Page 26 of Gym Bros
“Yeah,” Ryan says in not the nicest way, then, after a long look at Calyx, he turns to leave the gym.
When I slide my gaze back to Calyx, he’s watching Ryan go, arms still crossed, the amused grin still on his face. In terms of his Instagram, the only pictures he smiled in were the ones with those two women. It disappears pretty fast when he looks up at me.
“Ready now?”
“Yeah, sorry, I just?—”
“Recognized him. I got it,” he says, and I’m already following him back to the small studio.
“Sorry if I was rude,” I say. “It was just surprising when I realized who he was.”
“And you got a dog today.”
I frown. “Yeah?”
He opens the studio door for me, and I walk through it. The same eerie music is playing, and the diffuser is pushing out steamy clouds of lemongrass and lavender. The room feels warmer than it has the last two nights.
“Kinda hot in here.”
“A hot yoga class finished half an hour ago. It’ll cool off.”
“Oh. How hot does it get?”
“Ninety-eight? A hundred? I’m not sure. Very hot. If you ever want to try it, it’s pretty amazing. It’s like you leave every toxin in your body on a sweaty mat by the time it’s over.”
“That sounds awful,” I say.
“Punching someone in the face is awful. Hot yoga is just exercising with the heater on.”
Damn.I don’t know how to respond to that, so I don’t say anything. He’s got the mats laid out, so I drop the bag I probably won’t need, and sit in the easy sitting pose I forgot the other name for.
Calyx gracefully drops into the same position facing me and rests his upturned hands on his knees. He looks—stunning. And then he opens his mouth again “We’ll start with a few breaths. Try not to think about black cats and dogs.”
My own mouth twists, and I have to bite my lip, a sudden and unexpected urge to cry thickening my throat and stinging my eyes, which I drop to the mat. I breathe slowly, in and out, desperately needing to not dothat. I’m used to being put in my place. I’m the little brother, and I’ve been the new kid at the gym for a year. But something about the way Calyx does it hits different.
Listening to him breathe, I match his rhythm without thesound at the end. Every muscle in my body is rigidly tense. It’s been a while since I’ve beatenmyselfup about anything, but tonight I’m confused, and I’m starting to really fucking hate myself. It’s not anything a few breaths is going to fix.
This is what happens when I let my guard down. I get punched in the face. I can’t fucking believe I forgot that.
5
CALYX
Samuel is quiet tonight. I thought I’d love that. When he was talking to Ryan, I was lowkey waiting for him to shut the fuck up, but now I can’t stand it. He’s not asking questions and only grunting one word answers to mine. It’s making me wonder if I’m not doing enough—like moving fast enough for him, but I swear I’m scared shitless I’ll hurt him if I push too hard, too soon.
After a few spinal twists, we do a sitting forward bend in butterfly, and I’m shocked at his lack of hip flexibility. “Why are you stopping?” I ask, bending forward again in case he missed that bending was part of the move. “It’s like this.”
“This is as far as I go,” he says quietly, giving me a quick glance before looking back down at where his hands are resting on his big, strong, tanned calves.
I’m not sure how common it is for a twenty-year old to tear a large muscle, but if he’s this tight, I guess I’m not surprised this one did.
“Where do you feel that?” I ask when we’ve moved into cobra because I figure maybe his back bends better than it folds, but his chest barely comes off the ground.
“My ass,” he grunts. “I feel it in my ass.”
From where I’m standing, I glance at his ass, then his hands and chest again, then…his very sculpted ass. I doubt that’s where the problem is.
“Move your hands in a little closer and try to focus your attention on your lower back. That’s where you should feel it.”
