Series: Peach State Stepbros Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78418 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78418 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Ash laughs, nudges me with his arm, then leans his head on my shoulder. “I felt like I could get you to do anything I wanted today. Like there’s nothing you won’t do to make me feel good, and that’s an incredible rush.”
“That’s because there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make you feel good. I guess it’s a good thing we both get off on that.”
“I guess so.”
We’re quiet for a moment, resting against the car, when I hear a soft meow.
“Do you hear that?” I move toward the bushes at the side of the frat, Ash right behind me.
Meow. A soft, broken sound.
“It’s tiny,” Ash says while I get on my knees and crawl under the bushes, where I find an orange kitten tucked inside. It tries to hiss when I wrap my hand around it, baby kitten paws scratching at me.
“Shh. It’s okay. I got you.” I pull him close to my chest. Ash kneels beside me.
The kitty is dirty, too skinny, and he’s got goop around his eyes. It’s a fighter, though, tearing up my hands as I hold on to it.
“It doesn’t look good, Col.”
Fuck. Hearing that is like he drop-kicked my stomach, though all it takes is looking at the kitten to know that.
I’ve always had a thing for animals. I can’t say how many times I’ve brought home a stray or injured one. Most of the time, Dad and Lauren didn’t let me keep them. I could nurse them back to health, or we would bring them to the vet and they’d pay for them to get taken care of, and then I’d never see it again.
“I think he’s alone. I need to check if there are any others.” I try to still hold him while bending down to look, but Ash stops me.
“I’ll look for others. You just take care of him.”
I love that he doesn’t treat me like I’m silly, that he doesn’t mind getting messy and climbing into bushes to look for stray kittens for me.
“Shh,” I tell the kitty again while Ash looks.
“There’s nothing else here. I even did a bug sweep.” I know he says the last part to make me smile, and it works.
“I can’t believe I didn’t make you do that first.”
“Yeah, well, you’re all heart, so it makes sense that when you heard something in need, you forgot about yourself.”
Meow.
He doesn’t fight as much this time, just curls against my chest.
Ash sighs. “Come on. I’ll drive you to the emergency vet.”
“Thank you. Frat Cat says thank you too.”
“Oh fuck. You already named him?”
“Of course I did.”
We head back to the car, Ash in the driver’s seat while I hold the kitten.
“Don’t get too attached, Col. You don’t know what might be wrong with him.”
“Too late.” I rub the kitten’s belly.
“Jesus, Col. What am I going to do with you?”
“I can think of some really dirty ideas, but Frat Cat is too young to hear that kind of talk.”
Ash chuckles. “We’re keeping that cat, aren’t we?”
I smile at his use of we. That if I’m doing this, Ash will do it with me because we’re always there for each other.
“Methinks you already know the answer to that. I’ll blow you again later to say thanks.”
He cocks a brow. “You’ll blow me again because you like swallowing my load.”
“That too. It’s fucking delicious.”
Ash groans, pressing his hand against his cock.
“No getting hard around Frat Cat.”
“Then we’re definitely not keeping that cat.”
Good point. “Okay, we can get hard around him. I changed my mind.”
We have to sit in the waiting room at the emergency vet for two hours before they see us, and Ash doesn’t complain once. Frat Cat has an eye infection and is malnourished, but other than that, he seems healthy. They still want to keep him overnight to give him IV fluids and medication.
“Will you be keeping him?” the vet tech asks.
“Yeah, he’s ours,” Ash says, and I beam at his response.
“You have two new daddies!” I tell Frat Cat. “We’ll come back for you tomorrow.”
“How long have you two been together?” she asks, and I freeze. I’m figuring now isn’t the right time to say we’re stepbrothers. Maybe calling us his daddies wasn’t the best choice of words.
“Oh, we’re not. We’re…” What are we? I want to say everything.
“It’s new,” Ash sweeps in and saves me. Right. Not like I have to give her any details.
I bend over the table, getting close to the kitten. “We’ll come get you soon. I promise we’re not abandoning you.”
When I glance at Ash, he’s smiling.
They charge me way too much money for today, but I pay it because Frat Cat is worth it. As soon as we’re in the car, Ash asks, “To the store for kitten supplies?”
It’s late, and I love that he doesn’t try to put it off. He knows I wouldn’t have the patience. This time it’s my turn to grin at him. “You know me so well.”