Sometime around 1:30pm Mark regained consciousness. He lay in bed for a moment, savoring the absence of the pain that had accompanied him for longer than he cared to remember. His stomach rumbled loudly and he grinned down at it, amused that a part of his body would have the gall to speak out against him so loudly. His good mood lasted as he got dressed and headed down to the dining room. The waitress that took his order passed an appreciative eye over him and he coolly smiled back, not wanting to encourage anything.

Some of the other members of the roster were wandering in for lunch and he raised his head when he heard Hunter and Glen laughing together. They had just walked into the room and like magnets Glen's eye's were drawn to his and held. He raised his lips in a half smile and looked away first, maybe playing hard to get would be the way to get him.

"Well look at this. Mark has saved us a table." Shawn said loudly as he dropped down into a chair across from Mark.

With a smile Mark looked up and watched as Hunter sat down next to Shawn, leaving the only other seat at the table right next to him. With a small grimace Glen took the seat but scooted away slightly and acted like it didn't bother him. The small movement wasn't enough to keep Mark from smelling him and he groaned inwardly as he watched Glen out of the corner of his eye. For his part Glen was trying to make it seem like there was nothing wrong, he even went so far to turn and look at him as he spoke.

"So it's a deal. We'll all go out for a few rounds of pool tonight?" Hunter asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Why not." Glen said with a shrug. "I have nothing better to do."

"I'll take a rain check on that." Mark said as he took a drink.

"Why? Got a hot date?" Hunter joked.

"No. Just don't want to go out." Mark shrugged his shoulders and after popping one more French fry into his mouth pushed away from the table. "Well gentlemen it was a pleasure to have lunch with you, but I'm going to head back to my room."

Shawn and Hunter nodded their heads and said goodbye, but it was Glen's suspicious eyebrow quirk that made him grin. His grin brought a slight blush to Glen's face as Mark flicked his eyes up and down his frame and he had to refrain from laughing. It seemed like his plan was working. He nodded to Glen and then headed out of the room after leaving the money for his meal. He was waiting by the elevators, watching other patrons mill about the lobby and around the front doors when he seen Glen heading over to him.

"Can I help you?" He asked when Glen was within hearing range.

"No. I'm just heading back up to my room. I'm tired. Late night and long workout this morning." Glen said shortly.

"Hmmm. Seems to me that you'd know better by now that those type of actions have their price."

"Like you're really one talk." Glen grumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Glen turned his attention to the doors, ignoring Mark. At least he pretended to ignore Mark. With a smirk Mark got as close to Glen as possible and blew gently against the back of his neck. The younger man stiffened and Mark had to bite back a laugh as Glen stifled a groan. The doors slid open a second later and after he and Glen entered the car he pushed the close door button quickly before anyone else could get on.

He looked over to see if Glen had been watching but he was too busy keeping his eyes on the ceiling for the walls to see what Mark was doing. Mark's grin grew wider as he leaned against the wall, crossing his legs at the ankles and staring Glen up and down. His hair was still back in a ponytail, but there were some pieces here and there that had escaped during his work out. His shirt looked molded to his chest and his sweats hung low on his hips. Even though he had been sweating Glen still had a fresh scent about him.

As if he could feel Mark staring at him Glen turned his head and locked eyes with him. His strong features were schooled in a scowl and Mark smirked at the look of exasperation that was on his face. He always could get under Glen's skin, and it pleased him that he still had that power. Their eyes held and Mark felt the smallest sliver of pain work its way into his heart again. His smirk then turned to a frown and he snapped at Glen.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Then why are you staring at me?"

"You were staring at me."

"Trust me, I wasn't staring at you."

"Could've fooled me." Glen scoffed.

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"What're you going to do about it?"

"Is that a challenge?" Mark pushed himself away from the wall and moved until he was face to face with Glen.

"What if it is?"

Breaths mingled and eyes held each other as bodies held themselves rigid. Glen's eyes were as blue as Mark remembered and his lips looked to be even softer. His hands clenched and unclenched at his side as he warred with his desire to reach up and touch him. His will won the battle and his hand stayed at his side, but his eyes caressed Glen's face and he licked his lips as he recalled the last taste that he had had of his lover.

The helpless feeling that he had locked away after Glen had left resurfaced and with a growl Mark pulled away. He wasn't going to let Glen do this to him again. He had made his decision. He had walked away when Mark needed him the most and Mark wasn't going to forget it. He narrowed his eyes and snarled at Glen.

"What's the matter? Missing yer boyfriend already?"

"W-what?" Glen asked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You came chasing after me didn't you?" He said accusingly.

"Mark you're not making a bit of sense. I told you that I was going back to my room. You're the one that has been staring at me and then got up in my face. Not the other way around." By this time Glen's voice was hard as Mark's and his eyes were like stones, cold and hard.

"Sure. What about during lunch? You could barely keep yer eyes to yerself." Mark shot back.

"Don't flatter yourself Mark; I had much better scenery to stare at than you."

Mark gasped lightly, he hated to admit it but that barb actually stung a bit. The bell dinged lowly and the doors slid open almost silently. Without saying anything more to Mark, Glen climbed off and headed down the hallway. Mark moved to the mouth of the elevator and watched him walk away until the doors closed on him. The elevator continued its slow ascent and Mark drifted off into his thoughts, allowing the coldness to settle back around his brain and his heart.


Glen stomped down the hallway and practically tore his door off its hinges. How dare Mark talk to him like that? He seen red and with a growl slammed his fist into the wall next to him, leaving a large hole in the wall. He knew that he should have left instead of having lunch with him, but the need to be close to him again was too strong and overrode his common sense. His hand started to throb dully, causing Glen to look down at it. Blood was spilling out of the knuckles and was dropping down to the floor, staining the cream colored carpet.

The pain of the torn and bruised flesh paled in comparison to pain of the accusations that Mark had tossed at him. As he ran his hand under the cold water to wash the wound he bit his lip to keep them from trembling. After the wound was clean he pulled it out and watched dispassionately as blood welled back to the surface. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he watched the blood drip into the sink, dotting the porcelain and dyeing the stream of water pink and then swirling around the drain and disappearing into the void.

Soon the steady drip stopped and Glen mechanically turned the water off and wrapped one of his black hand towels around his hand. He moved from the bathroom into the bedroom and dropped down onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling and wondering what he was going to do now. His cell started to ring and with his good hand he fished it out of his jeans and flipped it open without looking at the number.

"Hello?"

"Hey big guy. What's going on?" Scott asked cheerfully from the other end.

"Nothing much. Nursing some broken knuckles by the look of it." He said humorlessly.

"How in the hell? Who'd ya hit?" Glen heard the concern in Scott's voice and a small piece of him wished that Scott was there to comfort him.

"The wall."

"The Wall? Is that some new guy?"

"No, an actual wall." Glen felt a grin work its way onto his face and he relaxed a little as Scott started on one of his tangents.

"Why in the world would you do that? What did that wall ever do to you?"

"It was there and I was pissed off. Would rather I hit someone and go to jail?"

"Well when you put it that way. Maybe hitting the wall was a good thing." Scott said after a small hesitation.

"So how's your trip going so far?"

"It's ok. I'm riding with some of the younger guys. They've been eating my stories up."

"Scott, you're not lying to them are you?" Glen teased, feeling a lot better.

"Me? Would I do that?" Scott scoffed, then laughed.

"Keep it up and I'll bust your ass the next time I see you."

"Promise?"

"May-" A knock on the door interrupted Glen and he sighed into the phone. "Hey Scott can you call me back later. There's someone at the door and I don't want to keep you waiting if it's Vince or someone."

"Sure stud. I'll call back later. And you had better be naked." Scott laughed.

Scott hung up before Glen could say else and he shook his head as he got out of bed. His hand was still wrapped in the towel and for the first time he could feel the aching pain that shot through it whenever he moved it. He was flexing his hand tentatively when he opened the door, the grimace of pain on his face turned into an angry scowl when he seen who was on the other side.

"What do you want Mark?"