Eliza decided not to join them on their jaunt around campus. She said she was worn out from shopping and needed to take a nap. Jamie showed Cadence that there were some food options in the basement of their building, including a smaller grocery store and a couple of restaurants. He also walked her over to the debrief building and let her see the meeting rooms there. She noted they had a lot of technology, which wasn’t surprising considering every single one of them had a computer in his or her eye. He didn’t take her to Aaron’s office because he probably wasn’t actually there, and as Jamie put it, he hoped she’d never have to go there. It was never a pleasant situation when you got called into the office. It was kind of like going to see the principal in school.

They finally ended up at the gym. Cadence was extremely impressed with all of the equipment that was available. Their version of a rock wall was incredibly extreme, and Cadence was looking forward to giving it a try. Jamie also pointed out something they called The Hill which looked like a 75- or 80-degree incline. It was no wonder everyone hated it. There was also a lap pool, sauna, and whirlpool. There were several trainees using all of these services while they were on their tour, and Cadence understood why that would be one of the more popular places to hang out.

After their tour of the back part of the building, Jamie returned her to the gym floor where Aaron was waiting. He was wearing a white T-shirt and gray gym pants, but he found a way to look incredibly attractive even in those, and it was difficult for her to keep from bounding at him and throwing her arms around him.

He smiled when he saw her. The high ponytail she wore swung back and forth as she practically skipped over, and she was sure that and the smile plastered on her face would let him know how happy she was not only to be there but also to see him.

“Hey,” he called to them as they approached. “You’re smiling now, but you might not be once I start putting you through your paces.” From the looks of it, he had been observing a couple of other trainees who were working out with one of the trainers. He said something to a very muscular man with dark hair and a whistle in his mouth and closed the gap between them. “How are you?” he asked.

At first, she thought he might offer his hand to her, or try to hug her, as he made some odd gestures before putting his hands in his pockets. “I’m great!” she exclaimed. “Never better!”

“You showed her the apartment then?” he asked Jamie. She assumed he knew that because he had likely seen at least bits and pieces of the tour through Jamie’s IAC.

“Showed her the apartment,” Jamie confirmed. “She loved it.”

“Good,” Aaron said.

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

Jamie continued. “I guess that well-known interior designer you sprung for paid off, despite the crunched timeline.”

Aaron nodded but didn’t otherwise acknowledge the comment, and Cadence wondered if Jamie meant LIGHTS sprung for or if Aaron himself had paid for her apartment to be remodeled. She wasn’t about to ask that right now.

“Jamie, are you going to stick around and let me torture you, too?” Aaron asked, jokingly.

“No!” Jamie exclaimed. “In fact, I think I will just leave the gym altogether so I don’t get roped into anything. Will you just let me know when she’s ready for me to take her to Christian?”

“Oh, are you going to go with her to get her implant?” Aaron asked

“I asked him to go. Just in case,” Cadence said quietly.

Aaron understood. “Okay, sure. That makes sense. I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks,” Jamie said. Then, turning to Cadence, he said, “Good luck. You’re going to need it.” She reached out to hug him goodbye, and he kissed her lightly on the cheek before making his way to the nearest exit.

While Cadence certainly didn’t mind, she was surprised. Her eyes were wide when she looked back at Aaron, who was smirking at her. “It’s not….” Cadence began to explain.

“You don’t have to say anything to me,” Aaron said. “I already know.”

She realized he meant he could tell by her reaction that she did not have romantic feelings for Jamie. She shook her head and tried to force the Healer completely out of her mind so she concentrated on the tasks at hand.

“All right,” he said leading her over to where the floor equipment was housed. “I’m going to start you out on the treadmill. What we want to work on is your endurance but at your optimal speed. So, if we find that you can run a top speed of thirty-five miles per hour, then we want to work on pushing that speed for as long as possible. There are times when, on a pursuit, you may need to sprint that fast for thirty or forty minutes easily. Go ahead and hop on there, and we’ll get you warmed up,” he stated.

Those numbers still seemed absolutely unbelievable to her, but Cadence removed her warm up jacket and climbed on the treadmill.

“You’re going to want to use this,” Aaron said, hooking the kill switch on to the bottom of her shirt. His fingers grazed her stomach when he lifted the hem of her shirt, and little zaps of energy shot throughout her body. Cadence tried to ignore them, and those blue eyes, as she concentrated on her training. It might just be the hardest thing she did that day.

As Cadence began to follow his directions, she realized her body was now capable of some incredible things. She found she could easily run thirty miles per hour for up to fifteen minutes at a time and that was on one of her first attempts. She could lift hundreds of pounds and throw them the length of the gym floor. Accurately hitting her mark using a regular bow and a crossbow was easy, which was good to know, even though she would also have firearms at her disposal, and they would work with those another time. She even made it up and down the rock wall in the amount of time Aaron asked of her several times, even when he cut her initial goal in half. Every challenge he threw in front of her, she easily conquered until they reached The Hill.

Cadence was drenched in sweat as she took her place in front of the incline.

“You tired?” he asked, that smirk of amusement on his face again.

She nodded. “And sore.”

“Good. That’s why I put this one last.”

“Is it easy?”

“Hell, no. It’s the hardest.”

“Great. Thank you,” she replied making him chuckle.