CJ glanced at him. “You ever think about minding your own business once in a while?”
Rizzo grinned unapologetically. “I would if you ever stopped making things interesting.”
CJ snorted, and Rizzo clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m not messing with you.” He tipped his head to where Evan was now buttoning his shirt and talking to one of the trainers. “You look happier.”
CJ glanced across the room before he could stop himself. Evan laughed at something the trainer said, head tipped slightly back, and CJ had to look away before his face gave away everything.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I am.”
Rizzo smiled. “Good.”
He stayed quiet for longer than CJ expected, then he ruined the moment exactly how CJ thought he would.
“So, are you two doing the break together, or are we still pretending I’m dumb?”
CJ barked a laugh. “You’re not dumb. Just nosy as hell.”
“Answer the question.”
CJ was saved by the sound of a notification indicating Rizzo’s ride had arrived. Rizzo shouted goodbyes to everyone left in the room before disappearing out of the clubhouse. CJ shook his head and started toward the showers. He took the quickest shower he’d ever taken, and when he returned, Evan was sitting at his locker, scrolling through his phone. He looked up as CJ passed and smiled.
“Give me five minutes,” CJ said softly, and Evan nodded and turned back to his phone.
When he was dressed, Evan stood and grabbed his duffel bag, leading the way out of the clubhouse. CJ followed at an easy pace, pulse picking up the closer they got to the parking lot. The July heat radiated in waves from the blacktop, but CJ didn’t care. He tossed his bag into the back of Evan’s SUV, then climbed into the passenger seat while Evan got behind the wheel.
They pulled the doors shut, sealing them in sudden quiet, hidden behind Evan’s darkly tinted windows. For one suspended moment, neither of them moved, then Evan reached across the console, caught the back of CJ’s neck, and kissed him. It was brief and firm and a little impatient, like he’d been waiting all day to do it. When he pulled back, CJ blinked at him.
“Well,” he said, just a little breathless. “That feels promising.”
“Seatbelt,” Evan replied, starting the engine.
CJ laughed and clicked it into place, and Evan pulled out of the lot and into San Diego traffic. In front of them, harbor traffic shimmered and palm trees bent lazily in the breeze. CJ stared out the windshield, then over at Evan’s profile, calm and focusedbehind dark sunglasses. They had a few days in a mountain cabin with no schedules, no cameras, and no one asking anything of them except what they wanted from each other.
He had no idea what came after that. Maybe he didn’t need to know. Evan reached over and rested his hand briefly on CJ’s knee, giving a quick squeeze before returning it to the wheel. It was a small touch that felt like an affirmation.
He had spent years thinking the best parts of life were the loud ones, where no one looked too closely past the wins and the crowds and the moments everyone could see and cheer for. He was starting to think that it might be this instead.
22
CJ
CJ settledinto the passenger seat with one leg pulled to his chest and fingers drumming an offbeat rhythm against his thigh as they rolled through the city streets to the highway. San Diego tried to hold them for a while, snarled traffic keeping them stuck between glass towers and the shimmering harbor. Evan drove more calmly than CJ would have, unbothered by the impatient drivers weaving in and out of the late-afternoon traffic as one of his playlists filled with easy, familiar music hummed low through the speakers. The kind of sound that filled space without dominating it, giving them space to talk if they wanted to. Neither of them did.
They left the city in increments as the traffic eased and the road opened up. The skyline disappeared and the suburbs gave way to the flatter heat of inland California. They exited the interstate onto a two-lane highway. By the time they started the winding ascent into the mountains, Evan had turned down the A/C and rolled both their windows partway down, letting the cooler mountain air circulate through the car.
CJ shifted slightly, angling himself so he could rest his head on the back of the seat. Evan had his sunglasses pushed intohis hair and his elbow propped on the door, one hand loosely holding the steering wheel, fingers tapping once in a while in time with the music. There was an expression on his face that CJ couldn’t place.
“You okay?” CJ asked.
Evan glanced over, looking faintly surprised. “Yeah. Just thinking.”
“Dangerous hobby,” CJ said lightly.
He was joking, but there was still a small knot of concern in his chest anyway. Thinking had a way of carrying Evan into places he didn’t always come back from quickly.
Evan’s mouth twitched with the hint of a smile. “I was thinking that I haven’t been to the mountains in a long time. Not since I was a kid. I forgot air could smell this clean.”
CJ smiled and reached over to squeeze Evan’s arm for a second before returning his attention to the road ahead. The GPS said they had about an hour before they reached Juniper Creek, and the car continued its smooth climb up the mountain. The steady hum of the engine and the low murmur of music blended into something soft and steady, and the cool air flowing through the gap in the window lulled CJ to sleep. It wasn’t a full sleep, more like drifting in and out just enough that he didn’t have a tight grasp on time.
