Page 53 of Muscle Cub

Even a few of the lumberjacks were suffering.

Papaw Silver Fox was breathing hard, but he was standing proud and tall, looking pumped like he might want to tear a phone book in half.

Ashley looked dewy and glowing.

For the record, I was barely keeping up with the pregnant lady.

“One more exercise,” Austin called out. “Sixty seconds. You can do anything for sixty seconds!”

Could I?

My group had been ending every circuit on box jumps. These were wooden boxes on the floor, at about knee-height, that you had to jump up onto, stand straight and tall, step down, and immediately do it again. You repeated this over and over, as many times as you could manage, until time was called.

On the first round, the box had slid out from under me a little bit. I learned quickly to get high enough that I was coming down on top of it and not clipping it from the side.

“Five seconds!” Austin was right behind me, speaking directly to me. “Come on. You got this. Give me one more!”

One more? Really? I was pretty sure that had been my last. Ever. For the rest of my life.

Austin leaned in, his voice close to my ear. “Remember when you were a little kid and you got new sneakers and you were convinced they made you run faster? I see you got some new Altras, Prof. I bet you can fly in those fuckers.”

The desire to impress him was a tiny bit stronger than my self-doubt. I swung my arms for leverage like Austin had shown us, and even though I felt ridiculous, I heaved myself up like a giant, gay, middle-aged frog.

But the last jump was exactly like my first, only worse. I didn’t clear the top at all. I caught the edge with the toes of my new shoes and basically kicked the box out from under me.

Before I pitched face-first toward the ground, Austin was beside me. With one hand on my chest, he stopped my forward motion, and with the other on my arm, he hauled me upright at the last second.

He pulled me against him. “You all right there, Prof?” His beard scruff tickled my neck. I was both turned on and embarrassed.

Unable to speak, I nodded. Everyone had stopped and was looking.

“He’s good!” Austin yelled, setting me on my feet and releasing me, and everyone applauded.

What the fuck was it with people applauding me?

Oh. Wait. Austin was walking around the room clapping, obviously for everyone having made it through the workout. They were applauding him, each other, and the end of the class.

Ben and I met in the corner where we’d left our water bottles earlier. We paced in tight circles, sipping, catching our breaths, neither of us capable of speaking yet.

Austin stood near the door fist-bumping, high-fiving, and thanking people as they exited. Ben and I, along with the lumberjacks, were the last to leave.

Austin beamed at us. “Thank you so much for coming, guys.”

Ben clapped him on the shoulder. “Kicked my ass, man, but it was great.”

We all headed to the locker room to shower. The private stalls removed the temptation to gawk at Austin. I lost sight of him when he went to change—his locker wasn’t near ours—and then I rushed to catch up with him.

But I needn’t have worried. A couple of the lumberjacks had disappeared, but Gunner, Hank, and Austin were waiting for me and Ben in the lobby.

Austin had changed into what I supposed were his street clothes—a plaid button-down shirt with the sleeves ripped off, cut-off denim shorts, and work boots. I’d only ever seen him in a devil costume, a staff uniform, and his workout gear. “You guys want to grab a bite somewhere?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said. Now that the hard part was out of the way, I was eager for a chance to talk to him.

Gunner and Hank shared a look. Gunner muttered something about them meeting up with Albie and Kevin, and with a quick goodbye, they were out the door.

“I’m gonna head out too,” Ben said. “I gotta get home to Eric.”

“Dude.” I spread my hands. “You drove me.”