Chapter 59 Eye Candy
Ender eyed the large gymnasium as he sat up in the bleachers waiting for the show to begin on the sparring mat in front of him.
The room was rectangular shaped, with black walls and silver floors. There were only two doors. The one behind him on the wall to his left that led to the changing rooms, and the double doors on the wall to his right that went into the hall.
Bleachers lined the walls, while the floor was taken up by eight built-in sparring mats.
With hovering ropes around each mat, there were also at least two benches beside each.
Aside from a group sparring in the corner opposite where he was, the only other people there were those standing around the mat nearest him.
He smirked when Killian entered, the Siren swiftly walking over to sit next to him.
Killian’s eyes were on the various half-dressed individuals in the gym, as he mused, “Not that I’m not grateful for the eye candy, but why am I here?”
“Wait for it,” he snickered. The man had been there for six days, and he figured the Siren deserved a little reward. Or Ender did, at least.
He let out a loud whistle of appreciation when Cyrus walked out from the changing rooms. The man was shirtless and in sweatpants, his thickly muscled chest and arms fully on display.
“The man’s a hard ass, but that chest of his…” he groaned. “Fine pair of tits!”
Killian made a choking sound before bursting into giggles. “So that’s the real reason you bit him back on the ship.”
Ender chuckled. “No, that was just instinct. He was lucky I wasn’t leaking poison at the time.”
“I imagine.”
It was nothing to do with luck, actually. Ender had to make a conscious choice to bring forward the poison, and it was something he could only do when awake. Apparently, making the choice in a nightmare was not enough.
After what appeared to be a quick conversation between the people standing around, Cyrus walked onto the mat with another man, and the two started to spar.
Ahh, look at those tawny bronze muscles move.
Killian snorted, the man’s eyes fixed on the mat. “So that’s why you called me here. To watch the fun.”
“Exactly!”
“Is there a particular schedule for sparring?” the Siren asked with interest after a moment.
“Somewhat. Most of my people need to stay in shape and ready, so we have two other gyms like this. For each, there are sign-ups to join the various sparring groups, which will get you added to their training schedule. Though it’s up to the individual's schedule as to how many times they actually join in.”
“Can I sign up?”
His brow rose that, yet he wasn’t too surprised.
Compared to how he was when they’d met in August, the Siren, while still slimmer, had bulked up considerably muscle-wise.
“You can. But you’ll have to figure out what sparring group you’ll fit into best strength-wise amongst my people.
You won’t get much out of it if you are outmatched in every fight. ”
Killian snorted. “The problem I had at the Bureau, at least as of late, was that I couldn’t find anyone amongst Severo’s recruits to beat me.”
Ender smirked. “Now you’ve piqued my curiosity. Pick a day and I’ll find a variety of opponents for you. We’ll figure out where you fit in.”
“Thank you.”
“Mm…” he grunted. His gaze slid back to the fighting pair as they separated, Cyrus having won.
Ender’s eyes traveled over the Fate’s chest a few times before he noticed he wasn’t the only one checking Cyrus out. The looks in some of his people’s eyes were definitely more lust-filled than speculative.
“Don’t mind them ogling him?” he asked, both out of curiosity and because he possibly wanted to start shit. Nothing wrong with a bit of chaos!
Surprisingly, the Siren’s expression stayed neutral as he leaned back in his seat and asked, “The truth?”
“Preferably.”
“Not really. I’m secure in his feelings for me.”
His brow rose slightly. “Even with me fucking him?”
The Siren sent a smirk his way, and as his gaze trailed over him, his eyes darkened a bit as they heated. “I’m fucking you too, if you haven’t forgotten.”
Ender snorted. “Hard to forget.”
Killian hummed softly. “I don’t know, emotions can be…hard for me, with how I grew up. But I’ve always been secure in how he feels for me. Even when we weren’t together.
“I suppose the only time I wasn’t was when he was a Field Agent. Something about him being out of sight. Probably had to do with me not knowing who was around him. Though, at the time, I still found it pointless…jealousy that is. We weren’t dating, so…”
Ender frowned as he calculated how old they’d have been by that point. “You weren’t already dating by then? You’ve known him since you were fourteen, right?”
“Yes, since then.”
“Made him wait, did you?”
Killian was the one to frown then. “My issues made him wait. It took me far longer than it should have to let go of some of the things I was taught. As much as they were told to me for a very good reason, it was harder realizing when they didn’t apply.”
“I see.”
He had always assumed they’d started dating early…
Ender’s eyes were drawn back to the mat as the conversation lulled. He let out a whoop as Cyrus pinned another man to his back with an obviously well practiced move. For a man who had likely spent a fair amount of time behind a desk, the Fate sure as shit stayed in shape.
He enjoyed the show for a bit longer, letting Killian watch as Cyrus defeated three more people, before turning to the Siren and announcing, “Break’s over! Time for you to get back to work.”
Killian smiled. “No longer interested in sharing the view?”
Ender winked. “Not in the least, shoo shoo.” He waved the Siren away.
Killian sighed as he sat back down at his desk. He couldn’t say he wouldn’t rather continue watching Cyrus fight. Well, it was more that he wished he’d gotten to join in. It was hard to go from working out and sparring at least once a day to doing nothing again.
He really didn’t want to get into that bad habit. Killian had just managed to get back to where he was before falling foul to too many years of having a desk job. He’d also have to ask Ender if he had any binding cuffs and collars he could borrow.
Killian was so close to managing to bypass them with his powers. At least, he had been before they left the Bureau. He was positive that with a bit more practice he’d be able to use his abilities, with effort, while completely bound.
Sighing again, he shook his head and quickly logged into the computer, picking up where he left off—a Cryptid named Brice Conner.
Killian knew Ender had to be testing him, but so far, no one he had looked into was of any importance, nor did they appear to have any sort of underground connections.
Hell, one was a damn baker, living a whole white picket fence scenario in the sky with his husband and two children.
So, boring is what it was. He was finding every single person incredibly boring to look into.
But whatever, Killian was sure it was only a matter of time before he’d be given something fun to do.