Page 31 of Colby (Tucker’s Pride #5)

Colby was worried about his little brother.

Kayce had taken a beating yesterday, and his nose had been broken along with other bruises that he had on his body.

All he needed to do was to shift, and that would take care of them.

But they had to have him wait on that, as there might be repercussions coming his way when there was a police report filed.

The other man had been high on cocaine and had denied treatment for himself, but since the police had brought him in, it seemed that his opinion whether he lived or died wasn’t part of his deal.

Kayce was in better shape than he was. He ran ten miles every day and used the gym’s punching bag three days a week.

He said that he needed to be in shape because he had a practice to run, but they all thought it was because he was taking his aggressions out on the bag.

Everyone knew that he hated where he worked.

Not that he could blame him. It was a hostile place to work, with everyone so tense all the time.

It seemed to him that none of the doctors liked working there, as they wanted out like his brother did.

But they’d helped him pave the way to get his student loans paid off, and he had another five months to work for the firm before he could even consider leaving.

“Why didn’t you get help and be out on your own when Ronin was setting us up with jobs and such?

” He said that he thought that working for a practice like he was, he’d make some friends and not have to be on call all the time.

“What can you do to opt out earlier? I mean, can you buy your contract from them? At least pay some of it off so that you don’t have to remain there for so long? ”

“I can buy out my contract, but it’s really pricy.

I only have a few months to go, then I can be out of it.

I’d rather do it this way so that I can feel good about myself by not quitting halfway through it.

” Colby pointed out that he was miserable.

“I am, this will make me appreciate being on my own better. And I will be and soon, but for now I’m working a job I got myself into through no fault of anyone else’s but my own. ”

He tried talking him into something, anything.

He even offered to lend him the money so that he could get out of it.

They still had money left over from what Taylor had given them to fill out their home, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

He said he’d gotten himself into this and was going to get himself out of it, too.

To see him limping around and being in pain hurt him. He understood why he couldn’t shift and make himself better, but he didn’t have to like it. He would heal faster, but not fast enough for Colby. He didn’t like pain himself, so hated it on one of his family.

“Your house looks great.” He thought it did too and was glad that Kayce was going to be spending time with them over the next couple of days until he was moving around better.

There were stairs in his place, a condo with a second floor, and he wasn’t doing well enough to climb them nightly to go to his bedroom.

They had two bedrooms on the first floor, and he hoped that his brother would enjoy one of them.

“I’ve been looking at them too. I’m sick of living in my condo.

I want to be able to stretch out like the rest of you can. ”

“I showed Emma my cat last night. She was very happy that I’m not as big as Ronin or Denver.

I wanted to make sure that she could see all our lions so she could tell us apart, but everyone was busy.

We’ll get to it.” Kayce said she’d have to wait to see his.

“I know. I wish you could just get it over with and show her to heal, but I understand the reason why.”

“It won’t be much longer. A few days. I’ve had to have one of the others take over for a patient that I have in the hospital right now.

And they’re going to keep on top of my appointments that I can’t keep right now.

” He asked him what had happened that made him have to hold down a patient.

“Don’t tell anyone else, but I was the only shifter in the room when he pulled out a gun.

He later said that he was going to use it on himself and not us, but at the time, all I could think of was that he had a gun.

The hospital is covering my costs for being out because I was helpful to the nurses in the room with him.

He could have caused some serious damage to anyone who would have been around had he decided that he was going to get going with the gun.

Christ, I’ve never been so afraid afterwards than I was at that moment. ”

“I bet. I would have done the same thing, I think. Better to be fast and have to apologize than to be slow and have to tell someone’s family what happened.

” He then told him about what had happened at the office today.

“Holy shit, buddy, you’ve had a shitty day.

Why don’t you tell me what your favorite meal is, and we’ll have it tonight?

Even if we have to order out. There is a great Chinese restaurant that delivers. We can get that.”

“That sounds wonderful. I’ll even pay for it.” He told him that wasn’t necessary, and they looked over the menu to see what he wanted. “And if you can get me about a gallon of hot and sour soup, I’ll think I’ve gone to heaven.”

By the time Emma got home, they were ready to eat.

Leaving his brother at home, he went to pick up the food and drinks while Emma pulled into the driveway.

They’d had Chinese just a few nights ago, but he could eat it all the time; he loved the food so much.

And it was good to share such a meal with him when he could with his family.

They pigged out on the food with very few leftovers.

That was fine with him as he could get it anytime he wished.

Kayce was moving around a little better after getting his belly full, and he even said he felt better.

That made it all worthwhile to him to have to give up the little bit of leftovers to his brother.

When he went to bed that night, he breathed a sigh of relief. To know that he was all right and right down the stairs if he needed anything made him happy with the bigger house and the furniture that was in it.

Waking up the next morning, the first thing he did was check on his brother.

Since he was still sleeping, he let him go and went to the kitchen to find out what was around to eat.

Having a cook was nice in that he didn’t have to worry over meals or clean up afterwards.

Just as he was finishing his second plate of pancakes, not only did Emma join him, but so did Kayce.

It was a perfect way to start out the day with family.

Colby didn’t have to go out today as it was his day off.

Having Douglas around certainly made his life a great deal better.

He could actually take a day off now and again and not have to worry so much about the trips.

Today was the day he was to spend the day going over payroll and books while Emma was out on a short run.

Having Kayce all to himself made him feel like he had the best of both worlds.

Working and having family around when you wanted to hang out with them.

Having Kayce around made it harder for him to concentrate, but he finally got through everything that he needed to.

By noon, not only had he gotten all the bills paid, but he had been able to look over two boats that he was considering purchasing one of.

Also, he got the payroll sent into the company that fixed his check for him—they made sure that the deductions were taken out and the checks were written for his few employees.

The only other thing that he had to do was to go over to see C harlotte, Emma’s mom, and help her with her new garden.

She needed it tilled up so that she could have things planted.

He’d learned how to use a tiller, like all his family knew how to do when he’d been living with his family before coming out here.

Glad to do it for her, Kayce stayed at home to rest up while he went and did this for his mother-in-law.

Colby was nearly done with the big garden when Emma reached out to him.

She said she’d be home around four and asked him if he wanted to have dinner in.

Since he was in the mood for some comfort food, he asked if she wanted to go to Jack’s with her mom and Kayce.

She was all for the idea as she had been wanting comfort too.

He thought it was great how their minds worked all the time.

Whistling as he finished up the garden, he asked Charlotte if she wanted to go with them.

“I’ve been thinking about that all day, how much fun we had the last time we were there.

Ask him first, though. I don’t want to get my hopes up if he’s already promised the table to one of the other family members.

He might not have room for us.” He did that right then and asked his brother if there was room for the four of them for dinner tonight.

Jack said that he always held a table for one of them coming in, and he couldn’t remember if anyone else had said they were going or not.

“No, no one has said anything to me. If you want the table, it’s yours.

Just try to come in early so that if you stay late, the kids are out of here sooner.

They’ve been loving all this business that we’ve been generating.

The tips are really good too.” They both laughed, and Colby thanked him.

“It’s perfectly fine. Come in about five-thirty, and things will work out great.

You know, even if there wasn’t enough room tonight for you, I’d just slap another table onto it and you’d be eating with family.

That would have been all right, too, right? ”