Chapter 24 #2
“Enough of the ‘little brother’ shit. I’m only a few years younger than you.”
“And a few inches shorter,” Shawn teased, but Chase still smiled at him. Chase missed having his brother around all these years, and he really hoped Shawn was sincere when he said he changed.
Only time would tell.
He led his brother into the main room of the gym and walked him over to where Tobias pretended to be busy organizing the day’s schedule, something they’d already outlined together before Shawn had arrived.
After all the years he’d spent as a fan of Tobias and his tough-as-nails persona, Chase never would have guessed the man would be such an endearing dork.
“Hey, boss.”
Tobias’ head snapped up from the computer as if he hadn’t heard them approaching.
“I want you to meet my brother, Shawn.”
Shawn stepped up to Tobias with his hand outstretched, and Tobias shook it, keeping a serious look on his face, but his slightly pink cheeks betrayed his nerves.
Fucking marshmallow center.
“Tobias Moyer, it’s great to meet you,” Shawn said. Tobias probably assumed Shawn was confident and not nervous as hell to meet him, but Chase could hear the hitch in his breath. “I’ve been hearing great things about your gym, and I wanted to come check it out. Gotta see this guy in action too.”
Shawn nudged Chase with his shoulder at those words.
“He’s a hell of an instructor,” Tobias said sternly. “You should be proud. And try not to cry too much during your first session. I’m not sure how salt affects the yoga mats, and they’re brand new.”
Chase snorted, and Shawn smiled, but Chase reassured him. “Don’t worry, I won’t try to kill ya on your first day.”
Shawn’s smile turned wicked. “Would you really torture your brother like that when I could tell Tobias here about how big a fan of his you are? Do you still have his poster hanging up in your bedroom?”
Chase slapped a hand over Shawn’s mouth and dragged him away from Tobias, who gazed at Chase bashfully. Thank fuck—bashful was better than uncomfortable.
“Come on, Shawn, let’s go pick out your accessories for today. No more talking for you.”
Both Tobias and Shawn chuckled.
While helping Shawn grab the gear he’d need for the day, Chase heard the front door to the gym swing open, voices joining the scuffling of feet along the carpet.
Cole entered the gym with Riley and Josh on his heels. When Cole noticed Shawn standing next to Chase, he froze, and Josh ran into him.
A different person may have given Cole a heads-up that Shawn would be here this morning, but since Shawn had apologized to Cole and it had seemed to go okay, Chase figured a surprise would be more fun… for him, at least.
Catching Cole off guard was a difficult task, and Chase couldn’t turn down the opportunity.
“Well, well, well,” Cole said as he regained his composure and strolled forward until he stood in front of Shawn. “Look at what Chase dragged in today.”
Riley and Josh shared a confused glance before stepping up next to Cole.
“Hey, fresh meat!” Riley said. “Who’s the new g—”
Riley cut himself off, and Chase wondered if he recognized Shawn somehow.
Josh didn’t have the same reaction, and he stuck out his hand toward Shawn, who immediately shook it.
“Hi, I’m Josh,” he said sweetly. “Welcome to the Gym Rat Pack!”
“Hey, I’m Shawn. Shawn Townsend. I’m Chase’s brother.”
“Oh shit,” Riley whispered. Josh turned to Riley and narrowed his eyes, silently asking what was happening. Riley leaned in to whisper something to Josh, whose eyes widened.
“Riley and Josh are a couple,” Cole said pointedly. “They’ve been seeing each other since they were babies, but only started kissing recently. That okay with you, Townsend?”
“We haven’t been seeing— Forget it,” Riley said, shaking off Cole’s obnoxious description of their relationship.
“Congrats,” Shawn said, a wide grin on his face. “That’s awesome. Chase has told me a bit about you guys. It’s good to see you again, Cole. I know I’ve been an asshole in the past, but I’m trying to do better for Chase. If you aren’t comfortable with me being here, I can totally leave.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed, but Chase swore Cole was more amused than he let on.
“So, what would you do if Chase and I started making out in front of you?”
Shawn opened his mouth to answer but got cut off.
“I’d kick you out of my gym for assaulting my employees,” Tobias snapped, and everyone turned to him. The heat in Tobias’ cheeks delighted Chase.
“Assaulting your employees, huh?” Cole said. “You sure it has nothing to do with this specific employee?”
Tobias’ gaze flicked over to Chase for the briefest second before he turned back to Cole.
“Nope,” he barked, before returning to his computer.
It would have been the perfect time for Tobias to claim him, but apparently he wasn’t ready for such a thing.
Maybe because Shawn was here and Tobias was so nervous about meeting him.
“I just don’t want to have to deal with a body in my gym when your girlfriend finds out and comes here to murder you. ”
Cole scoffed. “Please. Elena would be fine with it as long as she got to watch.”
“Jesus fuck,” Tobias muttered faintly.
“Uh, to be fair,” Shawn cut in, noticing Tobias needed a topic change.
At least his brother was still a considerate person.
“I wouldn’t enjoy watching my brother make out with anyone, regardless of gender.
He’s my brother. But if Riley and Josh decided to make out right now, I’d be totally fine with that. ”
“Yay!” Josh yelled before lunging at Riley and planting a big sloppy kiss on him. Riley chuckled and put Josh in a headlock, and eventually they wrestled each other to the ground.
Shawn laughed and smiled at Chase.
“Is it usually this entertaining here?” Shawn asked.
“This is totally normal. Although, there used to be a lot less tongue when they did this,” Cole said, gesturing at the two men rolling around on the ground.
With the distraction, no one had noticed Garrett enter the gym. He walked in armed with a squirt bottle, aiming it directly into Riley and Josh’s faces until they separated.
“Like herding fucking cats,” Garrett muttered as he quietly returned the squirt bottle to his cubby.
“I get why you wake up so early now,” Shawn whispered to Chase, and they shared a healing laugh.
Chase loved how normal this felt, and he was ecstatic as Shawn folded into his group so easily. Part of him resented Shawn for keeping this from him for so long, but he didn’t want to waste time anymore. Having a bit of his family back in his life was more than worth it.