This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

Like A Rock

Published by Bon Publishing Company in association with Produx House, Corp.

P. O. Box 3847

Ft. Myers,Fl.33918

www. bonpublishing.com

An Ajay Kavanagh short story

Like a Rock

“Are you sure that I'm not invading your private time?” Devon asked as he draped a small sweat towel across the back of his neck and held onto both ends. There was a tension in his hands that worried Ajay.

“Not at all!” Mike exclaimed with a grin. With three other men, dressed in gym clothes, he stood close to Devon and looked down at him.

Ajay pushed them all away, irritably, by shoving at shoulders. “He's not a sideshow! Get on with your work outs.”

Davis, a blocky blonde who's face looked as if he had spent some time in the ring, smiled and showed some gaps in his teeth, as he retorted, “Just getting to know him Kavanagh!” but he gave ground with the others as they moved off to the weight machines.

The gym was an old brick building with the pipes visible along the walls and the one old boiler not enough to keep out the cold. If a man, or woman, wanted to stay warm, they had to work for it. Not that there were many women there, Ajay thought, or anyone like Devon.

While everyone was dressed in old, spare clothes, that worked well enough for the gym, including Ajay, Devon had on a professional, tight fitting pair of white spandex shorts and a blue tank top with a logo. His golden hair was braided tightly back and his white tennis shoes were thick in the sole and looked over large on his feet. All of his jewelry was conspicuously absent, except for the gold band on his ring finger.

Ajay himself was wearing a loose t shirt that had seen better days, a loose pair of black shorts, and a sweat rag that was tucked into his waist band.

“Stop slouching,” Devon grumbled and then gave Ajay a look when he showed his confusion. “You don't even know that you're doing it, do you?”

“Slouching?”

“Yes, slouching,” Devon said as he moved past Ajay and surveyed the men, and the few women, exercising around them. Even the women looked larger than Devon, some of them ex boxers. “You don't want to seem out of place next to me, or intimidating, or any number of things, I'm sure. Well, you don't need to do it. I like looking at your big shoulders, that square chin, and those big legs wading through any difficulty. It's a complete and utter turn on for me.”

Ajay raked a hand through his tousled black hair, smiling with some embarrassment. “I really wasn't aware that I was doing it.”

Devon chuckled. “That's why I love you.” He motioned to the gym, at a loss, “Just tell me your usual routine and I'll try to keep up. I do toning exercises, run the treadmill, practice my martial arts, and make sure that my stomach stays flat. It looks as if you do a lot more weights and punching, around here.”

“People like to work off steam after work,” Ajay replied defensively as he led the way to a set of punching bags. He put on a pair of gloves and Devon tied them up.

“I wasn't being critical,” Devon replied as he backed up to give Ajay room. “I was just saying that it's different.”

“Most of these people get a good workout at work,” Ajay told him as he began punching the small bag rapidly. “They're delivery people, warehouse help, garbage men, and factory workers. Not too many of them sit in offices all day. This place is where they relax.”

Devon looked around them appreciatively at all the rippling muscles of the men working out, the smell of sweat, and the simplicity of the gym. “Uncomplicated. That's why you like it here?”

“Something like that,” Ajay agreed with a smile as he continued to punch away. “Just like them, I can relax, and just.... punch, or lift weights, or whatever.” He stilled the motion of the bag with both hands and then said, “Your turn.”

One of the women lent Devon her gloves. Sally was pretty enough to be a model, but she had the muscle of a body builder. Not that she competed professionally. Her husband owned the gym. All day workouts were a perk of the business. She gave Ajay a wink over Devon's head and made an appreciative face down at Devon.

Ajay pushed her aside, with a scowl, just as he had pushed his other friends away earlier. She staggered a few steps, put hands on hips, and then laughed as she made a dismissive motion and walked away.

“They can be crude,” Ajay apologized as Devon took his stance and began punching.

Devon leered. “I can, too.”

He could, Ajay knew, but these people wouldn't ever see that side of him. He felt a rise in his shorts remembering the times that Devon had been mouthy during sex, telling Ajay in the basest terms, what he wanted. Devon was slim, but what muscle he did possess could pack a well controlled punch. Those hands were strong as well, able to grip tight and stroke...

Ajay took his small towel from his waist band and made a business out of unfolding it in front of his shorts, as if he wasn't pleased by the way that it had been folded before.

Devon kept punching, aiming his blows with precision. His blue eyes were lively, a small smile playing along his lips. Ajay could see a few of the men looking over at him, reassessing their first opinions, probably. He could imagine what those first opinions had been and that brought his problem, back down as he was beset by irritation.

Devon grabbed the punching bag to still it. “What's wrong?”

Ajay brought his attention back to his lover and saw the sheen of sweat, the golden strands of his hair escaping its braid, and the harsh lights illuminating those those strands to make a halo effect. Blue eyes, as clear as afternoon skies, regarded Ajay critically.

“Nothing's wrong,” Ajay replied, regrouping his thoughts with difficulty.

Devon leaned on the bag and continued to appraise Ajay. Finally, he said, “I know that you told me that you never considered men before me, but this is an entire room full of really fine specimens. I'm not going to get jealous, if you tell me that you were really happy getting into a steamy shower room with them. I'm also not going to get jealous if you tell me that it's hard not to look at them, now.”

“I've known most of them since I was a child,” Ajay protested. “I don't think of them that way. Do you?”

“Are you being insecure?' Devon wondered.

“Are you?”

They stared at one another and then Devon was sighing and leading the way to a weight machine. It was almost as if they were having a fight, Ajay thought, wondering what had prompted it.

Ajay did his sets and Mike came over to spot him. The man had his shirt off and his cap turned backward. Ajay found himself looking the man over, wondering if Devon thought that Mike was a good looking specimen.

“What's the matter, Jay-Jay?” Mike wanted to know as Ajay put the heavy barbells in their stand and rested. “You're looking at me like I smell bad. Eh, I probably do, actually.” He laughed at his own wit. A few more sets and then it was Devon's turn and Mike was off to finish his own exercises. Devon's eyes were definitely following him.

Ajay felt the ring on his finger. Trust. Commitment. Family. To Ajay those things were what their set of rings stood for. If Devon was looking at Mike, it was, perhaps, to appreciate him like a man would appreciate a fine sculpture, not because Devon secretly want to go with the man.

“Like you said,” Ajay tried as he moved off the weight bench to let Devon take his place. “Looking isn't a problem. It's not something to get jealous about.”

He lightened the weights and Devon tentatively began his set while Ajay spotted him.

“I'm glad you're being honest,” Devon said, sounding strained as he straightened the bar. He said something more, but Ajay was too busy being completely enthralled by Devon's muscles tightening, his chest straining, his nipples just pebbling underneath his tank top, and the form fitting shorts molding around Devon's crotch. Ajay felt the tightening in his own crotch and, just then, he wanted to be home, in bed, with Devon naked and in his arms.

“Being attracted to how someone looks is not the same as cheating, Ajay,” Devon finished. “A gym full of-”

“What?” Ajay came back to himself and frowned. Suddenly his temper rose and he couldn't help snapping, “Is that why you came to the gym, to look at my friends?”

Devon put the barbell back in its stand and looked up at Ajay, shocked. “What? No. Jay, I meant... You think that I'm looking at them?”

“Aren't you?” Ajay was almost panting with the effort to control his temper.

“No,” Devon replied firmly. “How could I when I have the best looking man here or anywhere?”

Ajay's temper went out of him so quickly it almost made him shaky at the knees. His mind, so quick and talented when it came to solving cases, but a failure when it came to a relationship, finally understood Devon's mistaken assumption.

Ajay hung over the barbell stand so that he was very close to Devon's face. “I've never wanted anyone. Only you, Devon, from the first moment that I saw you. That might be hard to understand or believe, but it's true. Right now, in this gym full of men, all that I can think of is taking you home and making love to you.”

Devon swallowed hard, wiped his brow with his towel, and then sat up. “Then let's get out of here, lover, and do just that.”

“Shower, here, first?” Ajay suggested reluctantly.

“I don't think that they'll let us do, what I have planned, in their showers,” Devon replied huskily.

Cutting a gym visit short always won a person good natured jokes about being too old, too out of shape, or too lazy, but Ajay didn't care as he followed Devon out of the gym.

The end