He pushed a button to start the treadmill. It was kind of slow. He found the button to speed it up. Then he sped it up even more. His shoes pounded against the treadmill belt, his heart thumping with the strain. Sweat beaded on his skin. Some discomfort was supposed to be good for you, right?
Ulric grasped the support arms on the treadmill, leaning on them a little. Maybe he should slow the machine down. The belt rolled by too quickly, and he was starting to struggle to keep up.
He tried to find the speed toggle button. But between the jogging and his glasses bouncing around on his nose, he couldn’t see enough to stop the machine.
Ulric tripped; his stomach dropped and his entire weight lurched forward.
He hit the moving rubber with a jolt of pain, his legs sliding out from under him. Ulric saved himself by gripping the support arms—just so he could keep his face from smashing into the belt.
But pressed intimately against the treadmill, Ulric hadn’t accounted for the belt’s friction. It dug into his exercise shorts and dragged it downward: down his waist, down his hips.
If Ulric didn’t stop it soon, the machine would strip him naked.
He lifted his hand to reach for the controls, at the same time his waistband slid down his cock, to his thighs. The treadmill belt ground rough and uncomfortably against Ulric’s sensitive head, trying to pull it further down—as though this had turned into some really weird sex scene.
It felt like he was being dragged across a rough surface, except his cock bore the brunt of that friction, every inch of it plastered against moving rubber—without lube.
And his fat ass was bare. Everyone could see it.
Ulric reached for the control panel, his tip kissing the rubber belt, his fingers just inches away from the console, desperately seeking the word Stop.
Just as he was about to hit it, someone stepped up to the machine, powering it down. The belt slowed. It stopped trying to pull his cock into a fourth dimension.
Ulric looked up to thank the person. His voice stuck in his throat.
Of course, who else had to witness his humiliation but the most handsome alpha in the gym?
It was one thing to embarrass yourself in front of an omega. But alphas were a different breed entirely. As an alpha, you wanted to be better than the next alpha. You wanted to be more, you wanted them to respect you.
And this was one hell of an alpha, with his pine scent and broad shoulders, his pecs bulging behind his tank top, his biceps thick and lovely. He had styled black hair and stunning green eyes, he had kissable full lips and a strong jaw.
Everything that this alpha was, Ulric wasn’t.
He was ready to bet a million bucks that Mr. Handsome had dates lined up every night until next year. Or maybe he already had a boyfriend. Or he was married. And somewhere out there, Mr. Handsome had an internet mailing list for “Notify me when this man becomes available.”
He yanked his exercise shorts up his thighs, stuffing his cock out of sight. Bad enough that Mr. Handsome had seen his ass. He didn’t need to know that a chubby alpha like Ulric had gotten hard for him.
Except when he looked again, he found Mr. Handsome’s gaze raking back up to his eyes. There was an odd expression on his face. Did he think... that Ulric had done this on purpose? Did he think Ulric was a flasher or some sort of pervert?
“Are you okay?” Mr. Handsome asked, holding a hand out to Ulric.
Ulric straightened his shoulders. He was an alpha. And he wasn’t about to show any weakness in front of anyone. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
He ignored Mr. Handsome’s hand and picked himself up. Then he took his phone and towel, making his way back to the locker room. Several people stared at him along the way. Ulric’s skin prickled all over—he could feel them judging. He wished he’d worn black instead of gray—black was a slimming color, right? Maybe it would make him feel less out-of-place.
It would be a month, maybe three, before he returned again. Probably at midnight so no one would recognize him.
Not for the first time, Ulric felt all the pounds he’d put on when he’d let himself go after the breakup. At the back of his mind, he heard the constant whispers from school, telling him he was fat and ugly and everything undesirable.
It was okay to be fat. Ulric just wished... that he believed it, himself.
2
Gage is Intrigued
“I’ll be right back,” Gage told his client. Which was the first time he’d ever done that in the middle of a training session.
Thing was, he couldn’t just let this go. The look on that alpha’s face when Gage had powered down the treadmill... He knew that look of abject humiliation.
Gage hadn’t meant for him to feel that way. Deep down, he understood what it felt like to be so embarrassed that he wished the ground would swallow him up.
If it had been one of the regulars at the gym, Gage would’ve just brushed off the incident—they would recover from it easily enough. But something about that alpha... Maybe it was the way he’d looked so helpless, for a split second. Maybe it was because he didn’t have Gage’s looks. Maybe Gage pitied him.
Gage had seen some overweight guests come and go from the gym. Some stuck around and lost weight. Others gave up before they could gain much headway. The way this guy had sprawled across the treadmill—Hell, even Gage would’ve left and never looked back.
He stepped into the alphas’ locker room, thinking maybe he would offer an apology or something. Anything to be a good gym employee.
Besides, he couldn’t afford to lose his job right now. The eviction notice from this morning still lingered fresh in his mind. Actually, maybe he should’ve
