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“Kai!” Aaron put himself behind me to hold up my back. Had I really just fallen? Physically, I was exhausted. Emotionally, I had a long way to go. “Hey.” He pulled me up to my feet easily and kept me between his hands as he turned me to look at him. “Let’s go to the bags and take a quick minute before we move on to isolation. Or, if you’re done, let me know. I can help you get home.”
“No!” I did not want to go home. Or…I did. Fuck. I wanted to be close to Jonah about as much as I wanted to rip his fucking head off. I huffed a breath. “Fine. Bags.”
We racked our weights and grabbed our things, making our way to Room C where the punching bags were hung. I quickly swathed my hands with disgusting wraps from Aaron’s bag, the only place scarier than my own, and began rapid-fire punching the sack held by Briggs. An enormous groan escaped me as I went. I continued until my knuckles were sore, my energy died out, and my arms fell to my sides weakly. I released an enormous sigh.
I owed them an explanation for my shitty attitude.
Turning around, I slapped both my hands on Aaron’s chest. He wrapped his giant arms around me with care, and my face sank into his sweat and cologne-filled shirt. My voice was muffled as I shouted, “I’m so fucking horny!”
His arms quickly unclamped. He backed away from me slowly with his hands lifted, a stunned but amused look on his face. “What did you just say?”
Briggs’ giggle sounded from behind the punching bag along with a thought. “I thought you were pissed off. If it’s just that, you can easily fix it.”
“I’ll fix it.” Aaron crossed his enormous biceps over his chest and grinned. Any person interested in men would be out of their mind to turn down that offer. And I was. Out of my mind.
I shook my head and slid my wrapped palms over my eyes. “No, ugh. It’s not just that. I’m fucking pissed and I need to fuck.”
“Even better.” Aaron tilted his head down to let his eyes darken beneath his black lashes. “Anything for a friend.”
“Not you. Ew, Aaron.” Fucking gross.
“Who?” asked Briggs. He came into view and stood just next to Aaron, each of them looking at me with smug expressions. By the way Briggs showed me his teeth, I had a feeling he might’ve already known who.
Ugh, the dreaded questions. I’d hoped they’d just accept my bad mood and move on without a full-on interrogation, but I should’ve known better. My face scrunched into itself. Admitting it aloud was almost painful. “Jonah.”
Aaron threw his head back and roared with laughter, walking around himself in a little circle. “You are fucked!”
I shot him a glare. “Thanks for that, Aaron.”
Briggs swallowed his own giggles and placed his hand on Aaron’s shoulder to bring him back down. “Well, does he feel the same way?”
Aaron scoffed, tossing his hands to the sides. “Are you kidding me? Of course, he does. He’s a guy.”
“Not all guys are like you,” Briggs said. I agreed. Jonah was nothing like Aaron. “But I know he does. I’m just asking for good measure.”
“Excuse you?!” I stomped my foot, sending more pain to the top of my head. Fuck, I was going to need a hot shower after this session.
My two snickering gym partners proceeded to pull out their phones and assess every photo, video, and comment exchanged publicly between my best friend and me. Aaron thought it all too funny that there was a heart or some sort of loving emoji commented by me on every single one of Jonah’s very few posts. Briggs was a personal fan of the few pictures of us scattered about my account, our faces smushed into the camera looking, admittedly, quite smitten.
“Kai, come on,” Briggs said, tilting his head to one side skeptically. “Don’t be stupid. You two are dating without sex.”
“We are not!”
“The poor guy is totally friend-zoned,” Aaron added. “I’d bet everything I own that you’ve been unknowingly stringing him along for years. God, I feel so bad for the little dude.”
What? No. No, that couldn’t have been true. Absolutely not. Jonah had made it very clear last night and this morning that he had no interest in crossing any lines with me, so there was no way he’d been waiting for it. He’d never been one for romance; that was how I’d always known him. He hardly tolerated people, much less liked them.
I tutted and smacked Aaron lightly on the arm. “That’s not true. I would’ve known.”
“No you wouldn’t have,” he mumbled happily, still gazing at his phone with a bright, white smile. He observed closely, the expression falling from his face, shifting from glee to interest. “This guy is like, low key kind of famous, Kai.”
I shrugged. “To a certain group of people, yes.” They weren’t exactly international superstars, but most people who still wore skinny jeans knew who they were.
“Does he fuck a lot of ladies to cover up his sorrow over you not loving him?” Aaron asked.
I couldn’t help but snort at that. The thought of Jonah being a ladies’ man was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. “He doesn’t fuck anyone, Aaron. He’s never been into that stuff.”
Both boys froze, their mouths curving down. Aaron began shaking his head silently, and Briggs’ eyebrows floated steadily toward his blonde hairline.
