“They’ll be fine getting everyone to the hospital. We all may be spending the night there,” Ragu said. “Annabelle said they pulled out extra blankets and stocked up on extra food supplies.”
“If you have a choice in places to get stranded, the hospital at least has a generator, food, beds and blankets to keep everyone warm,” Shadow agreed.
Taco turned off the water and went into the locker room for his clothes.
Patch entered, opened his locker, and reached for his shirt when he glanced at Taco and shook his head. “Man, you’ve lost your shit. What kind of product are you using now?”
“Nothing I haven’t used before, I added conditioner today for some extra shine,” he replied as he stared at Patch’s head.
Saint walked in, adjusting his towel around his hips when Patch and Taco burst into laughter. He sent them the finger as he opened the door to his area and glanced in the mirror.
“Shit, what happened to my hair?” Saint exclaimed as he turned back toward the two laughing culprits. “Did you do this?”
They shook their heads as they pointed at each other and ran to the mirrors. “Son of Nutcracker,” Taco cursed. “Who did this to us?”
“What’s all the commotion about?” Leo said, stopping in his tracks. “Taco, when I ordered you to get into the Christmas spirit, I didn’t mean this.”
“I didn’t do it, boss” Taco denied.
“Do what?” Shadow asked as he and Whiskey came out of the showers.
“Get a glimpse of your hair and Whiskey’s beard. It appears we’ve been had,” Leo said as the rest of the men gathered at the mirror.
“How does this shit come out?” Saint said, attempting to towel-dry it off his head.
Leo made a low whistling sound to quiet the group. Two sets of giggles sounded outside the locker room. “I have a feeling the redhead and her friend played a part.”
The men changed their clothes and walked outside to the gym. Hannah doubled over laughing as she described each of the men to Sparky, who laughed and clapped her hands.
“What did you do to us?” Leo demanded.
Hannah blinked her eyes innocently. “You said get into the Christmas spirit. Since you’re playing Santa’s elves, we got you a bit of red, green, and silver glitter for some extra sparkle.
“Do you know how long this will take to come out? We have the kid’s school play on Monday?” Saint asked. “I look like a walking tinsel man.”
“You think you got problems, I’m the leprechaun at the end of the rainbow,” Whiskey exclaimed.
Scarlett crossed her arms as the men started to grumble.
Taco laughed and pointed his finger. “You know why they did this? Because they may work with us but we don’t pick on them or treat them as equals. We act like they’re our wives.”
“Yeah,” Ragu spoke up. “They’ll run and tell our wives the things we say or do here. It’s not fair.”
“Calm down, guys, it comes out in a couple of hair washes,” Scarlett informed them. “We wanted to make a point. We’re part of the team when we’re inside these walls. Nothing gets said to anyone’s significant other. We have your six, but you can’t treat us separately.”
“When have we mistreated you?” Leo asked, genuinely confused.
“What’s the deal with Saint and his snickerdoodle obsession? You don’t need to explain Taco’s hair or face products. We get it. You play jokes on each other, like hiding the bacon and getting Patch in trouble. We want in on this, too,” Scarlett demanded.
“For the last time, I made the damn burgers and bacon,” Patch grumbled. “Did you guys really let me stay on latrine duty for a month as a joke?”
The men shook their heads and turned toward the women.
“Nope. This constitutes our first official prank,” Hannah denied the claim.
“All right,” Leo said. “You gotta admit they got us good. The kids will have a blast with this and probably want us to do theirhair in it. Since we all appear particularly festive, let’s head over and start things early in case the weather gets ugly. The women have proved their point, and we did commit the crime. We’ll all pretend we’re Taco and using a new product.”
“Heyyy,” Taco grumbled. “You got us good. We promise to include you in our shenanigans as long as you vow what happens here stays here.”
