Page 9 of A New Chapter
Colton noted Rom’s sad smile. “I wonder if he’s ever been able to just sit and relax like this,” Rom whispered.
Colton studied his little brother’s profile, at the worry still etched deep in his face, even in sleep. “Doubtful. Knowing them, probably not.”
Around eleven, they roused Clayton and sent him to bed before they retired to their room. Colton’s plans for the day had been shot to hell, and with a barrage of old memories and emotions swamping him, he didn’t feel the slightest bit romantic.
Thankfully, Rom seemed to understand. “Let’s just cuddle tonight, boy. Okay?”
Colton nodded. “Thank you, Master,” he whispered. He’d need to do a sound check of their room when Clayton wasn’t home. He had no idea what could be heard over there.
This was not a problem he was used to having. Sure, on weekends they had to be quiet because of the store, but they could at least make love without worrying about the grannies hearing about it.
“Now I kind of wish I still had Grammy’s house,” Colton said.
“Why?”
“Privacy.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Rom told him. “I accidentally walked in on Chad and Ina having sex once, while they were dating.”
“Yikes!”
“Yeah, they forgot to lock the bedroom door, and I’d had a nightmare.”
“Did that give you new nightmares?” Colton teased.
Rom laughed. “No,thatdidn’t, but Chad then insisting on sitting down and having ‘the talk’ with me nearly did. He wanted to be a responsible parent and assure me I could talk to him about anything, but once I realized what was going on, I just wanted to crawl into a pit and hide, I was so embarrassed. Finally got over it, both of us.” He snorted. “It’s amazing we both didn’t end up traumatized from that.”
“And Inastillmarried him?” Colton joked.
“Yeah, nosy little brother and all. I can tell you, though, once he had ‘the talk’ with me, that cured my nosiness. I had no desire to go peeking through his drawers. I didn’t want to see adamnthing.”
“Good to know.”
They lay there for a few minutes and Colton thought Rom had been close to going to sleep when he spoke again. “So we’re agreed, we need to see Ed first thing, right? We need custody paperwork ASAP, and to enroll him in school.”
“Yeah.” Colton sighed. “I wonder how much this’ll cost us?”
“Doesn’t matter. Even if I need to dig into savings.”
“I hate my parents.”
“I wouldn’t call them parents,” Rom said. “More like biological creators.Parentsdon’t discard their kids like this.”
And that was the thought rolling through Colton’s brain as he fell asleep.
That, and he’d lived a charmed life to have both Grammy and Rom loving and supporting him. Hopefully, they could be a stable, loving home for Clayton and give him every advantage so he could succeed, too.
If Colton didn’t get himself arrested for punching the man and woman who’d discarded them.
Chapter Four
Monday morning, Rom and Colton had just started their morning coffee when Clayton emerged from his room. Rom hadn’t slept well but didn’t want to tell Colton that. He’d had nightmares he hadn’t experienced in years.
Just another reason for him to hate Colton’s parents, sight unseen, for setting this series of events into motion.
“You sleep okay?” Colton asked the boy.
He nodded. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”
