Page 47 of Psync
“Crying isn’t going to get you the results you’re looking for Eli.” Ash said from where he was doing squats. “Even if it does make you look cute.”
“You can go fuck yourself.” Eli gasped as he fought to keep up with the treadmill.
Ash laughed and came over to Eli. “I think you’re all warmed up now.” He pushed the button for the cool-down sequence on Eli’s treadmill. “Now for the hard stuff.”
Eli needed a stronger word than fuck. Like, three times stronger, just for cases like now when a sadistic asshat had the audacity to smile so broadly while Eli was busy dying.
Once the treadmill stopped, Eli hauled himself after Ash, following him to the weights and allowed the bastard to punish him some more. “I noticed when you were working with Jace that you were using the lowest setting. I’ll let you get away with that today, but on Monday, I’m bumping you up by five pounds.”
“Monday?”
“If you want gains, you have to come here at least three times a week. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you company.” He slapped Eli on the shoulder.
Wrong!
Eli bit through his cheek and tasted blood.
He’d never noticed what a touchy-feely guy Ash was, but over the next half hour, he’d poked and prodded Eli like he was a puppet. Correcting his posture, moving him where he wanted him to go, checking his form as he lifted.
“Your form is terrible. You’re going to get injured if you aren’t careful,” Ash said as he ran a hand down Eli’s spine, shaping it as he went.
Eli suppressed a gag. If this kept up much longer, he was going to throw up all over Ash.
On the plus side, it would likely get him out of being the man’s gym buddy—though he would lose the chance to find out if Ash was the Voice.
All morning, Eli had tried to prod at the spot where the Voice lived to see if he could hear anything. The only thing he got was a mounting sense of frustration—which could easily be his own from being over touched.
When Ash finally let him go, Eli barely managed to rinse himself off in the shower before dragging himself in the direction of his building.
Ash kept in step beside him as they walked. “I noticed you’ve gotten close to that Haruka guy.”
Eli stumbled over a loose rock on the sidewalk, and Ash caught his arm.
Wrongwrongwrongwrongwrong!
Instead of getting used to it, his internal alarm was only getting louder. Ugh. Exhaustion was such a bitch.
“I wouldn’t say we’re close. We share a class together.”
“Classmates go shopping for food together?”
“Um . . .” Eli swallowed. Had Ash been watching them?
Ash held his hands up to ward off whatever expression Eli had on his face. “Listen, it’s your business what you do and who you do it with. I just thought you needed to know something about him.”
“Such as?”
“He’s kind of a player. No, don’t come at me, I saw the look on his face while you two were together—he’s into you. And if you aren’t careful, you’re going to end up eaten up by him and then thrown to the side like the rest of his harem.”
Something hard and cold formed in Eli’s stomach.
“You don’t need to worry about it,” Eli heard himself say distantly. His voice sounded thin and brittle. “I barely know him.”
Ash shrugged and changed the topic to the horrors he was planning to inflict on Eli on Monday.
Eli wasn’t paying attention anymore, but he continued to nod and make vague noises, hopefully in the right places and waved goodbye when Ash stepped off the elevator to his floor.
His heavy, aching legs got him to his room, and he flopped down onto his bed. This was stupid.Hewas stupid.
