Page 48 of The Barn: Frost and Q
“Such a little gym rat. Arm Day.” Boone rolled his eyes. “I’m just gonna lift some weights until I get sweaty.”
“That’s why you have the beef.” Carson winked.
“Nah. That’s because I’m a rancher,” Boone shot back.
“With no ranch, really.”
“Oh, I got it. I just don’t want to be there.” Boone shook his head. “Fucking blood family.”
“Always assholes,” Carson teased.
“No shit.” Frost thought of Boone’s family. And Tug’s. Neither of them were the least bit supportive. His own were mostly indifferent.
Carson’s were mostly nonexistent these days, he thought. Like literally.
Quentin’s people were mostly distant cousins.
Wow. No wonder they had all come together like they had, and he couldn’t believe it had taken him this long to figure it out.
He was a moron.
Frost hopped on the treadmill, humming, listening to the guys tease each other with half an ear. He didn’t put on his music because of it, in fact.
He did wish his lover was here with him. He missed working out with Q. Maybe he would ask the man to do a late-night workout with him this week. Why miss it if it was just because he hadn’t asked? Or he could do a light workout while Q was doing PT. That way there was no worry that he was going too hard for Q to feel comfortable…
“Now you’re frowning,” Carson told him quietly as he came to do a circuit on the elliptical.
“Just thinking of the next step.”
“With Q?” Carson glanced at Boone and Tug, who were laughing hard about something.
“Yeah. I miss working out, but I know he has issues sometimes.”
“Yeah. He never says yes when I ask.”
“I get that. He’s not too steady during PT sometimes. But maybe he’ll say yes to me now.”
That got him a glinting grin. “Maybe. Y’all have been vibing.”
“We so have.” He thought they were really re-establishing trust, and while he was still not ready to go to work full-time, he was ready to go down and do one of his first training sessions this coming week.
“You guys will take care of him when I go next week, right? At least as well as he takes care of you.”
“Shit, Frost. You know we will. We all adore him.” Carson glowered at him. “We took care of him when he wouldn’t let you.”
“I know.” He hated that it had been necessary, but he was grateful. Q had needed their friends, and they had been there.
“Is that the best you can do?” Carson teased, breaking the mood and putting on some speed on the machine.
He turned it up and started running, knowing he might not outrun Carson, but that he could run a lot longer. He had the endurance to jog half the day in full gear.
Now, that would take a lot of fuel. But he could do it if he had enough peanuts and chocolate chips.
“Woo! Owner race,” Boone called, urging them on.
He hooted, making a show of it, and so did Carson, even if he did look more like a hamster on a wheel rather than a real runner. The image got him laughing, and he had to slow down when he almost shot off the back of the treadmill.
Frost wheezed. “God, I love you jerks.”
