Page 25 of Totally Opposed

“Where’s the fun in that?”

I shake my head and follow him down to the locker rooms. There is no one around, and when he strips off his shirt on the way to the showers and looks back at me over his shoulder, all I can think about is getting under the hot steamy water with him and wrapping my mouth over that cock.

But my phone starts to ring, and I stupidly pull it out to check the message.

“It’s my sister, sorry,” I say, and he strips off his pants and heads into the showers.

I tilt my head to the side to get a better view of him buck naked.

“Hey, sis. What do you need?”

“Gramps called. Something is up with Precious. You have to go check on her.”

“Really, the cat?”

“He said she ate something she shouldn’t have. He sounded really worried. I would go, but I had like three wines with dinner.”

“No. It’s okay. I’ll go,” I say and hang up.

“As much as I would love to join you in there, I have to go,” I call and then leave before I talk myself out of checking on Gramps and the demon spawn.

I change out of my training gear into some fresh shorts and a shirt, using the other to wipe up any remaining mess, and drive right over to Gramp’s place.

The second I open the door, Precious is hissing at me.

“She looks fine,” I say, and Gramps swivels in his chair by the window to look at me.

“She is fine. Now. Silly thing ate one of those rubber things off the you know what, but she spat it out.”

I have zero clue what the rubber thing off you know what even is, but if the spawn of Satan is fine, I left Ryan alone in a hot shower naked, for absolutely nothing.

“Well, you’re here now anyway, so how about a cup of tea?” Gramps asks, and I nod, then walk sideways through to the kitchen so that I don’t lose sight of Precious. The last time I turned my back on that thing, she took a chunk out of my ankle.

“Did you eat?” I ask, opening the freezer to check what meals he has left, and then I pause. Instead of being filled with frozen dinners, there are two stacks of four neatly piled Tupperware containers. I pick up one from the first stack. A strip of masking tape is stuck to the top and in black marker are the words,Sheperd’s Pie,followed by a drawing of a little smiley face.I grab another, and another; they’re all the same. I close the freezer and on a piece of paper I didn’t see before is the same black marker, the same handwriting, only this is a list of instructions.Step one, take off the lid, then rest gently back on top of the container. Step two, put the container in the middle of the microwave.It goes on, detailing each step and ending with,Enjoyand another smiley face drawing. Did Ryan do this? But why would he? Gramps drives him nuts. I open the freezer again and crack the lid on one of the containers. It looks like Ryan’s shepherd’s pie. It has to have been him.

But this is more than just leftovers. There’s enough here for a full batch or more; he had to have made it special just for Gramps. Why would he do something like that for him when he’s been nothing but difficult? And why not say anything to me about it? Hey, I dropped off some food for your cranky grandfather. Hope you don’t mind. Do I mind? I’m the one supposed to be looking after him. Looking out for him anyway. And true, I can’t cook, but I got him those dinners, and he said that he liked them. The shepherd’s pie is better. Way better. I’llhave to find a way to pay him back, not just for the ingredients, but the time he must have spent cooking all of this.

I put the note back and prepare Gramps’s tea. He lifts Precious to his lap when I approach, and she growls a little my way, but seems to be resolved to the fact I am not leaving right away.

When I pass Gramps the tea, he inspects it for a second, then takes a sip.

“So your brothers’ called.”

“They did?” I ask, trying to sound surprised. Truth is, I knew they were going to. They want to make a few bigger changes to the ranch and in order to do that, they will need a loan, but with the property still in Gramp’s name, convincing the bank to lend them money for that will be more difficult. They think it will be easier to get a loan to buy it and add on some money for the additional improvements.

“How is the ranch going?” I ask.

“Fine, I’m sure. I mean, they’ve changed so much of it, I would probably not even recognize it if I were to drive up there tomorrow.”

“Are you planning on going up there?”

“No, what gave you that idea?”

I have no clue. “Sorry, why were they calling?”

“They asked me to sell it to them.”

“Oh, okay.”

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