We all exchanged looks as Trevor stared at his coffee. He didn’t say a word, but we left it where it was. Let him marinate on that sage advice for a day or ten.
“So, back to your Smurf name,” Cord said.
With a heavy sigh, I leaned back in my chair. “Tell me this isn’t why you wanted to meet?”
Mitchell laughed. “Just humor him. Cord clearly has a secret obsession with the Smurfs.”
“Oh, like you weren’t pissed when I gave Jonathon the Handy Smurf title.”
“Fuck you, Cord,” Mitchell spit out
Cord pointed to Mitchell. “Hey, I’ll change yours to something else if you don’t watch it.”
Mitchell went to fire something back when I cleared my throat.
“You do realize there is a group of women sitting right there looking at you idiots like you’re crazy.”
Cord and Mitchell turned to see a group of women smiling at them.
“Can we get to the reason we’re meeting for lunch?” I added.
Wade chuckled. “I thought y’all met once a week to feed off of each other.”
“Feed off of each other?” Steed asked.
With a half shrug, Wade said, “You know, rub that Parker shit off on each other.”
We glanced at each other and then back to Wade. “Dude, what are you talking about?”
“Please. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s like you all possess some weird magical power. When you’re together it gets stronger.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Steed asked.
Wade exhaled. “For example? I could walk up to that table right now and strike out with every single one of those ladies…not that I would, because you know…I’m happily married to Amelia. But any one of y’all could walk up and score at least one number.”
This seemed to intrigue my brothers.
“What you’re saying, Wade, is we have swagger,” Cord said with a grin. “Parker swagger.”
“Call it what you want, dude. Whatever it is, you have it and when you’re all together, it grows. You feed off each other.”
“I’m up for trying this game,” Trevor said with a mischievous grin. He stood.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He looked around the table and then to Wade. “I think I can score two phone numbers.”
I glanced back to the table of six women.
“You’re on,” Wade said.
It didn’t take Trevor long. He walked over to the table, said something that made them all laugh. Then he leaned in and said something else that caused a few of them to blush.
“Boys, now that you’re all here, what can I do you for lunch?” Lilly asked.
We each ordered today’s special. Hamburger and fries.
“And Trevor?” Lilly asked.
“He’ll have the same,” I said.
Less than a minute later, Trevor walked up and tossed two pieces of paper in the middle. “That is how it is done, gentlemen.”
Cord huffed and made his way over to the table. When he pulled up a chair and sat down with the women, we all laughed.
“What did you say to them?” Mitchell asked Trevor.
“Dude, I’m not telling you my secrets.”
“Seriously? You do know I’m married and my wife is having a baby. It’s not like I’m going to use your moves.”
Reappearing at our table, Cord laid three numbers down and sat.
“You were saying, Trev?”
Trevor shot Cord daggers. “Go to hell, Cord.”
“Steed? Going to give it a try?”
He held up his hand. “Hell, no. With my luck Paxton would walk in and see me talking to a group of women trying to score numbers. She’d kick my ass all the way back to the house.”
Mitchell turned it down, and so did I.
Wade stood. “Just so we know. I love your sister. This is simply proving a point.”
We all nodded and motioned for Wade to give it a try. He walked over. Said something that made them all laugh. When he looked back at our table, he winked.
“Bastard,” Trevor said.
The next thing we knew, all six of them were giving Wade their phone numbers.
“What in the hell?” Trevor said with a shocked look. I couldn’t help but laugh. When Wade sat back down, he sprinkled the numbers over Cord’s and Trevor’s.
“How in the hell did you manage to get all of their numbers?” I asked.
“It was simple,” Wade replied with a huge grin. “I told them it was a bet, and I didn’t want to look like a loser.”
Steed, Mitchell, and I all busted out laughing as Cord and Trevor gave Wade the finger.
There really wasn’t a reason why we all met for lunch. I simply wanted to spend time with my brothers. To laugh, talk some smack and throw in serious talk every now and then.
When we were finished, we said our goodbyes while Trevor scooped up all the numbers and pushed them into his jeans pocket. On the way out, he stopped at the table and whispered something to one of the girls, causing her to blush and chew on her lower lip. She got up from the table, put money down and waved goodbye to her friends as she followed Trevor out. After giving her what I would have guessed was his phone number, they parted ways. She went to her car, and Trevor bid a final goodbye.