Page 13 of Saint
They scuttle away and get on the treadmills. I wait until I see them start running before looking at Noah. “I’m sorry about that, Noah. Those two are nothing but trouble.” He shrugs, not really looking me in the eye, making me more pissed off with those boys. “What did they say, Noah?”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not any of my business. What you do and get up to out of work is private. They shouldn’t have been so disrespectful.”
I turn around and look at the boys barely jogging on the running machines. “Run faster and you’ve got another fifteen minutes added.”
When I look back at Noah, he’s standing up and looking at Royal. “Thanks, Royal.”
“What are you doing? Are you leaving?” Shit, he’s really bothered about what happened, and when I reach out to touch his arm, he shies away. What did they tell him? A question niggles at the back of my brain, it won’t go away. Why is this bothering me so much? What difference does it make if he knows I fuck guys in a private club? We’re both adults. I’m sure he’s had his fun. But that doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t know for sure if he’s gay. He’s never come out and announced it, and why should he? Everyone is entitled to have a private sex life.
“I want to have a word with Knox, then I’ll be going back to the house.” He still doesn’t look at me. “Can you give me a couple of minutes to change?”
“You don’t need to do that.” Noah looks over to Tate and Roman. “I think you’re going to have to watch those guys. If you leave, they’ll stop running.” There’s a little humour as he speaks, but I can see he’s still trying to understand whatever it was they told him. And, of course, he’s right. “I’ll see you at work on Monday.”
I nod, but there’s no way I’m going to leave him to wallow in whatever crap those two meddlers told him. I watch him walk away, there’s not much else I can do.
Royal steps up next to me. “What’s going on?”
“Tate and Ro spoke to him. I don’t know what they said, but knowing those two cocky bastards, it wouldn’t have been good. They rarely have a filter on their mouths.”
Royal chuckles, annoying me even further. “I can imagine. They probably decided he was your latest sub and wanted to introduce themselves. Which doubtlessly involved how much fun they have when you fuck them.”
“I’m going to punish them so hard next time I’m at the club. They know the fucking rules,” I growl, staring at their red, sweaty faces. “Come on, you can run faster than that,” I yell at them. “What was he talking to you about?”
“Self-defence classes. He wants to take lessons. He said that after not being able to fend off some heavy-handed men in the past, he’d like to know what to do in the future.”
“Men. He said men? So, he’s gay?” That clarification pleases me more than it should.
“You didn’t know? You sent him to live with our dads—who are gayer than Paul O’Grady and his dog, god rest his soul. What the fuck, Saint.”
“Hey, it never crossed my mind that he’d be bothered about that. If he’s followed me as much as he says, then he would have read articles that have me praising my two fathers. I’ve never hidden them or my own sexuality.”
“Fair point. But seriously, Saint, he screams needy sub. He’s lost here and needs some guidance in his life as well at the studio. If you don’t want him, I’m more than happy to take over. His arse is gorgeous.”
Even though I know he’s winding me up, a growl still escapes me. “Leave him alone, Royal. And anyway, you’re a Daddy, and he’s not a little. That I do know.”
“So, what are you going to do about it? He’s not going to go away, and I think he may have some questions that only you should answer.”
I know Royal is right, but how do I open that conversation when I don’t know what the terrible two said to him. I’ll wait until he leaves, I don’t want him to see me talking to them again. Instead, I decide to interrupt Noah and Knox, to tell them that I can teach him self-defence. I’m as qualified as Dad. But Royal grabs my arm, holding me still.
“Leave him for now, Saint. Let him work through his thoughts. If he wants answers, you’re gonna have to wait for him to ask the questions. Go finish your workout.”
After glaring at the two subs again, I go over to the free weights and start my routine.
I don’t see Noah leave.
Knox looks up when I tap on his open door. “Come in, have you seen enough for today?” No comment about Saint’s two friends, which I’m grateful for. I want to work through that on my own, do a little research on clubs or, more significantly, sex clubs. I doubt they’re called that, but Google will help with that.
“Yes, thanks. I’d like to try yoga, do you have a class for beginners? And self-defence classes. Royal said your dad runs the adult ones.”
Knox grins at me. “Yoga for beginners, that’s awesome, and yes, we do. It’s on Wednesday evenings at seven-thirty. Shall I add you to the list? I did this for you too.” He picks up a card. “I got your membership sorted. You need to bring this with you, along with this.”
A small key and padlock. One that has a combination lock. “What’s this for?”
“Your locker. Now, the self-defence class is a little trickier, the beginner’s class is halfway through its course. There are four more weeks to go.” He must see me deflate because he holds up a finger. “But I have a free space for half an hour on Wednesday at 8.30. I can start you on the basics, then you can join the new course in a month. How does that sound?”
It sounds great, two birds with one stone. I’ll only need to come here once a week, which means fewer chance of bumping into any more of Saint’s fuck buddies. “I’d like that very much, but I feel guilty taking up your free time. I can wait a month.” I don’t want to, but it’s not that too long to wait.
“It’s not a problem. I haven’t taught it for a while, it will give me a chance to refresh myself too. Plus, it will just be the two of us, and we can do a lot in half an hour.”
