Page 92 of The Locker Room

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mean… we"re not messy, right?”

Chris sighed, and Leo gestured at him so he could field this one.

“We"re gonna need staff, Xan. We"ve been living mostly out of the

commissary for four years. We can make ourselves some grilled cheese

and shit, but neither of us can cook, and you saw all those clauses. We"re

going to be spending one day a week doing charity, and three days on the

road, and the rest of our time during the season working out. We"re

going to need someone to keep up on the cooking and vacuum once in a

while so we"re not up to our eyeballs in dust buffaloes, right?”

“I thought they were dust bunnies,” Leo said dryly, and Chris

returned, “When you"re his size, the bunnies grow,” without missing a

beat. But while Xander smiled appreciatively, Chris only twisted his

mouth into a wry line.

“That"s what the privacy agreements are for, okay, Xan? It"s so we

can hire people who won"t tell about us for fear of losing their jobs. We

can be employers of the year, if you like, but we gotta have us some

staff.”

Xander nodded in understanding, and then his face sort of fell.

“What?”

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He shrugged, because it was stupid, but it had been something sort

of growing on him since Leo had talked about buying them a home.

Chris grabbed his hands and peered into his face, smiling that

infectious grin, and Xander had to smile back. “I want a dog,” he blurted,

and Chris"s grin got even wider.

“Awesome. See—staff. Staff will take care of puppy while we"re

gone, so he"s not lonely, right?”

“I"m not five, Chris!”

“It"s not going to be a puppy?”

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