“Actually, we’re just friends,” Riley said, and Chase winced at his mistake. They really could have fooled him, the way they clung to each other.
An arm settled around Chase’s shoulders, making him flinch, until he realized it was Cole.
“Don’t worry, Chase. Everyone makes that mistake,” he said. He then whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear, “They haven’t had their awakening yet.”
Ahh, I see. That will be entertaining once they figure it out.
“Cole, take your hands off the staff, please,” Tobias barked, forcing all their gazes to snap toward Tobias, who was staring at Cole’s arm where it lay across Chase’s shoulders.
Chase froze. He hadn’t seen that determination in Tobias’ eyes since he’d watched him on the ice. For some reason, he was pissed. Cole slowly pulled his arm away, but Chase couldn’t turn away from Tobias. Until he heard Cole whisper-shout again. “I’m so glad you’rehere. This is going to be so much fun.”
There was tension in the air, but Chase wasn’t entirely sure why, and he didn’t have more time to think about it as Tobias gathered everyone around to start class. A few others had snuck in while they’d been talking. He recognized Garrett from his interview and gave him an awkward wave Garrett returned with a smile.
“Everyone, this is Chase Townsend, and he’s going to be our new yoga instructor.”
Chase exchanged hellos with the people he hadn’t been introduced to yet, and then Tobias explained the schedule. He’d teach two classes a week at each time interval and sometimes he’d help with cooldowns throughout the week during regular classes.
Gym Rat Fitness wasn’t the typical kind of gym where members could come and go as they pleased. There were only scheduled classes utilizing everything from punching bags to weight-lifting equipment, and now yoga. Chase loved the open industrial space, which even had rings and ropes hanging from the ceiling.
“On yoga days, Chase will lead the warm-up and stretch as well as the workout, so he’s now got the floor. Show us what you got, Chase.”
“Thanks, Mr.— I mean, Tobias,” he said, his cheeks heating once again. “I’m going to take you all through a session I’ve created just for this group. If there’s a move you can’t do, it’s important to not force it. There areplenty of modified moves for everything, as well as some more advanced moves we’ll use to find out where everyone is when it comes to skill. So, do what you can, but listen to your body and don’t forget to breathe. Now, everyone grab a yoga mat, a block and an ab mat and spread out so you have plenty of room on all sides.”
Once everyone had their mats and accessories ready, Chase led them through a warm-up some of them struggled with. Maybe he’d save the more advanced moves for a later date.
They progressed right into the main part of the class, starting with a style called Vinyasa Flow he thought would be a good introduction for them.
Tobias had explained he sometimes participated in the classes and other times watched and made sure everyone was moving safely. That morning, he’d opted to jump in and out of the workout. He wanted to take breaks to help his members since it was such a different tone to their normal weight-lifting and high-intensity interval training.
As Chase directed everyone through each movement, he couldn’t help the way his gaze tracked Tobias throughout the class.
The guy was like a hawk, surveying everyone’s poses and taking quick glances at Chase, who hoped he was living up to what Tobias expected. Yoga was a new addition to his gym, and it was up to Chase to make itworth keeping. He couldn’t let any desire for him get in the way.
They reached the cooldown. He had them stand in a forward fold pose—basically bending forward and reaching for their toes. Tobias joined in for the final stretches.
The two of them were the most flexible by far, both of them reaching past their toes.
Cole, of course, decided to make things more interesting.
“Okay, Chase, how do we find out who is more flexible between you and Tobias?”
Chase smirked as he glanced at Tobias, keeping his eyes on him as he responded, “We add the block.”
Tobias and Chase grabbed their blocks and sat on their mats, their legs straight out in front of them. They placed the blocks against the bottom of their feet. The foam blocks were rectangular cubes slightly bigger than his favorite romance paperbacks, but four inches thick. Chase had the long side of the block nestled against the bottom of his feet, the wide side on the floor, as he reached past his feet and wrapped his fingers around the block.
Everyone was impressed until Tobias did the same thing, except he turned the block lengthwise to make the reach even longer. He bent completely in half and his fingers crimped against the far edge of the block.
With everything else he was excited about, Chase had forgotten one of the most important things about hockey players, particularly goaltenders.
They were bendy as hell.
“Holy fuck,” Chase whisper-shouted. He shook himself and tried to regain some professionalism. “Impressive, Mr.— Tobias.”
Luckily, someone pulled his focus away from that delicious sight.
“Chase, will we all be able to do that when you’re done with us?” Josh asked.
It was painful turning away from that view so he could answer Josh. “Going that deep,” he said before choking on his own breath. He needed to get his mind out of the gutter. “That would take daily yoga practice for a long time, but we’ll do our best.”
