Lord Have Mercy (The Southern Gentleman #2)(22)

I winced. “The last time I was in a locker room like that it was during my brother’s senior year of high school. I had to go in there with him to help him clean out his locker. Let’s just say, the things that go on in a locker room should stay in the locker room…and you should probably bring some of those Lysol wipes with you so you can wipe him down next time.”

Raleigh stuck out her tongue. “It’s not that bad.”

I gave her a look. “I saw some boy smother another boy with someone else’s dirty jock strap. A jock strap that he hadn’t washed in eight games because it was his ‘lucky’ jock strap. He wore it to college uncleaned the next season. Trust me when I say, boys are gross.”

“How is Tanner doing, by the way?” Raleigh asked.

Tanner being a family friend that I only ever kept up with through social media now that he’d moved so far away.

“Tanner is…okay,” I hesitated. “He’s still coaching for that prep school in New Braunfels, but I have a feeling that won’t last much longer since he got divorced from Sadie. He didn’t want to move there anyway, but with her getting that huge promotion with her law firm, he was forced to. Now with her not holding him there, I doubt he’ll stay.”

“Luckily they didn’t have kids.” Raleigh shivered. “The thought of having to divorce someone and then have to deal with kids gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

“You shouldn’t be thinking about divorcing anyone,” I heard Ezra drawl from behind us.

I turned to see Ezra holding their child snugly in his arms staring at his wife with annoyance.

Raleigh shrugged. “Just because I don’t like thinking about it doesn’t mean that I’d ever considered a divorce with you.” She paused. “I think killing you in your sleep might be more effective. Then you wouldn’t get the bed—which I know that you’d fight for custody of if we split.”

“You’re wrong,” he handed their kid over the chain-link fence, and she stood up to get him. “I would’ve fought over the baby and the dog. You can have the bed, though. You get more out of it than I do.”

I rolled my eyes.

The bed was a bone of contention with the two of them. While Raleigh had been pregnant, they’d gotten a new bed. The bed had turned into Raleigh’s favorite thing while being pregnant, and Ezra accused her and the bed of having a love affair and her loving the bed more than him.

Honestly, the bed was really nice.

I’d considered getting myself one exactly like it, that was how nice it was.

“Ezra, why does he smell like ass?” Raleigh wrinkled her nose.

“Because I had to use an old gym sock to wipe his ass after he shit himself. You’re lucky that I cleaned him up at all. It was a close thing.” He turned and walked away without another word.

“He’s right, you know,” I pointed out. “He could’ve just as easily left him dirty for you to clean him up yourself.”

“Meet me in the bathroom. I have to go get him wiped down. This is disgusting.” She wrinkled her nose even more.

“I told you that boys were gross,” I told her.

She flipped me off and pushed through the crowd, not stopping until she’d made her way into the bathroom.

Luckily with the game starting up, everybody had made their way to the seats instead of hanging out around the concession stand and the bathrooms.

Unluckily, despite the game starting, there was still a line.

“Just push up there and use the sink,” I told her. “He’s not dirty. You don’t need one of those stalls.”

“True,” she murmured, heading in the direction of an open space along the sink area.

I pushed through with her, leaning in to check my face out in the mirror.

I had sweat dripping down my spine, and I had a fine sheen of it coating my face.

It was hot as balls outside and coming up here after a workout wasn’t helping matters.

“Gross,” Raleigh muttered to herself.

I looked at her son in the mirror and grinned at the onesie she had on him.

“I like the onesie,” I said. “I especially love the ‘Duff’ at the top. Did you get it made?”

“Etsy,” she answered. “I bought it like eight months ago and it fits him perfectly. How cool is that?”

She turned the front around so I could see, and I smiled even wider. “My daddy is the coach?”

Raleigh grinned.

“Excuse me, but there are people that are actually here to use the facilities,” an annoyed voice said from behind me.

I nearly broke myself with how hard I rolled my eyes.

“Sorry, Nivea,” I apologized, backing away from the sink.

Nivea shoved through the hole I’d made and pushed me sideways. It took everything I had not to punch her in the head.

Instead, I tapped Raleigh’s shoulder. “I’m going to wait outside for you.”

Raleigh nodded, her eyes wide and angry.

Yet she didn’t say anything, just like I didn’t.

Unfortunately, we were in a public place, representing our school where we worked at that. There were at least six students in here who knew either me, Raleigh, or Nivea. A showdown in the bathroom would make its way through the entire student body in seconds.