“Cheers.”
“You’re welcome.”
We unload our luggage to the driver, who puts them under the bus, before walking towards the back where everyone is gathered.
Everyone goes silent when we approach, and I shift protectively in front of Clayton. “What are you all staring at?” I demand, noticing how quickly Liam walks over to Landon, whispering to him.
If they do something, I’m going to kill them. Liam is already in my bad books for putting one of my dates in his boot and driving him to the middle of nowhere. He was hot and he fucking ruined what could have been a good time and multiple orgasms.
“Um, who’s the suit?” Maddox asks, munching on a burger.
I turn to give Clayton a once over, sighing at his black wool coat and dark jeans. He might scream ‘privileged’, but he’s not. He’s worked damn hard for what he has and it’s not his fault he makes everything he wears look good, even when he has on his gym gear that flashes how much of his body is covered in tattoos. I got a front row seat to all that glory when he went to visit his dad at the home. And as much as I never thought I’d admit this, he still presses my buttons. I just need him to relax and let the real him out to play. So far, he’s more concerned with not disappointing his dad. It puts him on edge. And until he gets over it and realises he’s doing a good job, he’ll seem too uptight to the others. I’ve seen flashes of the real him, and I like them.
“It’s Clayton,” Charlotte answers, before turning to him, her lips twisted. “I’m still unsure of his profession though. His email header didn’t mention party planner.”
“Does Dad know?” Liam asks, trying to appear intimidating, but the shirt with a picture of Beau’s face on the front just makes him look weird. In fact, taking a look around, all the boys have one on.
“Were we meant to get a T-shirt?” I whisper to Madison.
“No. Apparently one of his mates couldn’t get down so he sent these.”
“Is Landon wearing one?” I muse.
“No. Apparently the dog chewed it.”
“Don’t ignore me,” Liam growls.
Lily steps up, giving Clayton a small wave. “Hi, I’m Lily.”
Clayton’s expression softens, his lips pulling into a gentle smile. “I’m Clayton Cross.”
“I’m Jaxon, Lily’s husband,” Jaxon grits out, pulling Lily into his arms.
I roll my eyes, glancing around. “Let’s forgo the introductions. There are too many of you fuckers for him to remember.”
“Is he too slow to remember?” Maddox asks, not looking up from his phone.
“Fuck. You.” I sigh at the girls. They’re acting creepy. “Stop staring at him.”
“He’s so…” Imogen whispers, in a daze.
“I hear you,” Ciara murmurs, agreeing.
“Hey, guys…” Faith greets as she walks over, holding hands with Beau, before stumbling to a stop. “Who are you?”
“Her date,” Landon grits out, earning a smack to his chest.
Faith’s eyes widen, and she slowly turns from Clayton to me. “I didn’t know he was male. Charlotte just said a friend.” She winces, taking another look before Beau tilts her head away. “Does your dad know?”
“That’s what I’ve been asking,” Liam grouches.
“About Clayton?” I ask, still avoiding the question.
“Yes, I met her father the other night at dinner.”
“Does Dad know he’s coming?” Liam tilts his head towards Clayton.
“No.” I narrow my eyes on him, silently telling him to shut up.
Charlotte clears her throat. “Um, actually he does. He came to dinner at Mum and Dad’s last night and Clayton came up in conversation. When they told me what he looked like, I said it sounded like Clayton and that he was meant to be coming today but the African kids needed him so he couldn’t. I got the impression your dad didn’t believe me though.”
Everyone stops what they’re doing, until Maddox nearly falls off the table as he drops his fries. “Oh shit! We need to go.”
“Why?” Madison asks, pinching his drink he left on the table.
He grabs his things off the table as Landon starts lifting up Paisley’s bags, Liam helping.
My eyes widen when it hits me. I grasp Clayton’s wrist in a firm grip. “We need to go.”
“What? Why?” he asks, pulling his wrist back.
“Because you’ve scrambled my mind and I can’t fucking think properly with you around. And now we are screwed,” I scream in a panic.
I’m so off my game. It should have been the first thing I prevented when he revealed he was coming at dinner. You can’t take any chances in my family.
We all begin to walk, heading to the coach, when five cars pull in, honking. We all pause, cursing.
I’m pretty sure I hear Liam whimper.
“Beau, you better have cop friends where we’re going,” Liam prays.
“Why?” Beau asks, glancing over his shoulder.
“Because he’s going to get us fucking arrested again,” Maddox growls, bumping into Clayton. “Way to go, arsehole.”
“You want to hope we aren’t near a train station,” Imogen states, patting Clayton on the back before standing in line with the others, watching our parents pull into a parking spot.
“Or that he has glue,” Faith adds, wincing as she glances down at his crotch area.
“I’ll check Dad’s bag when he’s distracted,” I murmur, wondering how my life got to this point. I’m always on top, the one who pranks people or fucks with them. I’m not the one who’s in messy situations—unless you count the time I decided I wanted to knock on Buckingham Palace’s door at two in the morning.
“And your mum’s,” Hope reminds me.
“Or that the town gets quarantined again. It could ruin the whole week,” Charlotte adds.
“What?” Clayton asks, bug-eyed.
“It’s okay,” I assure him, patting his chest. “It was actually Charlotte who had the town quarantined when we were younger.”
“Again, what?”
“I did not,” she states, pouting. “It was definitely Uncle Max.”
I shake my head. “No, it was you. Dad had the caravan park evacuated because they thought a mental patient was on the loose. You poisoned everyone at the cake fair competition.”
“They couldn’t prove that was me,” Charlotte states, looking utterly dejected.
“Only because they couldn’t identify the substance or link it to your ingredients. None of us were ill,” Imogen argues.
Charlotte beams. “Exactly, and you were all fine.”
Everyone finds interest in their shoes or the sky, not wanting to hurt her feelings by admitting we never ate any of it.
“Yeah, true,” I answer, forcing a smile.
“Do you need to go to the loo before we go? You look a little in pain.”
“I’m fine,” I assure her, walking off to the front of the huddle, waiting for our parents to reach us.
They all walk towards us in a line, Teagan pushing Sunday with bags over the pushchair’s handle, Uncle Maverick beside her, who is also loaded down with bags. Myles is next to him, carrying a few bags, with Aunt Kayla next him. Mason and Denny are next to them, cuddling together as she talks to Harlow, who has her arm wrapped around Malik. Beside them, Dad strolls, sliding sunglasses up his nose, even though it’s windy out. Don’t even get me started on the shorts. Mum walks beside him, rolling her eyes. Dad grins after saying something to Uncle Malik, earning a punch to the arm. I wince when Dad trips, falling over his own feet.
“Oh God,” I groan.
“Who exactly are you guys?” Clayton asks, fear evident.
If he wants to survive this week, he’ll have to find a way to mask that fear. My family will feed off it.
Me, along with all the others, stare up at him, pulling his attention away from the huddle walking towards us.
“We’re the Carter’s,” we say at once, minus the few that aren’t.
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“And you’re fucked,” Maddox laughs, throwing a Skittle into the air and catching it in his mouth—before choking.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
When the parents reach us, Faith is the first to step forward, hugging both her mum and dad. “What are you guys doing here?”
As one, they all look to Dad, unhappy, whereas Dad tilts his head up, pretending they aren’t all pissed at him.
“Not that I’m complaining,” Aiden coos as he sweeps up an excited Sunday into his arms. She can barely move in her all-in-one snow coat. It’s adorable, especially when she starts chanting, “da’, da’”.
“Yeah, I thought because Maverick and Teagan couldn’t come, since they were watching over Sunday, none of you were coming,” I state, giving Dad a pointed look when he finally turns my way, glaring over my shoulder.
“I knew it,” he grits out, pointing at Clayton. “Didn’t I tell you he would be here? Didn’t I?”
“And I told you she is a grown adult,” Mum reminds him, directing a forced smile my way.
Sucking in a breath, he stares at Mum with wide eyes. “She’s our only daughter. Do you not care at all that he’s going to try and sex her up or impregnate her?”
“Please never use that word again,” I complain.
Mum, in all fairness, is just as crazy as my dad at times. I think after years of being together, she started projecting some of his mannerisms. Still, my mum is all about girl power, so when she opens her mouth to argue, I want to pump my fist in the air and hoot.
“Max, you need to drop this. When the boys were fifteen and you suspected they were being intimate, you sat them down and gave them a list of ways to please a woman.”
“You didn’t?” Maverick groans, running a hand through his hair.
“No… I also gave them tips on how to get a woman,” Dad tells him, shaking his head in disbelief before grimacing at Liam and Landon. “Sorry, boys, you had the looks—you follow after me—but you didn’t have the Carter game.”
Liam grunts, rolling his eyes. “Cheers, Dad.”
“You’re welcome,” Dad replies, looking like he actually did them a favour when he puffs his chest out.
“But…” Mum continues, raising her eyebrow. “Once a year, after Hayden started her menstruation when she was eleven, you sat her down and gave her reasons why she shouldn’t have sex.”
“With disturbing diagrams,” I point out, shuddering.
“They got my point across.”
“You told me in medical terms what STI’s would do.”
“I have them with me in case you needed to look at them again.”
“Mum,” I whine, praying he’s joking.
Mum pinches the bridge of her nose. “Max, leave her alone.”
He throws his hands up in a fit before slapping them down on his sides. “Does no one else care he’s here, or that my daughter, my only daughter, could get pregnant, or worse, get heartbroken?” he yells.
“Sir,” Clayton starts.
Dad holds his hand up, palm out. “Do not try to seduce me,” he tells him, his voice deepening like it does when you don’t take a breath.
“Max, if anyone can look after themselves, it’s Hayden. She was raised in your home. Now that you’ve dragged us all here, let’s go,” Maverick starts, but is interrupted by Maddox.
“How did he get you here?”
Uncle Malik’s eyes narrow dangerously on Dad, his jaw clenching. “He told me Hayden was worried about Madison meeting a guy she knew nothing about.”
Myles, looking dejected as his shoulders slump, says, “He called me, pissed off. He said he had a heart attack thinking Hayden bought tickets to a sex club using the family emergency fund but felt better when she explained it was Charlotte who borrowed the card.”
“Fucking wanker asked me what the ceremony he heard my girls were talking about was for, even said something about a test being positive,” Mason bites out, glancing down at his shoes.
We all turn to Maverick, waiting for him to answer. He shrugs. “I helped raise him. The minute he told me Beau was planning on taking Faith away to get married, I knew he was lying. I told him to shut the fuck up.”
“So why are you here?” Malik bites out.
Smug, Maverick shrugs. “To make sure he doesn’t get my kids arrested again. Aiden has Sunday to look after.”
“Traitor,” Dad grumbles. “None of you care about what I’m going through.”
“You are such a drama queen,” I declare. “Now that you all know he fucked you over good and proper, you can go.”
“Why?” Dad asks, narrowing his eyes on me. “What are you hiding?”
“Nothing, I—”
“Good, then you won’t mind us tagging along,” he declares, unloading his bags onto the back of the coach.
“Dad,” I argue, following him over.
“It’s fine. We can have some father, daughter time.”
I spin around, walking over to Clayton and punching him in the arm. “This is all your fault. If I spend the night in a cell again, I’m going to kill you.”
“Mine? What did I do?”
I storm off, hearing him follow behind me as I get onto the coach, passing the others. I take a seat in the middle, and when I get in, Clayton lightly pushes me over to the window seat, blocking my escape.
Dad ushers Mum up the aisle, giving her no choice but to take a seat next to us on the opposite side.
“I don’t know how this is my fault,” Clayton sulks as we push our carry-ons under the seat in front of us.
I tilt my head to the side, trying to find my phone in my bag, and whisper, “This week is going to end badly.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispers back as we both sit up.
“Son, you don’t have to worry about Sunday. Just enjoy your time away. We’ve found places to take her. They have a messy and soft play,” Maverick assures Aiden as they stop at the seats in front of us. Paisley gets the side Dad and Mum are on, but Aiden begins to fix Sunday’s car seat.
“Yes, there’s an amazing bookstore not far from Cabin Lakes. Looking online at the pictures, I can understand the great reviews. The place is truly beautiful. Sunday is going to love it,” Teagan adds.
“It’s not that. I’m kind of relieved. I just don’t want to drink around her,” Aiden admits, tickling Sunday before taking her from his dad.
“He really didn’t want to leave her,” Bailey explains, sticking her tongue out at Sunday.
“You won’t be. We will have Sunday in our cabin,” Maverick explains before taking the seat in front of them.
“I have beer for anyone who wants one,” Maddox calls out from behind my seat.
Shit! I completely forgot about bringing drink.
Nina, Faith’s best friend, yells from the front, “I’ve got cans of Malibu and coke, gin and lemonade, gin and tonic, and JD and coke. Oh, and mini bottles of wine.”
“Me too,” Hope yells, holding up the mini bottle of wine, already starting.
I groan as I get up, turning around on my knees to Maddox, holding out my hand and taking a can off him. “I’m not drinking girly shit.”
“I got you rum and Doctor Pepper, Hayden,” Charlotte calls from the front.
“Never mind,” I mutter to Maddox, grinning. I pass the can to Clayton, not caring if he wants it or not. “Pass ‘em here.”
A few moments later, she heads up the aisle with a bottle of rum and a bottle of Doctor Pepper. “Here you go.”
“There’s only one?” I pout.
“No, there’s another,” she confirms, smiling.
I sag into my seat. “Thank God.”
“Your dad is still staring,” Clayton whispers as I pour my drink into my flask.
“Dad, stop staring,” I order, concentrating on not spilling any of my precious drink when the coach pulls off.
“Whatever,” he grumbles. “Aiden, you got any food in the changing bag?”
“I told you not to eat all the snacks on the way ov
er,” Mum reminds him.
“I’m a nervous eater,” he argues.
“Sorry, I didn’t bring any, but now you mention it, I am pretty hungry.”
“Who doesn’t bring snacks on a road trip?” Dad snaps, rubbing his stomach.
“You,” I mutter, grabbing one of the sandwiches I bought at the garage when my stomach grumbles at the mention of food.
“You aren’t going to share with your old man?”
“No,” I mumble around a mouthful of food.
“We always had snacks in the changing bags,” Dad complains, folding his arms across his chest.
“Yes, because when it came to feeding the triplets, it was one spoon for them and two for you, which ended up with me having to feed them again. It was easier to keep you stacked.”
“I’m going to die of starvation,” he complains. “Does anyone have any food?”
“I’ve got some cupcakes and muffins. They were meant to be sponge, but they look kind of green,” Charlotte announces, sounding confused.
“Never mind.”
“I’ve got this,” Clayton offers, holding a breakfast bar out to Dad.
“Stop trying to seduce me into letting you corrupt my daughter,” Dad growls as he snatches the bar out of Clayton’s hand.
Clayton sighs. “Sir, we aren’t dating.”
I slap his arm. “Stop urging him on.”
“Why? What’s wrong with my daughter?” Dad asks, insulted.
“Oh my God,” I breathe out, right before gulping down half my drink.
“Apart from the fact she’s cunning, argumentative and is always pinching my food?” Clayton teases, yet no one laughs. He clears his throat. “Um, nothing.”
“Those seem like good traits to have,” Dad comments.
“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said about me,” I beam.
“Wait, you think you can have the cake and eat it too?”
“Isn’t that what you do with cake?” Clayton asks, rubbing his palm down his leg.
I groan. “Please stop, Dad.”
“No, I’m not having him think he can get the milk for free. You deserve more. Haven’t you heard: if you like it, put a ring on it.”
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