VeronicaThe night Veronica Cruz prayed for her mother to die, she never imagined her mother wouldn't wake the next morning, but she didn't. She died in her sleep in the very house that Veronica was now destined to spend the rest of her life alone.That was six months ago. Since then, Veronica's bane of existence consisted of waking to a silent home and wandering aimlessly about from her bed to the sofa in the front room to the kitchen table until it was time to crawl back into bed and start all over again.Her mother had left her a substantial trust with the stipulation that the house would never be sold. The home that had been in the family for generations was to stay within the family for at least another hundred years or until there was no one left in the family to pass it on to. Unless she lived to be more than a hundred, it would probably be sooner since having kids required male companionship and meeting a man required her leaving the house for more than just grocery shopping
NoahDetermined to convince Jack that he was ready to start training, Noah walked into the gym office with a purpose. As soon as he and Gio were in, the guys already there started laughing. Noah frowned. "What's so funny?"None of them said anything. Abel smirked, walking out of the office. Hector could barely contain himself. Jack was the only one not laughing. He held a clipboard and handed it to him. "You wanna train, Quintanilla? Today's your lucky day. I got two out there that walked in with free one-week passes. You got a week to prove to me you can do this."Noah could hardly believe it. For nearly a year now, he'd been trying to convince Jack he could do training like the trainers that Jack so meticulously handpicked. First, Jack said he'd give him a shot when he turned nineteen; then when he turned nineteen almost a year ago, it'd been one excuse after another. Jack had hired him years ago as a maintenance boy. The pay wasn't much, but he also got to work out at the gym and
VeronicaAs soon as Noah was out of sight, Veronica jumped on the scale. How dare he! She'd never even been close to one-eighty her entire life. She gasped when she had to keep moving the weight past one-eighty. It finally stopped just over one eighty-seven. Bringing her hand to her mouth, she felt the knot forming in her throat, and then she pushed the weights back down to zero before Nellie could see what she weighed."Was he right?" Nellie must've seen her near-tears expression because she added, "Well, that's why we're here, right?"Veronica felt like throwing up now. She could hardly believe she'd let herself put on that much weight in just two years! "Can we leave, Nellie? Please?""No." Nellie stood in front of her and took Veronica's hands in hers. "I'm not letting you add any more reason for being depressed and locking yourself away from the world. If being overweight is what has you so depressed, then this is exactly where we belong."Where we belong. Veronica had to smi
A 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 o
Noah"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 belongings were here in his private locke
VeronicaThe waiting room was quiet now, but just hours earlier, it had been pure chaos. Veronica called Courtney to notify her of her sister's asthma attack. Courtney notified the rest of the family, and they were all there within minutes. They were already upset about Nellie's attack, but it was when Rick arrived that things got ugly.Courtney had to be held back. She refused to let Rick in to see Nellie. She blamed him for Nellie's being in the hospital in the first place. Then Nellie's brother, Raymond, arrived, and when he realized why Courtney was so upset, he went on the attack himself. Eventually, Rick left and things began to calm. During the hours that passed, Courtney filled Veronica in on what Nellie had suspected for months. Months. And not once had she mentioned it to Veronica. She couldn't be sure why, but Veronica had a feeling.Since her mother's death, Nellie had been doing everything she could to try to cheer Veronica up. Veronica was too caught up in her own depr
NoahAdmittedly, Noah had been surprised to see that not only had Veronica returned alone the next day but that two weeks later, she was still as committed to her workouts.She even got on the scale at the end of the first week and confessed she'd weighed herself that first day and told him what her real weight had been. She also explained why Nellie hadn't come back, but most importantly, he saw a renewed energy in her now. She asked him to work her out as hard as he could. Then she'd turned blood red when he smirked while telling her he'd never had a female put so much pressure on him. That had finally gotten a smile out of her—a really sweet smile at that.At the end of week two when it came time to weigh in, she was nervous. She'd lost five pounds the first week, and she'd been ecstatic. "Ready?" he asked. He already saw the difference in her face. Her cheekbones were becoming more defined, and her sweatpants were looking even looser than when he'd first laid eyes on her.She t
VeronicaThe very next time Veronica went to the gym, she made it a point to keep any awkwardness at bay. She had no idea what she'd been thinking when she asked him if he wanted to go for a drink. She'd just been so excited about the weight loss she hadn't been thinking. God, she was an idiot.How young Noah really was had been a shock to say the very least, and she was more than happy she had a day away from him to shake it off. He seemed content that there had been no weirdness and they'd fallen back into their regular routine. Veronica made sure there was never any more talk of their socializing outside the gym.Nellie had been separated from Rick for over a month now and was doing better, but she still had her bad days. Rick actually wanted them to try and work things out. He swore the day Courtney followed him to the hotel had been the only time he'd even considered taking his relationship with the other woman to that level. Because of Courtney's confrontation, it never happen