Boyfriend Material (Hawthorne University, #2)(80)

“Are you listening to me?” she asks.

“Hmm,” I say I take her in. She’s wearing a red bikini, huge sunglasses, and a big floppy hat. She looks like a movie star hiding out at an exclusive beach resort. Damn, I love her. She’s talented; she’s caring; she’s hot as fuck. I’m living the dream with her and my Triplets of Terror.

“Have I told you you’re beautiful today, my love?”

She rolls her eyes. “Not since this morning and don’t use “my love” on me. You’re trying to soften me up.”

“Never,” I say. “Is it working?”

She tosses an empty water bottle at me, and I laugh as I dodge it.

We’re at a cabin that Z and Sugar own. We flew into Nashville a week ago, hung out at their house for a few days, then caravanned the few hours to get to Ellijay, a quaint town nestled in the mountains. Bordered by a creek on three sides, their house is big enough for us to vacation with them plus toss in a few more people. We’ve been coming here for three years, and it’s perfect for a late summer getaway before the preseason starts.

“Eric? I’m serious. No axes.”

I grin. “Come on now. They have cages between each throwing lane and even a special section just for kids. The Terrors are always throwing stuff in our house. At us, at each other.” I waggle my eyebrows. “They’ll love it. Tell her Z.”

Z pauses as he pulls his oldest, Evander, out of the water. He gives me a look like he was hoping I didn’t need his help. The plan was to bring this up when Julia and I were alone, then get her to talk to Sugar, but this morning she kept asking what we should do tomorrow when it might rain, and I decided to go for it.

Z turns to us with an expression of serious contemplation. “We talked to the manager yesterday. He said they have a league for kids as young as seven. The axes are smaller. I think it will be cool.”

Sugar scoots up in her lounge chair and tilts her head forward to look at Z over her sunglasses. “Evander won’t be seven until October and Nash is only four. None of the kids are old enough. I don’t think you two were thinking at all.” She blows him a kiss.

He grins. “Well, what I meant was, seven is just the league age. The manager said if we sign a waiver, any age can throw.”

“See. All taken care of.” I smile at our wives like that should settle the matter.

“Ha,” Sugar says. “They’ll let you sign a waiver, which absolves them of liability. It doesn’t mean it’s safe. It means the owners aren’t morons.”

“Come on, babe, don’t go all lawyer on us. It’ll be fun,” Z says as he bends down to give her a little kiss.

She nudges him away with a laugh. “You’re as bad as Eric. Stop trying to sweet talk me.”

He brushes his hand over her shoulder in a caress. “Would I do that?”

She smiles slyly. “Maybe.”

“Later, I’ll tell you all the words I know and they won’t be sweet,” he says in a low voice as he plops down next to her and they hold hands in between their chairs.

Julia smiles. We’re used to their PDA and I guess they’re used to ours.

The kids swim over to the edge of the creek and haul themselves out, tossing off life jackets and googles. They dash in our direction.

I hand Kara her Thor towel, Kelli her Wonder Woman, and Kurt his Star Wars one. Z hands out towels for Evander and Nash.

Kara and Evander pace around the shore and argue over where to sit. He wants to be back on the rock, but she wants to be in the shade near us. She wins and they follow her to a willow tree.

“Ready for our snack,” Kara says to us.

Julia shakes her head, her voice low so the kids don’t hear. “She’s always in charge.”

Sugar smirks. “Her and Evander butt heads over everything.”

Julia sighs as she watches them spread out their towels. “They’re so cute. Looking at them now, you’d never know how hard it was getting them to agree to a movie last night. Kara wanted SpongeBob, but Evander insisted on Toy Story. Evander won with a majority vote.”

“Buzz Lightyear!” Nash calls out, ears perking up at the mention of the movie.

I hand out water, sliced grapes, and cheese sticks. Bending down next to Kelli, I pat her head. “This girl could pass for a seven-year-old. Plus, she’s one of the best skaters on the hockey team.”

Kurt grunts. “I’m the best!”

Kara rolls her eyes. “We’re all good, dummy.”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “No name calling, Kara.”

“Sorry,” she says to her brother.

Kelli looks over at Julia who’s now digging through her bag for more sunscreen. “Mama, I wanna throw an axe.”

“Me too,” comes from the others at varying levels of excitement, except for Nash. He’s more interested in the ants trying to get on his towel.

Kurt nudges Evander. “Hey. I can putta apple on my head then you can throw the axe and knock it wayyyyyy off.”

Evander breaks into a wide grin. “Yeah!”

I start. “Wait, no, uh—"

“I wanna apple on my head!” Kara calls out then picks up a grape. “Or a grape!”

Z chimes in. “No apples or grapes, guys. The game is throwing the axe at a target and trying to get a bullseye. Doesn’t that sound fun?”