Lust Meter System: Conquering Beauties-Chapter 146: Workout

All three of them turned toward the voice.

Two women stood about fifteen feet away, near the free weight section.

The one in front had her arms crossed and her stance wide.

She was tall, maybe five-eight, built in a way that made it hard not to look twice. Dark purple sports bra, black high-waisted leggings that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

Dark wavy hair past her shoulders, full lips, eyes locked directly on Kelvin. Sharp and unreadable.

Above her head: [70/100].

The second woman stood a few steps behind her. Shorter, leaner, quieter about it.

White sports bra, grey fitted leggings, blonde hair pulled back in a high ponytail.

Her hands were loosely clasped in front of her, her whole posture easy and calm.

Above her head: [65/100].

Kelvin’s face went blank for half a second.

Then, quietly, almost to himself: "Holy shit."

Liam glanced at him. "Who are they?"

Steve answered before Kelvin could, his voice low and flat. "One in front is Priscilla. One behind is Jane."

He said it like that was supposed to explain everything.

Liam waited for more. Nothing came.

Steve leaned in slightly. "Are you two still fighting?"

Kelvin exhaled slowly through his nose. His jaw shifted. "I’m not sure anymore."

Steve nodded once, then stood up from the bench and grabbed his towel. "Alright. I’m out."

He walked past both of them without looking back, heading straight toward the two women. When he reached them, he gave a small, easy smile. "Priscilla. Jane."

Priscilla nodded at him. Jane smiled back, soft and polite.

Steve kept walking, disappearing around the corner of the cable machine section.

Kelvin stood there for a moment, staring at Priscilla.

He looked like a man doing math in his head and coming up with an answer he didn’t fully trust.

Then he started walking toward her, slow, one hand lifting to scratch the back of his neck. A nervous laugh came out of him that didn’t sound like him at all.

"Hey, Pris—"

She kissed him.

Just closed the remaining distance, grabbed the front of his shirt, and pulled him down into it.

Kelvin’s hands came up on instinct. One landed on her waist. The other hovered in the air for a moment, lost, before he gave up and let it settle on her hip.

The kiss was not quick. It was not shy. It was the kind that made people stop and look, and they did.

A guy passing with a dumbbell in each hand slowed down, his eyes drifting toward them before he forced himself forward.

A woman on the treadmill lost her rhythm for a full second. A guy near the squat rack just stopped completely, watching openly.

Then, from somewhere near the stretching mats, someone started clapping. Slow at first. Then a second person joined in. Then a third.

A guy by the water fountain cupped his hands around his mouth. "Get it!"

Laughter rippled through that corner of the gym.

Liam stood completely still, eyes wide.

’What in the world is happening right now.’

The kiss lasted maybe ten seconds. Maybe longer.

When they finally broke apart, Priscilla stepped back with her arms dropping to her sides, looking entirely unbothered, like she hadn’t just kissed a man in front of thirty people who were now minding their business again, slowly, reluctantly.

Kelvin blinked a few times. His hand was still on her hip. He looked like a man who had just woken up in a country he didn’t recognize.

"Well," he said. "That happened."

Priscilla smiled. It was a very specific kind of smile. The kind that knew exactly what it had just done. "You want to work out together? Like we always do?"

The confusion left Kelvin’s face immediately. His posture shifted, the nervous energy dissolving into something more familiar. He grinned. "Let’s get started."

Priscilla glanced back at Jane. "Come on."

Jane nodded and followed them, the three of them moving off toward the squat rack. As they went, Jane glanced back over her shoulder at Liam, just for a moment, her eyes moving from his face to his shoulders and back up. Then she turned away again, her ponytail swinging.

Liam watched them go.

Kelvin was already gesturing at a machine, talking. Priscilla was nodding, her body language open now, relaxed. Jane walked quietly beside them.

’There he goes,’ Liam thought.

He stood there for another second, then looked around the gym.

People had cycled back into their own orbits.

A guy near the bench press was mid-rep, his face red, his arms shaking slightly on the way up.

A woman on the leg extension machine had her headphones in, watching her own form in the mirror, adjusting on every rep.

Near the cardio section, a woman had her phone propped on the treadmill console, running at a steady pace while angled just slightly toward the camera.

Liam’s eyes landed on Steve.

He was over by the far wall, setting up at a bench by himself now, loading plates with practiced efficiency.

’I should go to him before it becomes obvious I have no idea what I’m doing here.’

He walked over.

Steve looked up when he got close. "What’s up?"

"I need help." Liam kept his voice even. "I don’t really have a plan and I’ve got an injury. My ribs. Nothing too serious but they’re still healing."

Steve stopped what he was doing and looked at him properly. "Your ribs."

"Yeah."

"And you’re here."

"My friend didn’t mention where we were going until we were already in the car."

Steve stared at him for a moment.

Then he shook his head slowly, the way a man does when something doesn’t surprise him at all but still exhausts him slightly.

"Of course he didn’t."

He set the plate down and thought for a second, his eyes moving across the gym floor. "Alright. No weight work. With your ribs you don’t want anything putting pressure on your core, even light stuff. You’ll compensate without realizing it and make it worse."

"So what can I do?"

"Treadmill. Walk it. Don’t run, don’t incline it too much, just get the blood moving. Fifteen, twenty minutes. After that, go to the mats over there and stretch. Hip flexor, hamstrings, shoulders. Nothing that twists your torso."

Liam nodded along, following up until the stretching part, where the words started blurring together a little.

"That’s it. That’s your session today."

"Alright." Liam said.

’The treadmill part I’ve got. The stretching part I’ll figure out when I get there.’

"Don’t try to do more than that," Steve said, pointing at him. "I know how it goes. You come in, you feel fine for the first ten minutes, you start thinking maybe you can push it a little. Don’t."

"Understood."

Steve looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. Let’s go."

"I can handle it from here."

"I know you can." Steve said. "I just want to help. Come on."

Steve set his plate down and walked him over to the nearest treadmill, tapped a couple of buttons on the console until the settings were where he wanted them, then stepped back. "There. Just keep it there. Don’t touch anything else."

Liam looked at the screen, then back at Steve. "Alright."

Steve nodded and left him to it.

The belt started moving under him, steady and low, and he settled into it. He put his hands on the side rails for a second, found his footing, then let go.

He glanced up at the mirror running along the wall ahead of him and caught his own reflection looking back. Then his eyes drifted sideways in the mirror.

A woman two treadmills over was running properly, arms pumping, headphones in, eyes forward.

The guy on the elliptical beside her was going at about half her speed and breathing twice as hard.

Someone’s playlist was bleeding faintly out of their earbuds, some bass-heavy song that Liam could almost make out but not quite.

His ribs were fine. Just walking. Nothing to complain about.

He looked across the floor toward the squat rack.

Priscilla was under the bar now, her stance wide, hands gripping it. Kelvin was behind her, hands hovering near her waist, spotting.

She lowered down slowly, controlled all the way, then drove back up. Kelvin said something. She laughed, her whole face shifting, and said something back. He grinned.

Jane was on a nearby bench doing dumbbell curls, her form clean, her focus internal.

Liam watched them for a moment, then turned back to the treadmill display in front of him.

Twelve minutes left.

He kept walking.

His mind drifted to his phone.

Tasha still hadn’t texted.

He exhaled and looked up at the mirror running along the wall ahead of him.

His reflection stared back.

He looked like someone who had been dragged to the gym against his will, which was accurate. He looked also like someone whose ribs hurt, which was slightly less visible but equally accurate.

Eight minutes left.

He kept walking.

Eventually the treadmill slowed on its own as he brought the time down to zero, the belt easing to a stop under his feet.

He stepped off, grabbed the small towel he’d brought from the rack by the entrance, and wiped his face even though he hadn’t really broken a sweat.

The stretching mats were along the far side of the gym, a wide strip of blue foam flooring near the window.

A couple of people were already there.

A man lying on his back doing a hamstring stretch, one leg raised. Another guy sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, which Liam chose not to question.

He found a clear space and lowered himself down, slow and careful on the way to the floor, one hand bracing just in case.

His ribs held.

He started with his hamstrings. Legs out, reaching forward. Nothing dramatic. The stretch moved up through his lower back, which felt stiff in a way he hadn’t noticed until right now.

He held it.

Then hip flexors, one knee on the mat, leaning forward until he felt the pull through the front of his hip. He switched sides.

His shoulders next. One arm across his chest, hand gripping just above the elbow, pulling it in.

He was mid-way through the second shoulder when a voice landed right next to him.

"That’s a pretty simple stretch and you’re still struggling?"

Liam turned his head.

A woman was standing a few feet to his left, arms loosely crossed, watching him with the kind of expression that said she’d been there long enough to have an opinion.

Above her head: [32/100].