Page 55 of Offside Rules

"Wait. Wolf… isn’t that your–" Rooks starts, but then an egg hits Rooks in the head, yellow egg yolk dripping down his brown hair into his eyes. "Hey!" Rooks yells. "What the hell was that for?"

"You want breakfast, then keep your mouth shut, huh?"

There’s a moment between them. A conversation I don’t understand, and then Wolf turns back around to crack more eggs.

Rooks walks out to the sink to wash off his hair.

"What flavors are you trying today?" he asks. "And do you need a guinea pig? Because I’m happy to taste test."

"Shouldn’t you be on your way home?" Wolf asks, staring back at Rooks over his shoulder as he starts to work the eggs in the pan so they don’t burn.

"No. I figured I’d stay another day."

"Lucky us," Wolf mutters, annoyed, and then turns back to his eggs.

I hold back a snicker.

"To answer your question…" I start, straightening my spine as I look down at my list that I’m very proud of. "I’m going to try a brown butter cupcake with brown sugar frosting, a blueberry and honey cupcake with a honey frosting and streusel crumble on top, and a new dark chocolate chip cupcake with a mint frosting and chocolate ganache."

"And you’re making extras for me, aren’t you?" Rooks asks.

"I haven’t decided."

"Hey," Wolf cuts in.

We both look at him. He points the fork at Rooks’s bare chest.

"He doesn’t have to wear a shirt in the kitchen?"

I glance at Rooks, then take a spatula from my bag and tap the jar beside the fridge.

"Sorry, Rooks. House rules."

He looks at the jar, then at the whiteboard.

"Twenty bucks?"

"Every time."

Rooks gets off the stool and heads back down the hall.

Wolf watches him go, then goes back to beating the eggs. "He gets a hug. I get fined."

"He’s getting fined too."

"After the hug."

"You can put that in your complaint."

Rooks returns with his wallet. "How much to keep my shirt off?"

I consider it for a minute. "A hundred, but you can’t come into my sanitized space."

"Deal," he says it with a proud smile and pulls out a hundred, jamming it as far as his big hands will let him.

Wolf pauses with the bowl over the pan. "He gets a day rate. That’s not fair."

"I’m her favorite, remember?"