Zach looked terrified. Like he’d done something so bad Colton would never speak to him again. “Hate it? Are you crazy? It’s… it’s….”
“It’s too good for you, Scrap.” Greg came from around the corner followed by Nanette, Momma, Maddie, Grandma and Grandpa and a couple others he couldn’t see. “I tried to tell him to just throw some thrift store shit in here and be done, but he wanted to make itspecial.”
If he’d had his Taser, he’d have stunned that snarky son of a bitch. “I’m about to kill you, Greg.”
A bark preceded Barley tearing across the house. Zach got in front of Colton and let the dog jump on him first. “We’ll need to work on his greetings,” Zach said.
The word Colton heard was“we”.As in him and Zach. “How’d you do all this?”
“Mr. Lee sent me my first check. Uncle Ted helped me open a bank account, but seeing as I didn’t have a credit card, Grandpa took us all shopping, put it on his card, and I gave him a check.”
“Racked up a ton of reward points.” Grandpa smiled at Zach. “Thanks to you, Betty and I are gonna have enough to take that cruise.”
Colton laughed, because that was pure Grandpa. Always hunting for an angle. He was about to speak when he realized Zach had called them ‘Uncle Ted’ and ‘Grandpa.’ “You let him call you, Grandpa?”
“Zach wouldn’t call him Jerry or me Betty,” Grandma said. “That was the best compromise we could come up with.”
“Jeb had many faults, but he taught his kin to be respectful,” Maddie said, giving Zach a side hug.
“Anything you hate, let me know and we’ll take back,” Zach said. “Momma, Aunt Nanette, and Grandma did most of the picking. I didn’t know what you’d hate.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Momma said. “He’s got very good taste. We had to tone it down some because we knew you wouldn’t appreciate it.”
He made a sour face, which was hard given how much he couldn’t stop grinning. “Thanks.”
She winked and gave him a light hug. “It's about time you’re here to enjoy your house, Colt.”
“Why don’t we all get lunch ready and let Zach show him the rest of the house,” Nanette said.
Zach grabbed his hand and led them up the stairs. Last time he’d been on them, there’d been shots fired. He paused at the wall, but damn he couldn’t see any sign of damage. “Honey, you must have spent way too much on all this.”
“Can we talk about that later?” Zach asked. “Please?”
Zach said please like he’d done something wrong. “I’m not mad. I swear. But you didn’t need to do this.”
Zach spun on the landing and faced Colton. “You told me not to run. Did you mean it?”
More than he’d meant anything he’d ever said. “Every damn word.”
“I’ve never had much of anything, Colton. No home, no furniture, no bed, no family, and no one to love me. If I’m staying, I want it all. I already got someone to love, so I wanted us to have a home with some of the stuff I never had. I swear, if you hate anything, we’ll get rid of it, but I wanted you to know what you’ll be coming home to every night.”
Colton swallowed, and pinched his eyes shut to hold in the tears. That was what he’d missed. Zach was setting up a home.Theirhome. “Honey….” He couldn’t hold it together. “Goddamn, I love you so hard.”
“And I love you. You let me into your life, and this is nothing compared to that.” Zach kissed him lightly on the lips. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
He led them to the master bedroom. A king bed with a tall headboard was in the middle of the long wall. It rested on an even larger rug, with nightstands on either side. A matching dresser with a goddamn mirror took up part of the side wall, and there were two chairs and a bed for Barley.
“How’d you do all this?”
“Have you met your family?” He laughed. “They can shop. Thank God, Maddie was there. She was ruthless when it came todickering with the people. And with Grandpa grumbling in the background, no one wanted to cross her too much.”
Colton laughed, and his sides ached a little, but it was the good kind. “Can I say how much I love you calling them the same as I do?”
“Honestly? It’s hard. I’m doing it so I’ll get used to it, but….” Zach shrugged.
There was a hesitation that Colton wanted to root out before it could fester. “But what? They’re fine with it.”
“You’ve grown up with all this family loving you. All I had was Grandpa, and by the time it was just us, he’d lost so much, he couldn’t bring himself to truly love me. I’m not sure I’ll do it right.”
