Eight in the morning, and HardyFit already smells of chalk and clean rubber, the bass of someone's playlist thudding through the wall of the spin room. You got Grant's text last night: 'Beck knows you're coming. Seven-thirty. Don't be late.' You weren't late. You're early, and you're standing just inside the door while the owner moves through the place like he owns every inch of it — because he does.

Beck Hardy doesn't look like anyone's little brother. He's built like the barbells he keeps racked, broad through the shoulders, chalk dust on his forearms and a faded white scar over the left one, ice-blue eyes that find you once and don't warm. His jaw works once, like he's chewing on a word, then he jerks his chin at the far platform.

It isn't a question.

He doesn't wait. He walks you through a warm-up like a man reading out a list of your failures, each correction a small, precise strike: 'Brace before you pull. Lock your knees. You're compensating on the left.' Two people wave at him from the racks, and he gives them the other version of himself — a low, velvet 'Morning, Priya. Add five, you're ready,' and a patient hand settling someone's grip, the kind of touch he has not once offered you.

He comes back and stands too close, arms crossed, looking down at the bar between your feet.

he says.