Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
LEAF
It’s been a while since I’ve gone to the gym with everyone. I’ve been a little distracted, and it’s hard to be around happy couples. I mean, I’m really glad my friends are all starting to pair up, but watching them coo and drool over one another makes the loneliness a bit much some days.
Not to mention, they all think I’m a lunatic for my war against Michael.
But when Thom texts me, I can’t tell him no. He’s testing out a new bootcamp class and swears he’s going to go easy on me. I know the man is a fucking liar, but if all else fails, I’ll just fall on the floor and play dead.
Besides, it’ll be good for me to sweat out all the booze and sexual frustration I’ve been accumulating. You’d think getting a couple of orgasms from Thorne would take the edge off, but the more we do together, the more I seem to want.
He’s like a drug, and I am in no place to become addicted or obsessed.
Especially since I don’t actually know him.
He appears and disappears like a damn ghost, and if it weren’t for the cashier acknowledging him when we were buying plants, I might think he was a stress-induced hallucination.
I arrive at the gym early, annoyed that Thom wants to start this bootcamp at seven in the morning on a Sunday like some kind of exercise dictator.
Thankfully, I think to grab a coffee on the way in, and I’m feeling somewhat jittery as I head inside.
The gym is relatively empty because everyone loves themselves a lot more than Thom does on a Sunday morning.
Though the way he’s smiling and flirting with Robbie says maybe he’s in love with his life. God, what must that be like?
Right now, my life—apart from Thorne—is one big, disastrous tunnel of shit, and I can’t seem to find the light telling me I’m near the end.
Walking into the big room where they hold all the classes, I see Rhett hunched against the wall, holding a gigantic iced coffee between both hands, looking like he wants to commit murder. Robbie looks about as thrilled as him.
Thom is at the far end of the room talking to his brother.
They’re laughing and smiling, and while I don’t know Dex very well, he seems like a decent person.
Although the guy does put on a 7:00 a.m. cycling class.
I took it once—and only once. He’s worse than his brother.
My ass hurt for ages after that and not in the fun I-was-just-fucked way.
The last person in the room I recognize immediately is Roman.
I’ve met him several times going to Deaf drag events to watch Denver perform.
He’s a pretty decent guy, but he’s got a big chip on his shoulder about hearies, and it was only when he realized I was fluent that he quit looking like he wanted to stab me through both eyeballs.
He catches my gaze and jerks his chin up by way of greeting, his arms still tightly folded over his chest. I’m too close to the Deaf community to not have gotten all the gossip about him and Robbie, so I know that’s what his issue is.
Thom is by no means fluent. He’s just very enthusiastic and has a big heart. I will give him credit though, he has a knack for visual languages, which makes up for the fact that his dyslexia fucks his ability to read and write. But I know it irritates Roman that Robbie chose Thom.
That Robbie chose a hearing person over him.
This class is going to be interesting.
“Yo! You came!” Thom signs and speaks very loudly with his whole body. He jogs across the room and yanks me into a hug. He’s always been touchy, which is probably why he blends in with Robbie’s friends so well.
“I’m here against my will. This is a hostage situation,” I say, my hands moving along with my words.
I know my form of communication is going to piss off Roman.
He’s firmly against sim-com, but Thom’s brother has only just started learning ASL, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t taken a formal class yet.
I don’t want him left out. I know what that feels like.
“My caffeine is still entering my bloodstream.”
Robbie lifts his own tumbler and tips it to me in solidarity. Rhett meets my gaze but doesn’t do more than glower angrily as he sucks down his coffee while Mellie rubs his back.
‘Okay,’ Thom signs, turning his voice off. ‘BOOTCAMP.’
He fingerspells it wrong, but we all get the gist.
Torture time.
I flip him the bird, and Mellie laughs loudly. ‘Are you doing this class in ASL?’
‘No,’ Rhett finally answers for him, handing Mellie his mostly empty cup. ‘The only reason I’m here today and the only reason Mellie is still alive is because he said I can interpret instead of work out.’
‘Once I’m fluent, I’m going to do sign-only classes,’ Thom tells me proudly.
I give him an exhausted Deaf applause— tree-tree-tree.
As I do this, my gaze flickers over to Dex, who’s glancing around, looking a bit confused. Probably has no idea what’s being said, but I’m sure Rhett will fill him in shortly.
Suddenly, Roman steps up beside me and makes an angry scoff. It’s one I know he knows is loud enough to be heard. He does it on purpose, to make a point.
‘How did they trick you into working out at the crack of dawn?’ I ask.
He rolls his eyes. ‘I’m always up this early. Thom said it would be a good class. I didn’t realize it would be half-hearing.’
Meh, this guy. He’s being such a baby about all of it.
‘Hey, I’m hearing.’
‘Yeah, you don’t count. Not really.’
He glowers, peering over his shoulder at Thom’s brother, Dex. He’s been doing that a lot. Way more than is normal.
And don’t think I missed the way his eyes trail down his body, landing on the dick imprint on the front of his shorts.
But I say nothing. Now is not the time.
I let him carry on with his not-so-secret perusal.
Dex has obviously noticed Roman’s attention because he lifts his shirt to scratch at his flexed abs. Not sure if this is some kind of power move, but I admire him for it.
Roman must admire it, too, because he swallows so thickly I can hear it catch in his throat, and he makes a low, unconscious noise.
Thom, luckily, is oblivious to it all as he jogs over to his iPod dock. Really, he has way too much energy and enthusiasm this early. It should be illegal. He should go to jail for emotional torture.
He pushes a few buttons, and music bursts out of the speakers. It’s not very loud, but it does rumble under my feet, so clearly, he’s installed some floor bass to accommodate his boyfriend.
“Alright,” Thom calls out. Rhett is doing his best to seem professional, even trying to convey the enthusiasm in Thom’s voice, but he doesn’t quite manage it this early in the morning. I can’t blame him. I’ve been there, done that. Luckily, he’s with friends, so you know, it’s a vibe.
“Let’s get started with the warm-ups,” Thom adds. “Today’s workout is going to make you sweat and hate life, but thank me later when you look like Adonis himself!”
“Fuck off!” I shout and sign at the same time.
Thom just gives me a big thumbs-up while Robbie bursts into exhausted laughter.
Oh hell. I’m going to absolutely regret this.
‘Leave me to die,’ I sign when Roman squats over me, his hair mussed, his cheeks slightly red from working out. He looks very good for just having endured forty-five minutes of torture.
We’re meant to be doing squats, but my body has given out. It just collapsed like a cheap lawn chair after the fourth rep. I’ve been mostly active since taking over my aunt’s farm, but I’m not built for this.
I’m really not built for much besides giving head, taking cock, and interpreting.
‘You need water?’ he asks. ‘You haven’t had any since we started.’
I wave him off, my hands floppy. ‘Dead don’t drink.’
He snorts and rolls his eyes, going back to working out that ass. It really is a nice one too. Bouncy and round like a peach. I also notice from my spot on the floor that Roman’s positioned himself right behind Dex.
Probably to look at Dex’s ass as he bends down over and over.
Thom shouts at everyone happily as he continues his reps, and I watch as Dex keeps up with it all. The man owns a gym though, so I refuse to be impressed by the fact that not only can he keep up with his brother, but he can also outpace him at times.
God, what must that life be like? Going to the gym every day. Getting ripped. Drinking protein and whatever the fuck that green powder mix is they’re always trying to get me to try.
None of them has a crumbling farm with no idea how to put it back together. Or a groundhog determined to make their lives a living hell.
Or some random but obscenely hot dark web, possible arms dealer, possible stalker haunting their shadows.
Okay, that part isn’t half-bad, considering Thorne has been incredibly helpful and very generous when it comes to letting me thank him for said help. I sit up halfway and am grateful I’m too exhausted to get hard. Everything is already aching, including my dick muscles.
“Time for the cooldown. Yes, that means you, Leaf,” Thom says.
I’d feel bad about my inability to make it to the end, but Robbie has also called it quits. He’s currently sitting against the wall by the window on his phone, not even bothering to watch the class.
Traitor.
“Come on, Leaf! You can do it! Put your ass into it.”
“The only thing I’m going to put my ass into is…” I mutter angrily as I crawl to my hands and knees to make it to my yoga mat. “…I fucking don’t know what, but my ass has already done the work, god damn it, and I want to go home.”
“Come on! Let’s stretch!”
“Fuck off!” I shout again as I follow his lead and begrudgingly admit it feels good.
The sweat on my body has started to cool under the powerful fans above us, and while I don’t think I’m actually going to thank Thom for any of this, I do feel…not half-bad. My soul’s starting to return to my body.
Mostly. Or maybe I’m dead, and this is some kind of afterlife.