Adam took the last bite of his toast and tore it in half, giving part to Luger. He took his dishes and put them in his dishwasher when he heard the doorbell ring. He looked at the clock on the microwave and saw it read eight am. ‘At least she’s prompt,’ Adam thought as he went to the front door. When he opened the door, he saw Jada, notepad in hand, wearing a tight blue Nike tank and matching running shorts with her hair braided. “Good morning. Come in.”
“Thanks.”
“You know, you don’t have to ring the doorbell. Just come right on in. That’s what the key was for.”
“Okay. Will do.” Jada walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. “You ready to hear the workout plan?”
Adam sat down in a chair across from Jada. “You not going to check to see if I ate the right dinner and breakfast?”
Jada raised an eyebrow. “Should I?”
Adam shook his head. “No. Just wasn’t sure how much of a drill sergeant you were going to be.”
Jada gave Adam a cocky smile. “I get paid whether you get back in the ring or not. Plus, you’re a grown man. I assume you can follow a meal plan without me being a nagging mother type.” Jada winked at Adam.
“I already like you, girl. What kind of physical punishment do you have planned?”
Jada leaned forward. “It’s a Monday through Friday plan. That gives you the weekends to recoup and me time to try to maintain my personal life. Everyday is a forty-five minute to an hour run on the beach, most the time with Luger. Monday and Wednesday is weight training. Tuesday and Thursday is Pilates. Friday’s will be something different every week. Taebo, yoga, spin classes, dance classes…whatever sounds fun and is available at the moment.”
“Dance classes.” Adam frowned. “I’m a white dude with no rhythm…”
Jada interrupted. “Which means a dance class would be a good physical and mental workout for you. Now, it’s time to run. Make sure you have good shoes on, hair’s pulled back and you’ve applied sunscreen. We want you tan, not Cajun.” Adam nodded. “We’ll start taking Luger next Monday. Needs to just be the two of us right now so we can get to feeling each other’s rhythm.”
Adam took the hair rubber band he had around his wrist and tied his hair back. “You drive? I drive?”
“I’ll drive.” Jada petted Luger’s head. “See you soon, boy.” They got in Jada’s car and drove to the beach. They walked to about six feet from the incoming surf. “Stretch standing so you don’t have to deal with sand up your ass.” Adam laughed, but followed Jada’s stretching patterns. “I want you to keep up with me. It’s going to feel a bit slow between the sand and the fact that you have a foot on me, but it will help you be able to run the whole time.” Once they felt they had adequately stretched, Jada set the timer on her watch and they started jogging along the shoreline.
They were five minutes into the jog when Adam broke the silence between them. “If I’m going to be hanging out with you so much, I gotta get to know you. Tell me about yourself.”
“Well,” Jada looked up at Adam then back in front of her. “I’m twenty-seven. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas in March of ‘76. I’m one of three kids. Two brothers. My mom was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Now she works for the Texas branch of the National Cheerleading Association. She’s their accountant. My dad’s into sports medicine. He works exclusively with all the pro teams in Dallas. Cowboys, Stars, Mavericks, Rangers…he’s patched them all up at some point. My oldest brother, Degan, is a sports writer for the Chicago Sun Times. My other brother, Leif, is my twin and he is the cheerleading coach at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas. He also teaches business classes.”
“Very sporty family.”
Jada laughed. “And that’s just our careers. In high school, Degan and Leif did football and baseball. I was a cheerleader, ran track and played soccer. In college, Leif and I were on the cheerleading team at the University of Texas together and Degan played football at Oklahoma.”
Adam wiped the sweat from his brow. “And how did you start working with celebrities?”
“Well, I graduated from college in ’98 with a degree in sports medicine and nutrition. I was going to try out to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader when I got a call from Joe Simpson, Jessica’s dad. She was getting her first album together and they wanted to get her into shape. Since then, I’ve been passed around from celebrity to celebrity until I finally moved to LA about three years ago, since that was where all the work was coming from.” Jada turned around and started to run in the other direction. “What about you?”
“Me…well, I’m an only child from Orangeville, Ontario, Canada. Born in October of ’73. My mom, Judy, still lives up there. You’ll get to meet her soon. My father’s not around. I’m recently separated from my wife and in the process of getting a divorce. That’s why parts of the house look so empty. It’s amicable though, so don’t worry about that drama messing with training. I’ve been wrestling for years, but did go to college and got a degree in radio broadcast. And since my surgery in March, I have to keep reminding myself that this isn’t the end, just a roadblock.”
Jada patted Adam’s arm. “That’s the best attitude to have. And if you ever planned on writing a book about your wrestling experiences, you had to have a surgery story or you’re not a real wrestler.”
Adam nodded. “Amen sister. I’ve actually started writing that book. Figured I’d make the break useful.” Adam wiped the sweat off his brow onto his shorts. “So, you said you were a wrestling fan. Tell me your story. Seems like girl fans always have one.”
“Well,” Jada laughed, “it was actually an ex-boyfriend that got me into it. My brothers didn’t like to watch because it wasn’t a ‘real sport’.” Jada made air quotes. “My ex was a huge fan and the only way I could hang around him on Sunday and Monday nights was if I watched with him. I remember his mom told me to ignore the fighting and just enjoy the hot butts in tights. Then I got into the soap opera of it all and one day I began to appreciate the sport of it. I’ve been a pretty regular viewer ever since.”
Adam smiled. “First match you ever watched?”
“Pay-per-view. It was Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts' last match. I also remember some feud with Shawn Michaels and British Bulldog or maybe Brett Hart, can’t really remember, over cheating with one of their wives. I didn’t really know what was going on, so I don’t remember the specifics. I know it was before you and Christian showed up on the show. I’m a big fan of you two.”
Adam turned around when he saw where they started the run and Jada was glad he was already feeling the timing. “Call Christian Jay. His name’s Jason Reso, but if you call him Christian outside of work he gets goofy and loud. He’s just Jay.” Jada nodded. “So, have you ever seen the show live?”
Jada shook her head. “Never have. Thought about it, but never have anybody to go with and I won’t go by myself.”
Adam nodded in understanding. “So, you a Raw girl or Smackdown?”
“Raw all the way. As much as I love some of the Smackdown people, I’m a huge Stone Cold Steve Austin fan, so I stayed with him. Plus with Raw, I get to watch you and Jay,” Jada had to force herself to not say Christian, “and I love Triple H and Test. Monday night’s all my favorites.” Jada tucked a piece of hair that had gotten loose from her braid behind her ear. “I’m hoping when you go back, they put you on Raw. I’m going to have a vested interest in you and cannot not watch. I’m lucky to get to have the TV on Monday’s to watch. There’s no way I could get the TV on Thursday’s too.”
“Why not? Who’s the wrestling Nazi at your house?” Adam laughed.
Jada rolled her eyes. “My boyfriend is the furthest from a fan as it gets and since I live in his house, stuff like that you can’t push too much or you get it thrown in your face that it’s not really your home.”
Adam shook his head. “Doesn’t sound very fair.”
“It’s just the way he’s gotten used to living his life. It doesn’t matter how sweet or nice or southern he is, his celebrity has rubbed off on his attitude a bit.”
“Celebrity? Who are you dating, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Jada scratched at her exposed midriff. “You have to promise to not laugh at me.” Adam nodded. “Lance Bass of NSync.” Adam swallowed a laugh. “Shut up!” Jada punched Adam in the arm.
“You just don’t seem like the pop music type.” Adam snickered as he rubbed where Jada had punched him.
“We meet when I was working with his band mate, Justin Timberlake. I wasn’t a screaming teenage fan or anything.”
“Yeah. Sure. You keep telling yourself that.” Adam taunted.
“Shut up and run.” Jada bumped into Adam and increased her speed.
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