Somethin' About That Boy

I grimaced. “I’m not like them.”

He rolled his eyes. “I think it has a lot to do with how you’re raised. Dad would never allow us to be a bunch of dumbasses.”

That was true. My father—and even my mother—would’ve kicked our asses if we’d ever done some of the stupid shit that we heard kids are doing lately.Chapter 13

Cool story, bro. In what chapter do you shut the fuck up?

-Perry’s secret thoughts

Perry

Meeting Banner’s brother and sister-in-law felt a whole lot like meeting the parents—at least, what I assumed it would feel like if I was meeting his parents.

Ashe, Banner’s sister-in-law, smiled at me warmly and offered me her hand.

I blinked, surprised to see her in a police uniform.

“You’re… you are a police officer?” I asked curiously.

She grinned. “Not so much anymore… or well, ever. I’m more of a detective slash criminal psychologist. I stay more at the station nowadays than I do anything else.”

She patted her belly for emphasis.

She was really pregnant. I could see how she wouldn’t want to be doing the things that officers did, that was for sure.

“That’s good,” I said as I stared at her. “Do you know what you’re having yet?”

She patted her belly again and looked over at her husband. “We’re told it’s a boy. Ford here is still holding out for a girl.”

Ford rolled his eyes. “It’s just that I don’t think I can handle a kid like you. And you damn well know that he’ll act exactly like you. There’s only so much my heart can take.”

Banner snorted. “You should’ve thought about that before you knocked her up.”

Ford threw a breadstick at Banner’s face.

Banner caught it, bit into it, and went back to perusing the menu.

I grinned then went back to looking at mine, trying to decide between the chicken alfredo and the lasagna.

“The lasagna is on special tonight,” Ashe said as she pointed toward the specials. “It’s really good. But so is the alfredo. Oh, gosh. I can’t pick either.”

“Get both and split it,” Banner suggested.

My brows went up and I looked over at Ashe. “I’m down if you are.”

She fist-pumped, causing me to snicker.

“How old are you?” Ford asked her.

Ashe stuck her tongue out at her husband. “Stuff it, Mazda.”

I blinked. “Mazda?”

“Ashe likes to come up with funny names to call Ford when she’s annoyed with him. He really doesn’t like it when she calls him Prius,” Banner murmured around another bite of bread.

“What can I get everybody?” the waitress asked as she finally came over.

“I’d like two sweet teas. An order of mozzarella sticks. A potato-whatever soup. A salad. Oh, and also I’d like the Italian sampler,” Banner said, handing her his menu.

The woman blinked.

“He just came from football practice,” Ashe tried to explain. “He’s a hungry, growing boy.”

The waitress, who didn’t look like she was much older than us, smiled. Her eyes lingered on Banner, then moved to Ford. “Are you two brothers?”

“Sisters,” Banner teased.

Ashe choked on her breadstick, and I covered my face with the menu.

“Umm, okay,” the waitress said. “What can I get you?”

This time it was directed at Ford, who completely missed everything that was going on because he was still looking at his menu. “Can you do them first? I don’t quite know what I want.”

The waitress reluctantly turned her eyes to me, and I ordered the lasagna. Ashe ordered the alfredo, leaving Ford to frantically look through the menu.

“Just get him the sampler, too.” Banner rolled his eyes. “Jesus Christ, Ford. You get the same thing every time you go to an Italian restaurant.”

Ashe started to giggle again, making me smile right along with them.

I loved their brother dynamic they had going on.

It made me wish that I had a sibling instead of being an only child.

The rest of dinner went great, and sharing half of my meal with Ashe worked out really well, giving me the best of both worlds.

“You know, if you’d gotten the sampler, you could’ve had them both anyway, plus some chicken,” Banner pointed out when I finally pushed my plate a bit away from me indicating I was done.

I looked at the massive plate, then to him.

“I don’t have room for that amount of food in my body,” I told him. “And honestly, I’m not sure where you’re putting it all.”

Banner grinned. “I’m a growing boy.”

He sure was that.

“So, Perry,” Ford said as he sat back, having finished his meal five minutes before me. “How did you meet Banner?”

“School, dumbass,” Banner said around a mouthful of salad.

I grinned and turned my gaze back to Ford.

God, if this was what Banner was going to grow up to look like—not that he wasn’t attractive as hell already—then I’d be screwed.

“We met at school,” I replied, leaving off the ‘dumbass.’ “Though, mainly it was just that we kept running into each other. Then he found out that I walked to school most days, and then offered to start picking me up.”