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Three of a Kind - 33
"Oh, you'll be looking fine in no time, I'm sure."
Zane had the body and those eyes... Butch bet there was a real pretty face under the bruises and
swelling.
"Thanks." He got another quiet smile, then Zane pointed at the line of meat. "What do you like?"
"Beef, chicken, pork." He shrugged. "Food."
"Then how about hamburger and a couple of chickens and a roast?"
"Cool. We can grill if you want. I lied before. I do a mean hot dog on the grill." He winked at Zane.
"Ooh. Cool. I like hot dogs." Zane gave him another smile, a nod.
"Excellent. I can spell you on the weekends."
He tossed some chips in their cart. "Put in whatever you like, yeah?"
Zane bought real food -- chiles and tomato paste and potatoes, salad and cake mix and oil and
grapes and shit. Butch picked up apples and bananas and raisins for Randy to munch on, along with
a couple cans of nuts. He refilled their water supply and decided on some ice cream. It was all very
domestic and far more fun with someone else.
Zane added a couple of cleaning supplies to the mix, along with paper towels.
"Oh, cookies. Randy likes those ones with the marshmallow in the middle and I like the fudgey
ones. You?"
"Oreos."
"Good choice. You like the old-fashioned regular ones or the mint and peanut butter crap ones?"
"The black and white ones. Double Stuf if they have them." Zane chuckled. "There doesn't seem to
be much sense in fixing with ain't broke."
"You said it." He tossed in a Double Stuf. "What do you like to drink?"
"Dr. Pepper, iced tea. Chocolate milk."
"'kay. We also need root beer for me and juice for Randy."
"Okay. I can drink water, too. Honest."
Three of a Kind - 34
"Water's great. Gets boring, though. Like always doing it in the missionary position." Damn. He
was going to stop doing that, wasn't he?
Zane chuckled. "I guess, yeah."
"Anything else you need?" Their cart was pretty full. It was time to head out.
"Nope. Thanks. You've been real generous." A dirty twenty dollar bill was offered over.
"I seem to remember suggesting you start paying me back once you get your first paycheck."
Last thing the kid needed was an emergency where he wound up having to ask for twenty dollars to
cover him.
"Yeah. I had to offer, man."
He touched Zane's arm awkwardly. "You're good people, Zane. Don't let anyone convince you
otherwise."
Another sweet little blush, and Zane nodded. "Thank you, sir. I appreciate it."
"And that's not just the food high talking." He gave Zane a wink and headed for a cash register.
Zane helped bag, moving better tonight than this morning. Butch bet the kid would be up on the
roof day one on the job. They got the groceries into the truck and headed out. "You want to stop
anywhere on the way?"
"No, I'm good. 'sides, your ice cream? Needs a freezer."
Butch nodded. "It does." He headed home, grinning. "Of course it usually has a couple dozen
frozen dinners for company."
"My food's better than frozen dinners any day."
"Hell yes." He chuckled. "That's not much of a compliment actually, is it? It's good though, better
than just better than frozen dinners."
Zane laughed, nodded. "Hell, even frozen dinners are better than they used to be."
"They are. And most of them'll cook up in the microwave now." He gave Zane a wink. "So are you
gonna stay a bit then?" If Zane was, they'd have to get him his own bed. Butch had a hunch the kid
wouldn't want to keep sleeping in their bed once his ribs were better.
"If you'll let me, yeah. I... I noticed there was an old trailer out in the yard. I thought maybe I could
sleep there, give y'all some privacy."
Three of a Kind - 35
He made a face. "It needs a lot of work before it's livable, but if that's what you want, go for it."
"It's better for y'all, yeah? And it'll give me a chance to fix the truck, work."
"Whatever makes you happy. We'll see what we can find to make it livable tomorrow."
"You've been great, Butch. I'll make it up to you. I will." So sincere. So fucking young.
"I know you will. Don't doubt it for a second." Kid needed to have his confidence built back up.
Not to mention he truly believed it.
"Thanks. Thanks a lot."
He grinned. "No problem, Zane."
No problem at all.
All he needed to do was convince the kid of that.
Three of a Kind - 36
Chapter Five
Randy stretched as he woke up, blinking as he searched the place for Zane and Butch. He was
pretty sure it was still the weekend. Sunday. It was deserted though.
He went to get himself some orange juice and grabbed the chocolate milk instead. They'd never had
chocolate milk before. Cool.
There were odd noises from outside, and he pulled on his shorts and wandered out, grabbing a hat
from the peg by the door.
Wow, check it out. Butch had moved the old trailer a little closer to the warehouse, away from the
piles of junk in the yard, and him and Zane were working on the inside by the sound of it.
Randy wandered over to the door and poked his head in. "Hey."
He got a grin from Butch, who was fixing cabinets. "Hey, babe, you sleep good?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Hey, Zane."
"Howdy." Zane was shirtless, sweating, patching the holes in the floor, shooing the lizards he found
outside.
Wow, maybe all construction workers were sexy.
"Are we moving?" he asked.
Zane blinked over. "Nah. Butch is going to let me live in here for a while. Give y'all your house
back."
"Oh, you don't have to do that. It's going to be hotter out here."
"Randy."
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