noah
?
”

Noah
ignored the suggestiveness of
Hector
’s tone, putting his foot on the ground as he came to a stop and pulled off his helmet. “
I took care of business. Since none of you wusses stepped up,” he said this as if
that
annoyed
him
. But the more he thought about it, the more he was glad none of them
had
. The funds from the joke of a check the state provided him with,
were
running
very
low. This couldn’t have happened at a better time.