Chapter Eleven

Alexia rushed down the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. She couldn’t let him know that he affected her. Her instincts told her that the basement door was the last in the downstairs hall. She opened it and went down the flight of stairs lit by a solo light bulb.

Then, the badly lit stairs gave away to a large, well-lit open space, filled with every state-of-the-art gym equipment. Five punching bags hung heavy from the ceiling. There was a bench-press, and weightlifting area with numerous barbells and dumbbells with varying weights. On the far side of the gym, there were 5 treadmills. There was an open area for endurance testing and stamina building.

Every necessary equipment for bodybuilding existed there. Alexia was thrilled. They didn’t have a gym like this at home.

Her father was there, punching away with one of the punching bags. His skin shone with sweat and every part of his hard-muscle was outlined and rippled under his skin as he moved. His hands were wrapped in tape, rather than boxing gloves.

“Dad,” she called out. Her father stopped attacking the punching bag and turned to face her. His eyes widened when he saw that it was her.

“Lexi!” he exclaimed.

He quickly wiped the sweat off his body and came to hug her. He squeezed her tight, and she also put her arms around him, happy to see her father again.

“I was so worried, Alexia. What happened? Did Hayden find you? Where is he?” Arthur kept bombarding her with questions.

He released her and kept her at arms’ length, “Were you injured? Were you hurt?”

Alexia chuckled and held her father’s hands, “I am fine Dad. When I left angrily yesterday, I went up the nearest hill I found—”

“Classic Lexi,” input her father, rolling his eyes good-naturedly.

“Then, Hayden found me there, but we were attacked and kidnapped. But we managed to escape this morning and here I am,” she finished.

“I am so glad you’re safe,” her father sighed. He stepped back a little and took in her outfit, “Here to train?”

“Yes, actually. It has been a while since I used the gym, and working out can help me get things off my mind,” she said nonchalantly.

“Okay. Start warming up. I will join you in a bit,” said Arthur.

He went back to his punching bag and continued to duel with it.

To get her blood flowing, Alexia started with some stretches. After stretching thoroughly, she began light exercises. She did a few reps of crunches, sit-ups and press-ups. Then she moved to the treadmill. She started with 2 miles per hour, a nice walking speed. Her father came to the treadmill beside her, and he started with 4 miles per hour. He reached over to increase her speed until both of them started running at the same pace.

“So, Lexi. Tell me something. Have you accepted Hayden as your mate?” he asked.

Alexia tried hard to keep her face expressionless, although her heart skipped a painful beat and sped up, “Not like I have a choice, Dad,” she replied drily.

“You made the right decision, Alexia. Your decision will save us all from doom,” he commented, smiling. It was hard not to return the smile.

Her father instructed her in her workout, pushing her to the limit. With final instructions, he left the gym because he was done with his workout.

Alexia stopped for a drink of water while using the battle ropes. Suddenly, she felt the presence of another person in the gym. She swivelled and saw that it was Hayden and he was shirtless, wearing only a pair of black sweatpants, with a white face towel around his neck. Her mouth went dry.

Her eyes roamed over his exposed torso, taking in his huge bicep muscles, strong neck, defined pectoral muscles and the hard ridges of his six-pack abs. The phoenix tattoo was dark against his light skin as it stretched over all of his chest.

There was a smaller tribal tattoo around his right arm, and he had a tiny cross tattooed in the hollow of his collarbone. Then her gaze went back to his face and he was looking at her with a contrite expression in his blue eyes. She expected him to be smirking because she just checked him out, but she was surprised that he looked sad and apologetic instead.

***

Hayden ran up the stairs to his bedroom, and quickly took a shower. After much begging and pleading, Alexia’s mother told him why she was crying, and where she was—the gym—because he initially thought she went on a run.

Their mate bond was not strong yet, but he could feel a fraction of what she was feeling and it made his heart ache. After taking a shower, he combed his hair and put on his favourite pair of sweatpants. He decided against putting on a top, because he felt more comfortable working out shirtless.

He put on his trainers, grabbed a white face towel and breezed down the stairs. When he got to the basement door, he stopped to gather his thoughts and take a deep breath with his eyes closed.

He heard her voice and Arthur’s through the door, but as he put his hand on the doorknob to turn, the door opened and Arthur came out.

“Arthur, good morning,” he greeted. Alexia’s father glared at him in reply.

“I would have told you thank you for bringing back my daughter, but you don’t deserve that because you did something that hurt her. She may have smiled at me, and teased me like she always does, but I know my Lexi, and her eyes don’t lie. So, you better get back in there and fix what you did, or else,” he let that threat hang in the air, and walked away.

Hayden swallowed. Everyone knew that Arthur always made do of his threats.

He opened the door to the gym and descended the stairs. He felt his heart lurch when he saw Alexia crouched down, working the battle ropes. He stared at her as she dropped the ropes to drink water from a water bottle. Her skin was covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

At that point, she suspected that there was someone in the gym with her so she turned around. Her ponytail swished behind her. He continued to watch her as she checked him out, her eyes lingering on his arms, his abs and his tattoos. His reaction was similar to hers as he took in how toned her body was.

Her skin was lightly tanned, and wiry muscles showed on her arms and back. She also had well defined abs. The white tank top complimented her skin nicely, showing off the swell of her breasts, and her hips and ass were well outlined in her yoga pants.

She looked up to meet his eyes. In that moment of unguarded vulnerability, he saw the hurt and sadness in her hazel-green eyes and his expression fell even more. Then the brick wall came up again and her feelings were closed off from him.

“Alex…” he said, reaching out to hold one of her hands. She snatched it away.

“Don’t touch me!” she snarled. She turned to continue with her work-out but he grabbed her arm again and pulled her towards him.

“Alex, I’m sorry,” he said firmly.

“Release me, Hayden, or you’ll regret it,” she snarled.

“No. Not until you hear me out,” he said. A moment later, she spun and punched him in the nose. He let go of her arm immediately.

“Ow!” he yelled, his hands on his face, “Alex, what was that for?”

There was a mischievous glint in her eye, “I told you to release me, and you didn’t, so I punched you.”

Hayden smirked, “You want to punch me? Go ahead, punch me.”

“You want to take a free beating, fine by me,” she replied and threw a punch to his solar plexus. Her fist did not meet its target because Hayden grabbed it.

“Try again,” he said.

She threw her feet up in a judo kick, but he blocked it with his forearm. She dropped her feet, and tried to give him a right jab. He swatted her fist away.

Frustrated, Alexia began a series of consecutive attacks. Right jab. Left jab. Uppercut. Knee kick. Flying kick. Roundhouse kick. Back kick. Uppercut. Hayden blocked every single one.

She was unaware that he was slowly pushing them backwards until her back was very close to the wall. She bent, panting, with her hands on her knees.

“Are you okay?” Hayden asked, concerned.

“Yes…yes...I’m fine. I just need a minute,” she wheezed.

After a few deep breaths, she stood up and attempted to retreat in order to have more space to deliver her moves. Instead, her back hit the wall.

“Gotcha,” Hayden whispered and moved closer to her, until there was barely any space between both of them.

Alexia placed her hands on his chest to push him back, but he brought up his own hands to hold hers in place.

“Let me go, Hayden,” she protested.

“Not until you hear me out, Alex”, he replied.