“That’s not going to happen every day, is it?” he asked Chad.
Chad shrugged and kept drinking his beer. “If it gets bad I’ll replace the plastic water bottles with glass.” He winked at me. “That’ll put a stop to it, one way or another.”
“He’s kidding right?” Flir asked, mild panic on his face. “Right?” I shrugged.
Sighing, Ruck sat down. “May as well watch,” he explained when we all looked over at him.
“Entertaining as hell,” Chad said. “Shoulda seen the first time Bolo called me out.”
“Called you out for what?” I asked.
“To prove he could win against me in a fight.”
We were all staring at him now.
“Come again?” Flir asked.
He frowned at us. “Didn’t you all challenge your fathers?”
“No,” Flir said, looking at him like he’d just admitted to something completely crazy. Like going to bed without doing the dishes first. Or not counting the forks…whatever weird shit got Flir all worked up. Leaving coffee mug rings on the table. Shit like that.
Ruck raised his brows. “Never did that.”
“You should try it,” Chad suggested.
“I don’t think I’d win any points for beating up an old man,” Ruck said with a grin.
“I’ve met your dad,” I told him. “Pretty sure he could still take you even in his seventies.”
He chuckled. “We’re not going to find out any time soon.”
“I don’t have a dad,” I said, raising my hands in defense when Chad’s eyes turned to me.
“No fucking excuse.”
“What?” I asked with a shocked laugh. “Was I supposed to challenge my mom?”
“You hit your mama, you’ll be dealing with me,” Chad said, putting his finger in my face.
“I’d never hit my mama- Mom,” I replied, wondering how the hell we’d gotten to this point of the conversation.
“So what happened?” Flir asked. “When Bolo challenged you?”
“He was bouncing around like an idiot,” Chad said with a smile. “Like he was fucking Rocky or some shit. Waited until his kangaroo ass bounced just close enough and hit him as hard as I could in the gut.”
We were all staring again.
“How old was he?” Ruck finally asked.
“Ten.”
“You took a cheap shot at a ten-year-old?” I asked in disbelief.
Chad swiveled in his chair and turned a disapproving scowl my way. “That bastard was my height and had thirty pounds on me by that point. Bet your right fucking nut I gave him a cheap shot. If I didn’t take him down right then and there, we’d be doing it again when he was twelve and was even more of a monster, fuck that…”
“So how old was he when he tried again?” Ruck asked with a laugh.
“Fucking week later,” Chad muttered. “My sons are stubborn.”
