“No, you don’t have to, but it’s the only way you’ll find out. Either that, or you can wait until he brings it up himself.”
“Okay, how about this… I don’t have a training session scheduled, but I can go down to Sweat and just see if I can pick up a vibe. Maybe I’ll even catch him in the middle of a training session with someone else and I can see if he seems flirty. Maybe hooking up with his clients is his kink or something.” The thought has crossed my mind a couple of times, but saying it out loud makes me a little queasy.
“That doesn’t sound at all like the advice I was just giving you.”
I nod with determination, ignoring whatever it is Juno just said, and stand up. A workout would do me good this morning anyway. I’ll just go down there, burn off some energy, maybe see if Butch is flirting with anyone else, then come back here and start on my paper. It’s a brilliant plan. I don’t know why Juno shakes their head at me before pulling the shower curtain back into place. But, whatever, I don’t need their negativity. My plan is brilliant. I mentally pat myself on the back as I march into my room to get changed.
BUTCH
“There you go, man. Two more reps. You’ve got this,” I encourage my client, Tim, as he grunts through finishing up hisset on the bench press. When he’s done, I help guide the bar back into place, then come around and offer him my hand for a high five. “You’ve got that next fitness test in the bag.”
He huffs a laugh and grabs his towel to dab the sweat off the back of his neck. “I sure as shit hope so.”
“You do,” I say confidently, slapping him on the shoulder.
The sound of traffic from outside draws my attention for a second, and I glance at the door to see Percy stepping inside. My stomach flutters and a smile jumps immediately to my face. The only reason I’ve managed to stay focused at all this morning is because I didn’t expect to see him. If I’d known he might stop in, I would have been looking at the door every thirty seconds. After I went home yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon watching baseball and resisting the urge to text him.
“You’re not going to torture me with more box jumping today, are you?” Tim asks, drawing my attention back to the fact that I’ve still got half his session to finish.
“Tell you what, you can pick your poison. Box jumps or the balance board?”
I glance back over my shoulder, and this time I find Percy looking at me, chewing on his bottom lip and looking back and forth between me and Tim. I lift my hand to wave, and he gives me a tight smile before hurrying over to the treadmills.
“Balance board,” Tim says.
I nod. “Alright, balance board it is. Let’s do this.”
I do my best to stay focused on the rest of the training session, making sure Tim regrets trying to take the easy way out with the balance board, and not staring at Percy the whole time. At the end of the hour, I’ve managed one of those things, at least.
“I hate you,” Tim groans, and I chuckle.
“That’s what you pay me for. I’ll see you back here on Wednesday.” I give him one more slap on the back and he heads into the locker room.
Percy has been doing a respectable little circuit while I was busy, pretending not to be watching me every time I looked his way. He’s on the leg press when I make my way over, a patch of sweat darkening the front of his shirt, his shorts riding up to show off the muscles and definition in his thighs that we’ve been working so hard on. My cock twitches and the caveman inside of me can’t think of anything other than peeling those sweaty clothes off of him and licking him all over.
“Didn’t expect to see you here this morning, Rocky.” I check the weight setting to make sure he’s not slacking. “Did you miss me or have I finally brainwashed you into the gym cult?”
He rolls his eyes at me and grunts out another rep.
“Was that guy one of your training clients?” he asks instead of answering my question.
“Tim? Yeah, I’ve been training him for a few months.”
“Oh.” He nods and does another rep. “He looks… strong.”
“Yeah. He was a firefighter, but he had to take some time off to take care of his mom, and he kind of let himself go. He wants to reapply, but he was worried he wouldn’t pass the fitness test, so I’ve been getting him back into shape. Between you and me, it’s more of a confidence issue at this point than a fitness issue, but I’m not about to turn down the money if he wants me to kick his ass a couple times a week.”
“Is he… I mean, are you guys…” He finishes his set and swings his legs over so he can sit up.
“Are we what, Rocky?” I toss him a towel and reset the weight on the machine so I can get a couple of sets in.
“Are you friends?”
I cock my head, trying to work out what he’s really asking. “We’re friendly. He’s a cool guy.”
“No, I mean…” He licks his lips and then huffs like he’s annoyed. At me? No clue. Tim comes out of the locker room and Percy narrows his eyes a little.
“Wait, are you jealous?” I bark out a laugh.
