A High-End Finish(61)

I closed my eyes and listened to myself wheezing. I knew I shouldn’t have lifted that much weight, but I wanted to get back into fighting shape and make Penny proud. It was probably stupid, but I liked her and hoped we would become good friends. Or I had, until I saw her being so chummy with Jennifer.

The one thing I refused to do was compete with Jennifer for Penny’s friendship.

I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. You don’t have to compete with anyone, I thought, hating that any time I was around the mean girls, I felt like I was back in high school again.

I was about to sit up when I heard a sudden pop and a loud screech. I looked up and saw that one of the pins had cracked. The front of the pin launched into the room while the back screw dangled from the rack.

And fifty pounds of barbells were about to drop on my head!





Chapter Eleven


My scream came out more like a gasp. My arms shot up to catch the heavy weight, but I wasn’t strong enough to catch the bar midfall. I did manage to slow it down, though, and changed its trajectory enough so that instead of landing on my neck and strangling me, it struck my already tender shoulder.

That was definitely going to leave a bruise.

I still had both hands gripping the bar, but I’d exhausted my muscles and couldn’t budge it. I was trapped beneath the weight, but at least I wasn’t dead.

“Help!” I shouted weakly.

Penny was already racing across the room. She grabbed the barbell with one hand and dropped it on the floor. “Oh, my God, Shannon! Are you all right? I’m so sorry I left you. You were doing so well, I thought you’d be okay for a minute, but I . . . Oh, my God. I’ll go get the manager.”

She ran off and I struggled to sit up. It wasn’t easy to do without shrieking and crying in pain. I had to roll over on my good shoulder and push up from the bench. My injured shoulder was throbbing so badly, I wondered if I would ever use a nail gun again.

That might’ve sounded crazy, but my nail gun was a big part of my life.

Penny was back in less than a minute with an instant ice pack. “Here, use this.” I took it and pressed it against my shoulder. The cold seeped in immediately and I shivered.

“On your way out,” Penny continued, “you need to stop and see Becky, the manager. Tell her what happened and fill out an insurance form.”

“She should probably come over here and check out the rack,” I said, pointing at the broken pin. “See how it snapped off?”

“Oh, crap.” She wiped away a thin stream of sweat from her temple. “I’m just so sorry, Shannon.”

“I’ll be okay,” I said, smiling weakly. “I’m still catching my breath.”

A guy sitting on the incline bench across from me spared me a look of disgust. “Chicks should stay away from this place if they don’t know how to use the equipment.”

I kept my mean-spirited response to myself and instead muttered, “Yeah, thanks for your help.”

But Penny whipped around and said, “Hey, pal, the rack broke. This place better have plenty of insurance, because otherwise, Shannon will own it by the time she gets finished suing their sorry asses.”

Go, Penny, I thought, as I held the ice pack against my shoulder and tried not to whimper.

She turned her back on the guy and squatted down next to me. “What can I do?”

“Don’t worry.” I reached for my water bottle and took a sip. “You got here just in time. Probably saved my life.”

“I wouldn’t have had to if I’d been paying attention. There’s no excuse.”

“Let’s forget it,” I said, trying for a casual smile. “I’m going to go take a shower and then stop for a bite to eat at the pub on the way home. Do you have other plans tonight or would you like to join me?”

“I’d love to join you.”

“Okay, good. Let’s meet in the lobby in about forty-five minutes.”

“Perfect.”

I walked into the locker room, still irritated at Jennifer for distracting Penny in the first place. Maybe I should’ve been annoyed with Penny, too, but she was new enough to town that she hadn’t quite figured out the good guys from the bad guys. And Jennifer was definitely bad. If she hadn’t come over and started flirting with Penny . . . Wait. Flirting? But, yeah, Jennifer had been acting so coy, swaying around and twisting her hair like a ten-year-old talking to her first crush. It was embarrassing. And so out of character that I was instantly suspicious.

Maybe she needed a bank loan. Maybe she was desperate. Maybe her credit was lousy. It would be just like Jennifer to fake a friendship to get what she wanted.

In the locker room, I stripped and wrapped a towel around me and walked into the steam room, hoping some wet heat would help my shoulder. I’d have to remember to grab another ice pack on the way out.

I sat in the damp, sizzling heat for ten minutes and then escaped to the showers. Thirty minutes later, I went to find Becky, the manager.

“Penny told me about the incident,” Becky said. “I’m really sorry about it. We check the machines and equipment every morning and those pins were fine a few hours ago.”

“I believe you,” I said, and meant it. “It was just weird how it happened the way it did. I hate to admit it, but I’m still kind of shaken up.”