Iron Haven

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Pairing: MM
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Scorching
Tropes: Dad’s Best Friend, Age Gap, Bi Awakening

He’s my best friend’s son. He’s twenty-four. And he’s completely off-limits.

After a messy divorce, David felt invisible. Forty-eight, out of shape, and starting over. When his best friend Rick suggests his son, Caleb, as a personal trainer at his new gym, Iron Haven, David expects awkward workouts and sore muscles.

He didn’t expect Caleb to grow up into this.

Caleb is intense, confident, and looks at David with a hunger that shouldn’t exist. He pushes David in the gym, but it’s the heat between them that’s breaking him. David should say no. He should stop it. He’s risking a twenty-year friendship for a secret he can’t keep.

But when the gym doors close, he can’t resist him.

You’ll love this if you enjoy:

✓ Dad’s best friend with all the taboo tension
✓ Significant age gap (48/24)
✓ Bi awakening done right
✓ Gym setting with forced proximity
✓ Forbidden desire that can’t be denied

Iron Haven is a steamy MM romance novella featuring a dad’s best friend, a significant age gap, a bi-awakening, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Read Chapter One Free

The Assessment

The parking lot of Iron Haven smelled like burnt rubber and ambition.

David sat in his SUV with the engine running, hands on the steering wheel, staring at the converted warehouse through the windshield. The gym’s neon sign flickered against the darkening sky—9:03 PM according to his dashboard clock. Three minutes past when he was supposed to walk through those doors.

He could still leave. Put the car in reverse, text some bullshit excuse, and pretend he’d never agreed to this.

Through the industrial windows, he could see them: twenty-somethings with bodies carved from stone, moving through their workouts like they owned the fucking universe. A blonde woman in a sports bra hoisted a barbell overhead with perfect form. Two guys spotted each other on bench press, their laughter audible even through the glass.

David looked down at himself. The steering wheel pressed into the soft overhang of his stomach. His polo shirt—XL, and it still pulled tight across his chest and gut—rode up slightly, exposing a sliver of pale skin above his jeans. He tugged it down reflexively.

Forty-eight years old. Divorced. Soft.

The word echoed in his head in Karen’s voice, from one of their last fights. You’ve let yourself go, David. You used to care about how you looked.

He’d cared. Once. Back when he played college ball, when his body was something that worked for him instead of against him. But that was twenty-five years and a marriage and a desk job ago. Now his knees ached when he climbed stairs. His lower back seized up if he sat too long. And his reflection in the mirror looked like his father—thick through the middle, shoulders rounding forward, skin looser than it used to be.

You look like a fucking dad, he thought. And not the hot kind from commercials. Just… old.

A car pulled into the spot next to him—some compact hybrid driven by a kid who couldn’t be older than twenty-two. The kid hopped out wearing joggers and a tank top that showed off arms David hadn’t possessed even in his prime. He grabbed a gym bag from the back seat, slammed the door, and jogged toward the entrance without a backward glance.

David’s hand moved to the gearshift.

His phone buzzed in the cupholder. A text from Rick.

RICK: Caleb says you’re starting tonight. Proud of you man. It’s never too late. Text me after.

David closed his eyes. Right. Rick. His best friend of twenty years. The guy who’d dragged him to sports bars and camping trips and all the normal-guy shit that made life bearable after the divorce. Rick, who’d called him two weeks ago and said, My son’s a personal trainer now. Works at that new place downtown. He’ll get you sorted. No excuses, Dave.

And David, weak and tired and desperate to stop feeling invisible, had said yes.

He opened his eyes. Turned off the engine.

The sound of the door slamming behind him felt like a commitment he wasn’t sure he wanted to keep.

The air inside Iron Haven hit him like a wall: sweat, rubber, disinfectant, and something metallic he couldn’t name. The bass from the sound system thumped through the floor, some aggressive remix of a song he didn’t recognize.

A girl at the front desk—nose ring, undercut, bored expression—glanced up from her phone. “Checking in?”

“Uh. Yeah. I have a—” He cleared his throat. “A session. With Caleb.”

She tapped something on her tablet without looking at him. “Reid?”

“That’s the one.”

“Cool. He’s on the floor. I’ll let him know you’re here.”

David nodded and moved past the desk into the main space.

It was worse inside. The gym was massive—exposed ductwork, industrial beams, chalk dust hanging in the air like fog. Free weights clanked. A woman grunted through a deadlift. Everything was loud, chaotic, and full of people who looked like they’d been born knowing how to use a squat rack.

A guy in the corner caught his attention—lean and sinewy, doing pull-ups with controlled, fluid movements. His back muscles bunched and released under a sweat-soaked tank top. He hit fifteen reps without slowing, then dropped to the floor, rolling his shoulders.

The guy turned.

David’s stomach dropped.

Caleb.

It couldn’t be. The last time David had seen Rick’s son, Caleb had been what—nineteen? Twenty? A scrawny college kid home for Christmas, all elbows and bad posture. That kid had worn oversized hoodies and played video games in Rick’s basement and still called David “Uncle Dave” like he was twelve.

This was not that kid.

This was a man.

Caleb stood maybe five-ten, compact but built in a way that made David think of coiled springs. His arms weren’t bulky but they were defined—veins tracing down his forearms, shoulders capped with muscle. He wore black joggers slung low on his hips and a grey tank that clung to his torso.

But it was his face that made David’s breath catch.

Sharp jawline. High cheekbones. Dark hair cropped short on the sides, longer on top. And his eyes—Jesus, when had Caleb’s eyes gotten so intense? They were the same hazel-green they’d always been, but now they were focused, predatory, scanning the gym floor like he was cataloging every movement.

And then those eyes landed on David.

Caleb’s entire face lit up. He grinned—wide, boyish, genuine—and started walking over.

“Uncle Dave!”

David’s mouth went dry. He managed a weak smile. “Hey, Caleb.”

Caleb closed the distance between them and pulled David into a hug before he could react. It was brief, just a quick clap on the back, but David registered the heat of Caleb’s body, the smell of clean sweat and something citrus. When Caleb pulled away, he was still grinning.

“You actually came,” Caleb said. “Dad said you’d flake.”

David forced a laugh. “Yeah, well. Here I am.”

Caleb’s gaze flicked down, then back up—quick, assessing. Not judgment, exactly. More like… inventory. “Good. Come on, let’s get you set up.”

He turned and headed toward the back of the gym, clearly expecting David to follow.

David did, because what else was he going to do?

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Iron Haven spicy?

Yes! Iron Haven is a high-heat MM romance with explicit content. Heat level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Scorching). Expect slow-burn tension that builds through forbidden glances and gym sessions before exploding in detailed intimate scenes.

Is this a standalone?

Yes! Iron Haven is a complete standalone novella with no cliffhanger and a guaranteed happily ever after.

What tropes are in this book?

Iron Haven features: dad’s best friend (the ultimate forbidden trope), significant age gap (48/24), bi awakening, gym setting with forced proximity, and forbidden desire. It’s all the taboo tension you could want.

Is there a happily ever after?

Always. Every Fractal Enigma book ends with a guaranteed HEA. No cliffhangers, no unresolved endings—just two characters who earn their happiness together.

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