Gage curled his hands around the barbell, looking as though he might take it right out of Ulric’s grasp. Except he just waited there. “Keep going.”
All Ulric could smell now was pine, all he could focus on was Gage’s thick thighs, and the way his shorts clung to his skin. If he were to tilt his head back... he would see Gage’s cock, wouldn’t he? It was just inches from his face.
Ulric gulped, his heart pounding. He lowered the barbell as far down as he could, before raising it back up. He did three more, his muscles straining, his teeth gritted. He wanted that cake. And he wanted to prove that he could do this.
He wanted to—in his own way—somehow impress Gage.
He was on his ninth rep when his arms gave out. He struggled. Except the barbell grew lighter—Gage pulled it up and helped him fit it on the rack. Ulric’s arms felt like someone had plucked out their bones.
“Go home,” Gage said.
It sounded... a lot kinder than Ulric expected. He struggled to sit up, watching as Gage collected a water bottle from the floor. Gage began to step away, completely ignoring him.
Ulric’s chest tightened. He grabbed some sanitizing towels and wiped down the bench real quick. Pulled the weights off the barbells. Then he hurried after Gage to a staff-only area. It was a pantry, he realized. And he didn’t belong here.
Gage turned, his eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”
“You didn’t have to spot for me,” Ulric blurted. His heart thumped so fast, it felt like it would escape his chest.
Gage shrugged. “I’m a personal trainer. It’s my job.”
“But you’re off-duty.”
“Still a trainer.”
Ulric stood awkwardly, covered in sweat, just as heavy as he was before. The diet had shaved some pounds off his body. But after the initial bout of weight loss, it had slowed down. To Gage, Ulric probably didn’t look much different from before. Hell, Ulric barely looked different to himself.
Gage turned, filling his water bottle. He looked... kind of uncomfortable, actually. Was that because of how hard Ulric had gotten for him?
Why was Ulric still here, anyway? He had nothing going for him. Just a heart that still quietly longed for Gage—he was such a fool.
“I... should go.” Ulric turned. Gage probably didn’t even like alphas to begin with. Ulric should just stop kidding himself.
He was almost out of the pantry when Gage said, “Hey.”
Ulric paused, glancing back.
“About before.” Gage looked like it pained him to say this. “You still looking for a roommate?”
That took Ulric a second. Then his heart skipped. “Yeah. I am.”
“I’ll split the rent with you,” Gage said. “Fifty-fifty.”
Ulric tried to squash his burgeoning hope. “I told you. You could live with me for free.”
Gage scowled. “No. I’ll split it evenly.”
Part of Ulric wanted to point out that the rent might still be too much for him, even when split. The other part just wanted to tell Gage it was some small amount, just so Gage didn’t have to hole up in his car anymore.
As an alpha, he knew other alphas didn’t take kindly to being belittled, or thought of as incapable. So Ulric lied, “I got the place for cheap. It’d be $800 a month, your share.”
To be honest, it should be more than twice that, but that was a secret Gage didn’t have to find out.
“Fine.” Gage narrowed his eyes, holding his hand out.
Ulric shook his hand—Gage’s palm was warm, solid, and it sent tingles racing all over his skin.
Gage was coming to live with him.
It sounded like a dream and a nightmare rolled into one.
Ulric looked for a scrap of paper. But there was no pen in the pantry. So he pulled out his phone. “Tell me your number. I’ll text you the address. You can move in anytime.”
His hands shook—he tried to bite down his smile, he tried to tell his heart to stop pounding. It’s not real until he moves in, he tried to tell himself.
With a wary glance, Gage told Ulric his number. Ulric saved it and typed his address into a text message. Then he hit Send, and something else buzzed in the room.
“I work from home, so I’ll be there most of the time,” Ulric said. “Feel free to move in tomorrow or something.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Ulric didn’t linger—no chance of fucking up if he disappeared. He hurried out of the gym, grabbed his duffel, and it was only when he’d shut his car door, hiding his face against the steering wheel, that the most glorious smile burst across his face.
Gage Frost was coming to live with him. It didn’t mean anything. But Ulric would get to see him and smell him, and... that had to be enough.
7
Gage Moves In
Gage read the text from O’Neil about five times. Meadow Street, was what O’Neil had sent. Eight hundred bucks a month.
This place didn’t cost $1600 to rent. Nowhere even close. Gage had frowned when he’d entered this neighborhood—it was all nice houses with sprawling front yards, houses with large French windows for their living rooms and double doors—double doors—as entrances.
Some of them had exquisite landscaping. Others had fancy rustic-farmhouse facades. Hell, Gage had seen someone riding a horse a couple blocks down.
What sort of people could afford horses? In expensive southern California?
He pulled up just outside the house O’Neil supposedly lived in, feeling like he’d been played. Eight hundred bucks? O’Neil clearly didn’t think Gage could afford much more.
Truth be told, he would be right. Were Gage in any other circumstance, he would’ve driven off and ignored every message O’Neil sent.
Except Gage’s supervisor at the gym had said, We can’t have you camping in the parking lot. Your car gives our clients a really bad impression.
Gage had protested that he’d been parking behind the building. His boss had pointed out that the back was for overflow parking. Now that the weather was starting to warm up, they were getting more guests at the gym. Which meant that Gage couldn’t park anywhere in
