“You leave with that kid, you lose your damn job,” growled Helen. Bull stepped forward, looking down at the woman’s face.
“I don’t think we have a problem with that,” said Bull. “This isn’t a job. It’s torturing kids.”
The entire gym turned to stare at the two men who’d become their confidantes. In just a few short days, the regulars recognized that these men were different and might be able to help them more than Butch and Helen together.
“Hey, a-are you guys forming your own gym?” asked a young man. Before Butch or Helen could respond, Rory got a big grin on his face and nodded.
“Actually, yeah. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re starting our own training facility.” The truth was, they’d had their own training facility for years, helping young athletes to prepare for next level opportunities, what they might be. Sometimes it was training them for military service, sometimes it was preparing them for collegiate athletics. Sometimes, he was just about getting healthier.
Rory and Bull often helped at the gym but Razor, Gunner, and Zulu were the primary trainers.
“Can I join your facility?” asked the kid.
“You fucking weasel!” yelled Helen. “You won’t get your money back. If you leave, your money is gone! No one will get their money back. Your parents are out all that money and you won’t be able to pay these two.”
“We’ll do it for free,” smirked Rory.
“I will destroy you,” growled Helen. Rory raised an eyebrow at the woman and took a step forward.
“Don’t mistake my gentlemanly behavior. I don’t like hitting women but I’ll make an exception for you. Back the fuck away from me.”
Helen knew enough to not challenge the big man. She stepped backward, standing beside her brother and watched as Rory and Bull left the gym, eleven of the fifteen people inside following them.
The only ones left? Archie, Tahlako, and Tony, along with one other young man.
“What are you staring at?” he yelled toward the four young men. “Get back to your fucking exercises.”
He turned on his heels and headed into his office, his sister right behind him.
“What the hell, Butch? What the fuck just happened out there?” she bellowed.
“I don’t know. That little asshole was whining about his stomach and those two wouldn’t let it go. It just got out of hand.”
“Out of hand? We’ve lost eleven people, Butch. Eleven! What are we going to do when the buyers arrive next week?”
“We’ll do what we always do,” said Butch. “We’ll make it up as we go along.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Out of hand? We’ve lost eleven people, Butch. Eleven! What are we going to do when the buyers arrive next week?”
“We’ll do what we always do,” said Butch. “We’ll make it up as we go along.”
“We’ve got it all recorded,” said AJ. “They have buyers coming next week, probably to align with the meet and you can definitely tell they’re freaked out by the two of you leaving with all those kids.”
“How are they?” asked Bull.
“Some are okay. They hadn’t started taking the shots yet. A few are pretty sick. Riley has called in Gabi, Doc, Cruz, Ajei, everyone to help. We’ve got unusually formed masses, heart rates and blood pressure through the roof, emotional trauma, you name it. These kids will be in therapy for years.”
“I should have killed her,” said Rory. “I damn sure wanted to.”
“Same, brother,” said Bull.
“Hey, I’ve got something strange happening,” said Tanner.
“Strange how?” asked Luke.
“Well, I took the photos of Butch and Helen from college and aligned them to their faces now. We expect aging and the program allots for that. But this is something different. Watch.”