Page 34 of ILY
Roman’s eyes narrow. ‘What does that mean?’
I can be blunt with him. He might want to murder me, but he won’t. ‘I saw you looking at Dex’s abs.’
He shoots me a middle finger.
‘What? They’re nice abs.’
I can see the torn look on his face. He knows. Internally, he agrees with me, and he hates himself for it. Being attracted to a hearing man must make him so mad.
‘I don’t think he was trying to touch you in a bad way,’ I add.
He huffs loudly. ‘I know that.’ His fingers all but flap down from the side of his head with his anger. He bites his lip, and almost as if he can’t help it, he glances down at himself.
Oh.Ohhhhh. Yeah, been there in that fucking bodysuit. He was going to get hard. Hell, he was probably already half-hard watching Dex’s ass bounce through the whole class.
‘I don’t want him to know,’ Roman signs, irritated. ‘I hate him.’
‘I won’t tell.’ I make a locking motion over the insides of both my wrists.
He breathes heavily through his nose, looks like he might want to say something else, then grabs his bag and slings it over his shoulder and stomps out. If he really is hurt, he doesn’t show it in the way he’s walking. And he’s a big boy. If he needs first aid, he knows where to get it.
Shuffling my way back to the room, I’m met with Thom, who shoves a plastic bottle at me with the gym logo. I take a deep drink and grimace. It’s their god-awful electrolyte mix, and I think this one is banana.
What kind of monster designedthatfucking flavor?
I bet Michael had a hand in it. Somehow. Some way.
I gulp more of it down. I don’t need to get muscle cramps after all this, and I’m pretty sure I lost half the water in my body to the sweat.
“Is he okay?” Thom asks me when I swipe my hand over my mouth.
I nod and shrug. “Yeah. I think he pulled a tendon or something. Also, he thinks your brother is a dick.”
Thom rolls his eyes. “Well, he’s not wrong. He’s been a pain in my ass my whole life. But you know he didn’t mean anything, right? Like, he wasn’t trying to be an asshole. And heislearning ASL. He’s taking Denver’s class and everything.”
“I know.” I glance behind him, but no one’s paying attention to us. Rhett’s full-on snoring against Mellie’s chest, who’s typing on his phone, and Robbie is nowhere to be found. Dex is also suspiciously absent, and I can’t help but wonder if he’s getting one of Robbie’s famous lectures.
Thom got a lot of them before they worked their shit out.
“He says he’ll come back when you’re ready to offer a Deaf-only class,” I say.
Thom looks somewhat defeated. “That’s going to be a while unless Zev comes back soon. I’m not good enough.” His eyes brighten. “Unless you want to train to?—”
“Hold it right there,” I snap. “I am not doing anything more than this. And I am never doingthisagain. I almost died. Literally.”
He claps me on the shoulder and shakes me slightly. “You did amazing, Leaf! I’m so fucking proud of you.”
I hate how good his words make me feel. “No. I did terribly. I can’t feel my kneecaps, and I think my eye is going to fall out. I’m going home now. I smell like an armpit, and public showers creep me out.”
Thom pulls a face. “Yeah. We sanitize, but I got athlete’s foot twice last year.”
“Disgusting.” I offer him a fist bump, then stomp on the floor until Mellie looks up. ‘See you later?’ Fuck knows when I’ll actually see him. His brother is one of my neighbors, but he never ventures over to my property.
Otto doesn’t socialize much. A lot of people are unsure how to use tactile sign with him. And he has bees. Lots and lots of bees.
Mellie smiles and shrugs, making Rhett groan, but he doesn’t open his eyes.
I take that as my chance to leave, so I turn, heading out toward the front doors. I’m ready to strip down, rub one out, and maybe take a long, overdue afternoon nap and not think about Michael.
