“How old is he?” Logan asked, leaning his long arms on the breakfast bar. “He’d need to be over eighteen, or have his parents’ permission.”
“Fourteen. And he doesn’t want his mom to know he’s doing this. So the permission thing is a no go.”
Logan gave a low whistle. “You’re going behind his mom’s back? Isn’t that gonna cause some problems? Imagine if we’d done something like that to dad. He would’ve whooped our asses.”
“We did go behind dad’s back,” Cam pointed out. “How many parties did we go to when we promised him we were staying at a teammate’s house? And all those times when we pretended to be each other so one of us could sneak out to meet a girl? Lying to your parents is practically a requirement of being a teenager.”
“Tell me that again when you have kids of your own.” Logan’s smile was wry.
“Yeah, well we don’t have to worry about that any time soon.”
Through the window, Michael stopped pushing the lawn mower and wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve. “Shouldn’t you give him a drink or something?” Logan asked.
“I’ll give him a soda.”
“Invite the kid in. Let him sit down,” Logan suggested. “Give him a break.”
Grabbing a can of Coke from the refrigerator, Cam opened the back door and hollered Michael’s name. Looking up from the grass, Michael looked almost scared he’d been caught taking a break.
“Sorry. Just catching my breath.”
“You want a soda? Come inside for a bit. Take the weight off.”
Michael’s face lit up. “That’d be great.” He kicked the grass from his boots and walked over to where Cam was standing in the doorway. “I’ll leave these by the door,” he said, toeing his boots off. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem. This is my brother, Logan.”
Michael looked over his shoulder and gave Logan a nod. “You’re twins? Cool.”
Logan patted the stool next to his. “Come and sit down. I need to apologize for my brother. He’s an asshole and has no idea how to treat employees.”
“I treat Brian just fine,” Cam pointed out.
“No, Brian treats Brian fine. You forget all about him. He messaged me the other day to check that you were still alive.”
Cam swallowed. “I might have missed a couple of calls.” Maybe a few more. Not just from Brian either. But some from Derek as well.
“Can you put the kid out of his misery? He thinks you’re ignoring him because he asked if he could work for another player.”
“I’ll call him.” Cam rolled his eyes. “Brothers, right?” He grinned at Michael.
“You got a brother?” Logan asked him.
“Yeah, my kid brother. He’s eight.” Michael went to sit down on the stool, but then reached out for something. He lifted his hand, a long strand of blonde hair pinched between his thumb and forefinger.
Logan started to laugh. “You been bringing women home, bro?” Taking the hair from Michael’s hand, he held it up and inspected it. “Let me guess, a twenty something. Blonde, of course, though probably not naturally. Curvy, pretty, and won’t stop blowing your phone up which is why you won’t answer it.”
Cam pressed his tongue against his cheek, sweeping his gaze over Michael. There was no recognition on his face, even though Cam knew the hair had to be one of Mia’s.
“Yeah, something like that.”
Logan turned to Michael. “Take a tip from me. Don’t grow up and be a manwhore like my brother.”
Michael laughed. “If Soraya fell at my feet wearing that swimsuit, I’d probably head that way, too.”
“And now you’re corrupting minors,” Logan said, elbowing Michael in the arm. It was clear from Michael’s smile that he was enjoying being one of the guys.
Logan was still holding that damn hair. Sunlight glinted off the strand, highlighting the soft waves that exactly matched Mia’s style. Cam snatched it out of Logan’s grasp and walked over to the trashcan, pushing his foot on the pedal and depositing the hair inside.