Chapter 16

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I ran on the treadmill, pressed some weights, swam a dozen or so laps, and decided that was enough for the day. I had plans for the evening, and I had to get home. I showered off the chlorine, toweled myself dry, and was just tying my Reeboks when a couple of men entered the locker room.

“I told you that’s him! Go ask him!”

“I don’t have any—”

“Ask him!”

“Uh…You’re Sweetcheeks, aren’t you?”

“No.” I wasn’t going through the whole explanation that I had been but I wasn’t anymore. I rose and looped the strap of my bag over my shoulder.

“Look, we know it’s you. We’ll give you fifty bucks to blow us both.”

“I said I’m not him.” I paused and looked them over. They were probably around my age but outweighed me by about fifty or seventy-five pounds. They wore jeans and flannel shirt jackets, and both sported fairly heavy five o’clock shadows. How had they gotten into this gym?

“We say you are. And you’re gonna blow us.”