Gym

I sent her the voice message at three in the morning: tomorrow we’re going back, and this time there’ll be no holding back. She replied with a list of what she wanted him to do to us.

I watched her move through yoga class with a grace that undid me. I never imagined that a chance encounter on the platform would end in her bedroom.

It was eleven at night, the street was empty, and I decided to take my clothes off right there. I had no idea someone staggering on the corner was watching me.

The two towels on the rack told me I wasn’t alone. The smart thing would have been to leave. Instead, I stayed pressed against the glass.

I climbed onto the bench, pressed my eye to the plastic grille, and recognized her: the woman who had been glancing my way all afternoon.

I never imagined that one night in front of a screen, with my partner’s voice in my ear, would unravel everything I thought I knew about myself.

Through the steam of the sauna, she lowered her eyes toward my towel and smiled, as if she knew exactly what was about to happen between us.

The door was barely shut and inside someone kept saying yes, yes. I shouldn’t have looked, but I stayed frozen in the hallway, holding my breath.

The noise was coming from the gym. Samanta thought thieves were inside; what she saw through the half-open door left her breathless and changed how she felt about her mother.

I watched him train every morning and pretended not to look. Until one day I went over, and that decision led me to the most intense night of my life.

I thought arriving at the dead hour would protect me from their eyes. I didn’t count on them coming in to clean just as I got out of the shower.

I caught him watching me in the hotel gym and knew that older married man wouldn’t stop until he had me. What I didn’t expect was how much I wanted him to succeed.