Page 67 of Gym Bros
“Did you want to take a picture?”
To my surprise, he pulls out his phone from his hoodie pocket. “Make it sexy,” he tells me.
This is no problem. I wrap my hands around the pole, arch my back, and lean my head against it, giving him and his cameraphone one of my more smoldering looks.
He shows me the result.
“Send it to me,” I demand.
Smirking, he sends the text. My phone buzzes on my thigh.
“I want the photo cred,” he says.
“You sure about that?” I ask. “People might assume things.”
“Like what? I took a picture of one of my dad’s models? Shocking.”
Fuck, why did he have to bring up Marcus? I was almost enjoying this.
“I still like posing for pictures,” I tell him, slightly changing the subject. “It’s the runways and the travel I have the main issue with.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Well, the difference is three or four people treating you like a dress up doll versus two hundred people staring at you like a fancy clothes hanger.”
He looks surprised. “Sorry.”
“It’s the job,” I say like I’m not kind of traumatized by it.
“I guess we don’t get to pick what we’re good at.”
“I don’t know aboutthat,” I say. “It’s not like we’re incapable of learning new things.”
“I meant natural talents.”
“Yeah, I got that, but just because we’re built a certain way or look a certain way, does that mean we can’t aim for something else?”
“Like what?” he asks.
“I would say teaching yoga, but I’m starting to think you only show up because you think I’m pretty.”
He grins. “And if I said I like taking pictures of you, too, does that mean I’m just like the rest of them?”
Whoa. I feel kind of called out. Again. “Basically,” I say.
“You can’t help what you look like.”
“Oh, but I can,” I assure him.
He shrugs. “I’ve got nothing.”
“This is gonna be a long day, Samuel.”
“Maybe.”
The carousel starts up with a bone-grating blare of music. My horse rises while his dips.
It moves slightly faster than I thought it would—not the horse, but the ride itself. “Whoa,” I say, hanging onto the pole and clenching my thighs around the horse.
