Dobbs?
The car went dead silent for several seconds, and then Dobbs said softly, “Yeah. I could probably make that work.”
Ten awkward and largely silent minutes later, I pulled up in front of the SMT house. “Uh, tomorrow morning, I run only four miles and then go to the gym.” I just left it there.
“Glutton for punishment. But hey, anything an ALA can do, an SMT can do backward and in high heels.” He raised his eyebrows at me in a challenge.
I laughed, and it felt good to get back to the more relaxed vibe we’d had going at the farm. “That, my man, I’d pay to see.”
“Hmm. Wonder where I put my heels?” His gaze met mine. “What time?”
“Six.”
“Shitfire!” He exhaled, long and martyred. “Oookay. See you in front of your house at—” He clutched his chest and gasped for air. “—six a.m.” He crawled out of the car, hoisting his backpack, and retrieved his suitcase from the back seat. With a casual one-hand wave, he trudged up the lawn of the Poin Palace.
I felt a disturbing urge to keep watching to make sure he got inside safe.
Wrenching myself from sheer stupidity, I drove over to the next street where I could access the parking spaces reserved for my house.
Dragging my backpack over my shoulder, I exited the car, locked it, and walked toward the rear of the house, adrift in that sensation of displacement I got whenever I visited home. Half of my head was still on the farm with my brothers, worried about my parents. At this moment, the other half seemed to be hanging out with my cock, which had been twitchy for about half the trip home. Hell, I should do one of those ads about erections lasting more than four hours.
Dobbs had this scent. It was spicy—a little cinnamon, maybe some nutmeg—like a hot drink on a cold day. It was oddly homey for such an unhomey guy. And it did embarrassing things to my penis, which appeared fully vested in drinking a cup of mulled Dobbs.
Reactions like that gave me the willies.
A laugh escaped at my choice of words, and then I breathed. Actually, my hot-under-the-boxers response to Dobbs did make me nervous about our upcoming one-on-one practice schedule. It also made me hotter. Jesus, I needed to get laid so my cock would stop doing inappropriate calisthenics. But there was no getting laid in sight, so overtime for the good right hand.
I opened the back door and let myself into the mud room. From a few feet away in the kitchen, the rumble of male voices vibrated through the door. I set down my pack and started toeing off my boots when the door flew open.
PJ yelled, “The return of the conquering hero. Have we got one less Poin to worry about, or are you gonna stink up the place with Poin juice?”
I sighed. “Give it a rest, PJ. It was a long drive.”
Tray stuck his head in. “Get out of here, PJ.” PJ gave him a look rife with desire to talk back, but Tray wasn’t one you crossed without a lot of balls. PJ shrugged as snarkily as he could manage and vanished.
I quirked half a smile. “Thanks.”
“How’s the fam?”
I nodded as I tucked my boots into their spot on the shoe rack. “Not too bad considering. Micah’s cast frustrates him, but at least he’s home from the hospital, and that’s settled Eli down.” Tray had gone home with me one time, creating quite a stir in Mercy Creek. Not that many six-foot-two, gorgeous black dudes in clothes so expensive they could have bought the general store came by every day. But Tray didn’t know a stranger, and people still asked me when he was coming back.
“Sorry you had to take Dobbs with you. What the fuck, man? Insult to injury, having to take that mouthy jerk with you to deal with a family emergency. You should have just refused.”
Something inside me bristled at the putdown even though I’d thought the same myself before this past weekend. “It wasn’t that bad. He really got along with the twins and helped mom by diverting Micah for a few hours yesterday.”
Tray looked surprised, which was understandable since he’d had more of the usual reaction to the boys. Terrified. “Dobbs? Really?”
I hurried to add, “And we got in quite a bit of studying for Quiz Bowl, especially on the two drives. That shit’s hard, man.”
He cocked his grin. “If it’s hard for you, I