Now he’s done it.
Miles may be the nicest guy out of all of us, but there is nothing he loves more in this world than Penelope and her son Kai.
I nudge Everett. “Maybe go back to insulting his mother.”
He laughs. “Relax, we’re just kidding.”
I raise one hand. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You live another day,” Miles tells me.
I’m not quite sure if that’s a good thing since each day just shows me another layer of hell I’m being buried under.
I toss my bag down and the three of us start to get our cleats on and stretch. Lachlan comes up behind us, the last member of our team. “I swear, you fucks are always late.”
We look at each other. “Umm,” I say first. “You’re behind us.”
He lifts his foot, showing his cleats are on. “I’ve already done two laps. We were supposed to start at noon.”
“Well, some of us have real jobs,” Miles says. “You know, with students and teachers and a schedule.”
Lachlan rolls his eyes. “Yeah, being the fire chief is a fucking dance. I mean, my free time is just abundant.”
I raise one brow. “Do you have office hours?”
“Says the one who doesn’t have an office in this state,” Lachlan tosses back.
Miles steps forward. “Don’t be mean to the old guy. He’s preparing for retired life.”
These assholes really need some new material. “For fuck’s sake, I’m only ten years older than you. It’s not that much.”
Everett jumps in. Of course he does, the sarcastic asshole can’t resist. “Isn’t it though? I mean, you’re what? Forty-two?”
He knows exactly how old I am. They love to remind me.
“He’s forty-three,” Miles says.
Lachlan is the next one. “No, no, he’s forty-four.”
I grin. “And yet, I don’t look it. Unlike you assholes.”
“Those gray hairs say otherwise, brother.” Everett snorts and claps me on the back. “They’re saying, ‘look at me, I’m old as fuck.’”
I flip him off and start to stretch my legs.
Yes, I’m forty-four, but no one ever thinks that. Most of the time, they think I'm in my mid-thirties and my body is that of a twenty-year-old, so I don’t give a shit what my birth certificate says.
“Hey, guys,” Miles says as he pushes his arms out, like he’s going to hold the other guys back. “It’s not nice to be mean to our elders. Especially since he could be our dad.”
This again.
“I always forget about his daughter.” Lachlan grins. “She’s our age, huh?”
“No, she’s younger than you assholes, so unless I had you at like thirteen, no, I could not be your father. And God help me if I had you jackasses in my family tree. I’d be cutting off those limbs,” I say, pushing up off the grass, thinking that might end this.
I should’ve known better.
“I mean, that still makes her closer to our age than…yours.”
