Colter
C olter woke up in the middle of the night after having the strangest dream about his grandfather. He hadn’t dreamed about him since just after he passed, but tonight’s dream felt so real. He kept telling him to wake up because something was wrong, but when woke and looked around the room, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“Hey,” Hugh said. He was standing in ’s doorway, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I think that Melvin is upset about something. He’s really meowing downstairs.”
sat up and looked at his phone. “It’s three in the fucking morning,” he grumbled. He really wasn’t a cat person, and his grandfather was probably laughing his ass off from the great beyond at the fact that was taking care of Melvin.
“I can run down and check on him,” Hugh offered.
“No, he’s my responsibility. I can see what’s going on with him. Dumb cat is probably just hungry or something,” said, sliding out of his warm bed. He flicked on the lights and didn’t miss the way that Hugh checked out his body in just his boxer briefs. Hugh wasn’t wearing much more—just a pair of sweatpants that did nothing to hide the outline of his cock.
“I’ll at least tag along in case you need any help,” Hugh offered.
“I’m pretty sure that I can feed a cat on my own,” countered. “But if you want to tag along, go for it.” They both only had about two hours of sleep since sitting up and going over the house rules. was exhausted and he was pretty sure that Hugh had to feel about the same way.
They walked down to the family room, where the meowing was the loudest, and found Melvin sitting in the corner of the room, looking out the sliding glass door that went to the back porch. He seemed really upset about whatever was out there and knew that if he wanted to go back to sleep, he’d need to figure out what was driving Melvin out of his mind.
“What do you think he’s so upset about? Do you think that he wants to go out?” Hugh asked.
“Melvin is an inside cat. My grandfather picked him up at a shelter when he was about a year or two old. Some asshole declawed him and if he gets out, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself,” said, remembering the story that his grandfather told him.
“Declawing a cat is inhumane,” Hugh growled. “I mean, I don’t know much about cats, but I at least know that.”
“Yeah, well, someone out there didn’t know that, and Melvin paid the price. He’s okay now, as long as he stays in the house.” walked over to the door and looked out into the darkness, trying to figure out what Melvin was meowing at. He didn’t see the mother cat and her four babies until he turned on the back light.
“What is that?” Hugh asked, crowding in next to .
“It’s not a that—it’s a them. It looks like a mother cat and her four kittens.” He pointed down to where they were all huddled in the corner of his patio.
“How are we going to get them in here?” Hugh asked, nodding at the kittens on the porch.
“In here?” asked. “Why would we bring them in here?”
“Because we can’t leave them out there. They are so tiny,” Hugh said. He smiled out the window at the kittens and their mother, and knew that he was about to lose the battle.
“If we bring them in here, you’re going to help take care of them. I inherited Melvin, but I’m not really a cat person,” admitted.
“No kidding,” Hugh grumbled. “I couldn’t tell at all, right Melvin?” The cat had the nerve to stop meowing long enough to look up at Hugh as though agreeing with him. “See, even Melvin agrees with me.”
rolled his eyes and picked Melvin up, “Traitor,” he whispered into the cat’s ear. “Can you take Melvin and put him in the pantry? I’ll try to bring them all in and I don’t want him getting out or attacking the other cats. I’m not sure how he’ll react.”
“No problem.” Hugh picked Melvin up and carried him to the pantry just off the mud room. The cat growled at him the whole way, and Colton wanted to be upset for Hugh, but the whole scene was too funny. “He’s not very happy right now,” he said, returning to the family room.
“Yeah, I heard,” Colton teased. “Don’t worry, he does the same to me. He doesn’t like anyone—well, except my grandfather, and he’s not around to put up with Melvin’s bullshit anymore.”
“He’s not that bad,” Hugh defended.
“Wait until he bites you because that little bugger can be mean,” said.
“Well, Melvin and I get along just fine,” Hugh insisted.
“Since you and Melvin are best friends now, can you help me round up the mom and her babies?” asked. “Grab a box or something to keep them in,” he ordered. had to admit, he liked being bossy, and Hugh didn’t seem to mind. “There is probably one in the garage.” Hugh came back from the garage holding an empty box and wearing a triumphant smile. couldn’t believe that he was about to bring in five more cats to take care of, but Hugh was right, they couldn’t just leave them outside to fend for themselves.
“Here’s the box,” he said, handing it to . “Do you have anything soft that we can put in there?”
“I have an extra towel in the bathroom that we can line it with. Hold on,” he ordered. ran to the bathroom and brought back the towel, helping Hugh to line the box.
“Ready?” Hugh asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” said. He opened the sliding door and stepped out into the chilly night. The babies were all sleeping cuddled up against their mother and he thought that it was about the cutest thing he’d seen in a damn long time. Hugh was like the damn cat whisperer the way that he approached the mother cat. He made it look effortless.
“It’s okay,” he whispered to the cat. She didn’t look much older than a kitten herself. He put her into the box, and she meowed for her kittens. Hugh picked them up, one at a time, and placed them in the box with their mother. “There you go,” he said, stroking the mom’s head.
“You’re really good at this,” said. He was holding the box and watching Hugh’s every move. It was adorable how he talked to the kittens and could tell that he was already getting attached to them. Hell, he was getting attached to Hugh, if he was being honest with himself.
“Yeah, I’ve always had pets. Luke and I had a dog,” he admitted. hated it when he talked about his ex, but Hugh seemed to need to. Maybe talking about him was helping Hugh heal, but wasn’t sure. What if he was hung up on his ex and was foolishly hoping for something that would never happen?
“He kept the dog, but she was his to begin with. He adopted Kalie a year before we met. Although I grew attached to her while Luke and I were together, it was the right thing to leave her with him. His place was the only home she’d ever known.”
“Do you miss her?” Colton asked.
“Yep, every day, which is more than I miss my ex,” Hugh admitted. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye to her, and I still regret that.” Hearing him say that gave hope that it shouldn’t. walked into the family room and put the box on the floor. As soon as he did that, the mother cat calmed down and began feeding her kittens.
“What are we going to do with her?” Hugh asked.
“Well, tomorrow, I’ll try to call the shelter in town to see if they can take them,” he said. “And if not, we’ll have to figure out how to take care of five extra kittens,” said.
“I’m willing to help any way that I can,” Hugh promised.
“With the bar opening in a couple of weeks, we’ll be working crazy hours,” said.
“We can take them into the bar and leave them in your office,” Hugh offered. “That way they won’t be all alone and we can keep an eye on them.”
“I guess that will work,” agreed, “if the shelter can’t take them.” Hugh’s smile lit up the room. His excitement was infectious and when he leaned into ’s body to thank him, he didn’t miss his chance to steal a kiss. sealed his mouth over Hugh’s and when he wrapped his arms around ’s waist, he knew that Hugh was a liar. Hugh had told him that he wasn’t interested in him, but the kiss told him a different story. The kiss told him everything that he needed to know—Hugh wanted him, and now, there would be no denying that fact.
broke the kiss and smiled at Hugh. “Liar,” he breathed.
Hugh’s smile faded, “Did you just call me a liar?”
“I did,” admitted.
“Why?” Hugh asked.
“Because you said that you didn’t want me—that I’m not your type,” reminded. “You lied.”
“No, I did not,” Hugh covered. “What makes you say that?”
“The kiss told me everything that I need to know about you, Hugh. You want me and earlier, you lied about me not being your type,” said. “Kisses don’t lie, even when you don’t want to admit the truth. Just admit that I’m right, Hugh,” begged. From the stubborn look on Hugh’s face, there was no way that he was going to give in. He was going to stick by his lie, and knew that he was going to be a challenge, but he always loved those. For now, he’d give Hugh a pass, but sooner or later, the guy was going to have to come clean and couldn’t wait for that day.