Zach chuckled when Maddie stuck her tongue out at him, choosing to just give her an amused look instead of actually saying anything. “What can I say, I wanted you to be puppy,” Zach remarked with a smirk that made it obvious he was joking. “But as it turned out you’re actually more fun than a puppy, but the nickname stuck.” He screwed up his face at the mention of mom and dad’s nicknames for each of them.
“Actually, mom called me Zachy-poo and dad insisted on Zach-attack,” Why was he clarifying this? Oh yeah, probably because he didn’t actually believe DJ would follow through with his threat.
Had it really been a good idea to give Maddie that rope? “Mads, you make it sound like you routinely hogtied people,” Sure, they were from the south, but not the ‘we lived on a ranch’ kind of south. “Hey, I would take a John Wayne movie over the apocalypse any day,” Zach remarked. “Also, you gave in way too easy, not that I’m complaining about that or anything.”
Pushing off of the doorframe, Zach glanced at Maddie as he asked. “Is it your goal to make his life hell? Because I know it’s not mine.” Pausing a beat, he shifted his gaze to DJ. “We make your life interesting, just admit it.”
“Now you’re taking all the fun out of picking something,” Zach added as opened the now unlocked cell door and stepped into the youngest Johnson’s space. “Mads, know of anything we can pick that won’t humiliate him?” If Maddie couldn’t come up with something, Zach would, but he wanted to give her the option first.