Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Logan
Logan waited until they were halfway down the street before speaking.
The house disappeared behind them in the rearview mirror, porch lights shrinking into warm blurs as the quiet neighborhood settled around the car.
Tommy leaned back in the passenger seat, shoes kicked off, one knee pulled loosely toward his chest. He looked tired , not drained, just full.
Processing full.
Logan drove for a minute without turning on music.
The silence wasn’t uncomfortable.
Tommy traced idle shapes along the fogged edge of the window.
“You okay?” Logan asked.
Tommy nodded. “Yeah. Just… a lot.”
“Yeah,” Logan said softly.
A stoplight turned red ahead, washing the inside of the car in muted color.
Logan exhaled slowly.
“I keep thinking about the patio.”
Tommy glanced at him. “Good thinking or bad thinking?”
Logan huffed a quiet laugh. “Neither. Just thinking.”
He paused, then said what had been sitting in his chest all night.
“You standing between us like that… it didn’t feel tense.”
Tommy’s shoulders loosened. “No?”
“No,” Logan said.
“It felt balanced.”
The word surprised him as much as it did Tommy.
Balanced.
The light turned green and they rolled forward again.
“We never really talked about the hotel,” Logan said after a moment.
Tommy shifted slightly. “We kind of skipped past it.”
Logan nodded.
“I think I needed tonight first.”
Tommy frowned faintly. “Why?”
“Because the hotel felt hypothetical,” Logan said. “Like we were trying something.”
He glanced sideways briefly.
“Tonight didn’t feel like trying.”
Tommy watched him closely.
“It felt real,” Logan continued. “Seeing you two talk. Watching how you moved around each other when nothing sexual was happening.”
He shook his head slightly.
“That’s when it clicked.”
“What did?”
Logan hesitated only a second.
“I didn’t feel like I was losing you.”
Tommy’s breath slowed.
“I felt like I was seeing another side of you I hadn’t met yet.”
The admission settled quietly between them.
“And weirdly,” Logan added, “it made me want you more. Not less.”
Tommy smiled faintly.
“You really liked watching.”
Logan didn’t pretend otherwise.
“Yeah.”
A beat passed.
“But tonight wasn’t about watching,” Logan said. “It was realizing I wasn’t outside of it.”
Tommy turned toward him fully.
“You weren’t.”
“I know,” Logan said. “And that matters.”
Streetlights slid across the windshield again.
Logan tapped his thumb against the steering wheel.
“I liked him,” he said simply.
Tommy didn’t pretend confusion. “I know.”
Logan smiled faintly. “You always do.”
They pulled into the apartment parking lot but neither moved to get out yet.
“I think this only works if all three people feel steady,” Logan said.
Tommy’s voice softened. “You’d want to see where it goes?”
Logan considered that.
Then nodded.
“Yeah.”
Not impulsive.
Certain.
He pulled out his phone and typed.
Good seeing you tonight. No pressure, but if you ever want to grab a workout, I’m usually at IronCore early.
He hit send before overthinking it.
Tommy watched him.
“That felt very you,” Tommy said.
Logan smirked. “Neutral territory.”
His phone buzzed almost immediately.
Yeah. I’d like that.
Short. Easy.
Logan set the phone aside and turned off the engine.
The car went quiet.
Tommy leaned against his shoulder and Logan wrapped an arm around him automatically.
For the first time since any of this started, Logan wasn’t wondering whether they should slow down.
He was curious what happened next.
And that curiosity felt steady enough to trust.
The apartment was quiet when Logan stepped into the bedroom doorway with his gym bag the next morning.
Tommy was still asleep.
Curled toward Logan’s side of the bed even though Logan wasn’t in it.
He always did that.
Logan leaned lightly against the frame and watched him.
Tommy’s face in sleep was unguarded. No brightness. No performance. Just softness.
That was the part Logan protected.
He crossed the room quietly and sat on the edge of the mattress, resting a hand against Tommy’s back.
Slow breathing.
Warm skin.
Tommy shifted slightly under the contact, leaning into it without waking.
Logan exhaled slowly.
If this breaks him, it breaks me.
The thought didn’t feel dramatic.
Just true.
Tommy made a quiet sound and turned his face deeper into the pillow.
Logan’s hand pressed once, grounding.
Clarity wouldn’t come from lying in bed thinking in circles.
It would come from looking the other man in the eye.
Logan stood, grabbed his bag, and headed for the gym.
He chose the gym on purpose.
Movement made conversation easier.
The lunch crowd had thinned when Chase walked in.
He spotted Logan near the squat racks and gave a small nod.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
No handshake.
No forced familiarity.
“You warm up yet?” Logan asked.
“Not really.”
“Start light. I’ll spot.”
Chase moved to the bench.
Logan stepped behind him, hands hovering near the bar.
“Got it.”
Chase lifted with controlled reps, steady breathing, no ego.
Logan appreciated that immediately.
They rotated through sets , bench, shoulders, cables , conversation coming in fragments between reps.
Comfortable silence settled faster than Logan expected.
That was usually a good sign.
They moved to dumbbells eventually.
A pair of women nearby glanced over more than once.
One approached during Chase’s rest set.
“Hey,” she said casually. “You two trainers or just naturally intimidating?”
Chase laughed lightly.
“Just trying not to throw our backs out.”
She smiled.
“If either of you wants a post-workout drink, we’re at the bar across the street.”
Logan glanced briefly at Chase.
“Appreciate it,” he said evenly. “But we’re good.”
Chase nodded. “Yeah. Thanks though.”
She gave them both a once-over before heading back.
Logan returned to adjusting plates like the interaction hadn’t happened.
But he noticed how Chase handled it.
No posturing. No flirting.
Just polite disengagement.
They finished their last set.
The real conversation hadn’t started yet.
Logan leaned back against the rack.
“Be honest with me.”
Chase glanced over. “Alright.”
“What are you actually looking for here?”
No accusation.
Just clarity.
Chase didn’t answer right away. He took a drink and set the bottle down.
“I’m not trying to date around you,” he said.
Logan crossed his arms loosely.
“Good start.”
A faint smile tugged at Chase’s mouth.
“I’m not interested in replacing you,” he continued. “And I’m not pretending this is casual either.”
That landed cleanly.
“So what is it?” Logan asked.
Chase exhaled slowly.
“I liked how you two felt together,” he said. “There was structure there. Trust.”
He met Logan’s gaze.
“I don’t want to mess with that. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be part of it.”
Logan studied him for a moment.
No bravado.
Just honesty.
“Yeah,” Logan said quietly. “That tracks.”
Gym noise filled the space around them.
Then Logan spoke again.
“Watching you with him didn’t bother me.”
Chase’s brow lifted slightly.
“It worked for me,” Logan said.
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“I like seeing him let go a little.”
Recognition flickered across Chase’s face.
“I get that.”
Logan eyed him sideways. “You do?”
Chase shrugged lightly.
“You can tell when someone’s actually paying attention to him. He responds differently.”
Logan laughed under his breath.
“Yeah. I noticed.”
A beat passed.
Then Chase added, almost casually,
“You and I could probably get along fine without him in the room too.”
Logan snorted.
“Oh, I’m aware.”
They shared a brief grin.
Logan grabbed his gym bag.
“This only works,” he said, starting toward the locker room, “if we’re on the same team.”
Chase fell into step beside him.
“I’d rather be teammates than competitors.”
Logan glanced at him.
“Good answer.”
They reached the locker room entrance.
Logan paused, meeting Chase’s eyes.
“For what it’s worth… he looked happier with you there.”
Chase stilled slightly.
Not pride.
Relief.
“And that didn’t make me want to pull him away,” Logan added.
He held Chase’s gaze another second.
“It made me want to step forward.”
Then he pushed the door open.
The locker room smelled faintly of metal, soap, and old rubber mats.
Lockers clanged somewhere farther down the row. A couple guys were already leaving, gym bags slung over shoulders, the late-afternoon lull settling in.
Logan dropped his bag onto the bench and grabbed a towel.
Chase opened a locker a few doors down, pulling his shirt over his head without much ceremony.
For a minute they moved around each other in easy silence , water bottles tossed into bags, sweat towels gathered up, the normal rhythm of people finishing a workout.
It was quieter in here.
Less performance.
Logan leaned back against the bench, rolling his shoulders loose.
“You ever notice how he disappears in loud rooms?” he asked.
Chase looked up from tying his shoes.
“Tommy?”
Logan nodded.
Chase thought about it for a second, then shrugged lightly.
“Yeah,” he said. “But he doesn’t actually leave.”
Logan glanced over.
“No?”
Chase shook his head.
“He stays right where he is. Just… waits.”
“Waits for what?” Logan asked.
Chase finished tying the laces and leaned back against the locker behind him.
“For someone to anchor him,” he said simply.
Logan went still.
Chase didn’t seem to notice the shift.
“He watches the room,” Chase continued, casual, like he was talking about someone’s workout form. “Tracks where people are standing, who’s talking to who. Then he kind of drifts toward whoever feels steady.”
Logan studied him.
“You noticed all that from one party?”
Chase huffed a small laugh.
“I noticed it the first time I met him.”
That landed heavier than Chase probably meant it to.
Logan folded his arms loosely.
“What made you notice?” he asked.
Chase shrugged again.
“I used to do the same thing.”
Logan raised an eyebrow.
Chase smirked faintly.
“Not the same reason. Different kind of room-reading. But you learn to see it when someone else is doing it.”
He nodded slightly toward Logan.
“You’re the one he drifts toward the most.”
Logan didn’t deny it.
“He trusts you,” Chase added.
Logan leaned back against the bench again, letting that sit.
Trust.
That was the part that mattered.
“Tonight,” Chase said after a moment, “he didn’t drift as much.”
Logan looked over.
“No?”
Chase shook his head.
“You were already steady. So he relaxed sooner.”
He paused.
“Which is probably why he was joking with me on the patio instead of pretending he was fine.”
Logan exhaled slowly.
That matched what he’d felt all night.
Chase pushed away from the locker, grabbing his bag.
“I’m not trying to mess with that,” he said.
Logan watched him.
“With what?”
Chase gestured vaguely toward the door.
“Whatever you two built.”
He slung the strap over his shoulder.
“But I’d like to stand in the room with it,” he finished.
The honesty in the statement was almost disarming.
No pressure.
No claim.
Just a clear line.
Logan grabbed his own bag.
“Yeah,” he said quietly.
Chase glanced at him.
Logan met his eyes.
“I figured.”
For a second they stood there, the quiet of the locker room settling around them.
Then Logan pushed the door open and nodded toward the exit.
“Come on,” he said.
Chase followed him out.
And somewhere between the squat racks and the parking lot, Logan realized something had already shifted.
Chase didn’t just want Tommy.
He understood him.
That made everything else a lot easier to consider.