He clearly did not take heed of that as I spent the next hour weeding the kale and spinach patches with him clucking and dancing all around me.
"I think he's yours now, baby," Mark said, making me jump, not used to being interrupted while I was weeding. Mainly because my brothers were afraid I would put them to work if they bothered me.
"I don't know the first thing about chickens," I objected, looking over at the little fluffy idiot, pretending my heart didn't go all melty as he pecked at the bottom of my shoe.
"Navesink Bank has a great library. I'm sure Reese can find a book about chicken-rearing or something."
"I have nowhere to keep him," I said, hearing maybe a slight bit of sadness in my voice. What can I say? I had never had a pet. The idea was perhaps a bit more appealing than I ever realized before. I was learning a lot about myself now that my focus wasn't fully on robbing stores and avenging my mother. I seemed to want a lot of things I never imagined I would want before.
"Couple pieces of wood and some chicken wire, honey, and you have a coop."
"Yes, but I have nowhere to put said coop. At least not yet. If I left him, he would probably bond with his chicken friends and forget about me. It's not meant to be."
There was a pause, one that was long enough to make me look up. "Alright," he said, shrugging. "King wanted me to come tell you that he has the, and I quote, 'plant shit' that you asked for."
"Oh good," I said, looking around, trying to figure out which plant I wanted to take clippings from. When Mark just kept standing there, looking almost uncomfortable, I slowly stood. "Are you, ah, heading out?" I asked, trying to pretend that didn't make my belly wobble. Of course he would need to leave eventually. He left in a mad rush. He probably left a ton of work undone and the lights all on or something.
"Left in a hurry. I don't think I even locked the fucking door," he said with a grin.
"Oh, um, alright. Well... ah... I guess I'll see you..."
"On the walk back to the house? Then inside the house while you pack a bag? Then again in my car on the drive back to Navesink Bank? Yes, I believe you will see me all during that. I mean, you can't seem to take your eyes off me."
He wanted me to go back with him? Right then?
Dumbly, all I could manage was an idiotic, "What?"
"Don't worry, I already cleared it with your gatekeepers. They're cool with it so long as I make sure there is no law breathing down your neck. They said they were gonna hang here and sort some shit out, do some research, look for places to stay."
"But I need to do all that too and..."
"And I have this nifty little thing called a wireless router at my house. You can sit your pretty ass in my bed, preferably naked, and search until your heart is content. Taking only short breaks to eat and let me fuck you silly."
A big, goofy, ridiculous smile pulled at my lips for a minute, making his eyes warm all the more, before I worked my mouth into a straight line, going for pretend-serious. "Well, I suppose that could work."
"Good, then hop to," he demanded, slapping me hard enough on the ass to send me forward a foot.
"Ow," I grumbled, small-eyeing him over my shoulder as I started to walk away.
"You loved it," he shot back with a devilish grin.
And, damn it, I did.
I totally did."Alright," I said with a huff as I dropped down into the passenger seat of his truck an hour later. I had just had to have a talk with my brothers about weeding the garden and feeding the chickens and letting them roam, but only until dusk. You'd swear I was trying to explain quantum mechanics to them they looked so wide-eyed.
Poor Kingston would be the one saddled with the job in my absence.
But, I reminded myself before the guilt could take a foothold, that was only until they all found their own places and ways in life. He would be free to do as he pleased soon enough.
I just really, really wanted the long weekend with Mark.
And King, the saint of a man he was, was not going to get in the way of that.
So my stuff was stashed in the back, and we were ready to go.
"Wait what is that..." I started to ask at a strange scratching noise in the small backseat.
"Nugget was having separation anxiety," Mark explained, casual as could be, as he reached behind him to get the small cardboard box and hand it to me. "He told me that since I'm a big, buff, sexy owner of a contracting business, I could sure as shit build him a coop."