Boyfriend

Marco's POV

"You seriously choked on an apple?" Rodrigo laughed, tears rolling down his eyes as I recounted the events of the day to him.

"It's not funny" I said in a mock serious voice but I was smiling too.

"Yes, it is. I would die if I choke on an apple in front of my crush"

"He's not my crush"  I said but from the red at the tip of my nose,  I knew I was blushing to the high heavens.

"I never said he was, you see. You just said it yourself" Rodrigo gloated at his 'smart' conclusion. If he wasn't the sweetest soul I knew, I would have punched him. Another reason I couldn't punch him was I didn't have any other driver.

"Just shut up" I replied hitting him gently on the shoulder with the bottle of water I had in my hand "Can you tell me what we are doing in a gym full of sweaty boys?"

"Sweaty boys or hot men. Just check out those abs cousin"

I rolled my eyes while I turned to look at the direction he was pointing at. Indeed the place was crawling with sweaty hot men, some of who had tried to hit on me immediately we walked in but I totally acted like I wasn't seeing them.

"That doesn't answer my question Rodrigo. What are we doing half way across town when I should be having a nap to rest my sour joints?" I asked adding a bit of dramatic slur at the end.

"Chillax cuz, I'm meeting an old friend of mine here. I've been trying to get her to go out with me since I got to New York but she's been blowing me off. She finally agreed to dinner but she insisted I pick her up from here first" He replied dragging me to the reception.

"So can you tell me where I fall into all of this?" I asked stopping in my tracks and folding my hands across my chest. I was literally about to punch him now.

"Well, my dear cousin" he responded, coming back to place his hands on my shoulders, a grin playing on his face. "I've got a hot date tonight and you were saved from the hot gate of hell by your crush, so how else can we celebrate than a double date? Fun fact is I thought of it all and I figured, this is a gym and I know you have a thing for hot boys, where else do you find hot boys?" For someone older than I was, I was sure that Rodrigo had a nut screw up there. His plan was so silly, I was amused.

"You are ridiculous" I replied rolling my eyes.

"I love you too" he laughed and continued walking and I was forced to follow him.

A blond pale lady was sitting behind the desk. When she saw us , she stood up and plastered the fake smile I was used to seeing at Hydela Motors on her face. Her name tag read Monique.

"Welcome to Granite gym. Do you want to register or just workout for today?" She asked in a deep Irish accent still smiling.

"Hi Monica, actually I'm here to see a friend" Rodrigo replied smiling and if he wasn't here to pick up his dinner date, I would have sworn he was trying to flirt with the Irish woman. I felt the strong urge to roll my eyes but I held it back and instead, focused on looking at my nails. I made a mental note to get a Mani Pedi anytime I was chanced.

"Oh... Is your friend a registered member of the gym or just an occasional visitor?"

"Ahhh, truth is, I don't really know. She didn't say. But her name is Sophia Grant. Would you help me check?"

"No need for that" the Irish woman replied "Sophia Grant is quite popular around here. Amongst the men especially. The thing is, she didn't come to the gym today"

"Are you sure?" I heard Rodrigo's enthusiastic voice falter a bit. "I'm very sure she said she would be here"

"I've been in this seat all day and if Sophia Grant has walked in here today, I would know" Monica concluded turning to attend to another customer who had walked in while she was talking to Rodrigo.

"I sincerely do not understand" he said as he turned to face me again, confusion and disappointment etched on his face.

"Let's just say, you've been played" I said trying to hide the amusement in my voice. It was my turn to be the cheerful one.

"I don't know cuz. Maybe I misplaced the address or something" and once again he turned to face the now-not-so-smiling Irish receptionist.

"Is there by chance, any other Granite gym around here?" He asked right before I could warn him about the aggressiveness of angry receptionists.

Monica looked at him plainly, this time without a smile said and in my mind, the only thing that kept playing on repeat was you are in big trouble now. "I am a receptionist in a gym not a fucking map. If you would excuse me, I have other serious clients to attend to"

When he turned to look at me again, I could only see sadness on his face. I almost felt bad.

"Let's go home and cry ourselves to sleep cuz" I said trying not to sound as sarcastic as I intended, patting him on the back.

"Yeah yeah. But I've got to use the bathroom first. Wait for me" he said and started walking off. I shrugged. It's not like I would actually try to walk thousands of miles home.

While he was gone, I actually decided to look around. Everyone was busy lifting one heavy item or the other or doing one routine or the other. Alot of them were so rigidly built, I shivered a little just by the thought of having one of them touch me. Incase no one noticed, I was built like a chicken. I rolled my eyes and folded my arms in front of me, annoyed with myself. I kept looking around though, too intrigued with muscles to allow my annoyance deprive me of the sight. Soon my eyes fell on a particular figure that was strangely familiar. The owner of the body had his back turned to me, the tank top he was wearing, glued to his back. He was speaking to someone standing in front of him who I couldn't see his face due to the large size of the man. I was still trying to figure out why the silhouette was so familiar when their discussion ended and the huge man turned. I could have fainted if all my organs hadn't gone into overdrive and the only impulse coming to my brain was to avoid being seen.

I walk-ran to the door nearest to where I was standing, opened it hurriedly and went in, shutting it behind me. I could hear my heart beating in my ears and I rested my back on the door and shut my eyes trying to get my breathing even.

He didn't see me, did he?

When I could finally breathe like a human being again, I opened my eyes and looked around the room I had entered. In my haste I hadn't even seen it. It was some kind of massage parlor with massage tables, scented candles, oils and stuff like that. Thankfully no one was there.

And thankfully he didn't see me because if he had he would have come after me by now. I need to find Rodrigo and get the hell out of here. On a second thought, I might as well go and wait for him in the car.

I gently opened the door and seeing no one in front of it, quickly came out and began walking towards the door.

"Are you stalking me?" Came the voice that I would recognize even in my sleep, stopping me in my tracks abruptly. I slowly turned, trying my best to look as natural as possible without giving away the storm raging in my mind. He was resting on one side on the wall with his arms folded across his chest. I had seen a lot of versions of  Pedro McFarland but the sweaty and insanely hot version became my instant favorite. His damp raven black hair was swept back in a messy manner on his head. The beads of sweat falling down his face, down his neck and running into the neck of the tank top glistened like small diamonds. The sweat seemed to outline his muscles making them more pronounced than usual and with every little movement he made, they seemed to be flexing. I gulped.

"I should be asking you that" I said before I could realize how stupid that sounded. Obviously he was at the gym long before I came in. He gave off a small laugh and I found myself getting hot with embarrassment and awe. This demi god of a human being was not one you would see laugh often. And each time I heard it, it sounded cocky  and amusing and somehow I was addicted to it.

How do you get addicted to something you barely hear? I do not know.

"I didn't know you worked out" he said without hiding the sarcasm in his voice. And if my first words were stupid, the next were worse.

"Well, I guess there are a lot of things you don't know about me" I mentally face palmed myself.

He looked at me for a few seconds, his eyes doing the things they always did whenever he was thinking or trying to figure something out.

"Come on Marco, you and I know that you didn't come here to work out. I'm seriously considering the idea that you actually came here to stalk me" he finally said and leaning off the wall, began to walk towards me, an amused grin on his lips.

"You wish" I said sounding as irritated as I felt at the moment.

"So tell me, what are you....." He was cut short by the appearance of Rodrigo who finally decided to show up. "Oh, you are here with your boyfriend" he concluded in a tone that was laced with both disappointment and a hint of anger. He frowned for a split second and almost immediately his face went expressionless like he was trying to mask his feelings.

"Boyfriend? Ewww!" Rodrigo quickly replied, coming to stand beside me with a stupid grin on his face. I held back an eye roll. "Marco is my cousin. My name is Rodrigo"

Pedro's eye briefly fell on me, the amusement back in his eyes. I looked away obviously caught in my lie and now too embarrassed to look up.

"Hi Rodrigo. I'm Pedro, Marco's boss" the big man said in a much lighter voice extending his hand to Rodrigo for a shake.

"Oh, I've heard so much about you" Rodrigo blurted earning him a stern glare and an aggressive nudge in the ribs from me.

"Is that so? Good things I hope" the big man said, his eyes on me and a cocky grin playing on his lips.

"Alot of...."

"We have to get going. It's getting quite late. I need to get a good night sleep or I would hate to be late to work 'boss'" I interrupted making sure to end the sentence in the most sassy and sarcastic tone as I could fathom. I began to drag Rodrigo away as fast as I could while Pedro still had the cocky grin on his face.

The punk!

"I'm sure we will see some other time Rodrigo" he called out in a voice that indicated he was trying to hold in a laugh.

"Most certainly" Rodrigo replied, briefly turning and getting yanked hard again by me.

We were soon out in the cold evening walking towards his car.

"Now I see why you choked" Rodrigo said laughing "that man is next level hot"

"Just shut the fuck up and drive me home" I said nudging him in the ribs again.

Yes I know he's smoking hot.

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Another chapter down mi amigos.

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