Silk Encased Steel

Chapter eight

“So you and Valentina?” JT asked casually as they both started their warm up.

Frank laughed, “Nah, we weren’t even really friends in high school, we got to know each other in university when she came to me for physio after a bad fall. I was working as an intern at the place she ended up. You’ll find while she has a lot of guys milling around, she tends to be the little sister or one of the guys.”

“are the men in this city idiots or blind?” JT scoffed.

Frank shrugged, “That’s how she has always wanted it, she has always been a tomboy and has always wanted to be friends with guys more than anything else. High school guys are idiots and never saw her for what she is. 16 year olds are shallow. 

Trust me, the majority of us now that are her friends are not idiots or blind. She’s a cool chick, a lot of fun and easy on the eyes. There’s a lot worse that could happen than to be friends with a girl like her. She’s never been into dating jocks, and most of the guys are people she met through me and the gym or friends of jock  friends. You aren’t the only athlete in her life, which is probably why you aren’t experiencing the crazy fan shtick.” 

He looked JT over sideways, “ But You are not the type she usually ends up with. If you are into her make sure she doesn’t subtly turn you into one of the guys. It’s her M.O. with the jock types.”

JT laughed, “Not gonna happen.”   He mulled over the not the only athlete part while he worked out. That familiar doubt creeping in. “So how’d you get such high profile clientele?” he asked taking a break and looking at the pictures on the wall. Most were hockey players hanging out with Frank with a few baseball Pros sprinkled in. 

“are you waiting for me to say i get the cast offs once she’s done sleeping with them?” Frank asked reading the suspicious side of JT.  “We went to high school with D’mitri, he was an exchange student for two years. He and Valentina were good friends, she helped tutor him... apparently it made being away from home easier on him. They kept in touch, and from there it’s a basic game of six degrees of separation.”  

“Am I really that obviously skeptical about her?” JT asked with his back to Frank. He knew that if he really wanted to make it work he would have to get over it, and learn to trust her intentions. It didn’t help that it was all so new, there was the normal new potential relationship excitement, but JT was so used to letting the doubts overpower it. 

“I get it, if I had a multi million dollar contract like you did, I’d be a bit suspicious too.” Frank answered with a shrug, “my advice is to slow down a bit though. She spooks easily after breakups.”

JT returned to the workout, appreciating how well equipped Franks Gym was, it was geared a bit more to his usual clientele than to professional football but it worked well enough.  JT put his ear phones in and lost himself in the workout, barely noticing the few times Frank came over to spot him. He didn’t hear the door chime.

Yvgeny  walked in carrying bags of food and stopped seeing Frank was with someone new, “What is Brodie doing?” 

Frank opened the door to the back room for Yve, “Working out.” He answered innocently, he enjoyed annoying the Ukrainian by purposely not understanding his broken English.

“Here?” Yve clarified.

“You really wouldn’t believe me if I told you...”  at Yves dirty look Frank shrugged, “He and Valentina are seeing each other.”

“Oh I call bull s**t!” a deep voice exclaimed a few seconds before Wes appeared in the doorway. Wes was an old friend from university who had become a regular at Franks gym after his dream of making the major leagues blew up along with his shoulder.  “Val doesn’t date our kind remember.”

“He is really pretty, and sweaty.” Robin sighed pushing through the door after Wes, “I hope Val really is seeing  him naked.”  Yve raised a brow at his fiance she smiled sweetly and patted his arm, “love you.”

“No really, she brought him by a few hours ago now to get a workout in.” Frank assured them ushering them out into the main room to observe the new guy. They always liked to evaluate Valentina’s new men, “at least he’s not as puny as Todd was.” He added positively.

Robin wisely kept her agreement to herself as she watched Yve’s eyes narrow.  A few years ago when they started dating she would have been convinced he was jealous. She had a hard time accepting Valentina was  actually just friends with her boyfriend.  Robin and Yve had gotten into a few arguments, well to be honest Robin had argued and Yve had stared at her blankly, then laughed. It had taken her a while to realize that unless it was on the ice, Yve was eerily even keeled. It took a lot to get him to raise his voice. 

Valentina and Yve had just seemed too flirty, too relaxed, too familiar with each other. The fact that she was the same with all of the guys didn’t make a difference to Robin. When Robin had threatened to leave; Yve had simply shrugged and told her “She is family, she is not going anywhere.” 

“He’s a machine.” Wes muttered as they watched him do more and more.  

“We met at awards dinner last year, he is like Clydesdale.” Yve agreed.