Two weeks later he returned from his trip to California with little more then a tan to show for his trouble. The deal had fallen through and he was now looking forward to getting out his frustration by working out with his buddies. It was almost twelve so he had just enough time to drop his luggage off at his apartment and get a gym bag,

He was however startled when he walked to his good old gym to find it completely renovated. The walls were florescent colors and the front facade had been made into a huge window so that people could look into the gym as they passed by. The sign at the top of the building read, "Fitness on 64th." As Eddie gazed stunned into the gym he could see large groups of well muscled hardly dressed men working out inside. He stood there staring angrily until two guys walked passed him through the door laughing, "see something you like man?" one joked.

Edward was enraged. He had discussed this with that Gino person; this was not to happen. And that little jerk actually went ahead and turned his gym into some kind of sideshow.

He picked up his gym bag and stalked into the gym, as he walked passed the clientele he made a repulsed mental note that there weren't any woman in the gym, only hard bodied guys in spandex. This Gino guy was gonna get it. He assumed the other guys had seen the changes and were just waiting for him to get back and fix it. They probably were skipping their workouts instead of suffering through this circus.

Edward barged into the manager's office with out even knocking. "What the hell did you do?"

Gino's darkly completed face looked up at him in shock, "Mr. Barnes? What are you doing?"

"I'll tell you what I'm doing, I'm pulling out my membership from this gay bar with barbells." Edward spat. His slicked back dark hair that fell into his eyes as he raged.

Gino didn't seem too worried but he did seem slightly confused, "Mr. Barnes didn't you receive a complimentary care package?"

"What?"

"I sent you and your friends a gift, so that you wouldn't feel out of place as the gym changed management." Gino added with a smile.

"A fruit basket isn't going to change my mind." Eddie send with a condescending tone that would have been better suited for a five year old not man Gino's age.

"Really Eddie? Your friends had a big change of heart after they got theirs." Gino smiled.

"Don't call me Eddie you...What did you say about my friends?"

The peroxide blonde man stood up with a broad smirk, his muscles rippled underneath the constricting red tank top and shorts he wore, "Your buddies don't seem to have anymore complaints, as a matter of fact they're quite happy."

"Yeah right!" Edward shot back, "I'm sure when I call them they'll be just as pissed as I am,"

"Don't worry, you don't have to call them. You can talk to them right now. They're all here I think..."

"What?" Edward asked.

"They're all out on the floor maybe you should talk about this with them." The big Italian ushered him out of his office while Edward was still in a state of confusion.

He stood outside Gino's door trying to take in the changes made to the gym, he could here Gino dial his phone from behind the door and say, "Hey buddy it's me. Let me just say...man you rule!"

The Gym was larger now with different sections, one for rowing machines, steppers and treadmills another for weight machines and another for free weights. In the middle there was a large round bar. And all around there were gorgeous men sweating and straining their large muscles. Where were his friends in this? He scanned the crowd for mark's long hair and height, but couldn't find him anywhere.

He was walking by the juice bar he heard someone call out "Hey B? Waz up?"

Edward turned instinctively and saw that the call had come from the young man attending the Juice bar. The bar advertised a wide variety of protein shakes and beverages and the young guy who was serving them looked like he was drinking his share of the merchandise. He wore all black jogging pants and a blank tank top that strained against his well-formed pecs. His muscles were lithe and taunt what some people would call "cut". To show off how well sculpted his body was he had tanned it an obscenely dark color making him look more like someone at Miami Beach then in a Manhattan Gym. His dark hair was cropped in a close cut fade leaving just a light fuzz on his head that connected to his thin side burns which climbed across his jaw line and into his thin goatee'. He smiled an inviting little smirk out from under too long eyelashes. The tanned kid looked at him again "Hey man where you been hanging? We haven't heard from you in mad long."

Edward stared at him. He almost fell over when he realized the muscled kid working behind the bar was Tony. With his hair shaved, the juvenile facial hair and the tan he looked like a 20-year-old. Tony had always been in good shape but now he looked like while Ed was away he had lived and slept at a bench press. He was pure cut muscle. The progress was nothing short of impossible.

"Tony what are you doing behind that bar." Ed asked exasperatedly.

"Servin' drinks." Came the simple answer, without a hint of sarcasm.

"I can see that. Why aren't you at work?"

Tony smiled and out down the clothe he was washing the surface of the bar with, "Yo Man I got some large news for you, but this...This be work, Yo." His dark skin was split with a big white toothy grin.

"What?!" he almost yelled.

"That thing you said about our lives being to stressful got to me man. That wack law gig kept pullin me down. I needed to cut that triflin' shit." Tony explained, and punctuated his statement with a couple sharp hand motions right out of a rap video.

"I don't understand you, why are you talking like that?" Edward asked impatiently.

"Ah it ain't nothin', just tryin' to get back some of the fun that job took from me. I quit the firm and Gino was down enough to give me a job at the gym. And it's sweet too, I ain't gotta worry about shit. No more hassles with clients and briefs. It's the ill job. And I still have time to pick up a couple shifts at this other place at night." Tony said happily.

Ed was beyond speech, "You quit your law firm... to work here?"

"Yeah"

His friend had gone from an upward mobile office Don Juan to a muscled hood rat in a matter of days. And after hearing him talk in this knew halting speech and looking into his eyes vacant of all complex thought, Edward got the distinct impression that his IQ had dropped a couple points.

He was staring at his friend in silence when one of the anonymous gym rats leaned over the bar and smacked Tony on the ass. "Hey, get to work." The guy said with a laugh.

Edward was on his way to confront the queer and excepted Tony to already be in mid-swing, but he stopped suddenly when he heard Tony giggling vapidly in his dark baritone. He turned to see his friend's eyebrow arched invitingly and his new goatee' s split by an inviting smirk. "What kind of work are you talkin' bout Boo?" Then to Edward's horror he put his hand on the thin jogging material that covered his too firm ass and began to rub flirtatiously.

The guy laughed, "Geez T, your such a slut."

"You know it, that's how I roll baby," they both laughed.

Edward was gone before they turned around to see him make a quick escape. Something was really wrong. What the hell was going on with Tony? It was to weird, he was in such a rush that he walked right into a brick wall.

A brick wall of muscle.

He walked headfirst into a big body builder in a red and white striped singlet. He turned around and gave Ed a big smile and said, "Careful where you're walking there buddy."

"Mark?"

"Eddie! I haven't seen you in a while!" The mountain of ridiculous muscle said to him.

For the second time that Day Edward stared speechless at the transformation of one of his friends. Mark had always been a big guy, good Nordic stock that made him tall and broad shouldered with a barrel chest but the gorilla who stood in front of him was a far cry from good genes. Slabs of grotesquely exaggerated rippled underneath a thin layer of too tan skin dissected by a hundred pulsing veins. Mark looked exactly like Connan the barbarian now. Only Connan wouldn't be caught dead in the candy cane striped singlet that mark was sporting proudly.

"Mark you must have gained 50 pounds!" Edward stammered.

The hulk actually blushed, "Oh no I've just been taking supplements and really concentrating on my training, Kenny says I should be ready for competition in a couple weeks."

The shock of Mark's massively altered form had let Edward gloss over a few other obvious changes, the most jarring Mark's pony tail, his long hair that had been his blonde pride since college was shaved in a close crew cut that would have made a drill sergeant proud.

"What'd you do to your hair man?"

He used one big-gunned arm to touch the short spiky hair effeminently, "Well Kenny said it looked kinda faggy and that it would take away from my body during competition." The big voice wasn't near as commanding as it once had been, now there was a definite shy tone, as if he was unsure of everything he said," So we went and got it cut...I'm still getting used to it."

"What the fuck is going?" Edward's head was starting to pound, the bizarreness of the gym was giving him a massive headache. He just kept staring at Mark. He had to be at least 275 pounds of solid thick muscle. He looked like one of those trashy body builders who paraded around in posing trucks. There was no way he could have gotten this big in two weeks naturally. He was just too big. His size was disturbing. Huge pecs, thighs like granite pillars and biceps so wide he probably had trouble clapping his damn hands. "Are you on steroids man?"

"NO, Marky here is an all natural competitor." A self-satisfied voice behind him said. A red haired man handed Mark a towel to dry the sweat on his brow. After a couple seconds of intense memory searching he recognized the fit red head as the guy Mark had almost beat the shit out of.

"What's all this about competing? What the hell are you talking about." Edward lost his footing and stumbled back into the seat of a butterfly press.

Mark seemed like he was about to answer but instead docilely deferred to Kenny who took the upper hand almost immediately, "Hasn't mark told you? He's decided to become a professional body builder, as a matter of fact we're flying out to California next week for a competition."

Mark shook his head happily from behind the other man. Like a dog. A big dumb muscle bound dog.

"A what? A body Builder? You gotta be kidding me." He yelled.

"No," Kenny answered dripping with attitude. "As a matter of fact I'm his trainer."

"Mark how are you managing to spend all this time at the gym, The agency must be doing back flips that they're so pissed." Edward tried to reason.

"He doesn't work their anymore do you mark?" Kenny pushed on before mark had a chance to answer.

Mark shook his head simply. Staying quiet, letting Kenny be in charge. As long as Edward had known mark he had never known him to let anyone speak for him much less order him around the way this little gym rat seemed to do.

"Kenny thought it would be better if I just focused on getting into top shape, so I told the agency that instead of just consulting for the sports magazines I was going to be in them instead!" His huge shoulders swelled and his bulky body shook with a dopey conceit as Mark gushed on inanely. His eyes were full of a shy pride. It was like his personality took a complete 180.

Edward gained his bearings and judged the situation. He gave Kenny a dark look, "You sure are letting Kenny hear convince you into all kinds of things aren't you?"

Kenny returned his look with a saucy roll of his eyes, "OH I've convinced Mark of all kinds of things, right baby." And then unbelievably Mark leaned into Kenny appreciatively and gave him the deepest kiss He had ever seen mark give anyone. The Gym rat and the bodybuilder groped each other hungrily running their hands tentatively over the hardly concealing lycra of their bodies. Mark seemed just happy to be in the other man's embrace and only too glad to let him roam his hands all over the wide planes of his absurdly muscled body. Kenny was grabbing his ass flagrantly not caring how it looked. And mark just let him. They parted their intense kiss and Kenny gave mark's exposed quarter shaped nipple a parting tweak. Mark just acted like a piece of meat that was happy someone wanted to use him.

After Kenny let go of the once proud Lineman's lip with a parting playful bite, Mark looked at Edward and excitedly said, "Kenny and I are lovers. I'm moving in with him, isn't that great!"

Ed's mouth felt hot, he felt like he was going to throw-up, so he grabbed his bag and headed for the door with a hand over his mouth.

He had fallen down a really fucked up rabbit hole.

He brushed past some tall guy on his way out the sliding glass doors. "Hey partner what's the rush?" Edward turned toward the familiar voice.

"Jarod, thank God it's you have you seen Tony and mark they've lost their minds." Edward said recognizing the good-natured easygoing face of his most reliable friend. And then he noticed Jarod's clothes and realized that he to had probably been a victim of the pod people. Easy going casual corner Jake was covered head to toe in black leather and he was carrying a motorcycle helmet on top of his gym bag. In all the years Edward had known Jarod the raciest thing had ever seen him wear was a pair of jeans with a frayed hole in the side. Now he stood before him in the parking lot of the gym in a pair of black leather chaps, blue jeans, and brand new shiny leather jacket.

"I saw them yesterday they seemed fine." Came the gruff response. "You're the one that's been missing in action." Jarod had three days worth of five o'clock shadow on his face and his hair was greased back tightly against his scalp, making it shine almost as black as the leather jacket.

"Look I don't understand what's going on here man, I feel like I'm going crazy or something.

Jarod regarded him with a wolfish smile. He dipped into the top of his knee high steel tipped leather boots and retrieved a beat up cigarette lighter and then pulled a cigar out of his top pocket. Jarod used to cough like a baby when some one else lit up...he didn't smoke. "Tell you what," he said as he lit the stogie, "My shift at the gym is going to start in about ten minutes but I'm done at ten why don't you stop by my place later, and let Daddy make you feel all better." He gave him a sultry smile and unzipped his jacket to reveal a shirtless barrel chest covered in thick hair as if to entice him.

"What the hell is going on?" Edward roared not so much shocked at this newest development and made a move to his car.

"Not so fast sweet cheeks," Jarod barked and grabbed Edward by his arm. He tried to break away but was stunned at the strength in Jarod's grip. "Next time you bring that skinny ass around here I bet things are going to be pretty different, and when that happens I want you to know that I'm the first one on your dance card bitch." Jarod's unshaven face was right in front of his nose. The stench of smoke, sweat and the musk of masculine leather were so overpowering it was making him light headed. "You pushed me around for to long Eddie and your going to start making up for it, first by licking my boots good and clean and then if your lucky I'll let you lick this good and clean." HE grabbed his rigid leather outlined dick.

"Get off me asshole." Edward yelled and broke free.

Edward was fuming all the way to the curb to hail a cab, "as he was getting in however he could hear Jarod yelling from behind him "When it happens Eddie just let it, it feels so fucking good," he glanced back and saw Jarod still clutching his hard leather clad cock. •