Page 47 of Gym Bros (Bay Area Bros #2)

“No, just like—the way you’ll have to be. Like—ruthless. Or whatever,” he murmurs.

“Hm.”

“I get this is what you want to do. I mean, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around a lot of it, but you’ve never done anything but support me, so I do—I support you.”

I’m frowning now, trying to piece together what he’s not saying and finding it harder than usual. “Is this you trying to fake it till you make it?”

He sighs heavily. “I don’t know, Samuel.”

“You wanna try talking it out?”

He shakes his head.

“It would mean a lot to me if you did,” I say .

“It’s like…” he takes another long, deep breath. “I want you to win and come out of it alive, but…I also…” He trails off.

“What?” I whisper.

“Hope you break your leg,” he says very, very quietly.

“Oh.” It’s a shock to hear, but I don’t pull away.

He hugs me tight. “I don’t mean that. I promise.”

“I know,” I say, smoothing my hand over his hair.

“But you know what I mean, though, right?”

“You want me to have a reason to quit,” I say, fighting the dejected feeling in my chest. “Yeah. I understand.”

“You have to know I really love you,” he tells me, and it sounds like he might be crying. “I really, really love you, and this is so much of who you are—and I love the whole package. I swear to God, Samuel. I really do.”

“Okay,” I say.

“Like I can’t imagine what you’d be like if you didn’t have your heart set on something. I can’t even picture you not being an athlete. It’s like—so you .”

“Mmhm.”

“I don’t know what I’m saying,” he admits. “I’m really confused.”

“Sounds more like you’re conflicted.”

“No,” he disagrees, pulling back enough to look up at me.

He’s got tears in his eyes and wet cheeks. I feel them on my shirt. “I’m just scared.”

“Okay. So am I.”

He frowns, worried. “What?”

“I get that you love the whole package or whatever, but that doesn’t mean you’ll want to stick around once you get a sense of what being with me is actually like.

And I can’t prepare you for it because I honestly don’t know what it’s gonna be like either.

You’re right—there is a side of me you haven’t seen, and as I keep going, it’s gonna have to be a bigger part of my life. ”

Calyx nods, an understanding look on his face even as another few tears fall. “I need to tell you something else, too.”

My frown deepens. I don’t like the sound of that.

“Should we sit?” he asks.

“Okay.” My guard is way, way up as he takes my hand and leads me to the couch. Even the fact that he’s crying isn’t keeping my natural defenses from asserting themselves. He sits, and I sit next to him, staring hard at him.

“I’m going back to work for a few weeks, too,” he says.

A huge breath whooshes from my lungs, and I crack a tentative smile. “That’s it?”

He nods, a few tears spilling down his flawless cheeks.

“But that’s great, baby.”

“I’ll be in London. And Italy. Europe.”

I nod. “Okay? Not for like a year or anything, right?”

He exhales and shakes his head. “Two or three weeks.”

“Baby.” I touch his face, wiping a few of his tears away. “It’s okay.”

“You won’t miss me?”

I laugh, feeling so much better. “Of course I’ll fucking miss you, but I figured this would happen eventually. It’s okay. I promise. Is that really why you’re sad?”

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I don’t know why I’m crying.

I know things change and people change, and I’ve thought about this so much, and the only thing I know for sure is you make me so fucking happy.

If this is us—and I think it is—I want to be with you no matter what.

Provided you keep wanting me . If I’m not too much trouble. ”

“Of course I’ll keep wanting you,” I say with another huge sigh of relief. “No one else could possibly handle me.”

He finally cracks a smile. “I don’t know,” he says with a flirtier look on his gorgeous face. “I happen to think putting up with you is more than worth it. ”

My split lip doesn’t keep me from kissing him, and it doesn’t stop him from kissing me either, just the same as he always does, with lip tugs, a scrape of teeth, and long licks of his tongue. My cock thickens with the need to be inside him—claim him. “I told you I can’t come tonight.”

“You didn’t say I couldn’t.”

“Fuck, baby…you really are gonna kill me.”

“Wouldn’t you rather it be me than some asshole with a death wish?”

I chuckle. “Death wish?”

“Oh, I’d make sure they pay dearly for killing you.”

“Mm…” That’s got me on my knees, ignoring all the bruises and the nagging aches and pains.

I open his jeans and push up his sweater as I pull down his plain white underwear to reveal his rising erection. I give him a long lick from balls to slit and swallow him in one delicious mouthful. His hands slap against the couch, and he heaves in a sharp breath.

With my palm open on his abs, I suck him to the root and twist my way off. Looking up at him, I find his eyes at half-mast, staring down at me, adoring me.

It’s the best fucking feeling in the world to have earned that look from him.

To have fought for it and won. To have gotten out of my own way and allowed myself to feel this so completely.

If he ever does leave me, I don’t think I’ll stop comparing anyone else I meet in the future to the astonishing totality of him.

I’d say he made me question my sexuality, but the truth was, there wasn’t ever a question.

He simply rewrote it. Reconfigured it in an instant.

He made it irrelevant, which is probably its own kind of sexuality, but fuck if I can keep up with all the labels these days.

I love him and his dick, and I’m proud of it.

I’m proud of myself for being the kind of man he could fall for.

I’m not sure how I managed that, but he’s here anyway, and I love him for that, too. I suck him lovingly at first, and then with the distinct purpose of getting him off before I break my own rule and come in my pants.

His moans quicken, and he grabs my shoulder, hip thrusting his cock balls deep into my mouth. His orgasm shoots down my throat and leaves him shuddering and gasping.

I swallow every drop of cum he gives me, and when I can’t suck out anymore, I pull him into my arms, planting another kiss on his mouth. “Mine,” I whisper against his soft lips.

He nods, holding me tighter. “Only yours.”

“I love you, baby. So fucking much.”

“Sam…please don’t stop.”

“I won’t.” I’m no less obsessed with him now than I was from day one. I don’t stop anything. I don’t stop kissing him. I can’t even stop looking at him when I’m not kissing him.

My cock is literally lurching for him, but the suffering is worth it to let him know I’m his, too. All in.