How to choose the one

Part time lover- sort of

Jax approaches me slowly and sensing my uneasy attitude, attempts an odd sort of bro- hug with absolutely no chest contact. It comes off looking like a weird siblings kind of hug with a half back slap and a hand shake and we both chuckle at the awkwardness of it as we move away from each other.

"Why is this so weird?" He asks but he already knows the answer.

"Ah... Do we have to go there?" I say tiredly as I make my way over to the tower to start my late night work out.

"Absolutely not. Not if you don't want to?" He asks, side eyeing me as he goes back to his weight session in front of the mirror, watching his own musk led flex and relax very closely.

I chuckle lightly to myself as I pretend not to observe him. Guys and their relationship with mirror at the gym never fails to give me an easy laugh, at their expense. The comraderie they seem to have with the mirrors must be mandatory, self- glorifying vanity always wins with these guys I guess.

Suckers.

"Nope. Hard nope." I answer swiftly, making sure he doesn't see me watching him as I busy myself setting the timer for my row and get my feet into the little latches on the side.

Stretching my legs back I set my pace and begin to out row my anger. The gym or running or dance never fails to make me forget what I was mad at. Nothing but the pace of my heart rate and my breath. No one to please but myself.

There is nothing better for the soul.

Or for temporarily forgetting assholes.

"So, while we don't talk about it, can I ask how you are doing?" He says quietly, changing up his weights for another pair of larger ones. Show off..

I pace my reply in between pulls on the machine, not wanting to waste my breath on talking about this but not intending to be rude. Jax hasn't done anything wrong here.

"I'm grand." I state coldly and roll my eyes at the straight out lie.

He chuckles again to himself this time and continues his chest work out.

The perve in me can't help but appreciate the way the weights have accented his pecs. It's not hard to notice that Jax is a fine specimen. All the right bulges in all the right places, apparently.

Not that I'm looking, but gym shorts really leave nothing to the imagination. It's all on show and I find myself appreciating the live action in front of me.

What is wrong with me.

I literally have all the reasons in the world to swear off guys for the next few years and here I am, leering on this sweet man like some kind of horn dog at a private peep show.

I need to get a grip.
On Jax.... on Jax's tight, muscly ass.....

Jesus.

I tip the timer and speed odometer up higher and make myself work harder to ease whatever tension I'm busy building over here on my lonesome.

We work out in silence for the next hour, stealing just a few side glances at each other here and there.
As I finish my last weights set and he finishes his warm down, I start to think about how easy it isn being in his company. He is a good guy. A good friend. And that is something one can never have too many of.

As he moves to leave, he stops and turns to face me.

"You know Ellis, it's not my place to say but I hate how it all went down, with Cara. She really is a nice person. And so are you. Neither of you deserve to be hurt." He says it so sweetly that I feel myself smiling at him, despite the uncomfortable subject.