Page 126 of Sassy Love
When we first met in college, Miles, me, and the brothers, I was always waiting for the penny to drop. For them to realize that, unlike the three of them, I’m not from money. At least not from their caliber of coin.
“Catch up, Rawlins.” Dexter glances over his shoulder.
“Why are you so slow this morning?” Griff spins, running backward before tilting his head in an exaggerated thinking pose.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. Our boy got laid,” Dex yells back.
Fuck me.
“Leave him alone, you dipshits.” Miles’s voice booms from behind, his footfalls pounding the track as he closes in. I slow a little, looking back to find him winding through the other runners.
“Where’d you come from, bud?” I ask as he catches up.
We hit an equal stride, and he grins at me.
“Not you, too,” I rasp.
“Never. I, unlike those ingrates, am happy for you. ’Bout fucking time.”
The smile breaking over my lips as I pant to keep up his stride would put the Joker to shame.
Miles slaps me on the shoulder. “Saw you lot fly past. Starting without me these days, are we?”
“Nah, bud. Never.” But my grin doesn’t slip.
“Fucker,” he huffs and leaves me in the dust.
Ass.
I pick up the pace and catch them all before overtaking them as we reach the starting point. I pace a few laps before heading for the food cart and grabbing a water.
“What took you so long?” I quip when Griff files in by the truck, holding his side like his once-a-week run isn’t railing him with a stitch right now. Dexter flails to a stop by his brother. “Remind me why we do this every fucking weekend?”
Miles strides over, cool as a goddamn cucumber with his ridiculous firefighter fitness. “Got to keep you in line somehow, Dex.”
“Would you please go and stand over there,” Dex says, waving him away. “How are any of us supposed to get laid with your man candy ass hanging around?”
Miles chuckles and messes up Dex’s hair with his oversized hand, flexing forearm, and bulging biceps. Hell, Dex has a point, bu?—
“You’re out, too, Rawlins. You two both stand somewhere else while we wait for the rest of the running babes to come in.” Dex is still waving us off, his brother rolling his eyes as he checks his phone. “Come on, track tramps. Lycra ladies. Jogging jezebels.”
It’s all a joke, we know that. The guy doesn’t have a serious bone in his body. I’m guessing he really needs to ge?—
Miles pins him with a look we can all read, one that means Dex has gone too far. “Disrespect. Yeah, that’ll get you laid every time. Cut it out, Dexter.”
Dex holds his hands up in a ‘don’t shoot’ gesture. A sheepish look crosses his face before he schools it back to his usual goofy expression. Sometimes I wonder what woman would take him on. He’s kind of a lot.
“Sorry, Dad.” Dexter wanders off to the drink truck and grabs a Gatorade.
“Come on, Laws, let’s leave these two. Give me a hand holding down the sofa?”
“Sure thing.”
I wave to Griff, who barely glances up from his phone, his face twisted by concern. He manages to nod, and we hike it five blocks to Miles’s apartment. As a member of FDNY Engine 53, his new apartment is closer to work. And a touch larger than mine. We take the stairs to the third floor. He unlocks the door, letting us in.
“Want a drink?” His head disappears into the refrigerator.
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks.” I wander around the apartment.
