BEAST Read Online Free PDF Page B

weren’t hooping and hawing because they didn’t want to attract Bruce’s attention. With a sigh, Christopher joined them.
     
    “Dude, look at her go.” Roddy said.
     
    “We’re taking bets that she’s going to black out.”
     
    Christopher watched the woman pushing herself. She was on the treadmill again and this time she was going at a run. After a few more minutes she finally stopped and the hooping and hollering grew a bit louder as money passed hands.
     
    “Fifteen minutes!” Someone said loudly. “That’s my girl.” They disbanded and went about their duties. Christopher lingered. She’d dropped down on the mat on her back. She was breathing hard. Shit, she was going to seize up doing that. Her arm was across her face. He leaned in closer.
     
    She was crying.
     
    Christopher’s back straightened. Did she hurt herself? Should he go check on her? He was contemplating this when she pulled herself back up to her feet. She moved stiffly back to the treadmill. She started it again and got back on it!
     
    Christopher placed his hands on his hips and watched. She was going to walk it out, he thought. That was good. But then he saw her pushing up the speed and she began running again. Damn…
     
    Christopher tapped the controls and zoomed in on her face. Sweat and tears were evident but he could see that her brow was drawn and he saw that she wasn’t going to stop until she met her own personal goal. He heard Carlos come up behind him and he quickly flipped the screen to the corridors. He didn’t want any of the guys seeing her cry.
     
    ~***~
     
    Ashleigh hurt so bad that even though she knew she shouldn’t, she came straight home, popped ibuprofen, took a hot bath and then crawled into bed without dinner.
     
    The next day when she went to the gym she was walking stiffly. Blues music was playing this time. How apropos. She looked at the giant on the treadmill. Did he even know she was there? He never even flinched when she came in through the door. He never even turned to look in her direction. Well today she planned to keep her eyes on him. She just wanted to know what he looked like. He had to be fine with a body like that.
     
    He generally left at six so while she was on the curling machine she kept her eyes on him. He didn’t look tired even though his dark clothes were made even darker with his sweat. But his gait was steady. Six came and she saw him switch off the machine. His head was down when he headed straight for the boombox and removed the CD. She finally saw him do it. Generally the music stopped and he was half out the door before she looked up.
     
    He must have sensed her looking because he glanced at her; just a glance. And in that one brief second Ashleigh’s light brown face paled even lighter. Her eyes widened as her brain tried to make sense of what she saw. The man’s face was split in half.
     
    Jesus, she’d never seen anything like it. It was as if someone had taken a machete to him and then someone else had tried to sew the pieces back together. There was a visible seam that ran from his chin, over his lip up into one nostril. His nose was flattened and flared crookedly. The seam continued up between his brows and then ran a crooked pattern to disappear beneath the hood.
     
    They called it a cleft palate but she’d never seen one so bad. The two halves of his face had seemed to shift; the bone structure beneath the flesh, causing his face to sink in slightly giving him a gorilla–like appearance. He also had no color. He was as white as an albino. His grey eyes were fringed in reddish lashes that looked almost non-existent. His upper lip seemed to have three distinct sections that she couldn’t quite understand. He was by far the scariest looking man she’d ever seen.
     
    He was out the door before she realized that she’d stared. She felt herself blushing and hoped that she hadn’t made him feel like a monster. But he’d shocked her. She rubbed her face in