Easy to Love You (23 page)

“How much did you drink last night?” I said, holding my stomach and laughing.

“No more than you. Mason hauled me off to bed after you left. So what the hell happened, because this only happens when I still feel drunk the next morning?” Hailey said with this puppy dog face.

Mason wrapped her in his arm, still laughing. Bentley stuck his head out of his bedroom door, “Welcome home, Hailey,” then quickly slammed the door.

I fell to the floor laughing; I’d never laughed this hard in my entire life, I had cramps in my stomach and couldn’t breathe.

Hailey punched Mason in the stomach, “You’re supposed to protect me from that, not stand here laughing at me.” Mason couldn’t even answer her because he was still laughing.

After a few minutes I calmed down a bit and stood up. I walked down to the bathroom at the end of the hall and sure enough there was a puddle of piss on the floor. I had to lean on the door frame to keep myself standing.

“Um, Hails.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. “He got you with the Saran Wrap prank.”

“Son of a bitch! Benny, you’re dead!” She yelled at Benny’s door.

Benny was known for the Saran Wrap prank, he’d gotten Hailey with it once before and almost got me a couple of times. He was always up to something, trying to get us to fall for one of his pranks. He’d once gotten Hunter with toothpaste and Oreo cookies; to this day Hunter refuses to eat them.

I left Mason to help Hailey clean up the mess and kiss her ego all better. I climbed back into bed with Hunter, still giggling.

“Saran Wrap again?” Hunter asked, snaking his arms around me.

“Yup, she looked like she was about to cry.” I said, still snickering.

Hunter climbed on top of me; I instantly stopped laughing and lost myself in him.

A few hours later we were showered and ready to go see Zeke. According to Bentley, Mason and Hailey still hadn’t emerged from their room, so we left without them.

Zeke was ready for us when we arrived, “Alright, you going first Kenz?”

I looked over at Hunter, now I was nervous. I was fine the whole time; that is until it was really time to get it done.

I nodded and lay my stomach on the chair Zeke had in his booth. Hunter sat on a stool near my head and grabbed a hold of my hand. “Relax, at first it will hurt but then you’ll be fine.”

I nodded my head again. I’d already talked to Zeke on the phone and by email a few times before coming here, so he already knew what I wanted and where I wanted it.

I mouthed to Hunter that I loved him. He mouthed it back and gave me that sexy smile of his.

Zeke set the tattoo design up on my lower right back, and then asked if I was ready. Again I nodded my head. He turned on the tattoo gun and the buzzing started.

I sucked in a deep breath, it was painful at first. It felt like a million tiny bee stings, but after a few minutes the pain died down a little. Just like Hunter had said.

“Don’t look until it’s done.” I told him. I wanted to see his expression when he read it. If he didn’t like it I wasn’t going to make him get it but I needed to gauge his expression first.

Twenty minutes later Zeke was wiping my back down and sitting me up, Hunter’s eyes still on mine. I hopped off the chair, went to the mirror and looked at the tattoo. I was in love with it. It was perfect and just how I’d pictured it to be.

Hunter came over to me. My back was facing the mirror when he turned me around so I was looking at myself. “Can I see it now?”

“I’m going to go grab a quick drink, you guys want anything?” Zeke asked. I knew he was giving us a minute. Neither one of us answered, Zeke just walked out, I don’t think he expected an answer.

“Yeah,” I watched him in the mirror.

“I could conquer the world with one hand as long as you are holding the other.” He read it aloud, then looked up at me and gave me a small smile.

He turned me in his arms and kissed me until I was out of breath. “I take it you like it?”

He smirked, “Yeah.”

Zeke walked back in, “You ready?” He asked Hunter.

“Let’s do this.” Hunter sat in the chair the same way I just had.

Hunter got the same tattoo that I had but on his lower left back, he was also getting Ryder’s name and portrait on his forearm too.

While Zeke was working on Hunter’s tattoos, they were bullshitting about all the stuff that was going on around here. How the bar was doing, all Zeke’s latest conquests that Hunter knew, then he started on Brittany.

“So did you hear that Brittany is Logan’s cousin?” Zeke asked Hunter.

What the hell? Poor Logan’s related to the bat shit crazy bitch, poor guy.

Hunter’s head shot up to me, he cleared his throat before answering, “Um…”

“Shit!” Zeke interrupted Hunter. “I forgot you went out with that douchebag, Dominic. Forget I mentioned it.”

I was all about forgetting that bitch and from the look on Hunter’s face so was he. Hunter changed the subject and started talking about Ryder. When Zeke was just about done with Hunter, he asked that I text Hailey and Mason and ask them if they still were coming up. Half an hour later there was still no response from them.

“They still haven’t texted back; I don’t want to bother them. They need this time alone.” I explained to Zeke.

“Cool, Cool.” He sprayed Hunter’s arm down, cleaning all the ink from it. “Well I’ll be around if they change their mind.”

“Alright man, I’ll let them know. How much do we owe you?” Hunter asked, looking at his now finished arm.

“Don’t worry about it, it was nice catching up with you guys. I wish you didn’t live so far away, I miss your crazy asses and,” he looked over at me, “Your cooking.”

Cue the guilt trip, “Well Zeke, why don’t you come over around six? I promised Bentley dinner for letting us stay and I know he wouldn’t mind if you came over too.”

“You sure?” Zeke asked, unsure about his invitation.

I rolled my eyes at him, “Of course, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want you there.”

He smiled, easy laid back Zeke style, “I’ll be there.”

We said our goodbyes and left. Hunter and I took a quick, freezing stroll down by the ocean before heading back to Bentley’s to start dinner. I wished everyday could begin and end with us wrapped in each other’s arms, the only thing missing was Ryder.

Our time here was coming to an end quickly and I mentally cringed, I was actually dreading going home because I knew my time was up and I needed to come clean to CC. I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do if she freaked out on me and left. What would happen to us? To Ryder? No way could I not see my little man every day, or not wake up with him in the middle of the night for a feeding.

I shook all those thoughts from my head for now, I had her here and I was going to spend every last second acting like there wasn’t a black cloud over my head.

CC and Hailey, who’d finally made an appearance when she smelled the chicken cooking, were in the kitchen finishing up dinner. CC asked Bentley what he wanted, his request — ‘Your bangin ass chicken parm’ — so we’d stopped at the store before coming back because CC said God knows he didn’t have shit in his kitchen.

The guys and I were in the living room playing ‘Call of Duty’ and waiting for dinner when the doorbell rang. Bentley got up off the couch and went to let in whoever was there. Nothing new there; it happened at all hours of the night too. When he walked back in I was a little dumbfounded, his sister Nikki walked in carrying a twelve pack of Coors Light.

She looked good considering she was almost raped a while ago. After that night she’d shut down and things had been really bad. Now she was back and looked hot, not as hot as CC, but still hot. She was a tiny little thing; someone like me could break her in half, but she had these green eyes that drew you in and deep red hair piled on top of her head that looked like it weighed more than she did. The few times I’d talked to her she’d been timid and after that night I’d barely ever heard her talk to anyone except Bentley.

I sat up from where I was lounging on the couch and went over to take the beer from her. I put one arm around her shoulder and gave her a half hug, “Hey. How are you doing?”

She nodded and smiled, “I’m better. Thanks.”

Bentley took her jacket and hung it in the closet behind the door. I walked into the kitchen and Nikki followed me.

CC was at the counter that faced the living room and did a double take when she noticed Nikki behind me. “Hey babe, this is Bentley’s sister, Nikki. Nikki this is my fiancé, MacKenzie.” I made sure to mention that so there was no question from CC later if she got the wrong impression of Nikki, although I’m not sure you could. She was one of those girls you just liked; she didn’t come off like a whore or a standoffish bitch.

CC washed her hands and came over to give her a hug, Hailey did the same. Bentley came into the kitchen to grab one of the beers I was still holding and then went to finish his game. I walked over and put the beer in the fridge, winked at CC who was watching me out of the corner of her eye and then I walked out.

When I walked past Bentley I kicked his foot, “Thanks for telling me she was coming, I could have warned CC.”

“Shit, sorry didn’t think of that.” Bentley grabbed the controller and un-paused the game. I sat on the couch and watched him get his avatar’s ass beat until the girls called us for dinner.

After we’d eaten, Zeke asked if we wanted to play a game since it was too fucking cold to leave and I really didn’t feel like going anywhere anyway.

“Alright, Nik get the beer you brought over. Kenz find a couple of quarters. Mase man, grab a bunch of shot glasses.” Zeke gave the instructions to them.

Nikki and Mason went in the kitchen and CC walked over to me. I was leaning on the back of the couch, ankles crossed; CC stepped between my legs and looked at me with that sexy look of hers. I grabbed her hips and kissed her. She didn’t put her arms around me like she normally does, but she went for my pockets. She dug around looking for my change that I normally always had but when she went to take her hands out, her right hand started roaming. Shit, I was gonna have a hard on for sure if she didn’t knock that shit off.

“Knock it the fuck off you two.” Mason seethed. CC laughed against my mouth before kissing me once more and pulling her hands out with the coins she was going to need. She grabbed a few quarters, winked and shoved her hand back in my pockets, putting the money she didn’t need back. I shook my head a little and laughed, when she walked away I quickly turned and adjusted myself, which really did nothing, because when I turned around she was bent over the table, ass in plain sight. I slightly groaned and adjusted myself one last time before quickly finding a seat.

Zeke lined four shot glasses in a row, a little less than halfway in on the kitchen table. “Alright we’re playing baseball.” He turned to eye everyone there. “Ok it’s going to be uneven but whatever, Mase you’re the ball guy, you can jump ships.” Zeke laughed to himself. “You’re probably going to be drunk before the rest of us so maybe Hunter will switch on and off for you.” I nodded. “So the teams will be Kenz, Hunter, Hailey and Mase versus Bentley, Nikki and me. Since we live here, you guys,” Zeke looked at me, “will be the visiting team. Each player on the visiting team will try shooting the quarter in the glasses. If you make a shot in the first glass that’s first base, the second is a double, the third is a triple and the forth is a home run. Each player gets three tries, if they miss; its three strikes and you’re out. When three players are out, then the other team is up to bat. If a player makes the quarter into a shot glass, they have to drink the rest of the shots behind the one they made. For example, if you hit a double, you have to drink the last two shots. If they get an out, they have to drink all for 4 shots. And just to make sure we all get a little trashed tonight, the other team must take a shot for each run scored.”

Damn, we were going to get fucked up tonight.

CC and Hailey were smirking at Bentley and Zeke because they knew they were on the better team. Nikki looked scared to death. Bentley walked over to the kitchen and grabbed her a bottle of water, she smiled and seemed to bounce back a little.

After the first round, the girls were all giddy and giggly and they couldn’t keep their God damn hands to themselves, which wouldn’t have been a problem if they weren’t distracting Mason and me. We were drinking so many shots of beer I lost track; I just knew it was a fucking lot.

Zeke, Bentley and Nikki were up and only had half the shots we did, Mason took this turn to jump ships. At the end of their round, we were winning, how the hell that was possible was a damn miracle to me.

After playing for at least a good hour, all three girls were talking about our wedding; CC hit it off with Nikki and invited her along. I was relieved because I knew CC was worried about the girl when she’d first found out about her.

Another hour of the game and we were all feeling pretty damn good. Zeke was the surprising lightweight and passed out on the couch as soon as he sat down. Mason and Hailey were walking up to the spare room they were staying in when CC came over and flung her arms around me.