Sparring Partners [18+]

Chapter Thirty-One: Just Joking

Jun had texted me, telling me to take another day off from work. I wasn't sure if she was just concerned for me, or if Markus had said something to her. Either way, I was thankful for the extra time to myself. It meant I could train with Dev today and not worry about exhausting myself. It meant that I could then sit in his office and do my uni work on my laptop that Markus had so helpfully broken into my flat for this morning.

"I still can't believe you stole my keys and robbed me."

"Is it considered robbing if I took only your laptop and art bag, and gave them to you?"

"What if you had run into Sarah?"

Markus looked down at the tablet in his hands and said nothing.

"You did run into Sarah! What did she say? God, did she scream? You didn't scare her, did you? Markus... You can't go around breaking into my flat and scaring my flatmate."

He cleared his throat, shooting me a meaningful look. "I didn't run into Sarah."

"So who did you- Oh." I felt something twinge in my chest, suddenly feeling stupid. "Jun?"

He nodded, and a realisation hit me. "Oh, my God. Do you think that's why she told me not to come in today? Because she knows you'd tell me about this, and she doesn't want to face me? This is getting out of hand if they're going to avoid me. I mean, come on, what is even the big deal at this point? They're clearly full on seeing each other if it's been going on for this long. How can they even hide this from me for so long? Are they not feeling guilty? There shouldn't be anything to hide at all! They're only making this worse for themselves!" I snapped.

Markus lay a hand on my arm and explained gently, "She asked what I was doing sneaking around at six am. I explained how stressed you were about uni so I was grabbing your stuff so you could do some work at the gym today. Jun doesn't strike me as someone who avoids confrontation. I think she really did just want to give you some time off."

"Well... Still," I said, some of my anger deflating. "They should just tell me what's going on. I don't care if they're dating, I only told her to stay away from Sarah 'cause I was worried that Jun would just fuck around with her and leave her upset." I didn't want Sarah to be another one-night stand for Jun. Previously, she had shown little interest in a relationship. And, much like me, Sarah had very little experience dating women, and I knew she was currently looking for something more serious.

"The same could be said for us."

I reeled back, outrage clear in my expression. "What does that even mean? We're not fucking around. Are we just fucking around?" Did Markus think I wasn't serious about us? Was that why he had been so determined to avoid the conversation last night, because he thought I was about to reject him?

Before I could ask him anything more, the door to his office burst open. "We're back!" Andres announced with a flourish of his hands, grinning too easily. Behind him, Lynch and Jarred followed. Alec was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you fucking drunk?" Markus snapped, eyeing his friend up and down with thinly veiled judgement. Andre's eyes looked glassy, and Lynch's face was flushed.

Andres waved him off, laughing. "We just had a few pints. It's a Friday, its fine."

"Fucking piss-heads," Markus grumbled beneath his breath, glancing down at his phone to check the time. It was already after six. "At least Alec had the sense to stay behind and actually work for once."

Jarred seemed hesitant to enter the office, lingering in the doorway as he peered inside at the room. Beside him, Andres stared down at his phone, grinning sloppily as he tapped at the screen. He's probably messaging Sam - how cute.