Chapter 2

Walter exclaimed, "How greedy are you, getting an unlimited credit card frozen by the bank?!"

I quickly explained, "It's not what you think. The bank froze it because I kept making purchases under $10, and they suspected the credit card had been stolen. I was worried Chloe might get mad if she found out, so I hid the card here. Please don't tell her about it."

Everyone was silent for a few seconds before someone cursed out loud.

"Is he some sort of village bumpkin? He has a black card, and he's still making $10 purchases? I would buy up an entire store if I had a card like that."

"You're a bumpkin too. All you’d buy with a black card is an entire store? I'd quit my job and buy myself tons of cars and houses!”

Walter turned red from holding in his anger, and he almost broke the card in his hand.

That was when the alarm on my phone went off. It was not the time to be dealing with Walter, and I headed to the equipment area. "I've given you everything back. There isn't anything else, is there? I still have one last set of my bench press to finish, so bye."

Walter was taken aback, but his face quickly fell. "Are you taunting me, Carson James?"

I looked back at him blankly. "What? I'm working on my chest today, and I really do have one more set to finish."

Walter suddenly reached out to push me on the shoulder, but I did not budge. I glanced at his hand, then back at him. "Have you stopped training recently? Your arms seem a little weak."

Someone burst out with a laugh, and Walter's expression darkened. He yelled furiously, "Hold him down!"

Dozens of bodyguards surrounded me instantly, and I finally realized something was wrong. I quickly said, "Don't be in a hurry to get physical. We can talk things out."

Several bodyguards pressed me down on the shoulders and my back. I wanted to struggle out of their grips, but Walter walked up to me and stared down at me with a sneer. "How can you be so arrogant when you're nothing but a kept man living off a woman?"

Walter suddenly raised his leg and stepped hard on my right arm. A crisp crack echoed in the air, and an intense pain exploded from the contact. Walter smiled at me maliciously.

"Look at how you're buffing up every day. Isn't this part of your plan to seduce Chloe? Let's see how you're going to seduce her now."

I was trembling from the pain and could hardly speak.

Walter was finally happy. He crouched by my side to pat my cheek. "Remember this lesson, and stay away from Chloe from now on."

After he was done warning me, he led his bodyguards out and left. Everyone around exclaimed in shock.

"He must have broken a bone."

"I guess it isn't that easy being a kept man."

One of them glanced at me and smirked. "You deserve this. You're a big man with working limbs, but out of all the things you could do, you chose to leech off a woman."

"That's right. You always need to pay the price for taking shortcuts."

I was left alone on the ground, and no one offered to help me. It took me some time to pull myself together, and I used my left hand to push myself off the ground slowly. My right hand was swollen, and it hurt badly every time I moved it.

I was a little sad as I looked down at my hand. It was not because everyone was saying horrible things to me, but because I had added weight to my routine today. If I did not maintain my workout routine, my efforts would be wasted.

That was when my phone buzzed with a text from Chloe.

Chloe: [I'll be back tomorrow, babe. Remember to pick me up at the airport.]

The text ended with a kissing emoji.

I stared at the text, feeling upset. I replied to her with a voice note, "Why do you need me to pick you up when you've already got someone new?"

A second after I sent out the voice note, Chloe replied with another text.

Chloe: [Someone new? You're the only one I have, babe. Did something happen?]

Chloe called me right after, and I wanted to pick up, but the owner of the gym suddenly spoke up behind me. "Hey! You've given our gym a lot of trouble today. You shouldn't come here anymore."

I was surprised. I looked down at the gym membership card that Walter did not take with him, and said, "I have seven more months of my membership. If you want to kick me out, you'll have to compensate me."

The owner waved me off impatiently. "You should consider yourself lucky that I didn't make you compensate the gym for the chaos and trouble you've caused here. You still have the gall to ask me for compensation? Get out!"

"But I wasn't the one who did this—" I tried to argue.

He stopped me heartlessly. "Stop your nonsense and get out right now!"

Several gym instructors came up to me and grabbed me by both arms to drag me out the door. When I was thrown out, all I had was my phone. I grabbed a gym instructor and pleaded, "My eggs and drumsticks!"

"Get out! You might not even make it through today, yet you're still thinking about your crummy food?"

He flung my hand off and cursed before slamming the door in my face.

My phone, which was the only thing I managed to save from the gym, lit up with notifications. There were several missed calls from Chloe. I wanted to return the call, but a text from her popped up.

Chloe: [I have an emergency meeting right now. I'll call you when I'm done. Wait for me, baby. Don’t let your mind wander!]