Page 142 of Gym Bros
Arms wrap around my waist from behind, and a too familiar black eye appears in my periphery. “What are we talking about?”
I slide my fingers between Samuel’s and squeeze his hand. “Deacon’s type.”
“Super hung gym bro,” Samuel says.
I laugh.
“What? He was checking me out earlier.”
“Excuse me?” I say, more hackles I didn’t know I possessed rising.
“Not like he wanted to do me, just like—appreciative.”
“Um, no. Unacceptable. Did you tell him you were taken?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious who’s holding my leash,” he says.
Ryan chuckles. “He’s not wrong.”
“Am I giving off a vibe I’m not aware of?” I ask them both.
“Touch him and die?” Ryan says. “You both are.”
Samuel huffs.
Malcolm joins Ryan on his other side and puts his own possessive hand on Ryan’s lower back. “Watching you guys kiss out there was pretty hot,” Mal says.
I blush, and Sam laughs.
Ryan gives Mal a look I can’t see.
Mal just smiles at his stepbrother/lover/boyfriend, whatever. “I was just saying it made me wanna dance. Care to join?”
“In a dark corner,” Ryan says. “Maybe.”
They walk off together, and Rachel’s long gone, so I squirm until Samuel lets me turn around and look up at him. “Wanna get out of here?” he asks.
“They haven’t brought out the cake yet,” I say.
“I have to be up early, and I can’t eat cake.”
“What did you weigh today?” I ask because he weighs himself every day, multiple times a day now.
“One ninety-nine.”
“You lost two pounds in a day?”
“I’m not counting it unless it’s the same or less tomorrow. You wanna help me cut some weight tonight? I had an idea while I was dancing with Pri.”
“Why? What did she do with you? You’re all sweaty.”
“That’s what gave me the idea.”
“Do I get a hint?”
“It’s gonna be really hot.”
It turns out,Samuel wasn’t joking. Once we’re back at his place, he takes a shower while the heater cranks up, and I nearly perish on the bed. Beauty is lolling on the hardwood part of the floor, panting in front of a fan Sam put down for her, and I’ve had to take off my outer garments.
