by Bianca Vix
Scott laughed. “Yeah, right. My first love is hockey. Always has been, always will be.”
“Playing with the Stormers isn’t going to be the same without you.” It was a huge understatement. They’d been on the same hockey teams all their lives. It wasn’t right that he was in the NHL and Scott wasn’t going to be right there with him.
Scott turned away. “Yeah, well. They’re lucky to have the Hawk on their side. You’ll have to manage without me somehow.”
“Hey, I was just about to get in a quick workout before Lora gets back. You want to come along?”
“Sounds good. Where can I change?”
Blake showed him to the spare bedroom, forcing himself to look away fast. Scott was already pulling his t-shirt up before Blake had even turned to leave.
To distract himself, Blake went to find a water bottle for Scott to use. He and Lora had only moved into their new place a couple weeks ago. He couldn’t remember where everything was yet, especially since the two of them had pretty different ideas about what was supposed to go where.
By the time he found a spare bottle and was starting to fill it up, Scott joined him in the kitchen. His workout clothes were baggy, but his body was impossible to hide. Strong calves were left exposed by his shorts, and the sexy arms revealed by his t-shirt were hard to ignore. Blake handed him the water bottle, trying not to check him out.
“So, where we going?”
“There’s a gym here in the building. It’s not big but the equipment’s not bad at all, and my regular gym is too far to get to now. Lora and I have plans to go out for dinner right when she gets back.”
“That’s cool. I can find something else to do.”
They stepped out of the elevator on the second floor and Blake led the way to the gym. “No way. You’re coming with us. It’s not a romantic thing, it’s just something we always do in the middle of the week.”
Scott started to say something, but Blake cut him off. “Lora’ll kill me if you don’t come along.”
“Fine.” Scott shrugged, glancing around the empty gym. “You’re right. Not bad at all in here.”
“Yeah, it’s not crap like most apartment gyms, they maintain it pretty well. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to live in this building. The gym sold me, and the view sold Lora. So here we are.”
Scott went straight for the weights when Blake headed for the treadmill. In this small gym, the free weight station was close by, just off to the right of the single treadmill in the room.
Blake set the program for a slow jog, trying to concentrate on the TV mounted to the wall instead of his buff friend who was pumping iron only a few feet away. A few automatic sideways glances let Blake see Scott’s muscles flexing as he worked hard.
Focus on something else, he told himself. Anything else. As usual, the gym was empty this time of day. But there were no windows, and there was an ad on TV. Toying with the treadmill settings, he increased the incline somewhat, wishing he’d remembered his headphones. Working out without music always sucked, but even more so now that he really needed a distraction.
Abandoning the weights, Scott climbed onto the elliptical right next to him but he didn’t start moving.
“How’s it going?” Blake asked. “Tired already? You can always sit and watch me, you know. I got no problem showing you how it’s done.”
“You show me?” Scott snorted. “That’ll be the day. I thought we didn’t have much time.”
“True.”
“Then how come I don’t see you benching? Afraid to show me you still can’t lift as much as I can?”
“Yeah, right. Like that’s ever happened.”
“So. I’m waiting. Show me what you got.”
Blake slowed to a walk, then reluctantly stopped the treadmill. Scott went with him over to the weights.
Hyper-aware that Scott was watching him closely, he loaded up the weights.
“That all you got?” Scott’s tone was teasing as he got into spotting position, but they’d always been competitive with each other.
“Nah. I’m just getting started.” As much as he hated to admit it, Blake had been paying more attention to his friend’s body than how much Scott had been lifting. Now he had to guess how much it would take to beat him.
Adding the maximum weight he knew he could manage, Blake got into position. Concentrating all his effort, he lifted the bar smoothly, figuring he was successful in not showing how much effort he was actually putting into it.
Scott was spotting him. Lifting together was something they’d done since they were teens, and they naturally helped each other out.
But being unable to ignore Scott’s strong body bending over his head was doing Blake’s concentration in. After only a few lifts, he faltered and Scott bent over him, grabbing the bar to steady it. Together they guided it back into the rack.
“Nice job.” Scott’s admiration was real, so Blake must have guessed the amount right. He really enjoyed pressing, would have done it even if it wasn’t a necessary part of off-season training.
“I lifted this morning. I’m going back to cardio, now that you know what a real hockey player needs to be able to do.” Blake ducked out of the way as Scott punched his arm.
They switched places, with Scott getting the treadmill going at a fast run while Blake got up beside him on the elliptical. Scott had him beat in enjoying the cardio department, that was for sure.
Blake didn’t mind the silence as they worked out side-by-side, but it wasn’t like Scott to be this quiet for this long.
“So, how’s it going?” Blake asked him. “Ready to take on Chicago?”
Scott kept his eyes forward. “Yup.”
Yeah, okay. Something was off with him. One word answers were definitely not Scott’s style. He was one of the most talkative guys Blake had ever known.
Plus, they’d been friends long enough that Blake could tell when something was bugging Scott. Even though Lora always said he was oblivious to most everything around him if it wasn’t about the game, she wasn’t totally right. At least, not all of the time.
“Everything okay?”
Scott ramped up his treadmill speed. “Sure.”
Blake frowned. There was no way he was going to call him out on it, but Scott shouldn’t be on the treadmill at all. The reason for that was the one thing they hadn’t really talked about, but it was up to Scott to bring it up, not him.
The alarm Blake had set to signal the end of their workout went off, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Time to get back, man.”
“Okay. Let’s take the stairs.”
Blake let Scott run up ahead of him. Being a cardio lover, running stairs was something Scott always tried to get him to do. But Blake got the distinct feeling he was suggesting it now so he could avoid talking.
It was one of Blake’s most hated exercises, running up steps, but the exercise was made a little more enjoyable by the view he had of Scott’s tight ass.
Since there was little chance of getting caught, he let himself scope his friend out shamelessly. Get it out of his system. How else was he going to be able to stand having his undeniably hot friend living with him for the next few weeks?
He’d even almost managed to convince himself that he was over this weird…attraction he was suffering from. Not even Lora knew how he felt. He sure as hell hadn’t expected it to come back full force the moment Scott stepped inside his place.
They reached the fifteenth floor. Shaking his head, Blake shoved his inappropriate thoughts out of his mind as he unlocked the door to the condo.
“Go on and shower first,” he said to Scott. “You need it.”
“Not as much as you. But I’ll go now.”
Taking a seat in the living room, Blake pulled out his phone to return a couple messages. A couple minutes later, Scott’s voice from down the hall startled him. “Hey, dumbass. You got a towel I can use?”
“Hang on.”
There was a box of towels he’d grab from when he
needed one, but he couldn’t find it. Remembering Lora saying something about doing laundry before she left today, he checked the dryer and found them there.
After fishing one out, Blake went back to the bathroom. Figuring Scott would be in the shower, he pushed open the bathroom door without knocking.
Right at that moment, Scott pulled the shower curtain back. Caught off guard, Blake got an eyeful of his glistening, naked body, droplets of water highlighting every single bulging muscle as they trailed over his skin.
Blake froze, unable to stop staring. Scott had certainly bulked up since the last time they’d changed together, which was at least a couple years ago now that he thought about it. He shouldn’t be thinking about it. He should be stopping his gaze from going lower down.
“See something you like?”
Blake jerked his head up from where he’d been looking, although he couldn’t meet his friend’s eyes. Obviously he’d been caught, but at least Scott sounded like he was joking, not like he was about to deliver a punch in the face.
“Gross,” Blake managed, tossing the towel at Scott before almost slamming the door behind him in his hurry to get away.
Shit. Heat burned up his face as he stumbled towards the living room, nearly knocking someone down as he rounded the corner.
He caught Lora by her shoulders to get his balance back. “Hey, baby,” he said, pulling her to him and nearly smothering her with a kiss that clearly caught her by surprise. He almost knocked them both off balance again with his awkward attempt to cover up his embarrassment at seeing Scott naked.
“What’s gotten into you?” She gave him a strange look as she untangled herself from him.
Blake could only hope the redness was draining from his cheeks. “Nothing. Just happy to see you.”
“That’s great. But why aren’t you ready to go out? I’m so hungry, I really want to get going now.”
Taking her hand, he led her into the living room. “Scott’s here. We worked out together and he’s in the shower now.”
“He’s here? That’s almost a week early.” Her smile quickly turned into a frown. “We’re not really ready for him yet. Our place isn’t really organized yet.”
“Loralei!” Scott’s voice boomed out from down the hallway, and in a moment he was with them. He picked Lora up off the floor, catching her up in a big bear hug.
“Wow,” she laughed. “I haven’t been called that in awhile. They don’t even call me by my full name at work.”
“It’s a pretty name. Suits you really well.”
All Scott had on was the towel Blake had given him. It was already slipping below his visible hip bones and threatening to slide off altogether as he spun Lora around.
Jesus Christ. When he’d invited Scott to stay with them when he came to the city, he really hadn’t thought the whole thing through. If he was going to walk around like that, it was going to become a problem for Blake.
He should have been annoyed at Scott hugging his girlfriend when he wasn’t wearing any clothes. He knew it, but what he was feeling was far from that.
Already his cock was responding to the way Scott’s strong arms were wrapped around Lora. Not to mention the muscled back flexing right in front of his face. His arousal was tinged with a slight spike of jealousy, although he wasn’t exactly sure whether he was jealous of his nearly-naked friend hugging his girlfriend like that, or the other way around.
Giving his head a sharp shake, Blake tried to clear his mind. Getting away from them was going to be the best way to do it. “I’m going to shower so we can get going,” he told them, walking off.
Turning the water to as cold as he could stand it, Blake fought the urge to bang his head against the wall. This was going to be torture.
But there was no way out. Scott was staying with him and Lora for the next few weeks. Scott and his hot body that he had no problem showing off, right there in Blake’s living room.
Torture.
**************
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