Page 37 of Bodybuilders for the BBW

“No, I do mostly beauty regime stuff.”

“I can see that.” Jack was either inspecting her make up application closely, or he was interested in getting to know her more. “You’re gorgeous.” Gwen’s cheeks flushed as she smiled shyly. “Some girls think they need to trowel on the makeup, but you really let your natural beauty shine through.”

Did he see the way her smile faltered? Was that deliberate? It felt like her light dimmed slightly, which was freaking weird. She was stunningly beautiful and I could see why people would want to watch her beauty videos, because hey, maybe if you knew some of her secrets, you might end up looking half as good.

“And what about you, babe?” Natasha looked up with a slight frown as the leering guy shifted closer. “Are you an influencer too?” She opened her mouth to answer, but he kept talking. “Food blogger! Am I right?”

“No, I’m a fitness model as well.” His involuntary scoff was in line with how I expected him to respond, yet somehow it was still shocking to hear. One of Natasha’s perfectly manicured brows rose in response. “Mandie and I do a lot of collabs.”

“Oh, right, of course. I mean your body is a temple, right? And yours…” He raked his eyes over her curves. “Well, I’d get down on my knees, praying for a chance to enter it.”

It was now I remembered why I never accepted Mandie’s invitations to come out with her. The guys didn’t know any of us from Adam and were just shooting their shots, but… Did they have to be so freaking gross about it? I looked up at the hapless guy who had been assigned to me, saw he was scrupulously avoiding eye contact.

“And what about you?” I asked, because his answer would determine what I did next. “What do you do…?”

“Finance.” I got a tight smile, a brief look, before he turned back to his friends.

Yeah, I wasn’t doing this. The old Katie would’ve sat there in uncomfortable silence, not wanting to make waves, but I was done with that crap. I grabbed my phone off the table and slipped from the chair.

“Mandie—”

I was about to tell her that I was leaving, when my sister stopped all the conversations cold.

“Look, thanks for the drinks and everything, but we’re in the middle of something right now.” Her tone was perfectly pleasant and yet still the men frowned at being brushed off. “My sister is having a romantic emergency.” Shit, now the guys were all looking at me and none of that attention was friendly. “And she came here to debrief. So, in accordance with the girl code, we have to drop everything and talk about how men are pigs. Pretty sure you’re not down with that.”

“Right.” Hamish’s tone had cooled considerably, but he forced himself to smile and nod. “Well, you’ve got my number…”

“Yes, yes I do,” she said, holding her phone up with a smile that she kept plastered on her face as she watched the guys amble back to their table, but as soon as their backs were turned, she opened her phone and deleted it instantly.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I told her.

“Yes, we did.” Gwen shuddered. “Those guys were slime.” She took a sip of her drink. “Good taste in cocktails, but still, not enough to make me want to chat to them.”

“And the line about the temple, Nat?” Mandie cackled. “How the hell did he think that was going to go?”

“They’re idiots,” Natasha agreed, before turning back to me. She had stunning hazel eyes that were almost green and they felt like lasers right now. “But we aren’t talking about those idiots. We’re talking about yours. So no one should be ambushed by polyamory. Did the guys give you any indication they were part of the community before this?”

I took a sip of my drink, shook my head and then told them everything.

Chapter19

Rhys

“When we’ve burned all that energy off, we work out how the fuck we’re gonna get Katie to see us as three guys she wants to date.”

Great plan. Pity it fell apart the minute we got to the gym.

“I’m gonna work the bag for a bit,” Rhett said, storming off without waiting for an answer and then pulling on some gloves. The heavy punching bag started to jump the minute he landed his first hit.

“Don’t think we should be talking to him right now,” Garrett said, appearing by my shoulder. “May as well get some reps in while he tries to cool down. Bench press?”

He nodded to an empty weight bench.

“Spot me?” I said, walking over and grabbing some plates from the rack, then adding them to the bar. I had the collars locked down tight, and then when I laid down on the bench, Garrett appeared above me.

“So what the hell are we gonna do?”

I didn’t ask him straight away. Hands clasping the bar, I felt the weight threatening to crush me as I lifted it up off the pegs and then in one slow, controlled movement, brought the barbell down. There was enough weight on each end to crush the life out of me if it landed on my chest, and that was exactly what I needed. Adrenaline pumped through me, making clear the danger and gifting me the strength to deal with it. I pressed the bar up again, holding it at arm’s length before finally replying.

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