Page 18 of Kane's Awakening
Chapter Seven
Kane
“C’mon, man. Don’t give up,” Zack said to the out of breath guy a few machines down from me. “Just three more minutes.”
With his short blond hair, hazel eyes, six foot height, and toned body, Zack was a damn knockout. To top it off, he had dimples when he smiled. His body size should’ve made him intimidating—and I had no doubt he could kick someone’s ass without much effort—but his friendly personality made him approachable.
And oh so fuckable. If only.
He’d been with his boyfriend Jackson ever since I’d first met him, and the dude was one hundred percent committed. Even if he was single, I probably wouldn’t have made a move anyway. Muscled guys weren’t exactly my type.
As I did pull-ups, I tried to clear my head of that Ryker guy.
Damn. Even his name is hot.
I couldn’t believe I’d actually pulled him over the other day. Fate was one screwed up bitch. I’d fucked him, left him, but I couldn’t forget him. He’d been on my damn mind all weekend. When I jerked-off, his was the face I saw no matter how hard I tried to think of someone else. Why couldn’t I just picture faceless dudes fucking like I usually did? But no. It was Ryker’s damn blue eyes, full bottom lip, and five-o’clock shadow I pictured.
The run-in with him Monday morning had just brought it all back, except more intense.
I craved him. All of him. I wanted to throw him down somewhere private and take my time exploring every inch of his body—not having to rush like we’d had to do in the club.
Stop this shit.
I never went back for seconds from the same guy, and I wasn’t about to start now. Especially when there were still so many guys I hadn’t had yet.
My biceps burned, as did my chest, as I did one last pull-up before dropping back to the ground.
That’s when I saw him.
Devon walked from the hallway and up to the front desk. It had been ages since I’d last seen him, but goddammit he still looked amazing. Same athletic body, except he wasn’t as muscled as he’d once been, probably because he wasn’t in football anymore. In high school, he’d always kept his black hair short, but now it reached the middle of his ears.
After grabbing a towel, he turned and scanned the room before his gaze landed on me.
I couldn’t move.
For years, I’d worked my ass off and pushed my body to its limits, desperate to leave the scared boy behind and become a man people didn’t fuck with.
So I couldn’t be hurt again.
Seeing Devon threw all of my progress out the window and turned me back into that insecure twink who let people push him around because he was too afraid to stand up for himself. Because he believed he was worthless.
No matter how much I changed on the outside, I was still the same timid boy on the inside.
Devon’s stare didn’t linger on mine for long. He moved in the other direction and approached the row of machines. A perky brunette girl was on one treadmill and shot him a flirty grin, which he returned.
He hadn’t recognized me.
I didn’t want to push my good luck, so I faced away from him and quickly walked toward the exit.
“Kane! Dude. Is this yours?”
I turned to see Zack holding my phone.Fuck.I usually left it in my locker, but I’d kept it on me that day just in case work called.
“Yeah. Thanks,” I answered, taking it and giving him an appreciative nod.
Zack—the loud mouth—had called out my name, so I hoped Devon had been too busy to have heard. My name wasn’t exactly common around there. I chanced a glance his way and froze.
He was watching me. Shocked at first, but then his eyes sparked with recognition. Six years had passed since he’d looked at me in that way—smirking as something dark clouded his gaze.
