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  Colton found one of Clayton as a newborn, based on his mother sitting up in a hospital bed and holding a swaddled newborn, and that she looked older than he remembered her being the last time he saw her.

  “There’s part of me that really hates that they just tried to replace me,” Colton quietly said. “I mean, why accept and love the son they had when they could throw him away? But then I think about wow, I have a little brother. When I was growing up, I always wanted a brother, until they threw me away. Then I was glad I didn’t have one, because I was afraid I never would’ve seen him again.”

  Rom draped an arm around Colton’s shoulders. “Their mistake,” he said. “They didn’t deserve either of you. Both of you are too good for them.”

  “I wish Grammy could’ve met him.” He sniffled as he looked at another picture of infant Clayton. “She would’ve loved him.”

  “She’d probably be in jail from killing your parents,” Rom snarked. “Based on what Aunt Roberta said her reaction was when they threw you out.”

  Colton tearfully laughed. “True story. She did a good job early of hiding how angry she really was at the time, because she didn’t want me to be afraid she’d get arrested or something. But later, yeah, she told me she almost hit Mom that day. I didn’t see it, but she said Mom tried to grab me while we were getting my stuff, but I had my back to her, and Grammy got between us and said she almost punched Mom. I guess Mom realized she’d pushed too far, and that’s when she went out in the back yard.”

  Colton sniffled. “Before today, that’s the last time I ever saw my mom.”

  “You’ll never see her again, either,” Rom swore. “Neither of them. And Clayton won’t, either. I won’t allow it.” He ran his hand through Colton’s hair. “I’m going to take care of you, and him.”

  Loren giggled.

  Ross arched an eyebrow at her. “Comment, pet?”

  She snickered and dropped her voice. “I feel sorry for the poor kid who tries to date Clayton in high school. Between Colton being so beefy, and Rom being so intense, Clayton will have a hard time not having guys be terrified of him.”

  “True story,” Rom said. “And just think, we add Ina and Chad to the mix, boys will be petrified.”

  Chapter Six

  The drive south was uneventful. They ate dinner in Sarasota, dropped Ross and Loren off, and then headed home to Venice. Ross had the paperwork he needed to give to Ed for the filing, and he gave Colton what they’d need for enrolling Clayton in school tomorrow.

  It was after nine when they parked behind the building and Rom shut the car off.

  “Home,” Colton said as he stared at the back of the building.

  Rom reached over and touched his shoulder. “It’s okay. We’ll go get him enrolled in the morning.” The latest transcript they had for him was two years old, though, and they didn’t know what other hoops they’d have to jump through to complete the process, like needing testing, or even vaccinations.

  In the bottom of the box, they’d found items that had rocked Colton to his core—some of his own baby pictures. Grammy had managed to get nearly everything else from his parents back then, but he’d never had these pics of himself as a newborn.

  “Why are they like this?” he softly asked without making any move to get out.

  Rom sighed. “Because they’re shitheads. I wish I could fix that for both of you, but I can’t. Tomorrow morning, we’ll get him enrolled at the junior high.”

  Colton looked at him. “Thank you, Master,” he softly said. “I know this wasn’t part of the plan when you married me.” He had to say it, had to put it out there, instead of letting it silently swirl within his heart and soul. “I’d understand if you want to—”

  “Don’t,” Rom said, silencing Colton. “Don’t finish that sentence, because I don’t want to hear it.” His fingers closed around Colton’s hand. “I love you. I meant it when I said it’s for life. So I get a bonus son-slash-brother-in-law? I’m good with that. Not the pain he had to go through, but the final result.”

  Colton nodded, studying Rom’s hand, his fingers, where they curled around his own hand. “At least Mom’s too old to try again,” he said, but it came out sounding darker and flatter than he’d meant it.

  Rom snorted. “If your father can even find his dick with two hands and a flashlight.”

  The laugh erupted from Colton and filled the car. It felt like some dark, festering scab had been ripped free, finally, from where it’d always remained attached to his skin and preventing that last little bit of healing.

  “You’re free,” Rom said. He ran his fingers through Colton’s hair. “You’re both free, and you’ve both got me, and I’m not going anywhere. Neither are Chad and Ina, or Aunt Roberta. Now let’s get upstairs and check on him.”

  Colton nodded. “Yeah.”

  Colton carried the bags of paperwork and followed Rom inside and upstairs, where Ina and Aunt Roberta were watching TV with Clayton in the living room.

  Clayton sat up when they entered. “Is it really over?” he asked. They’d called Aunt Roberta after lunch, before heading south again, to give her a brief update so Clayton—and everyone else—wouldn’t be stressed out any longer than necessary.

  Colton nodded and set the bags on the table. “It’s really over. All we have to do is file the paperwork tomorrow, and then the adoption. The adoption will take a little longer, but tomorrow morning, we’ll take you to the school and get you enrolled.”

  Clayton stared at him, then jumped up and ran to them, throwing his arms around them in a hug. “Can I pick a different name when you adopt me?”

  “Like what?” Rom asked.

  “Your name. Can I change my last name to your name? Can I be Clayton Quinn?”

  Okay, that was dust in Colton’s eyes, not tears. Right?

  Right.

  That was Colton’s story, and he was sticking to it.

  “Sure you can, buddy,” Rom said. “We’ll do that.”

  They both hugged him again. “You should get ready for bed,” Rom told him. “Morning’s going to come early. Tomorrow we can talk about what happened today.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” He hugged Ina and Aunt Roberta and said good night to them.

  Once he’d headed to the bathroom and closed the door behind him, Aunt Roberta stood. “I’m going to head home.”

  “How’d he do?” Colton asked.

  She smiled, but it looked tight, worried. “He’s going to need a lot of support,” she whispered. “It wasn’t just them throwing him out. He’s been under their thumb in a really bad way for his whole life. Apparently, they doubled down on their dumassery and were really strict on him in bad ways. He’s spent especially the last several years feeling horrible. They pulled him from public school when he asked about a gay pride event he saw advertisements for while riding on the school bus.”

  Ina looked grim as she nodded. “Definitely psychological abuse,” she whispered. “Apparently they are off the deep end. They blamed anything he did wrong as being ‘bad’ and tried to justify their beliefs with the Bible.”

  “Ugh,” Rom said.

  “Be consistent with him,” Ina suggested. “Gently firm and consistent. Once he has processed that you’re not going to be like them, I think he’ll really start the healing process. It’s going to take a while. Don’t go overboard and spoil him, though.”

  “What’d he say?” Colton asked.

  She shook her head. “We’ll talk tomorrow once he’s in school. I don’t want to talk about it where he can hear, and it’s a conversation that shouldn’t be rushed. You have all the papers, right?”

  Rom nodded. “We can start the adoption process. They signed over full parental rights to us, not just guardianship.”

  “Good. He needs you guys.”

  “Desperately,” Aunt Roberta added.

  Aunt Roberta and Ina left. When Clayton emerged from the bathroom, he walked over to the men and hugged them again. “Thank you,” he quietly said. “I�
�ll work to pay you back.”

  “Uh, for what?” Rom asked.

  “For the attorney.”

  “No, you won’t.” Rom grabbed the envelope with their copies of the paperwork and showed him. “We have to get the court stuff done still, to make it official, but you’re our son now. I mean, yeah, you’re his little brother, but still, no one’s taking you away from us.”

  Clayton stared at the papers and started crying again. “Really?”

  “Really.” He reached out and tousled the boy’s hair. “I know this is a lot to take in, but it’ll be okay. Try to go to sleep. We need to get you back in a routine for school.”

  “Thank you.” He hugged both men again. Colton wondered if Clayton was as starved for basic human affection as he’d been as a kid. “I love you.”

  Colton and Rom hugged him. “We love you, too,” Colton said.

  Once Clayton went to bed, Rom and Colton retired to their bedroom to take a shower. Colton felt…

  Exhausted, drained, lost.

  Much like he had that first night he was with Grammy.

  Rom held him, stroking his head. “It’s okay,” he said. “We’ll all get through this.”

  “This feels like a bad dream,” Colton said. “When I first moved in with Grammy, I’d have nightmares. I’d dream I was still with them, and they threw me out, but I didn’t have anyone to stay with. No one wanted me. That they called everyone I knew and told them not to take me in because I was bad.”

  * * * *

  Rom wasn’t sure who his heart was breaking more for—Colton or Clayton. Obviously, old wounds Colton thought had healed were ripped open once more.

  “I wish I knew what to say or do to make this better for you, baby,” Rom said. “I hate that you’re reliving all that old pain.” He wanted to curl his body around his big snuggle puppy and protect him from everything, including what those evil people had done to his beautiful man when he was a boy.

  Colton sighed. “You do make it better, Master,” he whispered. “By being you. You make me remember what’s good about the world and other people.” He snuggled his head against Rom’s chest.

  Rom knew he needed to lighten the mood a little so Colton might go to sleep a little more easily. “Hey, just think, we can still have nakey time and play while he’s in school tomorrow.”

  Colton’s lips feathered across Rom’s chest. “I hope so, Master.”

  Within five minutes, Rom was relieved to hear Colton’s breathing deepen and grow more regular, definitely sound asleep.

  Good. His boy needed the rest. He knew Colton hadn’t slept well last night, and today had been long and stressful, to say the least.

  Fortunately not as ugly a confrontation as it could’ve been. Rom wouldn’t have been shocked if they’d had to get the police involved, and Ross had totally been ready to do that. He revealed at lunch that he’d even had the statutes ready to cite.

  Thankfully, none of that had been needed. While they absolutely would have done it—and the fact the Oakes couldn’t have used Clayton running away as an excuse, since they got rid of all his things and didn’t report him missing or as a runaway to the cops—Rom knew that would have made everything that much harder on Colton.

  Best this way. He would gladly help Colton heal from these new wounds just to have the brothers shut of those two biological fuckheads.

  Another thing he’d added to his mental to-do list for tomorrow was checking Clayton’s credit, now that they had his Social Security number and other information, to make sure the two assholes hadn’t taken out cards in his name or anything, and putting a credit lock on it. He already had one on his own and on Colton’s. He’d seen first-hand the aggravation and anguish that kind of financial fraud could wreak on a person.

  Hopefully, the rest of this would be an easy downhill glide. Enroll Clayton in school, get him school supplies and clothes, get him counseling or whatever he needed, and then…

  Living.

  Chapter Seven

  The alarm went off way too early for Rom’s liking Wednesday morning, but they didn’t want to drag this out and have Clayton miss more school than was necessary. Rom already knew what school to go to from talking to Ina, and they had had all the paperwork they hoped they’d need.

  Otherwise, the next several days could involve another drive to Georgia to get what they’d need.

  Colton groaned as Rom sat up and turned the alarm off. “Fuuuuuuck,” Colton grumbled.

  Rom poked him in his gorgeous abs. “Language, buddy. We have a kiddo in the house now.”

  He let out a sigh. “You’d think I’d be used to this.”

  “Yeah, well, we might have to end up with a schedule change anyway. Depending on what time he’s supposed to be at school, you might have to rearrange your clients on your morning schedule.”

  Colton sat up. “I didn’t even think about that.”

  “Well, that’s another reason I want to sit down and take a hard look at our budget and bills.” He stood and stretched. “You might be able to give up some of your clients now, with my income.”

  “What about savings?”

  “We can reduce how much we put in, for now.” He headed to their bathroom.

  Colton climbed out of bed to follow him. “Or we might have to forget saving for that exotic vacation altogether,” he said. “We could be paying for college.”

  After the bathroom, they headed out to the kitchen together to start the coffee, just to find a fully dressed Clayton sitting at the kitchen table and going through the bags of items.

  “Hey, buddy,” Colton said. “Didn’t expect to see you up. It’s only six thirty.”

  “I’ve been up since five. I used to get up at four thirty to work on the dairy farm.”

  Rom knew that shocked Colton as much as it did him, because he pulled up short and gave Rom a look that probably matched Rom’s.

  “You’re kidding?”

  Clayton shook his head. “No, sir. I had to be there by five and had to walk to work.”

  Well, no fricking wonder the poor kid was skinny.

  Rom took care of the coffee while Colton sat at the table with Clayton. “You will have chores to do here,” Colton told him, “but your main ‘job’ will be schoolwork. We’ll settle all of that once we’ve got you enrolled and know what your schedule is.”

  Rom listened and kept his mouth shut, for now. There’d be plenty of time for him to step in once they had a routine in place. For now, he wanted to treat the boy with kid gloves.

  “I had fun yesterday. Aunt Roberta showed me stuff downstairs. She told me Grammy had you working in the store when you were younger than me.”

  “Well…” He sighed. “It wasn’t ‘work’ like I had to earn a living. It was helping her out, and it was fun. I liked what I did down there, and she encouraged my artistic side. She taught me about ceramics and art and everything involved with it. I loved doing it—it was like a hobby. I’m not going to ‘make’ you work down there. If you want to help out around your studies, and want to learn more about it, sure, I’d love to teach you all of that. I’m sure Aunt Roberta and the grannies would adore teaching you stuff, too.”

  Rom started getting their breakfast ready while the brothers talked. He noticed Clayton held one of the pictures of Colton as a baby.

  “Did they say anything when they signed the papers?” Clayton asked.

  Colton sighed. “Not really, no. Once Ross told them they didn’t have to pay any attorney fees, they signed the papers. He threatened to get them arrested for throwing you out, and that motivated them to sign and get rid of us.”

  “How many eggs you want, Clayton?” Rom wasn’t about to send the poor kid to school hungry.

  “I…I…” Rom turned and spotted him rubbing at his eyes.

  Colton patted him on the shoulder and met Rom’s gaze. “Buddy, if you’re hungry, say so.”

  “Can I have three, please?”

  “Sure. Scrambled okay?”

  “Yes,
please. Thank you.”

  Rom bit his tongue not to swear up a storm at Clayton’s parents.

  Within an hour, they were heading to the school even earlier than they’d planned, which was fine. It meant more time to get things done.

  After parking and finding the office, they stood in line at the administration desk and finally got to speak with a very harried-looking receptionist who, after hearing the basics, waved them to chairs and told them to wait.

  Rom heard a bell ring, and through the office windows noticed students starting to pick up their pace. Within fifteen minutes, the halls were clear by the time another bell rang, and a different woman walked out to shake hands with them.

  “Sorry for the wait. I’m Lisa Ayers, the guidance counselor. They’ve got me doing triple duty this week, because our staff got hit by the flu bug. Follow me, please.”

  The three of them followed her to her office, where behind a closed door Rom took point explaining the full details of the situation to her.

  Halfway through Rom telling the story, Clayton broke down crying where he sat between Rom and Colton.

  “I’m so sorry, sweetie,” she said, but she looked as angry as Rom felt over it. “We’ll get you situated, okay?”

  Clayton nodded and blew his nose in a tissue Colton snagged for him from a box of them on her desk.

  “So, first off,” she said, “let me see what you have for him for paperwork.”

  Rom handed everything over for her to look at.

  “Okay,” she said after examining everything, “we can start here. But do you have his vaccination records?”

  “Just what’s there.”

  “He’ll either need his records, or you’ll need to get him vaccinated before he can attend. Most clinics will do it as a walk-in. That way, he can start classes tomorrow. I have a list of what you’ll need.”

  “I’ll call my sister-in-law and see who she uses,” Rom said. “Her sons are twelve and fourteen.”

  “Excellent. Meanwhile, I’ll need you to fill out these forms for me for him…”

  Two hours later, Clayton was enrolled, had a photo ID badge, an assigned locker, a paid lunch account for the month, Rom and Clayton had a folder full of paperwork, a computer login for the parent portal, and Clayton had a full schedule of classes, a list of school supplies to go with it, and she’d taken them all on a quick tour of the campus so he’d know where he’d need to go tomorrow.