“Wonder where they get that from,” Flir muttered, avoiding Chad’s narrow eyed look.
“Did he win?” I asked.
“Learned to keep his trap fucking shut and get down to business from the first time,” Chad said. “So I had to cheat in a different way.”
We all hooted with laughter while the man sat there beaming with pride, then covering it up with a glare if any of us looked at him for too long.
We fell silent as Relay stalked over to his brothers. They were still rolling around, though they were gassing out and moving a lot slower. Ruck just shook his head as Relay kicked out and caught Bolo in the ribs with his boot.
Bolo rolled to the side with a pained grunt. Isaac laughed, but it was quickly cut off when he took a fist to the face. “Asshole!” he snapped at Relay.
“We’re on a timeline here,” Relay told them. “Get it together.”
“That’s gotta be like…a foul…or some shit,” Flir pointed out.
“They’re brothers.” Merc walked up, eyeing the cloud of dirt the men had kicked up. “No such thing as a foul. Anything goes.”
“How much blood did your wife have to mop up while they were growing up?” Ruck asked Chad.
“A lot. Still does,” he said with a grin as he shoved out of his chair. “Don’t worry boss man, we’ll have these apartments done on time.”
“Not if he keeps stopping for a beer,” Flir said, though quieter than normal.
“Yeah, you go ahead and tell him he can’t have those,” Ruck challenged.
Flir scoffed. “I’m not the president.”
Ruck laughed. “As the president, I’m going to say as long as the work gets done and done well I don’t give a shit if he’s drunk off his ass.”
The sun was just startingto go down as we jammed tiki torches into the ground to light up the area as Mercy, Rue, and Code brought out the food.
I reached out and grabbed my girl around the waist, reeling her in toward me. “You helped cook this?” I asked, mouth watering as Mercy uncovered a seafood boil.
She made a face. “Help is a relative term…”
I sat on one of the benches and pulled her down onto my lap, ignoring the way she stiffened up. She’d get used to me puttingmy hands on her in front of the others soon enough. Same way I’d get used to my brothers shooting me those shit-eating grins. I flipped Drifter off as he made a kissy face behind Rue’s back.
“Appreciate any help you gave,” I told her in a low tone. There was a lovely shade of red creeping up her neck and I knew it wasn’t from the heat. Summer was creeping in, but the heat wasn’t the culprit here.
“I appreciate the help you’re giving me,” she countered.
“We’re not going to be keeping score,” I told her, dismissing her gratitude.
She put her hands on my chest and I had to fight the urge to preen like a fucking peacock. She leaned in until her face was near mine. “Can I sit on the bench? Please?”
“I kind of like you here.”
She nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t like everyone staring at us.”
“Fair enough.” I released her hips and watched, a little mournful as she slid that delectable ass off my thighs.
Everyone was piling onto the benches and into the chairs surrounding the different tables we’d dragged out here earlier in the day. I scooped up a portion of food and set it in front of Rue. Then I focused on my own.
“I can’t eat all that,” she told me.
“I can,” I replied. “Have what you want and I’ll take care of the rest.”
She gave me a dubious look. “How do you stay so fit?”
