Page 127 of The Forever Vault

“Where we headed?”

“The village,” I answered.

“You know where Zane’s looking?”

“No-” Fuck!

As soon as we turned the corner, we slammed into three men. “Sorry, we were rushing and didn’t see…Luke?”

I withdrew myself from the clump of bodies that formed upon impact only to realize Shane and I had found exactly who we were looking for. A very pissed Zane, a very quiet Torben, and a very hungover Ezra.

“We were just heading out to look for you.”

“I didn’t plug my phone in last night.” Ezra’s tone seemed to suggest other things, but I’m sure he had already been reamed by Zane.

“Well, you found us.” I could practically see the steam coming out of Zane’s ears. “Let’s get to the gym.” Zane made a move to pull Ezra through the middle of our cluster, but I stepped in before he could take more than a few steps.

“Shane, Zane - hey, that rhymes! - why don’t you guys lead the way?” I half-shoved Torben into his husband to get them ahead of us. “Me and Ezra will bring up the rear.”

Following a short distance behind the older men, I tried to figure out what happened.

“Where’d you go last night?” I asked.

“You don’t remember?”

“I was a little tipsy. I remember you coming into the bar, wearing a big smile and holding your tail.”

“I went into the back to change into a more comfortable outfit. As much as I liked the attention, I was kind of wiped out.”

“From dream sex with your puppy prince?” I asked.

“Something like that. Anyway, I squeezed out of the bathroom just as Colton and Zeph were disrobing their conquest, then I went to sit at the bar.”

Ezra and I caught up to the others, who had stopped.

“We’re here. Get changed and I’ll see you over at the parallel bars. You have five minutes.”

Zane still sounded pissed and I knew not to overstep. Instead, I hung back with Torben and Shane, and waited until the other two went inside and the doors closed.

“Ezra do this a lot?” I asked Torben.

“Not really, no. Well, for his twenty-first birthday, yeah. He let loose a little bit, but he’s usually pretty disciplined. I’d imagine the Olympics is a lot for someone his age to process.”

Torben’s assessment was accurate. I shouldn’t have been so surprised by it, but for whatever reason, I was.

“There’s still a few days before he has to compete again.” I shrugged. “Ezra will be good to go by then.”

“I know Ezra’s family is close with him, but Zane treats him like family too,” Torben explained. “And whether Zane knows it or not, he’s likely living a little vicariously through Ezra right now. If he gets too intense, I can talk to him.”

Shane held the door for us and we made our way inside, finding seats by the bars. Cam was working with Noah nearby, on the floor.

It didn’t take long for Zane to work Ezra hard enough for him to vomit. Luckily, he made it to a nearby trash can, and unsurprisingly, Woodward took notice.

“Luke!”

I left Torben and Shane and headed over to see what Woodward wanted.

“Take Ezra into the locker room. There’s some nausea meds in the office, and get him some fluids. I’ll chat with Zane.”