Chapter 25
Waylon “Ram” Ramsey
“Waylon!” Stephanie waved him over to her desk the minute he stepped inside the rec center. Gabe stood beside the desk, giving Waylon a look that said Good luck and beware, brother .
Oh boy. With Stephanie, that look could mean anything .
“Yes, Steph?” Waylon asked when he got to the desk. “What can I do for you?”
“I’ve started a club,” Stephanie told him, beaming.
“A club.” Waylon looked at Gabe, hoping for some insight.
“An adventure buddies club! They meet every Saturday for the next six weeks. It’s for members who maybe wanna go do activities and don’t have a buddy to go along with them, thus the name.” She pointed at Waylon. And you’re signed up.”
“Wait, what?” He looked at Gabe to see if this was some kind of joke, but going by his brother’s confused expression, this was news to him. “I have friends. There’s one of them now.” He pointed at Gabe, who did him the courtesy of nodding. “If I wanted to go hiking and asked him, he’d come with me.”
“That’s true, I would,” Gabe confirmed.
“So I don’t need to be in a, what’d you call it? Activity Bros Club?”
“Adventure Buddies! Sheesh. I know you have friends, but it’s this Saturday and I’m one person shy and I haven’t had any takers. So, tag, you’re it.” Stephanie picked up a pen and wrote down Waylon’s name. “I’ve got you paired up with Frank.”
“Who’s Frank?” Gabe asked.
“Frank hasn’t been into the rec center since before you started here, Boss.”
“Why do you need to pair people up for your club?” Waylon asked.
“The Adventure Buddies Club is done in pairs so that everyone has someone watching their back since some of the activities are gonna get rigorous. And since I’d hate to disappoint Frank after being gone so long, I’ve signed you up, Ram. Problem solved.”
“Why me? Why do I have to do this?” Waylon asked.
“Because you don’t want to let down an old lady, do you?” She stuck out her bottom lip into the biggest pout ever and fluttered her eyelids at him.
Waylon crossed his arms. “You have never once in your life thought of or called yourself an old lady, Stephanie.”
“No, but I will do whatever it takes to get my way. Just ask Gabe.”
“She’s a monster.”
“ Thank you. You’re my favorite boss again.” Stephanie beamed at Gabe. “Now what do you say, Way?” She grinned at her own rhyme. “Are you on the bus, Gus? Is it a new plan, Stan?”
“ Stop .” Waylon looked at the rec center ceiling then back at Stephanie.
She’s going to be insufferable if I say no .
“Fine.”
“Yes!” Stephanie fist-pumped the air.
“But only one time. This Saturday, and then that’s it. I’m not doing this for six weeks.”
She narrowed her eyes. “So then you’re gonna leave Frank high and dry? Not cool. Actually, worse than not cool.”
Dammit . He hated the way Stephanie was appraising him.
She’s thinking of ways to make my life about as fun as jock itch if I don’t agree to help .
“Fine. But, you have to promise me that you’ll keep looking for a replacement, and the minute someone else signs up, I’m out, free and clear.”
“Hmm.” She continued to study him like he was a frog pinned to a board and she had a dissecting kit. Then she smiled. “Okay. Deal.”
Waylon didn’t trust that smile one bit. “You have to look for a replacement.”
“Okay.”
“ Actively look. You can’t hide the sign-up sheet.”
“Fine.”
“And you need to tell people you need one more person.”
“Yup.” Stephanie popped the P.
“And the second you find someone else, I’m out, no exceptions.”
“Got it. No exceptions.” She grinned in a way that murdered his trust.
“Do I have your word?”
“Sure do.” Her grin got wider.
“Shake on it.”
“Want me to spit in my hand first?”
Waylon flinched. “Please, no.”
Stephanie stretched out her thankfully dry hand. “Deal.”
Waylon shook her hand. “Deal.”
And now Waylon was standing in the rec center at the beginning of his weekend when he should have been home nursing the hangover he’d worked hard to build the night before at Cocks and Strippers. At least he hadn’t gone home with anyone, though he’d danced with not one but two gorgeous women and he wouldn’t have minded sharing a bed with either of them.
“Adventure Buddies,” he scoffed under his breath. “I don’t need this.”
But he kind of did now. Last night was proof. Bear and T-Wolf had long since stopped going to Cocks and Strippers unless their women came along, but that was okay, totally understandable. It was still great when it was just him and Elias looking to score, but that was the end of an era now that Elias and Wren were married. Shane was never part of the pickup scene, focusing on April ever since he got back to town. And Ben? Well, the meat market was never really Moose’s scene, either. He tended to be the designated driver and the one who talked his brothers out of making bad choices a time or two. Waylon had been forced to talk himself out of last night’s bad choices and where was the fun in that?
I wonder if this Frank guy is single. Yeah, probably, or he’d be out with his wife or girlfriend on a Saturday, right?
Maybe Stephanie knew his dating situation and that’s why she’d signed him up. Frank might be in the same boat.
Sneaky woman! Maybe I’ll find an adventure wingman while I’m here. Not bad .
And speak of the devil, there she was, popping out of a doorway and smiling like a kid with a new puppy.
“Come on back,” Stephanie said as she cocked her arm and waved him down the hall. “We’re all waiting for you, slowpoke. Frank’s feeling like the odd man out.”
Waylon reluctantly made his way down the hall. The room was full of people talking to each other in pairs.
Except for one person.
Whatever joke Stephanie was playing, Frank was a great, big nope.
Waylon definitely did not need a wing woman .