“Just admit you’re jealous you don’t have a hot woman waiting at home for you, ready to rub all your tender bits and ease the ache.” Stephen sat up, grinning, the sight both familiar and brand new.
He’d begun filling out a little more since his weight loss from rehab a year ago, adding his gain back deliberately in muscle rather than the flab and beer gut he’d carried before. His face was still thinner though, and while the eyes were all Stephen, it was still sometimes jarring to see his friend’s face so angular where before it was round.
But it was good to see that clarity in his friend’s eyes, the awareness that wasn’t always there before, the flush on his skin that spoke of hard work and effort, not late-night beer sweats and fatigue from being out of shape. Thank God for Mags, his former housekeeper, now girlfriend, who kept him on the straight and narrow.
“Maybe I have a hot woman at home. Your mom says hi, by the way.” Michael laughed and jumped out of the way as Stephen went in for another punch, probably dead center this time.
“Quit fucking around in the weight room,” Caleb growled from the corner.
“Yes, Coach,” they both said automatically, switching positions and changing out the weights for Michael’s round.
“Speaking of hot women,” Stephen asked as Michael settled down, back flat on the bench, bar level with his eyes, “how’s that cute tennis player? The one who tangos like an Argentinian?”
Michael’s hands slipped from their grip on the bar, and he felt a moment of gratitude he hadn’t unracked the weights yet. He rubbed his palms over his shorts to dry them off. “Everything’s fine. Dropped her off at tennis practice, then her coach is taking her to strength training later.”
“Uh-huh.” Stephen watched, hands close by, while Michael went eight reps with the weights. “She staying out of trouble?”
“Not far enough,” Michael muttered.
“You get your hands on her yet?”
“I— What?” Michael blinked as he started to lift the outside weight off the bar. “What the hell kind of question is that?”
“The kind a friend asks when he notices his friend is in over his helmet with something and won’t admit it.” Zero remorse. Stephen gave him a hard stare as he yanked the safety clip off his side and replaced the smaller weight with a slightly bigger one. “Don’t try to act like you have no clue what I’m talking about. I’ve got radar.”
“You’ve got a woman, so suddenly you think everyone else needs one.”
“Or a man, whatever floats your boat. One love, baby.” Stephen started humming the chorus to Bob Marley’s song by the same name, just to be a smartass, before laying down for his next set.
Because Stephen was busy, Michael had the opportunity to talk without interruption. “I’m not out looking for women, you know. That’s not my goal in life.”
Stephen grunted, which Michael took to mean didn’t say it was.
“But this… this person just walked into my life, uninvited, mind you,” he added, though Stephen hadn’t asked, “and she’s flipped everything upside down. I’m struggling to keep up.”
“You’ve never struggled with a mentee before. You’ve always had the touch.”
“Touching might be the problem,” he muttered as Stephen sat up from his set.
“Oh ho, there it is.” Stephen smiled and pointed a finger, poking him in the shoulder as he stood. It hurt. “If you want my opinion—”
“He doesn’t.” Caleb walked by, giving Stephen a look that clearly said Stop running your mouth and get to work. Stephen grumbled but sat up and started changing the weights on his side for Michael’s set.
“So how’s Kat liking her trainer?”
Michael glanced up, noting his coach’s curious look. “Uh, I think she liked him. Only met with him once so far, so hard to tell. But she said she liked what she heard. I think they meet later today for their first training session.”
“Good, good.” Caleb kept standing around after Stephen and Michael had changed weights and Michael sat on the bench. They both waited for their coach to say something more, but he simply waited, awkwardly, right behind Stephen.
“Okay then,” Stephen finally said, shrugging a shoulder. “Let’s finish up.”
Michael huffed out a breath and went for his final set of bench presses, struggling on the eight like he knew was going to happen. When he finished, he and Stephen both cleaned the bar off and marked down their completions in their folders before moving to the next apparatus. Caleb followed for some reason.
“Did she say she was going to keep him? My brother,” Caleb clarified when Michael gave him a What the hell? look. “It’s his first big break, you know, working for a pro athlete. I thought she’d be the perfect choice. Kat didn’t seem like the kind of athlete to get caught up on references with big names.”