Broken and Powerful

Chapter 13

JEDA POV

The door creaks as I open it slowly. I quickly look up and down the hall nervous that I will get caught doing something I shouldn't. I scramble into the room and close the door behind me when I see nobody.

The lights were already on, but looking around, there was nobody here but me. I let out a deep breath as I look at the empty workout equipment.

God how I missed this.

The adrenaline that fills me just from the smell of the room caused a small smile to spread across my face. It was quiet without the music blaring like it was the last time I was here. The room was large with every kind of equipment you could ever need.

There was a door across the room with a sign on the wood that read, 'men's locker room'. My eyes roamed the walls only to realize there wasn't a women's locker room. No wonder. I was probably the only woman in the house. No woman was stupid enough to live in this place, much less work for Stefano.

Shaking my head, I tied my hair up in a pony and looked around the room. What to do first.

I moved over to the side of the room and did a quick stretch before going over to the treadmill for a warm-up run. The feeling of my lungs burning made me smile while I listened to my shoes hitting the track. There was a weird feeling in my chest that I couldn't place for a moment.

It was the feeling of freedom. Freedom to do as I wished. Freedom to strengthen my body and mind. Freedom to be me.

Although I knew I couldn't leave the house, this was the closest I was to doing as I wished since I moved in with Jerad.

Half an hour later, I was coated in sweat from the baggy sweatpants and oversized sweater. Stepping off the machine, I took a few minutes to catch my breath as I pulled the sweater off.

Nobody was in here anyway so there was no point wearing it. Plus I had a feeling everyone would find out about it eventually. If I was going to be here until I beat Richard and Stefano in a fight, there was no way I was going to be able to keep hiding them.

Looking up, I saw my reflection in the mirror covered wall behind the squat racks. I looked like a mess with sweat dripping from my face, my hair sticking to my face. But, the person in the mirror looked confident and powerful. Surely that wasn't me.

Forcing myself to look away, I roamed around the room while eyeing the equipment. They all looked semi-new with the glossy finish still intact. No rust was spotted on any of the machines. They must have taken care of this place for it to look this clean.

Finding my favorite workout equipment, a smile spread across my face as I crossed the room towards it.

The punching bags looked older with many tears in the black, rough fabric, just like the one at my old gym.

There was a small bin next to it with wrapping tape and gloves. Grabbing the tape, I sat down on one of the benches and wrapped my knuckles tightly.

The feeling of the tape reminded me of my old MMA friends. We were all close and would go clubbing after a win and celebrate each other's victory with alcohol.

Some nights, they would get too drunk and start picking fights with random people just because they could. I was the mom of the group and would bring them back to my apartment before they could cause problems and get us banned for life. The apartment was small and rustic looking, but I loved it since I never needed a lot of space.

The mornings were always full of pancakes, bacon, and eggs that would make my apartment smell like heaven. We would sit around on the floor in my living room and laugh about what happened the night before.