Noah

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

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

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

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

NoahThere was something about Veronica tonight. Noah couldn't put a finger on it, but she was acting a little differently. After all this time training her, they'd finally found a happy medium. The first few days after his age revelation had been a little weird, but they'd gotten past it.He still couldn't get over how good she sounded on the phone. He'd been struck by her voice from day one, but hearing her over the phone had been something else. When she walked in tonight, his heart had taken on a different beat. It was crazy. It had only been two days since he'd last seen her, but he actually thought he might've missed her. If he hadn't been so busy moving all his soggy shit out of that garage and trying to patch the roof up in the pouring rain, maybe he would've noticed more.She was a little too thoughtful tonight. A few times, he had to ask her the same thing twice because she'd been so preoccupied.Done with her run on the treadmill, she stood off to the side, draining her