“It sure feels like a decade since I touched someone else,” I mutter.
“Bro, you should think about changing that,” she says, causing my face to burn. At least she has the decency to keep her voice low so the whole library doesn’t know I’m not getting any action.
“We’ve been through this,” I reply. “That’s a terrible idea. All I’m gonna do is catch feelings after making eye contact and then get ghosted.”
Sabrina blinks, her expression softening. “Again, Ian, those guys were dicks. That doesn’t mean you need to take yourself off the market.”
Sighing, I run a hand over my face. “I get that, but Ineed time to recover.” That’s the truth—I don’t have it in me to get thrown aside again, not so soon.
“Alright. Just take care of yourself, okay?” Sabrina offers me a sympathetic smile before returning to her biology notes, leaving me to keep plugging away at the video.
The edits don’t take too much longer, and I upload the video to our group drive for Nick and Callum to review, or at least I try to.
The upload fails thanks to the spotty internet in the library.
Whatever. I'll upload it once I'm back home.
It’s not even noon yet, so I scarf a protein bar and head to the campus gym for a workout. I scan in through the separate entrance reserved for varsity athletes, get changed into my leg day outfit, including a fun pair of shorts that are a bit too short to wear outside, and stick my headphones in.
Then, after a few warmup sets, I take them out again because Nick is here, too.
Hell yeah, I can make him spot me. I send an upward nod at him, and he lumbers over, clearly hurting somewhere. Probably his legs; he's a sick bastard who does cardio in the middle of leg day. He's sweating like it's a hundred degrees outside, and he daps me up with a tired, boneless swing of his arm.
The dap doesn't crack. No surprise there.
“You got enough energy to spot me?” I ask him.
“Always,” he wheezes, lifting his shirt up to wipe his face. For a second, I consider asking Nick to put a towel between us, but that'd be weird. We'll just…share sweat. Not like that's any less weird, but we're teammates and bros. It's whatever.
I line up my shoulders, and Nick takes his position behind me, grabbing my waist.
Wait.
“Oh yeah, take Daddy's big cock,” he says, leaning down to get close to my ear.
I scoff, not turning around. “Behave yourself. We’re in public.”
“Ooh, someone could catch us. That sounds so hot.”
Jesus. I bend my knee to kick Nick in the nuts, and he dodges me, chuckling, before taking hisactualspotter position and letting me get on with my workout.
For someone who's hooked upmaybethree times in total, he sure is fluent in sex jokes. His ex must have done some heavy lifting in that department, but I can’t know for sure, and I’m not gonna ask.
I bang out a few brutal sets before calling it quits on the squats. Nick leaves to shower, and I head for the public area of the gym. The athlete section is well-stocked, but the one thing it doesn't have is a hip thrust machine. That exercise isn't technically in my program—I added them to my leg days because I want to rock a total dump truck of an ass. Sue me for trying to look good in my uniform.
One glance at the public area has me pressing pause on my quest for a callipygian figure. It'spacked. There's even a line for a broken treadmill. Holy shit, this school needs to build another gym.
Right as I’m about to retreat to the athlete section and hit some split squats instead, something in my peripheral vision makes me pause. I turn, and it’s Callum. He’s changed, of course, wearing black sweatpants and a faded tee that, like the rest of his clothes, gently hugs his arms. His vibe? Focused, knows his stuff, and…perturbed.
Right. His expression doesn’t give anything away, but he’s gotta be at least a little grumpy at how little room he has. I wave over, he does a subtle double-take once he sees me, and his head does an adorable little—scratch that, arelaxedlittle tilt as he walks over.
“Sup, dude,” I say, stretching my hand out. Remembering our dap that fizzled out earlier, I go in for a fist bump, which he returns.
“Nothing much. It’sbusy.”
I scoff in agreement. “For sure. I’m heading back to the athlete’s gym. Wanna join me? It’s almost empty.”
It seems like Callum is on the cusp of nodding, and I hold my breath for his agreement that doesn’t come.
