“We’re aiming for two miles. Focus on distance, not speed. You ready?” Butch asks, and I manage to push aside those filthy images and pull myself together.
“Let’s do it.”
BUTCH
“Hell yeah, Rocky!” I cheer when he hits the two-mile mark and immediately slows his speed, clutching the handrails and panting as he transitions to a walk. “You did it. You hit two miles.”
“I’m gonna die,” he gasps.
I bark out a laugh. “You’re not gonna die. Have some water.”
I toss him my water bottle. His eyes go wide, and he lets go of the handrails to catch it, a startled little sound falling from his lips.
“Thanks.” He uncaps it and tilts his head back to guzzle it down, his throat bobbing with his gulps.
My dick chubs up at the sight of the sweat rolling down his throat and the knowledge that his mouth is right where mine was before. When I take another drink from it, I’ll be able to taste his lips. Fuck, I want to kiss him again. I want to do more than kiss him. I want to do filthy fucking things to him, and ifI don’t figure out soon whether he’s into that too, I’m going to start feeling like a bit of a creep.
Once he’s hydrated, he recaps the water bottle and passes it back to me. We finish our cooldowns and head over to the mat to stretch before we tackle weights. Percy is used to the routine, lying down so I can help him stretch his hamstrings without needing prompting.
“Oh, fuck, that’s tight,” he gasps, and my dick jerks with interest.
“Breathe and relax,” I remind him gently, pushing his leg forward just a fraction of an inch so I don’t overstretch him and earning another breathy little sound.
“You’ll never guess what Juno did,” he says as he finally relaxes into the stretch.
“Hm?” I grunt, letting him know he can keep talking.
“They reactivated my M4M profile and uploaded a bunch of new, buff pics of me. I got a whole bunch of DMs this morning from guys who would definitely be disappointed to realize I’m just a nerd who discovered the gym and not a proper broor whatever.” He huffs out a laugh, and my stomach tightens.
He’s on M4M? I haven’t bothered opening the app in ages, but suddenly I want to pull it out and look for his profile.
“Can’t imagine anyone being disappointed with you, Rocky.” I ease up on his leg and switch to the other.
He gasps again, then lets out another laugh. “Do they teach confidence building in personal trainer school? Because you must have aced that course.”
I grimace. “I barely passed high school, man. I’m strictly trained on the job. Hope that doesn’t undermine your confidence in me.”
“What? Of course not.” Percy sits up when I finish his hamstring stretch and looks up at me with those big, sweet eyesof his. “Sorry, I just assumed there was some kind of class or certification for this kind of thing.”
“There are, but it’s not strictly required. I could open up more career options if I got a degree or certification, but like I said, I’m not really a ‘school’ kind of person. Taking tests gives me hives, reading books is damn near impossible, and don’t even get me started on sitting through lectures.”
“You basically just described all of my favorite things.” He stands up and starts stretching his calves while smiling at me and shaking his head.
Great. Way to go, Butch. Not only did Percy find out this morning that he’s got plenty of options on M4M, but I just shined a bright-ass spotlight on the biggest reason he wouldn’t want to date me.
“Hey, Rocky,” Fender says, coming over and shouldering past me. “What are you doing Friday night?”
“Uh… nothing? Or… I mean… I’m not sure. Why?”
“It’s my birthday, and we’re having a party at our apartment. You should come.”
I frown. “It’s not your?—”
Fender elbows me in the gut before I can finish that sentence.
“Booze, food, plenty of hot men to ogle.” Fender continues his pitch. “You should definitely come.”
“Um…” Percy looks from Fender to me and back again. “Yeah, I could do that. Sure, I’ll come.”
