Chapter 15
THE TONE RANG THROUGH the gym, echoing in the giant space.
Those beeps meant it was time to work.
Tobias was making them suffer with an AMRAP workout, which stood for as many rounds/reps as possible in the allotted time.
That morning they were tasked with completing five pull-ups, ten push-ups and fifteen air squats as many times as they could in twenty minutes.
Riley was already sweating before the workout even started, thanks to the segment of weight lifting they’d already completed.
“Drop lower, Riley,” Tobias said from the front of the room. “You’re only cheating yourself.”
He grunted as he dropped lower in his air squats, but his legs weren’t meant for this kind of mobility.
He took a peek at Josh working out next to him, and groaned at the sight of Josh’s ass nearly touching the floor at the bottom of his squat. How did he get so freaking low?
It was mesmerizing watching Josh dip over and over again. Watching his strong ass and legs move made Riley think about having all that power behind him. Thrusting in and out with Josh’s long and thick—
“Clock is running out. Move it,” Tobias shouted, interrupting Riley’s unhelpful thoughts. Josh’s deep squats were making Riley’s look bad.
After hitting that round’s fifteen squats, Riley jumped on the pull-up bar to start a new round. He had a feeling both his arms and legs would be useless tomorrow, but it was worth it to keep the physique he was used to and the stamina he needed to play soccer with his friends.
Plus, when they weren’t working out, he always had fun at Gym Rat Fitness.
When Riley got to another round of squats, he gazed at everyone else in the gym.
Hunter was moving the fastest and may not have even been sweating, the bastard.
Carson was slowing through his reps, and looked a little green. It probably didn’t help that he practically stumbled every time he glanced over at Hunter, which was a lot.
Cole was quiet—for once—focusing on the workout. They were going about the same speed.
Chase and Josh were moving quickly. Maybe not as quickly as Hunter, but they were getting deeper in their squats, technically doing more work since they’d have to travel farther to stand again. Fuck that.
Chase didn’t always take part in the workouts, usually sticking to the yoga portions at the beginning and end of each session, but today he was in the thick of it.
Tobias surveyed the whole scene with intensity, focused on everyone’s movements and making sure everyone was using proper form so they wouldn’t get hurt.
“One minute,” he shouted. “Every rep counts. Finish strong.”
A new sense of urgency spurred them all to somehow work harder, and they dug deep to increase their final score.
At the end of the day, their numbers would be on a leaderboard with the rest of the gym members’, so they could see them and hate themselves, or see where they stood. Same thing.
Riley rarely saw the top of the leaderboard, so he tended to ignore it unless he was looking at his own previous weights or times.
Tobias counted down the last five seconds, and everyone collapsed where they stood, winded from the workout.
“Okay, Chase will lead us in our yoga cooldown,” Tobias said.
“Yup, in a minute,” Chase said, pausing between words for deep breaths, his limbs spread out on the ground around him. “Be right there, boss.”
From his spot, lying on his back and staring at the industrial ceiling, Riley startled at an odd sound. It was one he’d never heard before.
His head snapped to Tobias, and he noticed everyone else was staring too.
“Tobes,” Cole said carefully, like he was trying not to spook the man. “Did you just… laugh?”
The man looked at Cole, then at the rest of the group, and settled on Chase.
Were his cheeks turning pink? Holy shit.
“You’re hearing things, Durbin,” he snapped, and turned to the computer at the front of the room, preparing the screen for each of them to enter their scores.
Josh and Riley exchanged awestruck glances, but their gazes snapped in Chase’s direction as he shifted, flustered, but ready to work.
“Right, um, everyone on your stomachs,” Chase instructed, continuing to steal glances at Tobias’ tense back. “Deep breath, and rise onto your hands for upward dog.”
The stretch was wonderful, and Riley was so thankful for Chase and his yoga teachings. Since he started working at Gym Rat, Riley had been less sore following workouts. Chase was a great addition to the gym, and he was wondering if Tobias was getting used to his new hire.
There was some kind of interest there, or maybe tension.
As they slid into downward dog, Riley peeked over at Josh, who was already looking at him.
“You think they’re fucking yet?” he whispered, and Riley fell out of his pose, making Josh giggle.
“What makes you think they’re fucking?” Riley whispered, thankful that Josh was actually whispering. Sometimes, he whispered louder than he talked and got them in trouble.
“I’m not sure if they’re fucking, but I can tell they both want to,” he said.
Josh had an incredible ability to read people’s feelings. That made him wonder what he saw when he looked at Riley. What did Josh know that he didn’t?
It took all of his effort to focus on the rest of the yoga cooldown, knowing he’d thank himself for it the next day.
The tank Riley was wearing was soaked through so he ripped it off once he was standing, leaving him to admire the sweat-print left behind on the floor. When he lifted his gaze to Josh, his bestie was looking at his naked torso, and Riley couldn’t pull his eyes away.
In the next moment, Josh unconsciously licked his lips, and Riley decided he needed to turn away so he didn’t chub up in front of everyone. He’d never hear the end of it.
Instead, he made a beeline for Tobias at the front of the room.
He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and gave a friendly squeeze. “Hey, man. I wanted to say thanks for doing the alumni game. It’s been a huge deal for Sophie so I’m really thankful.”
Tobias’ eyes snapped to Riley’s and quickly turned back to his computer screen.
“I’m happy to make others look good,” he said.
Chase appeared on the other side of Tobias, making him flinch but keeping his eyes on his screen. “You’re gonna be the one looking good when it comes to the game.”
Tobias stared at Chase, but Riley couldn’t see his expression. Something in it made Chase falter.
“N-not that you don’t always look good,” he said, stumbling through his words. “I mean, you actually make everyone else look bad. You’re so…” Chase looked at Riley for help, but he had no clue what to say.
Unluckily for them, Cole chose that moment to shift the focus, putting an arm around both Chase and Tobias.
“Tobes, heard you were gonna play in the Philly alumni game,” Cole said, loudly enough for everyone in the gym to hear. “Did you know that Chase is a trained goalie? For soccer, but same idea. You should totally train together. Get Chase to help you shake off all that rust.”
Josh came and threw another wrench into the cogs of the conversation. “It’s so cool how you guys can still be friends even though you dated for so long. None of my exes ever wanted to stick around.”
Tobias stiffened, which confused Riley because the man was already stiff. How did he suddenly become stiffer?
“Who dated?” Tobias asked.
“Cole and Chase, in, like, high school,” Josh said as if it was no big deal. By the expression on Tobias’ face, it totally was. “They were cute together too.”
“Ah. Gotcha.” Tobias glanced around. He noticed the rest of the members were crowded around the computer and he stepped back. “Go ahead and enter your scores, everyone. See ya tomorrow.”
Without another glance, he walked away toward his office.
“Did I say something wrong?” Josh asked, turning to Riley for answers, everyone around them shifting to enter their scores one at a time.
Chase stepped away from the group and quietly made his way toward the office without saying another word.
If there was tension between Chase and Tobias, like Josh thought, Tobias might be a little thrown off at the fact Chase used to date Cole.
It probably didn’t help that Cole drove Tobias insane, usually on purpose.
Hopefully, he wouldn’t hold that against Chase.
There was a reason they broke up, after all.
Well, a few reasons, but that wasn’t his business.
Instead, Riley entered his score and threw his arm around Josh’s shoulders, leading him toward the cubbies so they could bundle up before going outside.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Riley said once they were away from the rest of the group. “I think Tobias is feeling feelings he doesn’t understand. Everything will be okay.”
“Okay, good. Tobias is already struggling with something. I don’t want to make anything worse.”
Riley stopped walking and shifted so he could look at Josh better.
“How do you know he’s struggling with something?”
Josh shrugged. “I don’t know, I can see it on his face when he comes in or when he’s thinking about stuff. He’s got this haunted look.”
After running over every interaction he’d ever had with Tobias, Riley couldn’t think of anything that stuck out.
He always thought the man was a robot, hardly showing any feelings toward anyone.
First, Tobias laughed during class, then Josh psychoanalyzed feelings Riley didn’t think he was capable of?
Nope, it was too early in the morning for that kind of heavy thinking. He was sure that if things were that bad, it would come out anyway. Hopefully, Tobias would let them be there for him if he needed it.
Based on history, though, he doubted it.
————————
“Seriously, who the fuck is this guy?”
Riley was staring at a picture of him and Josh leaving the gym that morning. They looked tired and worn out from the workout, but otherwise happy.
Really happy actually. And the way Josh was looking at him…
Focus.
Their author client, CJ Rollins, emailed them the picture with a single line.