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Emboldened with many glasses of Grey Goose and Ocean Spray, I have enough liquid courage running through my veins to do so. I square my shoulders, ignoring the way my vision doubles. “Listen here, Lukey Dookey—“
Nat appears like magic, inserting herself between us. “Luke, have you tried the chili? If you ask Big Barron, he can get you some.”
Luke looks from Nat to me, his brow creasing. He opens his mouth to say something when suddenly the man himself is there,the original BB. Not that New York City interloper who thinks he can get between my thighs with a nickname and a smirk.
“Come to the back,” Big Barron booms, winking at me in what seems like slow motion. “We have lots of chili there.” Big Barron, much larger than Luke, shuffles him away to serve him a bowl of heaven.
“You’re not riding your bike home, Gen.” Natalie says, prying my hand from around my empty glass. “Seth is on his way with his truck.”
“Yousecalled him?“ I slap a rubbery hand to my forehead. “He’sgunnabe mad at me.”
Nat clucks her tongue and lays a fifty on the bar. Guy walks over, picks up her tip, and thanks her before helping someone that looks awfully blurry.
Nat turns to me, her face both close and far away. “Gen, the day Seth gets mad at you, is the day I’ll walk down the street naked.”
Big Barron whistles. Natalie giggles and ducks her head.
Tired of them dancing around the obvious, I let the drinks I consumed do the talking. “Ask her out already,” I shout at Mr. Silver Man Fox. “You know you want to.”
With a hiss, Nat claps a hand over my mouth.
“Did I say something wrong?” I mumble through her fingers.
Big Barron laughs.
After a stern look in my direction, Nat releases my mouth and walks to where Big Barron has come from around the bar. I don’t watch what happens next. Even my drunk mind realizes they need privacy. Instead, I slip from the stool and slink off to an empty booth, waiting for Seth.
I remain, out of sight, and out of trouble, until he arrives moments, minutes,hourslater.
I’m not sure how long it takes. I’ve lost track of time.
With a simple, woozy grin, I watch him scatter people with nothing more than his sheer size and the mean look on his face.
I know better. Seth, my fuzzy, wuzzy teddy bear, is the sweetest man in the world, and the only other male, besides my dad, who loves me forme.
Lifting Heavy
Royce
“Niceset,man,”Shanesays. He holds up his palm for a high five. I have to slap downward to reach it. Shane is a short dude, but muscular. His white blond hair, tied up like a Samurai, gives him a character from a graphic novel look.
Shane is the son of STS previous owners, a husband and his silent-partner wife. We’d met when his father, Willard Williams, invited me to his house for dinner. At the meal, he introduced me to his wife, Lacy, his eighteen-year-old daughter, Crystal, and his son, Shane, who is my age, and a bodybuilder.
The Williams’s served a real Texas meal with BBQ ribs, brisket, steak, and all the fixings. I’d passed on the dessert of pecan pie and Shane had jokingly asked if I was on a diet. Considering I had three plates, he had to have known better, and I told him so.That started off a conversation on healthy eating, followed by views on different workouts, and ended up with me asking Shane for a gym recommendation. The next day, he took me to the place he owned, and before we stepped inside, he warned me it wasn’t much.
He wasn’t lying. The structure had no frills. Fans swirled the Texas heat around the homemade racks and benches. Dumbbells from defunct gyms lay stacked in a corner.
Shane’s gym is rustic, no-nonsense, and just what I need after dealing with Genesis. He has the perfect place to sweat out the stress of the day.
Because of my past... because of my father, I don’t do drugs or abuse alcohol. Working out is the only viable outlet I have to help me lock away my father’s insults, which Sin’s rejection let loose.
Unlikeable. Worthless. Hated you on sight.
I haven’t had those hateful words in my mind for years. My control, the kind I demand in every aspect of my life, is slipping. I need to get it back. The only way I can is to keep Genesis at arm’s length. To become disciplined enough to forget our past, one night that it was, and concentrate on my future as Tiffany’s husband and the CEO of the Grayson Group.
I take my towel from the squat rack and wipe my face. Shane’s gym is busy tonight. Still, there is plenty of equipment to use, and unlike the gym at the hotel, I don’t have to wait for a machine to be free. Another good thing about this place is that it isn’t a meat market. The people who come here are serious about pumping iron. There are conversations, sure, but nothing over the top.
“Hey Royce, you want to come over to my place?” Shane asks, motioning for one of his employees. “My girl makes a killer whey shake. Shit is full of all the right stuff to build those big guns.” He throws his head back, laughing at his own quip.
