Page 14 of Delayed Penalty

“I’m sure it’s fun, but I’m good.” Rex smiles. “My cock gets sucked plenty.”

“Jesus fuck, Lockwood,” Max chokes out, almost spitting out his drink. “Can we not talk about my sister sucking your cock at the dinner table? Or ever? I nearly choked.”

“So does she.” Rex winks.

“God, I can’t wait until Stella finally brings someone around you, I’m going to have to pay her to ramp up the PDA when you’re around,” Max groans.

Max and Rex have the funniest relationship, but it’s mostly because they love to give each other a hard time with Rex dating Max’s older sister. Rex definitely isn’t always the nicest to Max when it comes tonotdiscussing his sexual endeavors with his sister around him.

“Never going to happen. She’s brought one guy around me since she was in high school and I made damn sure she’d want to be a nun after that. Although she didn’t take a vow of celibacy, I think she’s busy enough with her work that she doesn’t even have time for dating,” Rex adds smugly.

“That’s not what I heard,” Trevor says.

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, I ran into your mom last week at Stella’s bakery. She was working for the day because Stella was going on a day trip with a guy she’d been dating,” Trevor says, and we all just sort of watch as we can see the stress in Rex’s face start to pick up.

“What in the actual fuck? Why do you know about this and not me?”

“We all know you and know how you are about your sister even though she’s a grown-ass adult,” I deadpan, only earning me a kick under the table from Rex.

“Yeah, apparently, she’s been seeing this guy for a while. They met because he’s a business developer and was working in the area.”

“This doesn’t explain why this is the first time I’ve heard about my sister dating someone.”

“My guess is they didn’t want you to go all caveman over the fact that your sister is an adult who likes to get fu—” Cade says.

“Don’t you dare finish that fucking sentence, Williams,” Rex groans.

“Just saying. I mean, maybe if she actually let you meet the guy you could determine if he’s a good guy or not instead of her just leaving you in the dark about her private life.”

“I think she’ll have to prove she can pick a guy that’s actually worth her time and not just a piece of shit looking for a quick fuck. Once she can do that, I’ll trust her judgment,” Rex says, his voice elevating just a touch as his frustration starts to bubble up.

“At the end of the day though, it’s her choice.” Miles shrugs.

“At the end of the day, it’s my choice to make their life hell if I know they’re not good enough for my sister.”

It looks like Miles wants to say something back but Max beats him to it. I can tell there’s been a change in the energy tonight and I can’t quite figure it out.

“Not to have a drastic subject change or anything…but Coach, you ever going to make an honest woman outta my sister?” Max asks, leaning back like he’s at home relaxing in his chair, a beer in hand and a stupid grin on his face.

Rex’s cheeks turned pink, and I’ll be damned, the man is actually embarrassed. I didn’t think the man was capable of blushing let alone actually feeling embarrassed.

“Uh… I mean, yeah. That’s the plan and all,” he says, now fidgeting with his napkin.

“Is that all we’re getting?” Cade pokes.

Rex leans back, his hand running down his face. “When I know more, you’ll know… but right now, I’m just figuring some things out first.”

Not an actual answer but it’s enough for Max. We spend the last bit of happy hour bullshitting before the six o’clock dinner rush starts to show up, which is perfect because my 6:15 p.m. date down the road will be really sad if I’m late.

“Not to cut out early, but I’ve gotta run,” I say, standing up and setting money down to cover more than my share, I do my usual check ofphone-keys-walletto make sure I have all the essentials.

“One of these days, you’ll tell us where you run off to, either that or I’m going to have to just stalk you,” Miles says.

“Mystery is the spice of life, Miles. If you knew my whole life story, you’d no longer think I was the most interesting man alive.”

“Fuck off, Danielson, your life is pretty fucking boring.”

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