Hold Fast, page 3
Isaiah could see all that: gentler lights, brighter floors, cleaner walls. Plants would be a nice touch.
“Damn. Oh well. Thanks for talking to me anyway, even after I was kind of an ass to you.” Zack held a hand out to shake.
Isaiah took the hand, but he wasn’t quite done yet. “We’d need to show off the things that makes Crux different. Make it the kind of place that intrigues people enough so they want to be on the inside. ‘Oh, my climbing gym’s in an old church.’ Or ‘I lift weights under a stained glass window.’ You know? It’s doable, I think.”
The tension of Zack’s fingers increased. “Yes! Right? I can see just how I’d do it, how I’d position Crux as kind of a niche gym. Which honestly? We already are. We’re almost entirely run by queers, people of color, and queer people of color. We hosted a Black Lives Matter fundraiser, and we always have special guest deals for Pride. It’s like”—he extended his other hand, fingers gripping at air—“just beyond my grasp. But so close.”
“I still think we can do something here. Plus, Milo would never forgive me if I didn’t at least try.” You are such a sap, boy. Isaiah decided to ignore his internal voice (which sounded an awful like his father).
“Oh, do you know Milo?”
It wasn’t exactly a test. But he watched Zack closely as he answered. “We used to date.”
Zack grinned. “Milo’s fantastic. Sometimes I think he single handedly keeps the doors open around here with enthusiasm alone.”
“I believe that.”
If it had been a test, Zack would have passed. Some folks got a little weird about dating trans guys, and Isaiah had no patience for that kind of bullshit.
He walked back out onto the main floor of the gym. The stained glass windows really were spectacular. And the exterior floodlights were still working; they’d be gorgeous in daylight, but they were somehow more fitting to Crux right now, a harsher, colder light that somehow liquified on its way through those old panes of colored glass.
“There’s…one place I haven’t shown you.” Zack glanced up, and Isaiah followed his gaze.
“Is that an office?” A solid wall of glass overlooking the gym, directly across from the windows.
“It’s the owner’s office.” A muscle twitched in Zack’s jaw. “We’re not allowed in, but I might be able to find a key. I mean, if you thought there was even a chance that—”
“I want to see it.” It might be nothing. He’d have to be able to line up the camera at the perfect level to catch the climbing wall in the foreground with the stained glass behind it. And of course all that would still play second fiddle to a yoga mat. To say nothing of how the acoustics would be.
But if he could frame that shot and get the sound to work? Yeah. That would intrigue people all right.
Ideas started to spark, one after the other. A series of free videos, leading in to a subscription service with additional videos behind a pay wall. Crux could have members all over the world. The overhead would be low at first, but they could scale up the infrastructure as the service expanded. He could picture the branding, the merchandise.
Zack said something. Probably not the first thing he’d said, judging by the slight irritation.
“Sorry. Lost in thought. Will you show me the office?”
“You wouldn’t be able to use it. I mean, not without permission, and he’d never grant it.”
“Okay. But it doesn’t hurt to look, right?”
“I guess not…”
“Cool. Thanks.”
Isaiah waited for Zack to return with the keys, staring up at the old church windows, and let himself dream down paths that led to saving Milo’s beloved gym from ruin. And, okay, maybe it’d be nice to help Zack out a little, too.
Chapter Three
Don’t fuck this up. Don’t fuck this up. Don’t fuck this up. Zack’s mantra carried him up the stairs and onto the landing, with Isaiah close behind.
God, Isaiah was amazing. Not just his looks. Zack wasn’t shallow.
Well, okay, yes, his looks. But not exclusively his looks.
It was also in the way he considered things before talking about them. Or the way that when he did talk about things, it was clear he’d already considered them. And he was so quick, jumping from topic to topic, asking serious questions, looking right at Zack like they were the only ones on earth buzzing at this level. Not only could he keep up with Zack, but he acted like he knew Zack could keep up with him, and the whole thing was intoxicating.
The door to Terence’s office opened and Zack reached for the light switch, but a strong hand clamped down on his, shooting a brief, warm tingle down his arm.
“Wait. Please.”
He stepped aside and Isaiah moved into the room.
And yeah, it had been a while since he came up here for anything. He’d forgotten how cool the gym looked from the old choir loft. The Rock (Crux’s island of climbing wall) rose up, giving the impression you could almost jump to it if the glass wall wasn’t there. And the windows in the background were breathtaking.
Speaking of breathtaking, Isaiah dropped to his knees in front of the glass and Zack swallowed hard. The gym lit Isaiah’s dark skin, making him glow, and his slacks were tight enough to be suggestive when they pulled tautly across his ass.
Zack reigned himself in. Time to be professional and see if there was any way to salvage this meeting. If only he hadn’t been such a jerk. Though now that he had a better impression of how Isaiah worked, he thought the whole thing had been doomed from the start.
Crux was falling apart. He knew that. They all did, on some level. But it was the best job he’d ever had, with coworkers he actually liked, and regular members he saw more than he did his last boyfriend. All that affection had made it easy to keep up the illusion that the gym was just a little behind on maintenance. But Isaiah saw all the things Zack usually overlooked.
The scales had been stripped from his eyes. They were struggling, which made it even more important to strengthen their programs and attract a new inflow of memberships.
“This is seriously cool. Wait, is that a cat?”
“She doesn’t live inside. Except when we’re open. And yeah, that’s She-Ra, Princess—”
“—of Power,” they finished together. Isaiah grinned over his shoulder. “Yeah, okay. The queerest gym award goes to Crux. That’s awesome.”
And surely it was a strange thing to feel bonded over, but for a moment it seemed like Isaiah got it, got the thing that was special, the thing that made them different.
Then he turned back to the glass. “The desk faces the door. Who has an office like this and then doesn’t look out?”
Zack refrained from sharing the conversation in which Terence had bemoaned the glass wall and mentioned that if the gym ever “turned a decent profit,” he planned to get the glass replaced. “Someone who doesn’t like the gym, I guess.”
Actually, on second thought, that was an even less diplomatic thing to say.
“I mean—I’m sure he doesn’t dislike it—”
Isaiah stood up and turned, all in one smooth movement. His face was now all in shadow, but the glint of his teeth hinted at a smile. “You worry about being disloyal, huh?”
“It’s not that.” Or at least, not much. “I don’t want to seem unprofessional. For whatever that’s worth, at this point.”
“Oh, a lot. I’ll do it if we can use this office. The angles will be a little tricky, and trying to light anything in front of a damn glass wall is gonna suck, but once we figure it out, it’ll be badass. If you still want me, Zack.”
“I definitely want you. No, I mean—the video. I want the video. Or series. Or um…whatever it is you’re offering, that’s what I want.” Oh god, he was making it worse. “For the gym, I mean—”
“Oh man, Zack, you’re fucking adorable when you babble.”
“I do not babble! I mean, aside from right now.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Why don’t we sit down and iron out the details, and I’ll write up a contract.” There, he sounded measured, official. Not embarrassed and aroused.
“That sounds good.”
The reality of it washed over him like icy water. “Wait. Hang on. I shouldn’t…I need to think…” Terence would never allow it. They weren’t even supposed to have a key to the office. He shouldn’t have brought Isaiah up here, but for a second he wanted to share that vision, that illusion, of Crux as a beautiful refuge in a chaotic universe.
“Give me ten episodes,” Isaiah said. “We can shoot them two at a time. At night, if you want to evade detection, which would let me control the lighting better anyway.”
“We’d have to do it after close. I can’t…it could mean my job.” Would he flee out the front door like Amanda had, and refuse to answer any phone calls from the gym? But no. He would take the time to say goodbye to everyone. Shake hands. Give hugs. Clean out his desk.
Rehearsing how he’d leave after getting fired was probably something he could add to his list of things to do later.
He nodded at Isaiah. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
“Sweet.” Isaiah stepped closer. “So should we go figure out what we’re offering each other?”
Zack stepped back. “Yes. In my office.”
“I’ll follow you.”
Which wasn’t, inherently, a flirtatious thing to say. So why did Zack feel like Isaiah meant I’ll be watching your ass? And god, now he was hyper-conscious of how he was walking.
Everything was calmer and more logical in his office. Like always. Even with Isaiah sitting across the desk, watching him.
Probably not watching him. It just felt like it because every time he glanced up, Isaiah was looking right at him, always with his eyebrows just a little high, like he was waiting for Zack to say something.
He had to focus. On something that wasn’t Isaiah.
He started a new section in his WoJo and began free form note taking, with sketched exclamation point icons for everything he knew needed to be in the contract, and boxes for all the information he wanted unofficially recorded.
“I’ve never seen anyone write that way. And your notebook’s a trip.”
“It’s a world journal. By which I mean it’s just a regular notebook with specific planning pages, as well as a flexible, open-ended system for additional sections as needed.”
“And color coding,” Isaiah added.
Zack froze in the process of picking up his red pen (for something he needed to double check and come back to). He glanced up, braced for derision. “It helps me keep things organized.”
“I’m not making fun. It’s kind of magnificent. And it looks cool, too.”
It looks cool? Zack pressed the pages flat and continued writing. “I always loved planners and calendars, but I never wanted to be locked in to just having the space for appointments or classes when I really needed to be able to reference so much more stuff. World journals were started by this woman who basically wanted to have a place for everything in one notebook, so she invented a system to make that work.”
“I’ve never been able to keep a calendar updated. I used to buy one every year, and by February it’d be taking up space, but I’d never use it.”
“I’m a serial monogamist when it comes to planners.” Zack smirked down at his paper.
“Many are the planners you have loved and lost?”
“That’s about it, yeah.” He scanned over the exclamation point icons. “I think I have everything. Give me your email address and I’ll send you a draft in an hour.”
Isaiah shook his head. “You work a late shift. Isn’t Crux closing soon?”
“Oh. We close at ten on Fridays.” Not that it mattered. He was off tomorrow and he really needed to study, but he’d stay until everything was done.
“I’ll keep an eye out for your email, then.”
This time Zack was the one raising his eyebrows. “I thought being self-employed meant you were allowed to stop working at some point.”
“Common misconception. Being self-employed means you never stop working, but if you’re doing it right, then you have a really good boss.”
And oh, god, Isaiah had the best smile Zack had seen in months. Or maybe this just happened to be the first time in months he’d paid attention to a smile.
He cleared his throat. He always cleared his throat too much when he was nervous. “You can take your time getting it back to me. I won’t be in again until Sunday.”
“Good to know. If this works out, what’s your time line? I assume you’d want to get started as quickly as possible.”
“Oh. Yes. We should…” He pulled up the Crux calendar and tilted it so both of them could see. “I’m not sure what the turn-around would be on the episodes. And of course I don’t want to put you to any trouble. Or any more trouble than you’re going to already.”
“It’s no trouble. I can whip up quickie intro and outro sequences in my sleep. And if you’re not familiar with meta data, SEO, and posting schedules, I can give you a crash course when we get to that point.”
Zack only had a vague understanding of how all of that would relate to yoga on YouTube, but he knew enough to be aware that they were getting a hell of a deal. “Look, I would completely understand if you decided not to do this. Even after we’ve talked about it and agreed. I know you’re worth a lot more than a gym membership, Isaiah. There would be no hard feelings if you decided to bag out.”
“That’s what you think. You’ve clearly never pissed off Milo.”
“No way. And I’m sure he’d understand, too. I just don’t want you to feel obligated. Or to think I’m…unaware. That you’re doing us a huge favor.”
“Hey, I’m having a good time. And I can’t resist a new project. I’ve been feeling a little bored lately anyway.”
“Is this where you tell me that I’m really doing you a favor?”
“Hell no. The lighting’s going to be a clusterfuck, let me tell you. But I’m betting it’ll be worth it, one way or the other.”
That was an intriguing phrase. How many ways were there to make helping Crux worth it to Isaiah? And did any of them involve kissing?
Sheesh. Zack invented something really important he had to suddenly write down, hoping Isaiah couldn’t tell he was blushing. “I hope you don’t regret this, anyway.”
“Oh, I don’t believe in regret.”
“No?” He looked up. “So then you never fail at anything?”
“Ha. I fail all the time. I’m fantastic at failing. Show me an entrepreneur who doesn’t fail, and I’ll show you someone who’s not working hard enough.” Isaiah shrugged, shoulders rolling and settling back into place again, making Zack want to know what they’d feel like under his palms.
Randomly fantasizing about giving a guy he just met a neck rub was a real good sign he needed to get laid.
“Failure’s a way better teacher than success. I figure that’s why I’m so good when I’m good. And so spectacularly bad when I fuck things up.” Isaiah stood. “Great to meet you, Zack. I’ll be looking forward to your email.”
Zack stood. They shook hands. Again. For the third time, if you counted the one in the middle, which was less of a shake and more of a long hold. “Good to meet you, too. Let me walk you out.”
“Nah, I can find my way.”
“I insist.”
He was almost certain Isaiah whispered, “How gentlemanly” behind him.
Chapter Four
Isaiah hadn’t meant to take Milo out specifically to dig for info about Zack. But Milo knew him a little too well.
“So are we pretending the timing’s coincidental, or do you just want to ask me how to get into his pants?”
“What? Whose?”
Milo shoved curly hair out of his eyes. “Come on. I saw you two talking. Zack’s great, right? And he gets all—” One hand did loops in the air. “He gets all obsessed with stuff like you do. ’Fess up.”
“Aw, it’s not like that. Though he is cute when he’s obsessed. I’m not saying I didn’t notice.”
“Ha. I bet.”
They’d moved well beyond the awkward post-relationship stage when they couldn’t quite find friendship without lingering bits of sex and botched romance cluttering their emotions. They were much better friends than they’d ever been lovers.
Isaiah stretched his legs out in front of him and nudged Milo’s shoes. “All right, he was hot. But I’m not asking you how to get into his pants. If I want to do that, I can figure it out all on my own, thanks.”
“Uh huh.”
Hell. “I’m really not, Milo.”
“I know. And yet if I sit here long enough, you’re gonna ask me questions about Zack. You can’t help yourself. I’m super patient. We have all night.”
“Shut your mouth, boy. And anyway, I have questions about you. What’re you doing for your big birthday?”
“Ugh. Nothing. I hate it. I mean, obviously I don’t, but I’m gonna be twenty-five, Isaiah, you know? Like, I don’t even have a career. How many businesses did you have by the time you were my age?”
“Oh, am I your standard for success now?” Isaiah shoved his sleeves up and leaned over the table. “You want my scars?”
“No. Though sometimes I wish I had the ovaries to do something like that.”
“To sacrifice your health for money and fame? It’s not as glamorous as it sounds.”
Milo grinned and patted one of his hands. “Just how glamorous do you think that sounds? Anyway, it’s about to be summer, and my birthday, and you know what that means.”
“You’re going to spend the next two months obsessing over whether or not you should enroll at LVCC for the fall. Cheers, Milo.”
They clinked beers.
“Blah, enough depressing shit. I think this yoga thing sounds cool. Do you have like a million different ideas for it right now?”
Man, there was just nothing like having a beer with an old friend. “So many. You think he’d go for a subscription model? Charge monthly fees—lower than a membership of course, even really low—for member-only videos?”
