Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Chase
The locker room smelled faintly of soap and sweat, the post-workout rush already thinning out as evening crept closer.
Chase dropped onto the bench and tugged his shirt over his head, still catching his breath from their last set.
Logan opened the locker beside him.
“You showering?” Logan asked, already pulling a towel free.
“Yeah,” Chase said. “I’m not getting back in my car like this.”
Logan laughed under his breath. “Good. I’d judge you.”
They changed in comfortable silence at first, the normal rhythm of a locker room. Shoes kicked aside. Fabric rustling. Metal doors clanging shut somewhere farther down the row.
But normal didn’t stay normal long.
Chase became aware of Logan moving beside him in fragments, broad shoulders turning, the quiet stretch of muscle as he reached into his bag, the easy confidence of someone completely at home in his body.
He told himself not to look.
Which immediately made him look.
Just a glance.
Quick.
Harmless.
Logan caught it anyway.
Not calling it out, just a flicker of amusement crossing his face before he looked away, giving Chase the dignity of pretending nothing happened.
Chase felt heat creep up his neck.
“New territory,” he muttered.
Logan snorted softly. “You’re telling me.”
They both wrapped towels around their waists almost at the same time, an unconscious synchronization neither acknowledged.
The showers hissed steadily nearby.
Logan jerked his head toward them. “C’mon.”
Steam filled the shower area, warm and thick, water echoing off tile walls.
They took adjacent stations, not intentionally close, but not far either.
Chase turned the water hotter than necessary, letting it run over his shoulders as he tried to focus on literally anything else.
It didn’t help.
Peripheral awareness became the problem.
Movement beside him.
Water tracing muscle.
The quiet sound of Logan exhaling when the heat hit his back.
Chase kept his eyes forward.
Mostly.
Once, just once, he glanced sideways while rinsing shampoo from his hair.
Logan was already looking.
Not staring.
Just… curious.
They both looked away immediately, almost in sync.
A breath of awkward laughter escaped Logan.
“Well,” he said, voice echoing slightly over the water, “at least we know we’re not imagining the tension.”
Chase wiped water from his face. “Yeah.”
A beat passed.
“But it’s not weird,” Logan added after a moment. “At least… it doesn’t feel weird to me.”
Chase considered that.
“No,” he said quietly. “It doesn’t.”
The honesty settled something between them.
Not permission.
Understanding. He wasn’t stepping into someone else’s relationship, he was being asked to help build it.
They finished rinsing without rushing, both noticeably careful about where their attention landed, respectful, deliberate restraint replacing uncertainty.
When the water shut off, the sudden quiet felt louder than the conversation had.
Back at the lockers, they dressed quickly this time, the earlier tension softened into something easier.
Logan pulled on a clean shirt and glanced over.
“You hungry?”
Chase laughed lightly. “Always.”
“We were gonna order food tonight,” Logan said, casual but intentional. “You should come by. Maybe Tommy’ll let us share him.” They both laughed, thought Chase hoped it might come to fruition.
The invitation hung in the air, simple on the surface, heavier underneath.
Chase hesitated only a second.
“You sure?” he asked.
Logan nodded.
“Yeah,” he said. “Feels like the kind of thing we don’t overthink.”
A small smile tugged at Chase’s mouth.
“Alright.”
Logan grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder.
As they headed toward the exit, he added , almost offhand, but not quite:
“And honestly… I think he’d like seeing us show up together.”
Chase felt that land somewhere deep and steady.
Not pressure.
Not competition.
Alignment.
He pushed open the gym door beside Logan, cool evening air replacing steam and fluorescent light.
For the first time since the hotel, since the party, since everything shifted,
Chase didn’t feel like he was stepping into someone else’s relationship.
He felt invited into something still being built.
The ride to there apartment felt twice as long as it should. Chase wasn’t thinking about whether this was smart of if he belonged there.
He was thinking about what it might feel like if all three of them stopped circling and finally stood in the same place together.