Hold Fast, page 5
“Yeah, I believe that.” Isaiah paused. He probably shouldn’t push it. But Zack looked as disappointed as he felt. “Just so I’m clear: outside the gym, flirting is okay. Inside the gym, we’ll keep it professional.”
“I’m relatively sure that’s not what I said,” Zack said, smile tugging up one corner of his lips.
“I may have inferred.”
“Honestly, this is a struggle. Part of me thinks I’m going to be fired for this anyway, so what’s another ethics transgression?”
Isaiah raised a hand. “May I speak to that part of you, please? I can be very persuasive.”
“I bet. And no. Final answer: no flirting at the gym.”
“Whole worlds of things you’re leaving unsaid there, Zack.”
“I know. But I like the way you say my name, so I’m gonna go with it.” Now the man was very definitely blushing. Not looking away, though. Sapphire eyes.
Isaiah idly wondered what those eyes would look like in kissing distance. “Oh man. I’m considering this consent for flirtation when we’re not in this building.”
“It is.”
“I’m counting the parking lot as ‘not in this building,’ by the way.”
After a second, Zack stuck his hand out. “Deal. At least, outside of business hours.”
The shook hands.
“Can I help you get ready to go?”
“Yeah. Thanks. If you could bundle those cords, I’d appreciate it.”
They parted ways at the door of the gym. Isaiah was loaded down with gear again, and didn’t have a hand to initiate any kind of contact. And Zack, of course, didn’t. Though Isaiah would have bet money both of them were thinking about it for a moment as they said goodnight.
That was enough. Especially after that brief moment when it seemed as if he’d lost his chance entirely. Isaiah prided himself on being a patient man. And he didn’t mind a learning curve.
Chapter Seven
Pursuing Zack in a parking lot twenty feet away from the door to his job might have been an ethical gray zone; if both of them happened to be at Milo’s twenty-fifth birthday party, that was just good luck.
Would Zack go to Milo’s birthday party? Isaiah couldn’t decide. On the one hand, it was a mix of social and professional, which he couldn’t see appealing to Zack’s regimented way of looking at the world. On the other hand, it was Milo, and he knew they were friends.
“Oh my god, stop watching the door!” Milo draped himself over Isaiah’s shoulders. “Back when we had all our birthdays at Crux, he always came. He’ll probably show up later. I don’t know, maybe. Anyway, would you stop being boring and hang out?”
“Sorry, kid.”
Milo mock-gasped. “Excuse me, I am a grown man a quarter century old!”
“Uh huh. How many of those hard lemonades have you been drinking?”
“A quarter century! And just enough to giggle way too much with that cute guy at the bar.”
Isaiah scoped the prospect. “Mmm, very Aryan.” When Milo hit him, he yelped (out of politeness to the effort).
“Hey! And it doesn’t matter, he’s waiting for his boyfriend or something. But that’s okay because I invited Miguel. If he brings his toppy energy, I am so going home with him tonight.”
“Good luck with that.” He kissed Milo’s cheek. “How do you want me?”
Milo pretended to fan himself. “Happy birthday to me. And wherever. I know my friends aren’t exactly your favorites, but do you want to meet the staff? If Zack shows, that’s where he’ll end up.”
“I didn’t come here for him. It’s your birthday.”
“Yeah, but you love multitasking.” Milo grinned. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you. These are the full timers. There are other people who work at the gym, but they aren’t important.”
Isaiah reached out for a walking side-hug as they approached the table. “Nice of you to finally introduce me to your Crux family. Glad I made the cut.” He’d timed it so Milo couldn’t reply before they were in front of people, so he took an elbow to the gut instead.
“Hi, everyone! I want you guys to meet Isaiah. He’s a really good friend of mine, and also, he’s gonna save the gym!”
Payback is swift. “You’re overselling that a little, don’t you think?”
“Nope. I have total faith in you and Zack.” Milo smiled angelically at him, then turned back to the table. “I’ll go around the table. That’s Randi, Rod, Val, Malika, and Cody. Bear’s not here because he’s got kids.”
“There’s no way anyone can remember that many names, baby boy,” said the beautiful, curvy black woman to Milo’s left. She held out her hand. “I’m Randi. This is my brother Rodney, and yes, I know he’s white. Val’s the big boss. Don’t mind Malika and Cody.”
Isaiah smiled and shook hands with everyone, matching names and faces. “Really nice to meet you all. I’ve heard about you for years, but weirdly Milo was too embarrassed by me to let me meet you.”
“I’m seriously going to beat you up.” But instead of doing that, Milo’s eyes lit. “Oh look. Zack’s here. That’s awesome! Hi, Zack!”
The table chorused a round of “Hi, Zack” and Zack waved a general hello, landing on Isaiah. It definitely was not his imagination that Zack paused a little too long before saying, “Oh. Hi.”
Milo giggled. “Make room, y’all. I gotta go. I invited that new hottie who teaches Death by Cardio, and he just got here! Wish me luck!”
“Use a rubber!” Randi called.
He flipped her off over his shoulder as he walked away.
“Shift over, you two,” Val said to the two youngest members of the group.
“Oh, no, it’s okay.” Zack glanced around. “I’ll find a chair to pull up or something.”
“Me too,” Isaiah added. How they’d fit three people on one of those bench seats he didn’t know, but he had no plans to squish up against the baby-faced Cody. He was almost tempted to ask him if he was old enough to be in a bar.
“Here. I think…”
He followed Zack to a couple of chairs, appreciating the lavender shirt he wore. Though looking at the shimmery silver tie just made him want to undress the man.
“You don’t like my tie?”
He looked up. Busted staring. Not that he was going to complain. “You don’t even want to know what I could do with that tie, Zack.”
“Are you sure?” Then Zack, definitely smirking, pushed past him with both chairs, leaving Isaiah to trail redundantly behind.
If he’d had any doubts that Zack could keep up, those doubts were gone. He’d apparently come to the same conclusion about Milo’s birthday being acceptably neutral ground.
Oh, it’s fucking on. Hold on to your tie and your color coded pens, Zachary Scherzo.
* * *
Cody and Malika (whom Isaiah internally classified as “baby brother” and “baby sister”) faded away to dance with their peers. The GM, Val, went home early. The actual brother and sister, Randi and Rodney, stayed for a while longer, largely dominating the conversation, but they were fun and bounced between subjects with alacrity, even after a few beers.
Isaiah could see what Milo loved about these people: they functioned as a family unit, down to the teasing and shared references. It was no surprise that Milo, desperate to find people who’d be more stable than his family of origin, had latched on to the Crux team from the second he was hired. Three years later, he was the heart center. Isaiah had watched all of them find Milo to say goodnight before leaving. They adored him.
And he damn well deserved that.
“You seem lost in thought,” Zack observed, sitting back down across from him after saying goodnight to Randi and Rodney.
“Just taking time to be grateful that Milo applied at Crux when he did. He wasn’t going to because he didn’t have climbing experience.”
“We don’t require experience in our entry level applicants. Though I can see why he’d want to have some.” Zack raised his eyebrows. “Did you tell him that he was wonderful and anyone who didn’t want him was losing out?”
“Hell no. I told him to lie.”
Zack laughed out loud. “You did not.”
“I really did. Well, okay.” He tilted his hand back and forth. “First, I took him to a different climbing gym and we spent a few hours climbing so he could get a feel for it. Then I told him to lie. Or at least to kind of imply that he knew what he was doing.”
“And you feel no remorse at all, do you?”
Just the two of them now. Isaiah leaned over the table. “You think I should?”
“I didn’t say that. But Milo didn’t lie to us. I remember scheduling his training.”
“I bet you have it in a notebook, right? What’d you call it?”
“WoJo. World journal.”
That was familiar. “Wait, wasn’t Wojo a character on Barney Miller?”
Zack blinked at him, smile gradually spreading across his features, smoothing out his forehead and softening the lines around his eyes. “I promise you I have never seen a single episode of Barney Miller. Are you a big fan? Do you go to Barney Miller conventions? Is cosplay involved?”
This time Isaiah laughed. “Oh man, do not tempt me to grow a porn ’stache. I’ll do it.”
“My ex had a…somewhat bushy mustache.” Zack made a face. “I’m not a huge fan of kissing with—” he gestured to his upper lip “—too much going on here.”
Hell yes. “Is that an invitation?”
“We are not kissing in a dive bar at Milo’s party, thank you very much.”
“Name a time and place, babe, and I will meet you there.”
“My name is Zack.”
“Zack, Zack, Zack. You like the way I say it, right?”
Zack licked his lips. “I definitely shouldn’t have mentioned that.”
“You should have if you want to hear me say your name more, Zack. And I think you do.” Come out and play with me, boy. You know you want to.
“Isaiah…”
“Feel free to use my name as much as you like, by the way.”
Zack offered a weak smile. “It’s obviously not that I’m not attracted to you. I really am. But I’m conflicted.”
“I can see that. Is there any way I can help resolve some of your conflict? Preferably with an end result of kissing?” Isaiah dropped the teasing tone. “I swear I’ll take no for an answer.”
“If the answer was no, I’d have no problem telling you that. But I need to think about it a little more. I’m sorry.” Zack reached halfway across the table.
“Don’t be sorry.” Isaiah let their fingers tangle. “Let’s keep doing what we’ve been doing. I’ll be outrageous, you’ll be professional, and if you come to any conclusions that involve kissing, just assume I’m all for them.”
“It’s probably absurd, but I put a lot of stock in the appearance of propriety. I can’t even think of a way this would be a direct conflict of interest since we’re not actually paying you, but I’m still worried about it.”
“That’s the best silver lining I’ve ever heard for not getting paid. And take your time. When should we record again?”
“Looking forward to your next opportunity to be outrageous?”
Isaiah grinned. “You know it. I’ll bring a mat for you.”
“I can’t do yoga. I told you.”
“Nah. You said you don’t because it stresses you out. I’m pretty sure I can find a way around that.” He ran his thumb across Zack’s knuckles. “Anyway, I edited the first episode together. I’ll send it to you for review so you can approve the title sequence and outro.”
“I’m sure they’re great.”
“Of course they are; I made them.”
Zack shook his head. “I was going to ask if you had any idea how seductive your obnoxious confidence was, but I’m pretty sure you know exactly.”
“I have a fair idea. Can you do tomorrow? Thursday?”
Their hands were still touching. Isaiah kept up light strokes with his fingers while he watched the gears turn in Zack’s head.
“I can’t do tomorrow. I have a class until nine, and I should really do as much of the work as possible while it’s fresh in my mind. Thursday works for me.”
“It’s a yoga date, then. What class are you taking?”
“Oh, nothing big. This is the last session of Principles of Management. I’m signing up for Payroll Accounting over the summer to get it out of the way.”
Isaiah bit back Can I see your text books? and opted instead for saying, “I studied all that stuff when I did my program. It can either be the dullest thing on earth, or fascinating, depending on how you’re learning it.”
“Did you go to LVCC?”
“Nah. Online.”
“Yeah, I should have done that. It’s a lot more flexible. But I like having professors I can speak to face to face, you know? Anyway, I don’t want to bore you.” Zack pulled his hand back and took out his wallet. “I should go, it’s getting late. We’re on for Thursday?”
“Definitely. And for the record, Zack, I don’t find you even a little bit boring.”
“You haven’t heard me talk about my favorite pens yet.” The smile Zack flashed as he was walking away was some mix of defiant and self-deprecating, and Isaiah thought there was a little regret there, too, in the way it didn’t quite go to the man’s eyes.
Those eyes, though.
He finished the last of his drink and went to track down Milo for a birthday kiss. Last year it had been a birthday spanking at a far more private party, and watching over the scene that followed. It had been sweet, in a way. Though they hadn’t messed around since.
Milo had officially grown out of the first guy he’d fallen for after starting to transition. It was always gonna happen, and Isaiah was grateful more than anything that they were still friends, but it meant that the birthday kiss was chaste and Milo’s friends were pulling him back to the dance floor before he could say more than “Goodnight.”
Yeah. That was good. The boy deserved it.
But hell if it didn’t make Isaiah feel a little bit lonely as he walked to his car.
Chapter Eight
Zack stared down at the summer session class schedule in numb incomprehension.
Damn everything.
His favorite professor was teaching a course on using video to engage customers and build community.
In other words: the thing he was literally doing. His favorite professor, teaching about something that was immediately relevant to his life. But there was no way he could do two classes this summer. And if he put off the management course, it would throw off his graduation plan.
Still, marketing was totally an elective that would count toward his degree.
The responsible thing was clearly to register for the required class and hope like hell Professor Yang would decide to do the video course again at some point when he was in a better position to take it.
He tapped his highlighter against the catalog. He highlighted the class. He chewed on the pen cap. He erased where he’d highlighted, almost wishing he’d used an old school non-erasable on it. Something permanent. Something he couldn’t take back.
Not that highlighting the catalog was committing.
“Dammit.”
He flipped open his Crux WoJo and scanned the calendar. There was no way. Not even with New Dance Aerobics Instructor (whom Randi had recommended keeping; apparently she was both perky and motivating, and the members responded positively to her).
Plus, Yang’s course wasn’t in the night school program, so it had far more intensive classroom demands. But god, it was so perfect. Each student would take an online video campaign through planning, production, marketing, and execution, with a special focus on social media engagement and analytical methodology.
Even just reading the description kind of…turned Zack on. Not in his cock. In his…brain. Which was a totally a real thing that happened to people who weren’t him. Probably.
He shut the catalogue and put the highlighter in its place. He’d left registration to the last minute because he hadn’t even been sure he could get away from the gym enough for one class (Val had basically forced him to swear on his WoJo that he’d register ASAP). But he had a few more days to decide.
He’d already decided. Yang’s video marketing intensive was out. Even though it sounded amazing. To say nothing of perfect.
“How’s it going over there?” Val called from the other side of the three-quarters wall.
“Am I sending up some kind of bat signal?”
“I don’t like it when I can’t hear the scratching of pens or the clicking of keys.” Shuffling. Then Val showed up in his doorway. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. You ever have that experience when the exact perfect thing happens at the exact wrong time?”
Val’s thick, dark eyebrows rose. “Uh. We talking about the yoga guy?”
“Oh my god, no. What does that even mean? No, there’s a class I want to take, but it’s three days a week all summer.” He frowned. “Why are you talking about Isaiah?”
“I’m not. I thought you were talking about him. So…three days a week, huh? How many hours?”
It was really sweet of Val to act like there was any way on earth this could happen. “I’m not doing it. It’s all right. I’m sure she’ll teach it again sometime.” Sure, she’d never taught it before. And it seemed summer-specific. Which meant waiting a whole other year.
It made no sense to be this disappointed. Except that maybe after hearing that Isaiah had an actual degree, he’d kind of wanted to—not impress him. But at least be able to keep up. And taking a course might have allowed him to do that.
But he’d never even heard of the course until half an hour ago. His life would be complete without it, obviously. And getting closer to meeting the requirements was his priority.
