Page 59 of Love at First Rep

Gym Rat Pack Group Chat

RILEY: I think we need to take our trivia prowess on the road. Hit all the trivia nights, win all the prizes. Who’s in?

CHASE: Sounds like a good idea to me. We also need to adopt Rafe and Lucas.

JOSH: Can you adopt adults?

COLE: I’m in for trivia so long as Carson’s in. I didn’t realize we had a freaking genius in our group!

HUNTER: The smartest of the smarts.

TOBIAS: Very impressive, Carson. Well done.

COLE: cough cough robot cough cough

CHASE: Back off or next yoga class I’ll leave you in a warrior pose for ten minutes straight.

COLE: The horror!

HUNTER: Don’t punish all of us for Cole’s obnoxiousness. Please! Have mercy!

GARRETT: Ten minutes straight? Is that even physically possible?

CHASE: Only one way to find out…

RILEY: Stay focused, people! We need to find the next trivia night. And hell yeah, Carson killed it tonight.

CARSON: Thanks, guys. It wasn’t that big of a deal.

HUNTER: It was the biggest of deals.

JOSH: The dealiest deal of all deals! We couldn’t have won without you.

RILEY: MVP! MVP! MVP!

GARRETT: Carson killed it, but we were also double the size of every other team there tonight. Feels like cheating.

COLE: I didn’t know you got transferred at work. When did you go from detective to captain of the fun police?

GARRETT: ::middle finger emoji::

19

“YOUR FRIENDS ARE AWESOME. I’m almost excited to wake before dawn to see them all at the gym tomorrow.”

Garrett chuckled at Rafe’s assessment as they made their way up the stairs. He needed to get to sleep in order to wake up early enough to work out, but his mind raced with everything that had happened this week. He predicted he’d be tossing and turning all night.

As they reached the landing of his second floor, the other thing that had been nagging at him came to the forefront of his mind. Would Rafe want to stay in his room again? Was he truly serious about being with Garrett? Before he could angst over their relationship status, Rafe stole his attention.

“Are you okay? You seem tense, and you were quieter than usual tonight.”

No one could read him like Rafe could. Garrett was glad that hadn’t changed after decades apart.

“Just thinking about the case, I guess,” Garrett said as he dawdled in the hallway leading to their rooms. He might as well have been fiddling with his keys waiting for a kiss at the end of a first date.

Rafe tilted his head as he eyed Garrett. Not for the first time in his life, he wished mind reading was one of his skills.

The next moment, Rafe reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze before letting go and backing toward the guest room.