“Nope, just hanging my stuff up in the locker room.” I grin, and a weighty silence passes between us for a second, like Butch isn’t sure whether he should make a big deal about me finally going into the locker room and I’m not sure if it warrants a celebration. He settles for cupping my chin and pressing a quick kiss to my lips without saying anything else about it.
“Your goal is five miles today. Are you ready?”
“You bet your ass I am.”
BUTCH
Five pointtwomiles crushed, plus a free weight circuit, and Percy is glowing with pride… and sweat. He dabs his face with a towel and looks past me towards the locker room again.
“I need to grab my stuff,” he says, pausing and licking his lips before dragging his gaze to me. “And I think I’ll change here before heading to campus. My office really is too small to change in. It’s been a huge pain in the ass.”
My heart surges with pride, but I’m not sure how big a deal I should make about this. Not because I don’t think it’s huge, but because I don’t want to embarrass him or draw attention to it.
“Cool. I actually need to swap shirts too. This one is getting a little ripe after three back-to-back training sessions this morning.”
Percy bites his lip and grins at me, like he’s glad I caught on to his need for moral support without him having to ask. Like there was ever a question about that. Of course I have his back. Always.
The big, warm feeling that’s made a home in my chest and sunk its claws in, just waiting for me to name it out loud, pulses with a growing urgency. Like if I don’t tell him soon, it’ll just burst out on its own whether I like it or not. My throat tightens and my tongue feels heavy. I can’t tell Percy I love him for the first time at the gym.
The problem is, ever since I realized it a month ago, that night we ate Chinese food and then stayed up all night talking in my bed after the guys had all gone home, I haven’t found the perfect moment to tell him. I can’t decide if I should make it athing, take him to a fancy dinner or something, and tell him over some expensive French wine with a name I can’t pronounce. Or if it should be more spontaneous, like during sex or over morning coffee.
He starts towards the locker room, and I shake myself out of my thoughts to follow him. I notice just a second of hesitation before he pushes the door open and then beelines for the first row of lockers. He picked the locker just across from mine, so I follow him, stripping my sweaty shirt over my headwhile he enters his combination. I never can remember what combination I set, so I stopped bothering. If someone wants to steal the extra set of clothes, they can have them.
With his back to me, Percy rummages in his bag, pulling out his polo shirt and slacks, then tugs his shirt over his head. I’m positive that no one at Sweat would ever give him a hard time, even if they happened to notice the faint top surgery scars on his chest. And if they did, I would beat the hell out of them before having Dre blacklist them for life. But I still keep my guard up, one eye trained on the end of the aisle for anyone who might appear and make him uncomfortable or nervous.
He strips his joggers off next, leaving him in just a jockstrap, the straps framing his sexy ass. I noticed he switched from briefs to jocks after he asked about chafing, and damn, am I glad I gave him that suggestion. I let my eyes wander over him greedily. The cute little ass he walked in here with a few months ago is now round and firm from all the squats I’ve had him do, his legs are carved with slender muscles from all the running, and his arms and shoulders have just enough definition to make any man in their right mind want to run their tongue over every hard plane.
Percy looks at me over his shoulder, and a grin immediately forms on his lips when he catches me staring.
“Like what you see?” he teases, wiggling his ass temptingly.
“Damn right, I do.”
I snag a towel out of my locker, wind it up, and snap it against his ass. He squeals and jumps.
“Did you seriously just towel snap me?” He laughs, rubbing the sore spot with one hand and grabbing his own towel with the other.
“I figured it was a rite of passage for your first time in the locker room.” I shrug and then dodge out of the way with a booming laugh of my own as he clumsily tries to snap me back. “Your technique’s all wrong. Let me show you.”
I wind up my towel again and snap it at his thigh this time. He jumps out of the way at the last second and then copies what I just did. He manages to get my hip this time, so it’s better.
“Maybe this is what I should write my PhD thesis on,” he says with a chuckle, dropping his towel and pulling his shirt on. “‘Rituals of masculinity culture’ has a nice ring to it, and I would certainly be able to give it a unique and interesting perspective.”
“Hell yeah, you would,” I say supportively.
He finishes pulling his clothes on as I put on a fresh shirt, and then he steps over the bench between us and moves close to me. He tilts his head so he can look into my eyes and puts his hands on my chest, a sweet smile playing on his lips that makes my chest ache and my throat tight all over again.
“I love you, Butch. Maybe it’s weird to say that for the first time in a locker room that stinks like unwashed jockstraps, but I do. I love your big heart and your kindness. I love your smile and your optimism and everything about the way you view the world. And I love the person I am when I’m with you… the person I ambecauseof you.”
I stare at him, my heart thundering for a long time until a laugh bursts past my lips.
“Dammit, I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you for a month now and you just did it so much better than I could.” I card my fingers through his hair and lean down to rest my forehead against his, our noses brushing. “I love you, Rocky, Percy, baby. I’m fucking wild about you. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and I didn’t think I’d like it, feeling so out of control and fucking vulnerable. But with you, I do.”
His lips find mine in a kiss that’s a little clumsy because neither of us can stop smiling, but fucking perfect anyway, right here in the stink of the locker room. It might be a month late, but it’s finally extremely obvious to me that anything is perfect as long as it’s Percy and me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
SPRING
