Page 38 of The Forever Vault

I turned back around and caught Ezra staring at my ass. I had adopted Luke’s jockstrap habit because he was right. They were comfortable.

Clearing my throat, I watched his eyes travel up my torso quickly to meet mine. His cheeks flushed. “Sorry. Just surprised you train in that.”

“I’m confused. Haven’t you been training with Luke for a few days? He wears jocks all the time.” I realized as I said it that he had indeed been training with Luke, but hadn’t noticed his underwear or hadn’t cared. He’s watching you for a reason. Luke’s teasing was properly placed. The kid had a crush on me.

“Have you dated anyone before?” I asked, hoping to divert his attention from my bare ass and perhaps, lessen his embarrassment.

“I had a boyfriend in high school,” he said, changing out of his street clothes. “But gymnastics became too much of a timesuck. He didn’t handle it well. I mostly chat to anonymous strangers online for fun and explore the kink community.”

I couldn’t help my eyebrows from rising.

“I can’t believe I just told you that.” He lowered his voice. “I haven’t told anyone that.”

“Truth be told, you didn’t really tell me anything. The word kink covers a lot of ground.”

“I’m not into feet or anything, or like, getting shit on. Not that there’s anything wrong with either of those things, I guess, or that liking feet is equal to shit. It’s just kind of like a role play thing. Oh for fuck’s sake, why am I still talking?”

“I don’t really need to know, Ezra. But I’m not going to judge you.”

I heard the door open behind me, just as I pulled my shorts up. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but the voice was smooth and the laughter accompanying it made me turn.

“Oh good, Cam, you can meet my coach. The other guy is Hudson Ki-”

I didn’t hear whatever else he said. My heart had dropped into my stomach. I felt my breaths grow shorter and despite being shirtless, I felt like I was suddenly wearing a heavy blanket.

Zane Hunter just walked into my locker room like he belonged here.

“What the FUCK are you doing here?” I stared daggers. Ezra wasn’t talking anymore, and the man I assumed was Hudson King seemed to have the sense to move aside. I noticed Miles and Orion came from behind the lockers, likely curious as to why I just yelled an expletive at a volume I had last employed against Etienne in London.

“I’m Ezra’s coach.”

I just stared in disbelief at my shit luck.

“And I need to explain and apologize.”

“About fucking time!”

“Cam! Why are you so angry?”

“Ezra, it’s fine. I-”

“It sure as hell isn’t fine.”

“Cam, what’s going on?” Noah asked, as he and Coach practically stumbled through the doorway at the same time.

Quickly, I pulled my tank on. “Coach’s office, Zane. Now.” I walked swiftly between Noah and Woodward, ignoring their baffled expressions. “This is between me and him. I’ll let you know if I think you need to know.”

I could feel my heartbeat in my fingertips. It was like they were going to explode from the pressure. Luckily, I only had to wait a few seconds for Zane to follow me inside before I slammed the door.

“How the fuck did Luke not know who you are?”

“I got married and took my husband’s last name. Luke didn’t recognize me and I didn’t say anything.” Zane was pacing.

Well, that explains why Luke didn’t say anything. He’s going to be so pissed.

“And you have something to say now?!”

“Of course. I should’ve said something a long time ago. I…I’ve been avoiding it because I knew it would be-”