Page 44 of The Jock
COLBY
“Hell of a circuit.”Nash dropped down on the floor of the gym and patted the empty space next to him. “I swear you’re part demon, you’re barely sweating.”
Colby sat next to Nash and took a long drink of his Gatorade. “This is sort of my job,” he said, offering his drink to Nash.
“Doesn’t mean you have to make it look so easy.” After taking a pull, Nash handed Colby’s drink back to him. “So, what’s new? We haven’t talked in a while.”
Colby shrugged a shoulder. “Sorry, I got kind of busy.”
“Busy with a certain gym member?”
Colby did his best to hide his smile, but it burst out of him like a sunbeam. “Maybe.”
“Oh, fuck off. Maybe, my ass. I want details.” Nash’s grin was wide and blinding.
“You’re enjoying this. What about you? I want details of your love life. Since you seem to want to be all up in my business. Fair is fair, right?” Colby ribbed good-naturedly.
“We’re not talking about me; we’re talking about you. Of course I’m enjoying this. You look happy, man. Actually fucking happy. Not that you’re not happy in general. You’ve got thisextra sparkle.” Nash kicked his leg out and knocked his foot into one of Colby’s. “So, spill.”
“There’s not much to tell. I like hanging out with him and he likes hanging out with me. We’ve done some things that pretty much cemented the whole idea of me not being straight, but we haven’t put a label on what we’re doing yet. I’m not sure if he wants to either.”
“But you like him?”
Colby nodded. Like was a flimsy excuse of a word. Colby liked eggs. He liked fresh air, action movies, long drives that went nowhere, and a million other things that didn’t measure up to the way he felt about Milo. But he didn’t know what that was. It was bigger than like. Fascination and adoration mixed with curiosity. Not about the whole ‘sex with a guy’ thing, though that was part of it, but curiosity about Milo himself. About who he was and where he came from. About the things he liked and the events in his life that had shaped him.
Was it love? Colby didn’t know the first thing about that. Sure, he loved his brothers and his dad and his friends. But that was family love and friend love and platonic love. He’d dated before, but had he ever fallen for anyone? He was sure he came close a couple times, but nothing ever stuck for one reason or another.
When he was younger, girls didn’t like competing for his attention. They didn’t get that he had to look out for Jonah and Taylor, and that he had to help around the house and the restaurant. Then he became manager of the gym he’d worked at and that ate a lot of his time. Early mornings meant early evenings and while other people were out clubbing, he was sitting around a fire with his family. It didn’t leave many opportunities for dating or getting to know anyone.
Until Milo came along. Milo, who willingly stepped up and helped Taylor. Even after Milo’s disaster of a relationship, he’dstill been open enough to taking a chance on Colby, who’d thought himself straight up until a short time ago.
“Someone’s got it bad.”
Colby kicked Nash’s foot. “Not a word or I’ll make you do box jumps until your butt falls off.”
“Colby and Milo sitting in a tree…”
“Finish that rhyme and I’m revoking your membership.” Colby got to his feet and extended a hand toward Nash, pulling him to his feet once he took it.
“You’re cruel. If I didn’t have this place, I’d never leave my house and I’d turn into a hermit. No one would ever see me again.”
Colby snorted. “Dramatic much? What have you been up to anyway?”
“I’ve been hard at work, you know me. All work and no play.”
“You’re hardly dull, but I’m glad you get out once in a while, or I would worry about you going allThe Shiningon me.”
“Speaking of getting out of the house, I stopped in at the diner yesterday. Poked my head in the kitchen to say hi to Taylor.”
Colby pretended to be unaffected, but secretly he was hoping Nash wasn’t about to say something stupid. The fear was irrational. He knew this as deeply as he knew the sky was blue. But he held his breath anyway, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Would he have to rise to his brother’s defense? His hand tightened on the bottle of Gatorade.
“He looked happy as hell. It was nice to see him smile that big.”
The tight knot of apprehension uncoiled. Nash slung his arm around Colby’s shoulders and pulled him close. “I know you worry about him, Colby, but it’s me. You know better.”
Colby let out a weak laugh. “I know, sorry. Worrying is a hard habit to break, but I’m doing my best to remember that Taylor is an adult.”
Nash gave Colby a friendly squeeze. “Look at you, learning to let go and shit.”
