It was supposed to be a secret.
Gage stared at Ulric’s cock—Ulric felt the weight of his gaze through his pants. He grew so hard, it hurt. Then Gage looked up, aghast.
Ulric knew he should back off. He knew he should listen to the part of him that said, Gage will find this repulsive, except something about Gage’s touch made him reckless. It made him want to snarl, it made him want to prove that he could be just as good of an alpha.
Ulric shoved Gage back, a new sort of confidence thumping in his veins. “Yeah, ‘what the fuck,’” Ulric growled.
And maybe he wanted to prove that he could get into shape, he wanted prove that he could be desirable.
Maybe... he could become so desirable that Gage would want him.
Gage released him, eyes narrowed. Ulric turned away. He should leave. He owed Gage nothing—maybe an apology. And an offer.
Over his shoulder, Ulric said, “There’s space in my house if you need a room. You won’t have to pay rent.”
That was enough of an apology. He didn’t want to say the actual words, not so obviously that Gage would know he felt bad about the insults.
Gage scowled. “I’m not desperate enough for that.”
That stung. Ulric breathed it out—he’d brought this on himself. No point lingering on it.
He strode off and got into his car, driving away. After those insults, he’d thought he wouldn’t see Gage again. But Gage knew about Ulric’s tendencies now. He would probably scoff even more.
So Ulric decided that he was heading back to the gym. Was it possible to change so much that he could impress even Gage?
It wasn’t the best of ideas. But Ulric had his membership, and he had time. What could go wrong?
6
Ulric Doubles Down On Losing Weight
Over the next couple weeks, Ulric changed his habits. He did his research on diets. He threw out the cakes and cookies and ice creams that he loved so much. He emptied his bottles of soda down the sink. He bought meat and veggies and made lettuce burgers, and he tried to eat less food.
That killed him some. Several times a day, he ached for a fizzy mouthful of sweet soda, he ached for fluffy icing and moist chocolate cake on his tongue. He badly wanted to dive into a pile of freshly-baked bread and stuff himself senseless.
It felt like he’d broken up with his favorite food. That probably hurt just as much as when Mick had dumped him.
In the daytime, Ulric worked at his data analysis job. At night, when he was certain that Gage’s shift had ended, he went to the gym and did some hours of cycling. He built himself up to the levels with the highest resistance, the ones that had him leaning forward, panting as he pedaled against wheels that felt like they’d grown ten times as heavy.
Ulric finished with his cycling, wiping off his sweat. He was exhausted. But... he’d promised himself a tiny slice of cake—tiramisu from a bakery—if he tried something new tonight.
He could already taste the coffee in every bite of cloud-soft cake, he could imagine licking sweet whipped cream off his fork.
Maybe he could do a bench press for just five minutes.
He headed cautiously to the weights section, avoiding the couple of people already there. He wasn’t going to make a fool of himself again. From the corner of his eye, he watched as one of the guys added weights to his barbell.
Ulric added a couple of small weights to his own. Then he added a couple more, because starting out with the smallest weight seemed... kind of pathetic.
He knew he shouldn’t, he knew he should do the minimum just to get used to it. But Gage wasn’t here. It was okay if Ulric fucked up, right?
He tested the barbell—it wasn’t too heavy. So he lay back on the bench, made sure his grip was comfortable, and lifted the barbell off its support.
It was a little heavier from this angle, he realized. His muscles strained. Ulric did a rep, then another. He felt embarrassed, counting them out one by one instead of sets of five like the gym rats seemed to do. He lowered the barbell a third time, then a fourth, his arms starting to ache.
After he returned the barbell to the rack, he gave himself a few minutes to rest. He gulped down some water. Then he lay back, grasped the barbell, and tried to lift it.
The emergency exit door opened some paces away. Someone stepped in, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. He was muscled. He had tanned skin, a shock of dark hair, and—Ulric had been dreaming about those perfect lips.
His heart sank. Why did Gage have to show up now? He hadn’t seen Gage in weeks. He’d missed that guy. He’d missed the initial kindness Gage had shown him, he’d missed how flirty Gage had been with him at first.
He’d gone and forfeited all of that, though.
Ulric clenched his jaw, lifting the barbell to try and blend in with the other gym rats. With luck, Gage wouldn’t have noticed him. Ulric’s black T-shirt and shorts was camouflage enough... right?
He held his breath and lowered the barbell, his arms trembling with the strain. Don’t look over. Please don’t.
Gage paused mid-step. Then he turned, he looked right at Ulric, and Ulric’s stomach dropped.
Gage narrowed his eyes and strode over. Ulric felt like the greatest embarrassment in the world.
“You should get a spotter if you’re new with this,” Gage muttered.
Ulric scowled. “I’m perfectly fine.”
He did another rep, his arms trembling a little. If he managed to hit ten... maybe he could have two slices of cake?
Gage set something on the floor. Then he crowded close, leaned in a bit, and now his pecs were all Ulric could see, his thighs spread open around Ulric’s head.
It felt like something out of a weird porn game—when did you ever get an alpha like that leaning over you, strong muscles barely hidden
