“We aren’t,” Brady chimed in. “Not at all.”
Homer gave him a nod of recognition that Brady lapped up like he’d earned some kind of prize.
“Well,” Homer said, “neither are we. If we’re going to train you, we’re going to train you to the best of our capabilities, no matter what your intentions are for the future, or what said future holds.”
The way he said it made me think he understood as well as we did that our futures might indeed be brief—if Magnum got his way anyhow.
“If you show up for us,” Homer continued, “and you’re all in, then we’ll show up for you the same way.”
“We’re all in,” Griffin said, and I peered at him.
The moment he felt my gaze on him, he tilted his entire body in my direction. I didn’t think either of us would last much longer without touching each other.
“Yes, we are,” I said, for everyone else—though I was privately referencing the magnetism between Griffin and me.
Armando started rolling his shoulders, stretching out his arms and bouncing on his feet.
“Uh-oh,” Layla muttered under her breath before she thunked her head on my shoulder. “Dude looks like he’s prepping to kill us.”
Armando laughed, a bright, uncommon sound, and his eyes crinkled at the sides. “No, just some sparring.”
He turned to remove his zero-drop shoes, his back muscles flexing with each of his minor movements.
Layla said, mostly to me I thought.
Brady said with equal levels of admiration.
“You are very close to each other,sí?” Yolanda asked, startling me from my thoughts and those of my friends.
I looked over at her as Hunt nodded and said, “Yes. We’ve been friends all our lives.”
She studied us with open curiosity. “I can see that. I hope it will serve you well.”
Layla asked.
I said, but it did sound a bit like she might be sympathetic to our plight.
“Come,” Armando called out. “Break is over. We fight.”
Brady said, before adding, “I’ll go first.”
I was already chuckling at Brady’s eagerness to have his ass whupped when I heard a single bark. Whipping my head toward the treehouse’s porch, where Bobo stood just as I’d asked him, I saw him looking down the path that led to the houses.
“Someone’s coming,” I announced, though by then everyone was already looking that way.
“Stretch,” Armando told us while we waited. “No waste time.”
I leaned into a soothing stretch for my shoulder until none other than Magnum fucking Chase waltzed into the clearing with an ease that suggested he owned it. Knowing him, it was possible he did. It seemed like he pretty much owned our faux parents and everything they did.
He wore jeans that looked ironed, a light sweater that draped as if it were made of silk, an important-looking watch that gleamed on his wrist, and a charismatic smile I wished I could peel from his face with acid.
“Hi, everyone,” he said cheerily.
I had to suppress a shudder that threatened to tear through me. Turned out I disliked a pleasant Magnum even more than a menacing one. At least when he was threatening us it was obvious what we were dealing with.
“Hello, Mr. Chase,” Homer answered. “We didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I happened to be in the area and thought I’d drop in to see how the training was going.”
