Page 196 of Dance of Defiance

But I can’t stay here forever.

“What did you have in mind?”

He grins. “You still a member at that fancy gym?”

Fuck.Yes.

I groan, relishing in the pump of blood through my muscles as I push up, lifting the plate-laden barbell off my chest. I let it settle back down, then grunt as I lift it again.

Holyfuck, does it feel good to be working out. Plus, here at Equilibrium, there's no temptation like if we went out to eat or something. Here, it’s just me and my muscles, being used for the first time in almost two weeks.

I grunt, getting the final two reps off before I rack the barbell. I exhale and sit up, turning to see Val just about finishing up his set over at the squat rack.

My eyes drop to his ass as he lowers into the squat. I grit my teeth, biting back a groan as my cock thickens.

Alcohol isn't the only thing I haven’t had in ten days.

Wild how puking, shaking, and crying on the floor can kill the mood.

I stand from the bench. Just then, I feel a presence behind me.

“Hey man, are you—wait,Roman?”

I turn, trying to place the tall, built guy with sleeve tattoos in front of me.

He smiles. “We, uh… We’ve fought before.”

Then it hits me. We’ve fought beforein a ring, at the underground fight club.

“Lukas,” he grins, sticking out a hand.

“Lukas Komarov, of course,” I chuckle, gripping his hand firmly and shaking it. “Good to see you, man.”

We vaguely know each other, at leastofeach other, outside the fight club, too. Lukas’s father Viktor helms the Kashenko Bratva, which has a seat on the Bratva High Council—another Bratva “governing body” similar to the Iron Table on which my father sits.

“How’ve you been?” I shake my head. “I haven’t been to a fight in a while.”

Lukas rolls his eyes. “Me neither.” He lifts his shoulders. “Kids, man,” he chuckles. “Two of them. They're the best, but… They keep me pretty busy.”

I smile. “Yeah, I bet.”

He nods past me at the bench. “Hey, are you wrapped up here?”

I glance over to Val on the other side of the gym.

“Not quite. My boyfriend has one more set.”

The world fucking stops turning as the word falls out of my mouth. For a second, I’m so stunned that it feels like I’m going to throw up. I turn to Lukas again, expecting…I don’t even know.

Cruel amusement? Disgust? To be mocked?

But none of that happens.

“No problem, man,” he grins. Then he glances at his watch. “Shit, you know what, I gotta run anyway.”

He looks up at me again, not a single drop of disdain in his eyes as he sticks his hand out. I’m still numb as I shake it. Thefuckjust happened?

“Good to see you, Roman. Hope we can rematch at the fights, yeah?”