Chapter 13 #2
Zach would never call himself athletic—his exercise routine limited to biking back and forth from campus—but he loved rock climbing.
Back when he was a freshman, a classmate invited him to a birthday party here.
Despite Zach’s reservations about eating vegan desserts and working out as a form of entertainment, the cake had been delicious, and the excitement of dragging himself up a wall using tiny handholds had been strangely addicting.
By the end of the night, he’d become a convert.
Even then, his first thought had been of Miles, of how much he would enjoy it too. Now, he could.
And he did.
“This is so cool!” Miles yelled from the top of the beginner route and pushed away from the wall, grinning the entire way down as Zach slowly let out the rope. He landed with a grunt. “Can we do something harder?”
Of course, Miles turned out to be a natural.
His flexing biceps were a thing of beauty as he hung from one hand and maneuvered his solid frame into impossible positions.
Zach couldn’t match his raw strength, but he had his own rhythm as his body propelled up the wall in light, precise bursts.
When he climbed, everything else fell away.
No ground, no gravity, just the thump in his chest pushing him to go higher and the knowledge that when he was done, Miles would be waiting for him below.
They spent hours taking turns, moving on to progressively more complicated routes, until Zach had to call it a day.
A dull ache had settled across his neck and shoulders, but that wasn’t the worst of it.
An entire afternoon of belaying Miles, of staring at his ass, framed perfectly by the harness—all while willing his body to behave—was starting to take its toll on his willpower.
“I think I’m done,” Zach said after Miles carefully lowered him to the ground. He’d just spent ten minutes with Miles’s eyes on him, and he was feeling extra self-conscious on top of the exhaustion. “You can do a few more, but my shoulders are killing me.”
“Nah, I’m done too. Let’s go get some dinner.
” Miles slid next to him, far too close, and helped him undo the knots and get out of his harness.
Zach’s muscles throbbed too much to refuse the help, though it took every ounce of self-control not to get hard as Miles’s hands kept brushing up against his groin and hips.
If his attraction had been purely physical, he might have managed to discount it a long time ago, but it was Miles’s caring touches and gentle words that affected him the most—the way Miles led him to a bench and helped him put on his shoes, the way his eyes twinkled every time they smiled at each other on the bus ride home, and the soft, impassioned “Thank you, Zee” murmured into the darkness as they fell asleep.
* * *
The exercise had clearly been good for Miles.
He’d never admit it out loud, intent on insisting he was happy to hang out at the apartment, but he seemed lighter.
The next morning, he bounced around the room, cooking a full breakfast, cleaning every surface, and filling several pages of his sketchbook with shaded pyramids.
Zach’s plan for his day off was to lie in bed and complain about his sore muscles. For once, he didn’t have mountains of homework, and he wanted to relax. But more than that, he wanted to make Miles happy.
They spent the afternoon hiking.
When Zach opened his eyes on Wednesday, his body felt like one giant bruise.
“You’ve gone soft, city boy,” Miles teased after listening to him complain over breakfast.
“And I’m absolutely fine with that. Humanity has evolved to lay on the couch and eat pizza, not walk for hours and toss hay bales.”
Miles barked out a laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you toss a hay bale.”
“Because I’m an evolved being, and that’s what my brothers are for.
” Zach hopped up, wincing at the burst of pain radiating from every sore muscle, and carefully limped to grab his wallet and keys.
Biking to school was out of the question.
Just the thought of it made him cramp up.
Thankfully, the bus stop wasn’t far from campus.
“Fine. How about I give you a massage when you get home?”
Zach would never say no to that offer. Miles’s hands were strong, and his shoulder rubs were equal parts painful and relaxing.
Exactly what he needed.
After squeezing out of the crammed bus a few blocks away from campus, he began his slog, slowly shuffling along the sidewalk and wondering if he would ever make it. That would be quite an email to his professor.
Sorry to miss the class, but I foolishly exercised two days in a row and am now fully incapacitated.
He was almost to the parking lot when Tyler jogged up to him.
Besides exchanging the occasional awkward glance in class, they hadn’t said a word to each other ever since Miles showed up and rocked Zach’s world with that kiss.
Was it too much to hope that Tyler would keep going and let him walk to class on his own?
“Hey.” Tyler bumped his elbow, and Zach sighed.
Yes, it was.
Tyler matched Zach’s unhurried pace and gave him a look of chagrin. “I’m sorry about last week. I shouldn’t have assumed you were cheating on your man.”
Zach wasn’t sure how to respond, but Tyler kept going. “It’s not an excuse, but he seemed really upset when you were dancing with someone else. It brought back some…feelings. My ex liked to make me jealous by flirting with other guys, and after a while, he started fucking them, so…”
“Oh.” Guilt pricked at Zach as a shadow flickered across Tyler’s face. “I’m sorry about your ex. He sounds like a dick. But I promise you, Miles was fine with it.”
A group of students spilled out of the nearby building, breezing past them in a cloud of colorful hair, excited conversation, and a vague scent of paint thinner.
Sometimes Zach envied the art students—they moved through the world unafraid to take up space, to be different, to be seen.
They wore their freedom like paint smudged on their hands, while Zach hovered over a half-finished pencil drawing with an eraser.
He hadn’t realized he’d stopped until Tyler touched his arm, his eyes boring into Zach’s soul.
“Look, it’s none of my business, and I already made an ass of myself, but I can guarantee you, absolutely fucking guarantee, that Miles was upset watching you with someone else. I don’t know if you have an agreement or whatever, but I’m telling you—he hated it.”
The unwavering confidence in his voice made Zach doubt himself. Did Miles join him on the dance floor because he felt left out, like Zach had assumed, or was there more to it?
Had Miles been jealous?
“Okay,” he agreed, hoping to make Tyler feel better. “It won’t happen again.”
Chances were they’d never go back to the club, so it wasn’t a lie.
Tyler smiled. “For what it’s worth, I think you make a really cute couple.”
“Oh, yes, the cutest.” Joel appeared out of nowhere. “They’re so adorable together.”
Zach scowled and walked the rest of the way in silence while Joel gushed about Kade’s plans to take him out to Thrum again next weekend for their third date.
As much as Joel pretended he was only in it for the free admission to one of the best gay clubs in the city, Zach could tell it wasn’t the whole truth.
Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t pull off a convincing lie.
A few hours later, after a lively debate about the merits of event sponsorships—and a sadly necessary ride home from Joel, during which he’d forced Zach to sing along to every song on the radio—Zach was finally sprawled on his couch.
“I’m never moving again,” he declared loudly, earning a chuckle from Miles. “I’m staying right here for the next forty-eight hours.”
He stayed true to his promise, quickly devouring the grilled cheese Miles set in front of him before settling in to scroll through news and social media.
He hadn’t forgotten the promise of a shoulder rub, but bringing it up on his own seemed awkward, so when Miles joined him after doing the dishes, pulling Zach’s feet onto his lap and staring at his phone, Zach decided not to push it.
A few minutes later, when Zach stretched out to sneak a peek at the screen, Miles gave him a shy smile and angled it away. Too tired and sore to deal with secrets, Zach let it go and popped in an earbud, ready to let the algorithm present him with some entertaining videos to pass the time.
The next time he looked up, dim lighting cast long shadows across the room, swallowing the edges of his furniture. The glow emanating from Miles’s phone carved his face out of the darkness, the rest of him nothing but a blurry silhouette.
“I didn’t realize how late it was. I’ll turn on the light.” Zach tapped on the app for the floor lamp, grateful he’d sprung for the smart lightbulb. It came in handy whenever he didn’t feel like moving—which was most of the time.
“Don’t.” Miles’s voice was raspy and strained. He was only a few feet away, his palm resting on Zach’s ankle, but the air between them stretched like an ocean.
There was a pause, and then Miles’s rich timbre vibrated in the darkness. “Do you still want a massage?”
“Yes, please!” Zach scampered to turn around and offer his back to Miles. “Is this good? Should I move?”
“It’ll be easier if you’re lying down.” His tone dipped even lower, running across Zach’s skin like rough sandpaper. “Do you want to get ready for bed and meet me there?”
Zach shot up with newfound energy and beelined to the shower, bouncing with anticipation. The hot water might have been enough to ease the ache on its own, but he’d never turn down the pleasure of Miles’s strong hands on his body.