Cole lachte laut.
Mercer deutete auf die Seile, Gestelle, Schlitten, Platten und das Eisen, die sie umgaben.
„Das ist Arbeit?“
“Ja.”
„Das ist kein Hotel-Fitnessstudio.“
„Das ist mir auch aufgefallen.“
Mercer trat wieder näher.
„Glaubst du, du kannst einfach reinkommen, deine Tasche neben mein Team stellen und mit dem Training anfangen?“
„Meine Tasche stand neben der Bank.“
Mercer warf einen Blick auf die Tasche.
„Jetzt ist es das nicht mehr.“
Cole lachte.
Reed folgte.
Harris blickte von dem Rucksack zu Olivia.
Irgendetwas an dem beschädigten blauen Ordner störte ihn.
Vielleicht lag es an ihrer Sichtweise.
Vielleicht lag es daran, dass sie nicht ein einziges Mal von Mercer verlangt hatte, zurückzutreten.
Mercer sah, dass Harris zusah.
„Möchten Sie etwas sagen?“
Harris richtete sich auf.
„Nein, Kapitän.“
“Gut.”
Mercer blickte zurück zu Olivia.
„Jeder in diesem Raum versteht die Bedeutung von Standards.“
Olivia ließ ihren Blick langsam durch die Turnhalle schweifen.
Mason konzentrierte sich plötzlich auf die Kabelmaschine.
Reed grinste.
Cole machte sich nicht die Mühe, seine Feindseligkeit zu verbergen.
Harris wirkte weiterhin sichtlich unruhig.
Mercer zeigte auf den Boden.
“You want respect in this room? Earn it somewhere else.”
Olivia stepped around him.
The movement itself was small.
The effect on Mercer was not.
His face tightened as though she had deliberately challenged him.
She crouched beside her backpack and closed the blue folder before anyone had the chance to see the pages inside.
The bent corner caught beneath her thumb.
She pressed it flat.
Then again.
The crease did not disappear.
Mercer looked down.
“Paperwork.”
Olivia said nothing.
“Knew it.”
She zipped the backpack halfway, lifted it, and placed it upright beside the same bench where it had been before.
Exactly where it had started.
Mercer stared.
“You’re not listening.”
Olivia rose.
“I’m hearing everyone very clearly.”
Cole stepped toward her.
“Then hear this clearly. Nobody here wants you taking up space.”
Olivia faced him.
Cole had expected irritation.
Instead, she gave him her complete attention.
That made him swallow before he hid the reaction behind another grin.
“You got a problem?”
“No.”
“Smart answer.”
Olivia returned her attention to Mercer.
“Is this what your team does every morning?”
Mercer’s nostrils widened.
“My team starts by separating serious people from tourists.”
“Tourists usually take photographs.”
Everyone looked toward Mason.
He immediately lowered his phone.
Mercer snapped at him.
“Put that away.”
Mason obeyed.
Olivia saw it.
Mercer saw her seeing it.
Suddenly, the atmosphere was no longer that of a casual joke.
Something had changed.
Mercer stepped nearer.
“You’re finished here.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“Under whose authority?”
Several men looked toward their captain.
Mercer’s smile had become narrow.
“Mine.”
Olivia waited.
He lifted his chin.
“Captain Blake Mercer.”
“I know your name.”
The silence that followed felt different.
Mercer blinked once.
Cole’s smile disappeared.
Harris looked sharply toward Olivia.
“You know my name?”
Olivia glanced toward the folded gray towel.
“I know several names in this room.”
Near the dumbbell rack, somebody lost his grip on a weight.
It struck the rubber flooring with a heavy, dull impact.
Nobody laughed.
Mercer forced a chuckle.
“Good for you.”
Olivia met his eyes.
“You should be careful about who you choose to humiliate.”
Mercer’s expression hardened.
For the first time, however, he did not answer immediately.
Something inside him had begun warning him.
He ignored it.
Cole moved forward instead.
“Careful? You walked into a team gym without showing any rank.”
Olivia turned toward him.
“You need to see someone’s rank before you show basic discipline?”
The color in Cole’s neck deepened.
Mercer raised one hand.
“Enough.”
The order was directed toward Cole.
It sounded as though it had been given to everyone.
Olivia bent toward her backpack.
Mercer’s shoulders eased slightly.
He thought she had decided to leave.
Instead, she placed the backpack on the bench and removed a small black notebook.
She opened it to an empty page.
Mercer laughed once.
The sound came too quickly.
“What’s that supposed to be?”
Olivia clicked a pen.
“A memory aid.”
Cole’s expression went blank.
Harris stared at the notebook.
Mercer approached.
“You writing us up?”
Olivia looked down at the blank page.
“Should I?”
The question remained between them.
Mercer was finally beginning to realize that he might have misunderstood her.
But pride often becomes most aggressive just before it becomes expensive.
“You don’t know anything about this place.”
Olivia wrote a word.
Just one.
Nobody could see it.
Everyone wanted to.
“Close the notebook.”
She continued writing.
“I said close it.”
She finished the line.
Then looked up.
“Do you always repeat commands after people stop obeying them?”
The gym fell silent.
Mercer’s expression tightened.
“You need to watch your tone.”
Olivia closed the notebook with almost no sound.
“That is the first useful suggestion I’ve heard all morning.”
Cole muttered, “Unbelievable.”
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