Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Presley
“I’ll have the chicken Alfredo, with a side salad,” I say, scanning over the menu already dreaming about the chocolate brownie with ice cream.
“And what dressing would you like?” our waitress asks smiling happily. She was in heaven or so she said. We are a fun group versus those she’s dealt with for the last several hours. Her name is Wren, and she’s had a hell of a night full of disrespecting assholes. Arrogant dicks that tip for shit and expect everything.
I know how she’s feeling. I’ve been there. Spending hours on my feet, smiling and running around doing every possible thing I can do to make every person happy. Then seeing that dollar on the table after they leave a tremendous mess behind.
But all you can do is ignore the disappointment and slap on a smile because the next table is waiting.
“I’ll take ranch,” I tell her, handing the menu back as she moves around the table taking everyone else’s order.
“So.” Luna is the first to scoot in close and stare at me with curiosity. It has been a bit since we’ve all gotten together. I knew coming in that the questions would be fired off the minute they all got the chance. “How are things at the warehouse?” It’s what everyone calls Zac’s place. It’s funny it may have once been and from the outside it does still scream industrial but all I feel when I’m inside is a sense of comfort. He’s made it a home and now Gray and I call it home too.
“Things are good.” Great even. “It’s weird how comfortable everything became so quickly. It kind of feels like we’ve been there a lot longer than a few weeks. Grayson of course loves it. His fort is his favorite place to be.”
“Jace and Oliver said they are starting on the bedrooms next weekend,” Aurora says around a mouthful of bread. “Jake’s brother is a plumber and he’s supposed to be there Saturday to get going on the plumbing for the bathroom.”
“Grayson doesn’t need his own bathroom.” I still don’t agree with all the fuss Zac is going through. “He’d be happy with the fort and the half bathroom downstairs. Besides he really loves the power shower in Zac’s room.”
“The power shower?”
I laugh. “It’s what Gray calls the shower. Because that thing is a dream.” I sigh.
“It is,” Aurora says and we all turn and look at her.
“Oh please,” she says with her mouth full. “I took a shower there once when I stayed over after the many fights Jace and I had before we really got together. Get your heads out of the gutter.” She rolls her eyes.
Our waitress returns with our salads and appetizers, and we all get lost in conversation. It feels great to be with the girls again, I missed them. Truth is coming to Bear Creek was never the plan. But here I am and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I belong.
* * *
The smell of popcorn hits me the second I step inside. It’s dark with only the flashing of the television ricocheting around the space. Careful to be as quiet as I possibly can, I place my purse and keys on the table by the door.
Pulling off my shoes to eliminate the clicking against the hardwood floors, I set them down and tiptoe across the living room.
Stepping around the front of the fort to the large opening I peek inside and instantly my chest grows tight. Zac is lying on his back, one arm out to his side the other thrown up over his eyes.
Grayson is tucked in at his side, like the safest cocoon. My heart swells at the sight.
This man loves my son. I’m in awe.
He is good to him, so patient and kind.
It overwhelms me. I love more than anything that Grayson has Zac in his life. He is giving him something that his own father never could.
“Hey, baby.” The sound of his hoarse whisper surprises me. “You have a good time with the girls?”
“I did.” But I missed this. I missed our little family.
“We got a little destructive,” Zac adds as he carefully pulls his arm out from under Gray’s little body. He takes the time to cover him up, propping pillows around him.
I thought when he said destructive he meant how crazy the living room looks.
“Not down here, babe.” He climbs out of the fort and the first thing he does is cup my jaw and lean in to kiss me. “I’ll show you.” I blink a few times and then I’m being led to the stairs.
When we reach the top landing Zac then guides me to the area at the far end. That’s when I see it. What was once a half wall is now crumbled and there are a few garbage bags filled and tied shut.
“Check this out.” Zac holds the phone out and hits play. I watch in amazement as Gray holds a little hammer in his hands, swinging it into what was once the wall. On each impact his eyes grow wide, he giggles and then does it all over again. It’s adorable and incredible.
“He loved it.” Zac steps up behind me, kissing the side of my neck.
Turning in his arms I grab his neck and pull him down to me. “I love you,” I whisper, ignoring the surprised expression on his face. “You are so good to my son,” I continue, backing him up, “and to me.”
Kissing him again, his hands go to my hips and he squeezes pulling my body tightly to his.
“And I know that you will be so good to our baby.” Leaning back I lock eyes with him. “Because you Zachary Michaels are a good man.”
“Whether you believe it or not Pres, you are easy to love. Grayson, he’s my bud and this baby, it’s a part of us.”
His legs bump into the edge of the bed and as he sits back I move in straddling him. Holding his face in my hands, I kiss him before moving my hands to his hair. He’s got the perfect hair to hold on to.