Page 58 of Refurbished

“Yeah. The thing is, you and I are the only humans here. Maybe it was the wind?”

“Bullshit. Walter, did you see that shit?” That wasn’t the wind. We walked past the trailer and up the path to where Walter was. Across the pasture, someone was on the ground in a sleeping bag, their face illuminated. Walter lay next to them.

“That’s Zachary,” I whispered. “Why is he sleeping in one of our pastures?”

Eion shrugged next to me. “Do you know anything about where he lives?”

“Not really. From my interactions with him at the bar, I know he gets as many hours as he can. Everyone says he is nice, respectful, and customers always have compliments for him. And he immediately took all the hours we offered him, willing to sacrifice hours there to be here.”

I didn’t know if we should pry into his personal life and question why he was here. It was clear he planned to spend the night with the alpaca. “Could we offer him the other trailer? I’m not sure why he is here, but there has to be a reason.”

Eion kissed me on the side of the head. “This place is becoming a part of you as much as it’s part of me. You don’t have to ask about something like that.” Butterflies took off in my belly. I was glad he saw how much I loved the Sanctuary, and I wanted to make it something special to help as many animals as we could. I looked at our human friend with some of our woolly ones. “I’ll go inside while you talk to him. I don’t want him to feel overwhelmed.”

Eion was right. The two of us together would be pretty imposing. I knew I was scary at work, but after the last few days, I hoped he realized I wasn’t the guy who was the bar's main security. Even though I had reminded him that I found Eion and the animals more important than bar patrons. I opened the gate and walked toward the back corner of the pasture where he was camped out.

“Hey,” I said as casually as I could manage.

Zachary looked up. “Whaaaaaatsss upppp?”

“I can’t help but notice you are camped out with my alpaca.” Now that I was closer to him, I could see he had a cooler and a little lamp. It was obvious he intended to spend the night right there.

“Yeah. Right. About that. Walter wanted to watch the game.” He smiled at me, as if that were something I would, of course, find logical.

“Well, after the game, if you want to sleep in the travel trailer, you can.”

“Oh? You sure?”

“I’m absolutely sure.” I smiled. Eion had lived in the trailer for years. I was sure it would be more comfortable than the pasture.

“Why are you being nice to me? You gave me this job, you share your lunch at work, and I know you put in a good word with West to get a schedule that works with my hours here. Plus, you are paying me way too much for what I do with the animals. Which I love, by the way.” He blushed. “I mean, the animals. I love the animals, not being paid too much. That’s a perk, but Walter here is a great friend.”

I was surprised by his question. I’ve always been a nice person, but a lot of people didn’t see it because I was so non-social. As an adult, I was more sensitive to humans and their feelings, maybe because of my childhood. I’d worked hard to be a different person on the outside, but on the inside, I was still a sensitive kid with an eating disorder, which I struggled with every day. I tried to answer as honestly as I could. “It’s because you are a good guy. I was impressed with how you treated my friends and the customers at the bar. I knew you had a big heart, or I would have never trusted you with our animals.”

He gave a small smile. “Thanks. I might go to the trailer. And you can call me Zach. It’s what my friends call me.”

“Okay, Zach. Have a good night.” I walked away more confused about why he was out here than when I approached him, but he knew he could go inside if he wanted.

When I entered our trailer, the only light on was in our bedroom. I’d really like to have a house, though. This is nice, but it’s tight. I planned to call my buddy in the morning. “Baby?”

“Back here, Sexy.” I locked the door and headed back. When I entered the room, my gorgeous man was completely naked and spread-eagled on the bed. He had his head on the pillows, and his cock was so hard that it didn’t lie flat on his stomach. He was breathtaking. Without a word, I pulled off my pants and underwear.

“Well, hello there,” I said as I climbed up his body, my lips on his chest and shoulders. We wrapped around each other, and the heat of his skin made me happy. I let my fingers dance up and down his chest, the hard muscles over his stomach, then flattened both my hands and rubbed over his Adonis belt, which pointed toward his solid cock.

He grabbed my wrist, stopping me from going further. “Before you short-circuit my brain. Did you talk to Zachary?”

“Yeah. I told him he could sleep in the trailer. There is something up, but he didn’t share any more details. He and Walter seemed happy, but he also had a cooler with him. He was there for the night, such a sweet guy, and Walter seems to like him too.”

“Walter has always been a little shy, but they seem to have bonded. The Sanctuary is a special place.” He wiggled a little, and I shivered.

“Yeah. We can talk more about Zach tomorrow. I’d like to know what has him coming here to sleep. Now I’d like to take you before we pass out”

“I support this plan,” he said. His mouth covered mine, our tongues hot and slick, fighting for control. The heat between us was intense, and we easily lost ourselves in each other.

The sun wasn’t up yet, but there were animals to be fed, and we were going to have dinner with my mother tonight. I made breakfast burritos for Eion and me, then pulled up the cameras. We hadn’t seen Zach’s jeep when we were out front looking at the sign, which made me wonder how he got here in the first place. When I checked the camera by the medical building, I could see a light on in the trailer. He was apparently still here, so I made a few more burritos. Before I walked out, I left a note on the food telling Eion I would be back shortly and to eat if he wanted to. With breakfast in hand, I went to talk to Zach. When I knocked on the door, he opened up, still sleepy. “Oh. Hi. Morning.”

“I brought you some breakfast.” I handed him the burritos, and he smiled.

“Thank you so much.” Then he started to cry. This was unexpected, and I had no idea what to do about it. So I sat quietly while he sobbed. We weren’t that close, and I’d never dealt with a man this upset that I didn’t have some sort of personal connection to.