“My friends were supposed to come with me,” Spencer carried on. “They cancelled at the last minute and I think they thought I was going to bail, but no way. I want to see the painted goats.”
Max bit the corner of his lip to fight back an unnecessary smile. “Do you now?”
“I’m fascinated with animals,” Spencer told him, “I’ve never seen a painted goat in person before.”
“Well, I hope you’re not disappointed,” Max offered. He couldn’t care less about the painted goats, or the rafting, or the camping, or any of this whole trip.
“Doubt it.” Spencer grinned, drumming his fingers over the arms of the leather chair he was sitting in.
Collin came back into the room with a stack of papers and dropped them down onto the desk, sliding one toward Max and the other toward Spencer, then he pulled two flannel wrapped pens out of a cup and handed those off.
Max took the pen and rubbed the material between his fingers. “Cute pens.”
“My brother did it,” Collin grumbled, his lips twisting into a frown. “They’re...whatever. Rubbish.”
“They’re rustic,” Spencer supplied, tapping the ballpoint tip against the top page, and Max saw Collin smile at that. “Where do I sign?”
“The first four pages are a general release of liability. We do our best to make sure the trip goes without incident, but we aren’t liable for injury or death.” Collin pointed at the paper.
Max signed it without reading it. Spencer read every page.
“This next one states that in the event of inclement weather, continuation of the trip is at the discretion of the guide and cancellations don’t equal refunds.” Collin pulled the signed papers toward him and pointed at the next page.
“So if the weather goes bad, we’re shit out of luck?” Max asked, thinking that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
“Basically,” Collin grunted.
Spencer made a funny sound and both men looked to him. His cheeks blushed and he scribbled a flourished signature at the bottom of the page.
“Are you all right?” Collin asked.
“Oh, I’m fine.” Spencer covered his cheeks with his hands and pretended to be embarrassed. “I just like when he gets all...like that.”
“Like what?”
“All grunty. I don’t know.” Spencer waved a hand toward Collin. “You have this whole lumbersexual thing going on right now. I like it.”
“I’m old enough to be your father.” Collin frowned.
“I could call you Daddy.”
Max choked out a sharp laugh, then cleared his throat and schooled his features when he realized no one else was laughing.
“Sorry,” he apologized, righting the pen in his hand and staring studiously down at the paper.
“You watch it,” Spencer teased from his right. “You’re pretty Daddy yourself.”
“I’m not your Daddy,” Max corrected.
“Yet.”
“This last one says we can use your likeness in promotional material and any pictures that I or anyone who works here takes of you is our property,” Collin announced, forcing the words out.
Max signed the last paper and found himself smiling for what seemed like the first time in days. Spencer signed his page, again after reading it, and pushed the paper across the desk toward Collin, who stacked them all into a neat pile.
“I’ll go get these sorted, then we can get on the trail.”
Collin disappeared again into a back office, leaving Spencer and Max alone.
“You could be a good Daddy,” Spencer said.
“I don’t want to be anyone’s Daddy,” Max snapped. “I don’t want to worry about anyone besides myself, alright? Enough.”
Spencer widened his eyes and arched a brow.
Max wasn’t lying. He wasn’t a Daddy, he was far from a Daddy, and he definitely wasn't in a place to even pretend to play that part. The idea of it was too much and he was feeling so...fragile.
He was a joke.
Max scrubbed his hands down his face and stood up, stomping out of the office and back toward the gravel parking area. He sat down on the stairs and rested his elbows on his knees.
“Hey,” Spencer’s quiet voice floated down from above him.
“Not now, kid.”
Spencer scoffed. “You may not be a Daddy, but I’m definitely not a kid, so that’s enough of that. And besides, I came out here to apologize.”
“Did you now?”
“I did. I was wrong to call you Daddy. You’re definitely more of an asshole than a Daddy.”
Spencer hopped off the stairs and headed toward their backpacks in the lot. Max’s was old and worn. Well-used from a lifetime of camping and hiking. Spencer’s on the other hand looked like he’d pulled the tags off in the back seat of his car.
“I am an asshole,” he agreed, standing up and brushing dirt off his ass. “And you’re not the first person to tell me that.”
“You seem fine to me,” Collin said, stepping out onto the stairs beside him.
“You have that gruff asshole vibe about you, too,” Spencer offered with a noncommittal shrug.
Max thought that might have meant Spencer found them both attractive, but again...didn’t matter.
“Right.” Collin clapped his hands together, ignoring Spencer’s comment. Max reasoned Collin was probably used to getting hit on by clients. He was a good looking guy—older, with more than a touch of gray in his hair, but muscles that looked like they were well-earned. “We need to hike for about four miles to get to the campsite. After that, we’ll set up our tents and have dinner, then in the morning, we’ll finish the last leg of the tour. It’s three miles to the rafting point, and at the end, another mile and a half to the busses. Sound alright with you lot?”
“Oh!” Spencer sounded surprised. “We’re going now?”
Max shoved his hand into his pocket.
“Right now,” Collin confirmed.
“I need to re-up my bug spray and sunscreen then. One second.” Spencer dropped his bag onto the ground and rifled through it, producing two aerosol cans. He closed his eyes and sprayed them both all over his face and all over the ground, then he tucked them away and re-shouldered the bag.
“Ready,” he proclaimed.
Collin offered Max a bemused look. “Er...right.”
Max picked up the rear again, following Spencer’s bobbing head and Collin’s sure steps down the beginning of the trail.
It looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day. The sky was bright blue, with wisps of clouds which poked out above the tops of the trees, and the sun wasn’t beating down yet. There was a hint of a breeze, and Max took a deep breath, appreciating all the smells of nature.
“This is a great outfit you’ve got here,” he called ahead to Collin, who looked over his shoulder with a proud smile.
“It’s a beautiful place. This is my last tour, though.”
“What?” Spencer cried. Off to their right, a pair of birds took flight, no doubt startled by Spencer’s voice.
“Yep. Packing it in. It’s time to move on to something new.”
“What could be better than this?” Max asked.