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Speak of the devil, Otis appears and jumps onto the bed. Brayden immediately tells him to get off. I’m amazed when he listens. That turd. He’ll listen to Brayden just like that? He does come over to my side and rests his head on the edge in a pout. I glance at Brayden, as if I now need permission.
“Make him sit first. He should need permission to jump onto the bed.”
We spend the next half hour getting Otis to sit, giving him a command to let him know it’s okay to jump onto the bed, and then trying to make him stay at the foot of the bed.
“He’s exhausting. It’s like trying to raise a kid.”
Brayden chuckles. “You didn’t realize what you were signing up for, huh?”
“Nope. He’s too cute to regret it, though. Hey, I’m hungry. Are you cooking or shall I order us a pizza?”
“We can slack today.” At that, I gasp, and he ignores me. “Order a pizza.”
I expected it to be weird, having him here in my space, but it’s not. Other than the obvious fact that he’s here, I’m not bothered by it. And the longer he’s here, the less I’m bothered. We get dressed, order pizza, and start a movie while we wait for it to be delivered.
My phone vibrates with a text while Brayden is paying the delivery guy.
Zane: Can I see you tomorrow?
It doesn’t feel right to commit to that when Brayden is in my house, so I put it down without responding. Brayden appears with the pizza and we dig in.
“Where would you like to travel?” I ask.
“Um,” he seems to think about it. “I don’t know.”
“Really?” Most people know of at least one place they’d like to visit.
“Yeah. What about you?”
“All fifty states. I want to see my own country before I think about visiting others. Did your mom like her clock?”
“Oh, yeah,” he says with a nod. “She was excited about it.”
“Tell me a secret.”
“You first.” His reply is so quick, it’s obvious he doesn’t want to tell me a secret.
“I called my mom a bitch yesterday.” Where did that come from? Brayden glances over at me with surprise. I feel like I should save this somehow. “She called. She’s mad again because she asked if I’d let her work in the shop and I told her no. She hates that I have that kind of authority, especially since she doesn’t think I should have it.” I pause and focus my gaze on the TV. “We sort of got along before my grandma died. Better than we do now, at least.”
“Why does she want to help? Why do you say no?”
I glare at him. “It’s my business. I’m not letting her step a foot into the door for her to try and take over.”
“Understandable. I was only asking since I don’t know.”
I decide this is a good time to stop talking. Brayden must agree. He pulls me into his arms as we lie on the couch with Otis on the floor in front of us. This is nice. Really nice. His hands rest on my ass. His heartbeats sound strong and could lure me into a nap. Taking care of Otis is tiring; it’s a lot more work than I expected when I made the spur-of-the-moment decision to keep him. I can’t imagine having Zane in my house or talking to him as much as I talk to Brayden.
But none of that means anything.
Me: Sorry, I totally forgot to respond to you!
Zane: It’s fine.
He’s not happy, and I can’t say I blame him. He messaged me on Sunday and it’s now Wednesday. I feel bad, but Brayden ended up spending the night and things have been crazy this week between work and going to the training sessions with Otis that Brayden hooked me up with. I haven’t had time to see him either.
“How is it going with your two guys?”
I glance over at Rose. “What do you mean? They are just guys.”
