Page 99 of Man Advantage

The jackass kept grinning as he nudged Spaulding’s hand away. “What’s wrong? Had to screw the nanny since the janitor turned you down or something?”

“Dude, that’s not cool,” Hoes said.

I didn’t know if he meant outing me as being with Cam, or acting like anyone who qualified as “the help” was beneath him. Either way, I appreciated it.

“What?” Chats shrugged, grinning like the jackass he was. “I’m not wrong. Am I, Trev?” He inclined his head. “You know I’m right about?—”

“I know my personal life is none of your fucking business,” I snapped. “And it’s not for you to share with the rest of the team, whether it’s true or not.”

“But itistrue. We all know it is.”

Some of the guys rolled their eyes.

“Chats.” Hoes stepped in between us. “Fucking stop, man. It’s bad enough you rub it in his face at every opportunity that you’re with his ex. This?” He grimaced and shook his head. “Come on. This isn’t cool.” He must’ve seen what I did—Chats smirking and getting ready to say something else—because he added, “Or do you just get off on having another man’s sloppy seconds?”

That—along with the snicker that went through the group—knocked the grin right off Chats’ smug fucking face.

He swore under his breath and stalked away. Some of the guys followed, chirping at his back because why the hell not?

I just exhaled and rolled my stiff shoulders. I’d never liked the idea of anyone being someone’s sloppy seconds—it was gross to talk about people like that—and I didn’t think Hoes was okay with it either. That wasn’t his style. But he’d known exactly what would get under Chats’ skin and bring him down a few necessary pegs. Maybe the end justified the means this time.

Either way, I wasn’t going to bitch about anything that sent Chats storming out of the room and out of my face. Fuck, he was exhausting.

Hoes watched him go, then shook his head and turned to me. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks for stepping in.”

“Don’t mention it.” He made a disgusted sound. “Chats needs to shut the fuck up.”

“No kidding,” Bells said. “What’s his deal, anyway?”

I was exhausted just imagining trying to answer that question.

Hoes didn’t have that problem, though. “He’s been desperate for Trev to be all pissed off or jealous because he’s with his ex. It got old alongtime ago.”

“Yeah, it did,” I muttered. I glanced around, making sure only my two linemates were within earshot before I admitted, “I fucking hate that asshole.”

“You and me both,” Hoes grumbled. He tilted his head. “That thing he said about your kids’ nanny—is that true?”

The heat in my face was probably a dead giveaway, so there wasn’t any point in lying. And why should I? I wasn’t embarrassed to be with Cam. I just hated the way Chats had outed us.

“Yeah,” I said. “We’ve, um… We’ve been dating for a little while.”

Hoes nodded sharply and grinned. “That explains a lot.”

I cocked a brow. “Oh really?”

“Yeah, it does,” Bells chimed in. “You’ve just seemed more… I don’t know… Settled, lately?” He looked at Hoes as if to ask if that was the right word.

“Close enough,” Hoes said. “Just… Chats hasn’t been getting under your skin as much. I figured you must’ve either decided he wasn’t worth the blood pressure spike, or you’d moved on from your ex.”

I laughed nervously as some more warmth bloomed in my face. “I, uh… I didn’t think anyone had noticed.”

Bells shrugged. “Eh, I didn’t really put the pieces together until Hoes did.”

“I had my suspicions,” Hoes said with a smug grin.

“Did you?” I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

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