Page 17 of Home Town Advantage (Fourth Quarter Fever #1)

Daylen’s father then comes into view. He’s enormous, like Daylen, with a similar, jovial personality. He’s wearing suit pants with a white shirt and a loosened tie. They man hug like they might break each other .

He then holds out his hand for me, and I shake it. “Hank. Always good to see you.”

He gives me a genuine smile. “You as well, Vance. I’m looking forward to a great season.” He waves. “Come inside. I’m starving, and this food smells delicious. Sweet cheeks, you’ve outdone yourself tonight.”

He pinches Ashleigh’s ass, and she giggles up at her husband, who’s twenty-five years her senior.

She winks at him and responds, “Yes, Daddy.”

Yep, Ashleigh outwardly calls him Daddy. Daylen cringes, like he does every single time she says it. Fuck, I love spending time with the Humblecuts.

We make our way inside. It does smell good.

I don’t get home-cooked meals very often.

It’s a treat, and Ashleigh happens to be a great cook.

I think culinary school was one of the twenty different schools Hank supported her through until she became pregnant with Jagger and decided to stay home with both her and Daylen.

We sit down and dig into the five-star restaurant-quality-looking steaks. Ashleigh smiles at Daylen and asks, “How are you finding your steak, baby boy?”

With a straight face, Daylen responds, “Quite easily. It’s right next to the potatoes.”

It takes Ashleigh a solid ten seconds to get the joke after everyone else does, but she eventually joins in on the laughter. At least I think she gets it. Fortunately for Jagger, she got her father’s brains.

Daylen asks Jagger, “Are you feeling better than you were last night?”

She nods. “Oh yes. Will apologized. We’re back together. He’s coming by for dessert in a little bit.”

Daylen’s jaw tightens. “Oh good, he and I can have a little chat.”

Jagger’s eyes widen. “Be nice.”

Daylen’s lips twist. “Will do, sis. I’ll be super nice to the demeaning fucker.” Yep, he and I are going to have a bit of fun with this little twerp.

Ashleigh smacks Daylen’s hand. “Don’t curse. I brought you up better than that.”

Daylen rolls his eyes before he looks his father up and down. “Dad, I thought Ashleigh had you hitting the gym with her?”

Hank does appear a little heavier than normal. He’s a large man, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen his stomach this big. It’s hanging over his belt quite prominently.

Ashleigh gives him an I told you so look, but he smiles and says, “My beautiful wife is a great cook. I feel like I’ve spent my whole life trying to live healthy, constantly battling my weight.

I want to enjoy myself. Keith Richards outlived Richard Simmons.

What does that tell you about healthy living? ”

Hmm. He does make a valid point.

Hank looks at me. “What’s going on with you, Vance? Do you have a special lady in your life or are you a manwhore like my son?”

I chuckle. “No one special, but Daylen has a lot more luck with the ladies than I do.”

Hanks nods in understanding. “And your parents? How are they?”

“Busy on the ranch. They let me take them on vacation a few months ago, but they don’t love leaving the house in someone else’s hands. It’s always like pulling teeth to get them to go anywhere.”

And I’m persona non grata in my hometown, so I rarely visit. When I do, I’m holed up in the house for a few days before I start to go crazy and end up leaving early to head back to Philly.

He smiles. “Well, tell yo mama that I say hello.”

Daylen snaps his head toward Hank, and they give each other bemused looks. Jagger whines, “Oh no, don’t start this. It’s so embarrassing.”

Daylen and his dad have a thing of trading yo mama jokes back and forth. Daylen said it started as a way to make him smile after his mother passed but has continued as their fun little thing. It goes on and on until one of them laughs. It’s basically a contest to get the other to laugh first.

Hank wipes his mouth with his napkin as he stares at Daylen. “Yo mama is so hot; her bone structure is giving my bone structure.”

Ashleigh giggles and Jagger hides her face in mortification, but Daylen remains straight-faced before eventually responding, “Yo mama is so ugly; she has to roofie her vibrator.”

I can’t help but let out a laugh at that one, but Hank remains stoic as he thinks for a few hard beats before saying, “Yo mama is so slutty; she wanted to role play as a washing machine so she could have my dirty load inside her.”

Daylen spits out in extremely loud laughter while Jagger shouts, “Ohmigod, Dad! That’s disgusting!”

Hank eventually matches Daylen’s laugh while Ashleigh giggles and happily watches the interaction. I’m honestly not sure if she even understands the jokes.

After an always amusing Humblecut meal, Daylen and I insist on washing the dishes until there’s a knock at the door. Jagger pops out of her seat. “It’s Will. I’ll get it.”

Daylen turns to me. “It’s go time.”

I nod. “Yep.”

A skinny punk with too many piercings and baggy jeans sitting halfway down his non-existent ass walks into the kitchen.

His shit-eating grin immediately drops when he’s met with two giant football players staring at him like they want to kill him, along with a Doberman who Daylen has given the guard dog signal to.

Jagger rolls her eyes. “Ignore them, babe. They’re nothing but big softies. All three of them. ”

Daylen lets out a low grumble from deep in his chest while I puff out mine. We’re a combined five hundred plus pounds of muscle staring down at a kid who can’t weigh more than a hundred and thirty pounds.

We basically spend the next hour scaring the kid shitless. I can now guarantee he won’t fuck with Jagger Humblecut ever again.

This is the most fun I’ve had in a while.