CHAPTER 34 BENNETT #2
And then she grips the back of my head and pushes me between her legs.
“Muffins for the table,” OC says as he takes a seat and places a plate of a variety of muffins between us.
Graydon eyes me and I glance up at OC. “If you do anything disgusting with those, you’re no longer a part of the Gladdy Daddies.”
“My tonguing of muffins—in public—is done.”
“Hate that he added in public,” Graydon says as he picks one up.
“Same. Make a note to never go to his place.”
“Missing out. I have a pinball machine,” OC says.
“You do?” Nolan asks, walking up in a pair of holey gray sweatpants with the pant legs pulled up, showing off his tube socks and slides. He paired the outfit with a Bombers shirt that he cut the hem off of so it shows off half an inch of his skin, and on top of his head is a cowboy hat.
If he was looking to go incognito, he failed.
“Nolan Hart, right?” OC asks, looking him up and down.
“Damn right.” He lends out his hand and OC shakes it. “You’re Oden O’Connor, right? Fucking fast as shit on skates, dude.”
“Thanks. I do a lot of squats.”
“It shows, my man.” Then Nolan turns to Graydon and salutes him. “Graydon, I understand you don’t like attention of any sort or people touching you.”
“Correct,” Graydon says.
“Nice to meet you then.” Nolan picks up his chair, turns it around and takes a seat, resting his arms on the back of the chair. “Muffins, fuck yeah.” He picks one up and then turns to OC. “What kind of pinball machine?”
OC seems to light up, clearly appreciating the addition to our threesome. “Mandalorian. Has the theme music and everything.”
“Sick,” Nolan says with a nod. “Invite me over. I want to bat around your balls.”
“You can bat around my balls anytime you want,” OC says, hearts in his eyes as I sit front and center to a new bromance forming right in front of me.
Graydon clears his throat and not so politely asks, “What the fuck is he doing here?”
Nolan just smirks at Graydon and bites into the muffin without taking the paper off.
“Is this a real cowboy hat?” OC asks, fingering the edge of it.
“No idea. I took it from one of my teammates. I only wear it away from the stadium. Fool is still looking for it.”
“That’s Adrian’s?” I ask, knowing damn well if Adrian Banks knew that Nolan took his hat, Nolan would find his head five-feet deep in the dirt of the infield. He’s been looking for it for months.
“Yeah. Don’t tell him, you narc.”
“I’m not a narc,” I say, offended.
“You have the face of a narc,” OC says.
“He does, doesn’t he?” Nolan adds.
“The fuck I do.”
“Can we fucking bring it back?” Graydon growls. “Why the fuck is he here?” He gestures toward Nolan.
“I don’t care. I’m just happy about it,” OC says, handing Nolan a napkin, and I can see the urge in him to pat the corner of Nolan’s lips for him.
“I thought it would be good to gather all of you together and tell you that Bower and I are together.”
“Wait, really?” OC asks.
“Shut the fuck up,” Nolan says, pushing at my shoulder so hard that I nearly fall out of my chair. “You bagged her?”
I right myself, caught off guard that I was so easily pushed just now. “Don’t fucking say bagged her.”
“But did you?” he asks, wiggling his brows.
“I’m not going to talk about that shit, but we did spend the night together and I’ll leave it at that.”
“He fucking bagged her.” Nolan slaps me on the back. “Congrats, man. Told you my plan was going to work.”
“Your plan?” Graydon scoffs. “It set him back weeks. If he’d come to us at first, it wouldn’t have turned into the mess it was.”
“Big man is jealous.”
Graydon’s eyes narrow. I want to tell Nolan to back off, but I think he might have to learn the hard way when it comes to Graydon.
“I liked the plot twist of the second guy involved,” OC says, “but it did cause unnecessary drama.”
“Nah, it caused just enough chaos for everyone to figure out what they wanted. In a situation like the one we were presented with, there really was only one option: Get her to notice him, and how do you do that?”
“Make him take his shirt off in front of her,” OC says.
Nolan shakes his head. “No, that’s too easy. Our heroine wouldn’t have fallen for it.”
“Shirt off would have worked,” Graydon says, folding his arms.
“Maybe if the scenario was they were just friends,” Nolan says. “But we had an added twist in the plot here: the sister.”
OC nods. “He’s right. The sister adds an extra element.”
“Shirt still would have worked.”
“You’re sticking to a failed plan. Let me ask you this”—Nolan turns toward me—“before you introduced her to Cougar, did she ever see you with your shirt off?”
“She did.”
Nolan gestures toward me. “My point exactly. She was unaffected by his nakedness.”
“Uh, she was affected a little. I caught her staring,” I say, wanting to make that clear.
“Yeah, but not enough to tip the tides. Therefore, we needed to add the dramatics, enter Cougar.” Nolan takes another bite of his muffin and looks around the table.
After a few seconds of silence, OC says, “I think we need to add him to the Gladdy Daddies.”
“Fuck no,” Graydon says, leaning back in his chair.
“What’s the Gladdy Daddies?” Nolan lights up, looking interested.
“It’s our man group. Kind of like how Ted Lasso had the Diamond Dogs, well, we have the Gladdy Daddies.”
Nolan looks between us and says, “Is it because you’re hot-as-fuck daddies who are glad to be together?”
Jesus.
Christ.
What have I done?
OC chokes up and whispers, “I think I might be in love.”
“Well, consider me in.” Nolan stares at Graydon. “Glad to be a daddy with you, big guy.”
“Over my dead body.”
OC: I want to formally thank Nolan for taking the oath of initiation into the Gladdy Daddies. We couldn’t be happier to have you in the group.
Bennett: When did you take an oath?
Nolan: In the bathroom while I was taking a piss. He made me repeat that I wouldn’t mention a single thing we talk about in this thread to anyone else. I shook my dick at the end to seal the deal.
OC: It was a sturdy shake.
Bennett: Don’t say shit like that, man. Graydon is barely sticking around.
Graydon: I did not approve of this.
Nolan: Aw, you’ll get used to me, big guy.
Graydon: No.
OC: Aren’t his words like a warm hug?
Nolan: Or an ice pick up the urethra. Either way, I dig it.
Graydon: Bennett, you did this to us.
Bennett: I know and I’m sorry. I was just excited to tell you guys about me and Bower.
OC: Which is something we didn’t spend enough time talking about.
Graydon: Because you two asshats were searching the internet to see if the cowboy hat was real.
Nolan: Worth a cool two thousand dollars. Glad to know I’m decorating the hat rack with gold.
Graydon: OC didn’t have to order the same one.
OC: I ordered one for all of us. Fuck, I couldn’t keep the secret. Next meeting, we can match.
Bennett: That’s a no.
Graydon: No.
Nolan: Count me in, you dumb fuck.
OC: I should take offense to the nickname, but Jesus Christ, it gives me life.