Alle Kapitel von My Husband’s Brother, My Filthy Trainer: Kapitel 131 – Kapitel 138

MIA Clara met me at the side door just after dusk, key in one hand, manila folder in the other, like she’d been waiting right there for me. She didn’t smile too wide, didn’t ask where I’d come from or whose car I’d gotten out of — just stepped back and nodded toward the hallway. “Front desk is straight through there,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Your room’s back here — quiet, away from the patients. It’s small. Bathroom’s shared with the staff hall at the end. Don’t use the one by the exam rooms, okay? That’s for patients only.” “That’s fine.” I shifted the strap of my bag higher on my shoulder. “I don’t mind walking.” She didn’t ask about the bag. Didn’t ask why I’d left Jake’s place or how long I’d been sleeping on his couch. Didn’t mention the quiet goodbye or the way I’d looked away when we said see you Tuesday. She just unlocked a narrow door tucked behind a stack of supply boxes and stepped aside so I could go in first. The room was exactly what she’d said — smal

MIA The front desk phone rang once and cut off before I could reach it, the sound sharp and too loud in the quiet space. I sat back, fingers hovering over the keyboard, and breathed slow through the tightness in my chest. I was still learning the system — appointment codes, insurance fields, which boxes were mandatory and which ones could wait. Clara had walked me through it twice, patient and steady, but my hands moved slower than the cursor, my brain stalling on every new screen. The small room down the hall was mine, though — clean, bright, no one breathing down my neck — and for a few hours that morning, I’d let myself believe this might actually work. That I could build something small and safe. Then the bell above the door chimed. A woman stepped up to the counter. I looked up. My blood turned cold. Lena. She stood there like she owned the place — dress soft and tailored, falling exactly right over her stomach, hair sleek and perfect, that same smile landing the second

MIA Clara’s heels hit the tile before I could move. She pushed the glass door open with her shoulder, bag on one arm, phone still in her hand. The clinic was half-dark. Jake was still at the desk. I was still behind it. For a second nobody spoke. Clara looked at him. Then at me. Then at the empty waiting room. “You’re both still here,” she said. “Closing up,” I said too fast. “Charts. The system glitched on the last two.” Jake didn’t help. He just stood there with his hands off the counter now, like that fixed anything. Clara set her bag down on a chair. “I thought you left an hour ago.” “I did,” Jake said. “Came back.” “For what?” I answered before he could. “Insurance question. One of the afternoon patients. I texted him because I couldn’t reach the file.” It was thin. Clara’s eyes said she knew it was thin. She didn’t call it a lie. She only smiled the careful smile she used with difficult patients. “Well. You’re both upright. That’s something.” She glanced at the dark

JAKE The house smelled like lemon polish and that soft vanilla candle she always burned — clean, safe, exactly the kind of place where nothing messy should ever happen. I dropped the yoga mats on the floor by the window, kept my movements steady, my voice level. “Warm-up first,” I said. “Same order as Tuesday. Nothing different today.” Mia nodded, eyes fixed somewhere near my shoes. She was wearing Clara’s spare leggings again — dark grey, too snug around her hips, pulling tight where they shouldn’t be anything but fabric. She kept tugging at the hem of the oversized shirt, like pulling it lower could hide the shape of her, like I hadn’t already memorized every inch she was trying to cover. Clara was already bending forward, loose and easy, chattering about a patient who’d cancelled last minute and how that meant she actually got to finish her own workout for once. “Clara — don’t lock that knee,” I said, stepping in gently to adjust her stance. “Soft bend through the joint. Mia —