“Do you?”
“Huh?” His brain was struggling to remember the question Cade had asked him. Rio knew that probably made him some kind of brainless nitwit, but he really didn’t care.
“Work out?” Cade crossed the room to a row of lockers; opening one, he pulled out some PT gear. He didn’t keep much here. But all Rio would need was a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Those he could give him.
“Yeah.” Rio caught the clothes Cade tossed to him, unbuttoned his shirt, and pulled on the T-shirt, before swiftly changing his jeans for shorts. “I’m probably not as good as you at it.” He grinned ruefully at Cade. "I didn’t have any of this fancy equipment."
“Doesn’t matter,” Cade gestured to the gym behind them, “Which one first?”
“I need to run.”
“Got it,” Cade led him to the treadmill, gave Rio a fast rundown on the machine, and left him to it while he went to start his own routine.
An hour later, Rio finally slowed his run on the machine to cool down before stopping. He hadn’t known how much he’d missed being active until Cade had led him here. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Cade and another man going through some martial arts moves on the mat set at the opposite side of the room.Holy shit!Rio had no issues staring, if he had spotted this while he was running, then he would have face planted on the treadmill for sure.
“They are amazing, aren’t they?”
Rio jerked away from the soft voice that sounded in his ear. “Shit.”
“Ha,” the other man laughed softly. “Sorry, I forgot to make noise. I’m Zenko.”
“Rio.”
“Shaun told me.” Zenko nodded to the man who sparred with Cade, “You met him already—right?”
“Yes.” Rio took the towel Zenko offered and used it to wipe his face before turning back to watch Cade and Shaun spar. Both men’s fluid movements were graceful, almost dance-like as they twisted and turned, their jumps almost cartwheels. The hits and grunts that followed told of the exertion they put into each. He knew the exact moment Cade saw him watching, his eyes widened slightly before he missed the swipe of a leg and tumbled to the floor.
“Fuck.”
“You lost concentration.” Shaun gripped Cade’s arm and pulled him to his feet. “Losing concentration gets you dead.”
“Asshole.”
“It’s the God-dammed truth and you know it.”
“Yeah.”
“Good job, babe.” Zenko called to Shaun. He ignored Rio’s harsh inhale of breath. Where Rio came from, people might have an issue with couples who weren’t a traditional male/female pairing. Didn’t matter a fuck to Zenko, in his world the only thing that mattered was whether the couple loved each other or not.
“He lost concentration,” Shaun took the towel Zenko handed him, “Idiot will get dead next time he goes in the field if he keeps doing shit like this.”
“Fuck off.” Cade scowled at his teammate. “You took advantage of my… Um…”
“Lapse in concentration?” Rio wasn’t used to seeing the banter, the teasing back and forth. But he liked it.
“C’mon Zen,” Shaun grabbed a bag from the floor near the door, “We’ll shower in our room. Leave Rio to tell Cade where he fucked up.”
“Dumbass.” Cade tossed the insult over his shoulder, but mostly ignored Zenko and Shaun.
“Are they always like this?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Cade sat to untie his training shoes. “Zenko rescued Shaun, they clicked, now it’s like they are two halves of a whole.”
“You are jealous?”
“No,” Cade shook his head, “Not jealous.” He knew he wasn’t jealous. He was happy for Shaun. Happy his friend had found someone to put up with his crazy ass. Just as he was happy he could now call on Max, Red Squadron’s tech specialist, for help when both Shaun and Zenko worked a job with Ghosts. Having an extra pair of hands, that freaking helped a lot. But mostly he knew he wanted someone for him. He was ready. It was time to let go of Johnno, of what he had represented. His gut told him that with Rio, if they could figure out the shit with his family and their terrorist leanings, then maybe, just maybe, there might be something between them that would be worth fighting for.
He glanced up from his spot on the bench, watching Rio’s face. He freaking loved the expressions that crossed it as the other man considered what he had said. Cade knew Rio liked him. Knew from FRED’s analysis that Rio was unlikely to be involved in the plots and illegal activities alongside his father. Therefore, Cade knew he could pursue this without fucking up his own career. He just had to go for it.
