Dressed in workout clothes, she stood waiting for a particular person to show.
This was Mathias place. He had won Quinn over and her choice not continue their relationship had not affected it. For that she was glad. Family rumor was that someone else was really running the place. His new girl?
That news had both surprised and comforted Delilah. Cora had been part of his life for a long time when he had been basically the black sheep of the family. Now, if rumors were correct, her cousin had some common sense knocked into him.
She would have to meet this woman soon.
But for now she needed to chat with Mathias. She just hoped he didn't kill her for being here so early.
---
For all his thought of cutting down on his training after the fight, Mathias had never actually done so. He was still in early, and he still stayed late, usually basing his patrols from the warehouse to start and had been pleased to find good prey in the area. Though lately due to his other obligations his nightly patrols were less common, instead he found himself spending more and more time behind a desk in his office in Negaspace than he did tracking down the scum of the earth.
His surprise to find Delilah there though, was fairly obvious. He had turned the corner and had frozen there for a moment, before walking over to meet her at the door. “You could have called, you know,” he said with a small hint of humor in his voice. “I take it this isn’t a social call though?”
He was eyeing the workout clothes, which meant she probably had a reason to be at the gym that wasn’t just a hi, hello, please tell me my ex-isn’t here right now.
“What’s up?” He asked, unlocking the door fully and stepping inside to turn on the lights so the whole gym lit up in the early morning light.
---
The sound of his voice was welcoming. It first told him he wasn't mad but it also was a strange comfort. He was family but as they had aged, Delilah had found him more and more of a friend.
“Calling is so overrated. Besides, family rumor has it there is a new woman in the picture and last thing i want to do is interrupt the honeymoon.” Delilah chuckled, following him in and taking in the place. A long whistle escaped.
“Wow. You did good.” She sounded impressed as she gazed around.
Taking a deep breath, she cast him a look. “Well, what do you think I want?”
---
“I wondered how long it would take the family rumor mill to start wondering about Imara…” Mathias said with a small grunt and a bit of a roll of his eyes. After all, he’d had to call in favors on the business side of things and that meant her side of the family. Still, he was sure that Imara had not escaped their notice. “Trust me, you wouldn’t have interrupted the honeymoon, we’ve been together for… awhile now.”
It had been a bit of time… Neither of them were really big about dates and all that, which was a small blessing… But things seemed to be getting more and more closer to a situation where he was willing to open himself back up fully again. He just needed to get over the last little hump from the last time he’d been badly burned in that regard.
Her comment did not go unheard, he gave a small smirk and shook his head. ‘Not all me, some of it was your family, some of it was Quinn’s money… The main workout floor was me… Imara’s pretty much the entire office space…” He pointed up at the top of the stairs where the office was tucked in behind a large floor to ceiling window. “Good to make sure nobody’s ACTUALLY fighting.”
He gave her another once over, and shook his head.
“If you’re here to work out, I can probably help you out,” He said with a small chuckle. “Though your friend cost me a lot of skin when Imara found out she was a freebie…” He said, making a face. “But she’s a good kid, she’s got a lesson later this week, she called me back to verify if I was free.”
---
Visually, Delilah rolled her eyes. “I did not tell her to come to you free of charge. I just said if you gave her a hard time to let me know.” The raven haired woman sighed. “Mercy is a doll though. You have to admit that.” Chuckling, her eyes now moved towards the office he had pointed to.
“Eyes in the sky. It makes sense. Leave it to the women to really run a place.” Delilah teased, stepping closer to Mathias and elbowing him in the side.
“And don't worry. It hasn't been much. Most are honestly impressed with her. To get you doing all this. They figured either blackmail or a threat would be needed. So when dad got the phone call about working out the finances, needless to say he was surprised.”
“Dare I say they hope you bring her home for Grandma's birthday. She was rather disappointed about Cora leaving. Though she did swear she never liked the hussy anyway.” Delilah shrugged. She didn't know the break up story. If Mathias wanted to tell her, he would. “But glad you find someone who seems to be good for you. And if she's running this place, put a ring on it.” Delilah snickered.
“So it will keep her off your back, I'll pay for a membership. But yea. I need a place to...get out some steam…” Delilah admitted her hands spinning as if rising with steam.
---
“She is, and I did that as a family favor, just so you know,” Mathias said with a small chuckle, motioning for Delilah to follow him as he made his way up the stairs to the office. “It’s not a big deal, really. But thanks for wanting to put in for a fee. It’ll make my life that much easier.”
“I’m glad they're impressed with her… And I’ll try to bring her by, she’s not super big on events but maybe I can convince her to come by. She’s from a pretty big family herself so…” Mathias gave a small shrug. Though he did actually wince at the word hussy.
“Corra wasn’t… bad we just… fell apart. She had her work on the paper and I had my training and art classes. Finally it just got to be too much for either of us and we split up… So…” he shrugged a bit. “But eh… I might just put a ring on it if she lets me…” he adds with a slightly wry smile. “She’s a bit… non-traditional, which is why we get along so well.”
At her mention and motions of wanting to blow off steam he grinned. “Alright, alright… you want to hit the bags or you wanna hit people?” He turned the handle on one of the back offices upstairs, leading into what looked to be an office that had also been slightly converted into a studio. You could tell at one time it had probably been hazardous waste storage due to the large fume hood in the rear corner of the room, but nearby was an easel and several racks of art supplies.
“Welcome to my office.”
---
Following up the stairs, Delilah could only shrug. “When have you EVER been traditional?” There was a smile on her face though. “It doesn't suit you Mathias.”
Slipping into the door of the office, she inhaled and shook her head. “Thought that was why you got the three bedroom. Something change so you moved it here?” She asked with a raised brow seeing the difference between the art area and the gym running. What she assumed to be Imara’s work area was covered in papers, a phone, and computer hookups. The laptop clearly with the owner or locked away.
The art area was more…”I see you still work messy?” She smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Anyway to answer you, either. There are days I want to slug someone in the nose and days I just need to punch something. Or throw. And before you ask no, one of them isnt Quinn. He hasn't tried reaching out to me since he had a shared friend give me a necklace. From what others have told me, he has slipped…”
---
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t spoken to him in awhile, at least, not since we finished the paperwork for the place. I don’t know how he’s doing…” Mathias admitted with a shrug. “But, that’s how some people handle things… unfortunately.” He said with a slight grunt. “Either way, I’m cool with whatever you want to do… You know I don’t poke around in your life unless I’m worried.”
At her question though, he shook his head. “Yeah, well, we have had a few long term guests over and arting at the house has become somewhat… untenable… So I moved it here once I realized there was the vent hood. Might put a few pieces on the stairs if they come out well. We’ll see.” He said with a slight shrug.
“We’ll worry about the paperwork later… Mainly because Imara would have my a** if I did it wrong… But you’re welcome to go ahead and start today, we’ll hash out the membership details later, but it’s basically a monthly fee… $50 a month if you just want to use the machines and the bags… $100 if you want to get in the octagon too.”
He paused for a moment and thought about it. “Might be able to convince Imara to waive that since you’re family… but we’ll worry about that later.”
---
“Nah. I won't get you into too much hot water right now. The fifty is fine.” Delilah shrugged, walking over to look at some of his work. He had talent. Wasn't her taste but she knew he was good.
“I'm not going to get in the ring. I don't have the skills for that nor do I want to explain to my summer boss why I'm coming in with bruises and cuts.” Delilah gazed back over at her cousin. “Besides, I got the brains and you the muscle.”
She went silent again for a long moment, gazing off at one of his pieces. Her shoulders arched forward and then she finally spoke. “But do you think I could ask you questions when things come up. Pointers and check my form? I know the basics and my way around a gym but there are some things outside of the internet I haven't tried. My hope...well my hope is this is going to ease my mind some.”
---
“Yeah, probably for the best. We don't’ have a lot of girls here yet, but I’m hoping we can get a few more in… Specially since they’ve finally opened the sport up to women competing more.” He said with a small chuckle. “But that’s fine.”
As she spoke more, he chuckled a bit. “You do have the brains, and I am pretty much mostly muscle, but I had brains enough to know I couldn’t do this on my own… That’s why I asked Imara to help…” He said with a small sigh. “Don’t know what I’d do without her… Probably go insane.”
After her long statement he nodded his head. “Of course I can help you with form and stuff like that… Something bothering you? You being followed or?” He reflexively cracked his knuckles. “... Anything I can take care of? I mean…”
---
That sound made her snort with a laugh. “You have always been more of a brother than a cousin. Thank you Mathias.” Delilah turned, giving him a very warm smile.
“But it's a long story. Short of it is something got to me and i can't shake it. So, I'm doing something about it. No one is bothering me. Last one who did I put in a fountain anyway.” well, more like he scared her into one then climbed in after but he didn't need to know that.
“And it was either get some much needed physical exercise or go talk to a head doctor. You could see the family now if they heard rumor I was crazy.” Delilah wore a smile on her face but her mind raced. Was she crazy? Between the dreams and the the visit to Phact...lord she hadn't slept well in ages. Nights the past week were spent patrolling. That was why she was here. She needed to be stronger.
Hell, she needed to sleep!
“But anyway. My problems, not yours. You have a woman on your hands already and from the sound of it, one who has you wrapped around her finger. Get a ring on her Mathias else she take you for everything.” Delilah smirked again. She was joking but honestly, the woman had been good for him. She was thrilled. “But you earned some happiness. You had me worried.”
---
Mathias chuckled and nodded his head. “Good to know,” He said with a roll of his shoulders, before he watched her for a long moment. He didn’t think she was crazy, but if she needed to let out steam instead of going to see a head doctor… He thought for a long moment.
“Your side of the family isn’t as religious as mine… and let’s face it I get all of my religion from my mom… But if you need to talk someone and don’t want to worry about being called crazy, there’s a little church downtown that is open all night… The priest there is very… good.”
“If you need the address, well… I can give it to you, no questions asked.” Plus he knew the place was completely clean of drug dealers… He’d made sure of that himself.
Giving back to the community… and all that.
“Thank you though, I’ll let you know how it goes… Well I guess you’ll know how it goes if this place is still open in a few months.” he said with a grin. “Gotta find the right time to pop the question after all.”
---
“The last time I talked to a priest, I was still in high school. All they told me was ‘your sins are forgiven, go say ten rosaries.’” Delilah looked back at him and rolled her eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, I know there are some good ones out there but I’m taking a break for awhile. They churched me out…”
“Anyway, introduce me to Imara when she comes in then and I’ll sign over my bank account.” Delilah joked now, walking away from the paintings and back towards the door she had followed her cousin through. “But if you don’t mind, I’m going to go plug in headphones and run until I fall over. Show me how to hit a punching bag later?” She smirked.
---
Mathias laughed and nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah… I’ll introduce you to her and we’ll set up an draft or something.” He said, waving her off as she spoke. “Go run, and yes, I’ll show you how to punch a bag so you don’t jar your wrist half to death.” He said, getting up from his chair and rolling his shoulders. “Speaking of, I need to start my own training too, so I’ll be around if you need any help.”
He wasn’t scheduled for any fights… But old habits were hard to break and it was keeping him in shape so… He couldn’t complain.
---
“Just check I haven’t dropped dead every now and then and we are good.” Delilah chuckled with a wave of her hand towards her cousin as she slipped out the door and back down the stairs. Once she reached the bottom, she flushed out her headphones and Ipod.
It only took her a moment before she took over one of the machines and launched into her own world. This….this is what she needed.
Torvil
