“Are you just getting here?” Egon asks as he comes around. Rake wraps his arm around Egon’s waist.
Hugo nods. “We were feeding Torin’s fish that is roughly the size of Puck.”
Egon looks at me with a huge grin. “Seriously?”
I nod. “He’s a tiger catfish.”
“He also has sharks and a giant sucky fish!”
His enthusiasm makes me smile.
“That’s cool. What do you feed them?”
“Fish heads,” Hugo says with a wide grin.
Egon looks at me and I laugh.
“They get fed other fish. I feed them the fish heads when I’m home, but the rest of the fish as well as other small sea creature parts are part of the frozen food they get everyday too.”
“That’s so awesome.”
“You can come see them sometime, but I live a long way from here.”
“I’d love to see them,” Egon says, grinning. He looks at Rake and there’s an indulgent expression he receives in return.
“I think we’re the last ones here,” Hugo points out, taking my hand and pulling me toward the door.
“There are more cars than I thought there would be,” Egon says. “That one in Ajo’s driveway. Actually… both of those cars in Ajo’s driveway. Whose are they?”
“I think they’re rentals. One of them is probably his cousin’s, he always rents a car when he’s here.”
Hugo knocks on the door when we get there. It’s already unlatched so it swings open a little. Toby’s there a minute later. “Hey,” he greets with a smile and backs up.
We file inside and while we’d normally take our shoes off, the back door on the other side of the house is open to the backyard. I can see straight through from where I’m standing.
Rake shuts the door behind us and flips the lock. I hear the deadbolt slide into place. Then we follow Toby through the house.
There are string lights hung all around the backyard. The kind with big bulbs. Between them, the outside lights, and the firepit, the entire yard is illuminated. It’s also filled with the best barbeque smells that instantly make my mouth water.
“Hey! My food tents!” Hugo exclaims with a beaming smile. “You’re using them.”
“We use them all the time,” Atty says, nudging his shoulder. “They were a great find.”
Hugo looks at me with a grin. It’s not hard to figure out what he’s referring to. Each dish has a little dome over it, protecting the food underneath from the outdoors and bugs. Not that I see or feel many bugs around.
“You know Max and Deryke?” Noah asks.
“In passing,” Hugo says, pulling me along toward them. He does the whole dudebro hand slap hug thing. I watch with amusement.
“This is Torin,” Noah introduces, turning Max’s and Deryke’s attention to me.
My cheeks heat right away and I instinctively move into Hugo’s side a little more as I lift my hand awkwardly to wave.
Hugo’s hand tightens around mine and he pulls me forward a little so he can take my hand and bring it around my back to pull me against his side. I flush.
“Torin’s my boyfriend,” he blurts, grinning.
“Cool,” Max says, giving me another smile. “You know my coach?” He nods to a man a couple dozen feet from us. He’s standing with Coach Ajo and… is that the ref? “He’s my handler.”
