Everyone was up and changed into their get ups. Jane was still glued to Bloom, with whom she was having a lengthy debate on which self harming method was most efficient. Crimson was hanging out by herself, though she would occasionally get a glance at Samuel, who himself was listening to the tallest in the room.

“And after my Ma passed away, my Pa began drinking like a sailor.” Hawk was in the middle of a story, which seemed to have Samuel’s genuine interest. “He would beat me up on the daily and always tell me I had to be a man women would be proud to call a husband.”

“I guess that’s what they call tough love, huh?” Is the shorter of the two’s response as he strokes his goatee.

“I gotta thank my old man for what he taught me, no matter the methods. I’m a great man because of it.”

Overhearing their talk, the shortest in the room snickers. “Being big ain’t enough, tough guy.”

“Your ego sure is big for someone so small.”

“Thank you very much.” She adds with the sassiest tone possible, which infuriates the bigger man.

Before this back and forth could continue though, Deck wakes up, drawing everyone’s attention. But rather than saying anything right away, he walks up to the kitchen and prepares a sandwich out of whatever he could find inside the fridge.

After the first bite and swallow, he speaks. “Alright, everyone, gather up. This is gonna be a long week.”

“Week?” Most of them speak in semi unison.

“Wasn’t this going to happen soon?” Hawk asks.

“No sooner than one week. This all needs prep time,” is his answer as he takes another bite. “And most of my contacts haven’t delivered the things we’ll be needing anyway.”

“Then what should we do? Be bored to death?” Bloom asks.

“Prepare your physiques. If you’re not up to par, you’ll lag behind and ruin everything.” He then uses his free hand to reach for his phone, dialing up a number. “I know someone who’ll whip y’all in shape real good.”

After a short call, he goes back to his room. At the door though, he speaks up again. “She’ll arrive tomorrow. You can use the clothes in the wardrobes, by the way.”

With those pieces of information, they go back to their own devices.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The day itself is smooth sailing. Bloom and Jane spend the whole afternoon outside while the remaining three decide to have a work out session.

The redhead was already wearing her usual sports clothes, hair tied to a ponytail and everything. Hawk went with plain blue shorts and a sleeveless shirt. They really did a good job showing how massive he was.

The last of the three had only brought pants within the extra clothes inside his backpack so he opted to wear whatever the house had to offer. And luck wasn’t on his side as he had to wear a white set of clothes similar to Hawk’s.

“Whatever works, I guess.”.

A good bit of the afternoon is spent doing various exercises with Crimson leading them along. They finished it with a jog around the block.

At some point, Hawk pointed something out. “Shouldn’t we be worried about showing our faces like this?”

“No one here knows us,” Samuel argued. ”And I’d rather not die of boredom.”

“Same,” was the redhead’s short agreement.

Hawk just shrugged and they kept going.

Later, they came back to the house for a well earned rest.

“Man, I’m beat.” The man in white says. “It’s been a while since I went out like that.”

“Eh, this was something.” Hawk sounds pretty nonchalant about what he considers a very non-intensive work out session. “I was never the biggest fan of cardio.”

The freckled woman contents herself with a shrug as she goes to have a shower.

The remaining two of the group arrive not long after. They were having a conversation about movies but no one really paid that much attention.

Jane is the first to comment on their looks. “You guys hit the gym or something?”

“Sweat is so disgusting.” Bloom says while cringing, to which the mohawk man chuckles.

The rest of the afternoon sees everyone to their own devices. The house had two bedrooms, each one now occupied by either gender. The boys had the smaller guest room while the girls lucked out with the bigger one.

Crimson didn’t make an effort to know the other two girls keeping her company, both of whom were doing whatever on their phones on the bed. She herself was scrolling through social media on a small laptop,

Hawk was still in the mood for his routine exercises and was doing push-ups. To challenge himself, he had asked his companion to sit on his back. He still effortlessly went up and down for a good few rounds before giving a rest.

“By the way,” he starts. “What’s up between you and J? You seem ok with her being into someone else.”

“Sure am.” Samuel, who was back to his usual fit, shrugs while smirking. “We’re just friends.”

“That’s what they all say.”

With a raised eyebrow, the shorter of the two asks. “What about you? Anyone that has you hooked?”

“I’ve had a few one offs.” He then shifts the focus from himself. “What about you?”

Catching onto that but choosing to stay quiet, Sam instead answers him. “Up until now, I guess I only really ‘dated’ someone once.” There were very big air quotation marks as he spoke of it. “Right now though, I think Crimson is cute.”

With a snort, Hawk stretches his arms, being done with his quick rest. “She looks like the type that wouldn’t give two craps about dating.”

“Honestly? Kind of same.” Is his response as he lays on the floor to think about non important stuff.