Page 87 of For The Weekend
I met Ian, Griffin, and Taryn for coffee at Cuppa Jo, and after they took turns giving me shit aboutfinallyshowing up, we chatted idly about nothing in particular until Dante arrived.
It was my first time meeting Taryn’s boyfriend, and I liked him right off the bat for how completely and clearly he loves my sister. He struck me as a bit of a goofball, but he said he had some time between project meetings and thought he’d pop down for coffee, hanging out even after Taryn slipped away to return to work.
And somehow I found myself at Stone Ink with my brothers, Taryn’s boyfriend, and Ian’s kids in a push-up contest. It was Jaybird’s dumbass suggestion after he made some comment to Griffin about how he was looking a little weak lately, and then the two were on the floor. All of us agreed to this competition. Loser with the least number of push-ups getsa new tattoo picked out by the winner with the highest number.
Which, in this particular group of men, could mean anything. Especially because we are all gym rats.
“Nah, come on,” Jay argues, kneeling down on the floor at my eye level, showing me how I wasn’t parallel to the floor. “Your elbows aren’t ninety.”
I blow out a breath, lowering a smidge before pushing back up.
Jay holds his finger up. “Judges?”
“It counts,” Jasper says, but Cash disagrees with a shake of his head.
Dante, the fucking traitor, is the one who declares, “Doesn’t count.”
I can’t take it anymore and give up, flattening myself to the floor and rolling to my back, breathing hard. “That’s bullshit. I did chest and tris this morning. You caught me on a bad day.”
Ian sticks out his hand to help me up from the floor as Griffin clucks his tongue. “Bad day?”
“Fuck off.”
The guy has five years on me, and he’s a machine. Dante scrubs his hands together. “So, what’s it gonna be, Cap?”
Griffin tosses him a scowl. “Don’t call me that.”
Dante merely grins. “Ah, come on. You love me.”
Griffin shakes his head, earning snickers from all the young bucks.
Cash gestures to his chair so I can accept my punishment while the others quietly discuss options. I hear the words “alien” and “Mickey Mouse” and “pussy.” And after hearing some of their stories, I don’t doubt they’d put an alien-looking Mickey Mouse with a pussy on me somewhere.
Deciding to text Eloise to check in while they decide my fate, I pull my phone from my pocket.
How do you make a baker smile?
She messages back almost immediately.
Sunshine
How?
Butter them up.
Sunshine
That’s so stupid. I love it.
Sunshine
Speaking of, don’t ever use butter as lube.
I hope this isn’t coming from experience.
Sunshine
No! Just spreading the word.
