by Smith, Megan
The tears came back and slowly fell down my cheeks and onto my pillow. I tried to wipe them away so that Hunter would not know that I was crying again.
I heard Hunter’s phone beep with an incoming text. He stopped rubbing my back and pulled his phone out.
He cursed under his breath. “Dominic is on his way over.”
I didn’t answer right away. “I need to talk to him.” I looked up. “Alone.”
“No.”
I didn’t respond. I was not in the mood for another fight.
I gathered all of Dominic’s stuff: his jersey that I loved to wear every Saturday and a couple of his t-shirts that I slept in. I removed his pictures from my vanity mirror. I took off the ring that he bought me for my birthday. I needed to remove everything that tied me to him.
I heard a knock on the door and then yelling in the hallway. I thought everyone had left but they had not. They must have been waiting in the lounge, watching TV.
I looked at the door as it opened and Dominic walked in. He had a black eye, split lip and a gash across the bridge of his nose. I felt certain that his nose was also broken. Blood covered his shirt.
“Baby…”
“Don’t baby me!” I seethed through my teeth.
“I can expl…”
“No, no you fucking can’t,” I said. “There is nothing to explain. What’s done is done, Dominic.”
“She’s lying, Kenz. She can’t be pregnant. We used protection every time. It’s not possible. Even if she is pregnant, it isn’t mine.”
My eyes widened. “It doesn’t matter if she is or isn’t. You had sex with her. You lied to me!”
“So I guess you’re leaving me for this asshole now?” He eyed Hunter.
“No, I told you that you could trust me. I kept my promises.”
“Give me a break. Your piece of shit brothers can’t stop you from doing everything. You’ll run to him. It’s just a matter of time.”
“Watch it, Dominic, don't bring my brothers into this. We have had our own fucked up problems all along.”
He reached for me and I could see the defeated look in his eyes. I didn’t look away from him.
He reached in his pocket, pulled out a little black box, and dropped to one knee.
Was he out of his goddamned mind?
He looked up at me, a single tear running down his cheek. Hunter cursed behind me. The chair scraped across the floor and the door slammed shut.
I scrubbed my face with my hands. “Please don’t do this.”
“Baby, I love you. I fucked up, but that will never happen again. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to take care of you. I want to start a family with you and grow old with you. You keep me grounded when I’m with you; I feel like everything in the world is right. I don’t have that feeling when I’m not with you; everything spirals out of control. MacKenzie, will you marry me?”
I started crying, so hard that I couldn’t even make out what the ring looked like. I shook my head no, and I heard him whisper, “Please Kenzie?”
“I can’t, Dominic. You broke me. You broke us. You don’t want to marry me.”
I wiped my cheeks with the sleeves of my sweatshirt and knelt down in front of him, so that we were eye to eye. “You’re not in love with me…” He started to argue but I placed my index finger to his lips to keep him quiet. “Yes, you love me but we’re not in love with each other. I don’t think we ever were.”
I dropped my finger from his lips and his head followed my hand down to my side where my hands now rested. I stared down and saw tears hit the floor. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.
I stood up and gathered the bag of his stuff. I dropped it in front of him.
“I’m so sorry I fucked this all up,” he said.
“I’m sorry you did too.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
After Dominic left, I turned the lights off and crawled back in bed. I had a few moments of peace before the door opened.
“Kenzie?” I heard a thump. Hunter must have walked into Hailey’s bed. I picked up my phone from my bed and turned it on so he could see where he was walking.
“You ok?”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now. I want to go to sleep and forget this shit ever happened.” I turned on my side and faced away from him.
The chair scraped against the floor. He rubbed his fingers up and down my back. I slowly drifted off to sleep.
My sleep didn’t last, and I woke up crying. Hunter reached over to the nightstand and handed me some pain reliever and water.
“Here take these.”
“You don’t have to sit there all night. I’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, I do. Just try and get some more sleep.”
He was pissed. I could sense it. What was I supposed to do? I was pissed too.
I laid there for a while and eventually fell back asleep, but again, it was not for very long. At least this time when I woke up, I was not crying.
I looked over at Hunter and he still sat in the same place he had been since he walked in but now, his head rested on his hand and he was asleep.
I sat up and looked over at Hailey’s empty bed; I got up and pulled her covers down. I walked over to Hunter and woke him.
“Hey, wake up.” He stirred slightly and opened his eyes. “Come on. If you are going to stay here, sleep in Hailey’s bed.”
He got up, crawled into Hailey’s bed and faced the direction of my bed. I got back into my bed and faced him. I knew he was not going to fall back asleep until I did, so I closed my eyes and pretended to fall back asleep. I laid there for what seemed like forever but then I heard Hunter’s heavy breathing. I concentrated on breathing in and out and I eventually fell back asleep too.
When I woke up again, the sun was shining in my room. I got up and took another shower. My brothers didn’t come here to help nurse my broken heart. I had to pull myself together because we made plans to go to Busch Gardens. I wasn’t backing out.
Hunter was still asleep when I came back to the room. I ran my fingers through his hair and ruffled it.
“Hunter, come on get up; we have to go.”
He stretched. “We don’t have to go; they’ll understand.”
Just the thought of sitting here and rehashing everything that had happened made me want to cry again.
“And what are we going to do? Sit here and stare at the walls? I can’t do that; I can’t sit here and cry.”
“You sure you’re up for it?” He asked.
“I’m fine.” I would be, at least for a little while. “Plus, Dad gave me money for an emergency. Today is an emergency, so I’m using it.”
“Alright, let’s go back to my house so I can grab a quick shower.”
When we got there, Mason, Hailey and Cooper were still getting ready. I knocked a couple drink cups out of my way, but the house survived the party in remarkably good condition.
“That was a shitty thing that happened to you.” Bentley said from the kitchen table.
“Yeah.”
Don’t people understand that you normally don’t want to talk about a break up? I didn’t want to be rude, but I didn’t want to get into the details of what happened either. I escaped to the deck to get some fresh air.
The door slid open a few minutes after I walked out.
“You ok?” Hunter leaned on the banister.
“I’m fine.”
“So I assume you told Dom no last night?”
Really? Did he think for a second I would tell him yes?
“Definitely no.”
Hunter reached out and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. He moved closer so that we were shoulder to shoulder. He grabbed my hand and we stayed like that until Mason came out.
“What the fuck, Hunter?”
I quickly swung around, wondering what I missed.
“What?” Hunter frowned.
“You know what. Stay the fuck away from her; she doesn’t need to deal with anymore bullshit.�
��
What the hell?
“Mase, what the hell is going on?” I asked.
“Nothing, come on let’s go.” He turned around and stormed off into the house. Hunter followed with a profanity.
“Hey, you ready?” Hailey asked me, peaking out the door.
“I guess, but what the hell happened last night? Mase damn near bit off Hunter’s head.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing they can’t work out themselves.”
I shook my head and followed Hailey out to Mason’s car. During most of the drive to the park, Hunter and Cooper talked about the upcoming baseball season, but Mason and Hunter said nothing to each other. I only felt slightly calmer when Hunter would brush my knee when he saw me glaring at the back of Mason’s head, or when Cooper would make stupid jokes and we would all laugh. The only person Mason talked to was Hailey.
We finally made it to the park, but when I tried to pay for the tickets using my emergency money, Hunter stopped me.
“I got it.” He took my card and put it in his back pocket.
“Give me my card back.” I held my hand out.
“Just let him pay, Kenzie.” Cooper said from behind us.
I gave Cooper a dirty look but followed behind Hunter. I was going to repay him whether he liked it or not.
We all had a great time at the park; that was exactly what I needed. But there was still tension between Mason and Hunter. I tried to ignore it. I didn’t want anything to ruin the buzz the rollercoasters gave my all-too-dizzy head. I also didn’t want to go back to the dorms. They were too close to Dom.
Hailey must have read my mind. She suggested we go back to Hunter’s house, sleep over and watch movies until we passed out like we used to at home.
“Sounds good, Hailey, your bed is like sleeping on a cinder block. My shoulders are stiff as hell.” Hunter complained.
“My bed is not. I love it. I sleep like a princess.” Hailey said beaming.
“Maybe it had to do with the fact that you slept half the night in the chair.” I added.
“Dude, I told you I would have stayed with her.” Cooper commented.
“And I told you that it wasn’t a good idea to stay with her Hunter.” Mason didn’t hide the edge in his voice.
No one said anything after that. Hailey pulled Mason in front of us to make our way back to the car. I followed behind with Cooper and Hunter.
“Will someone please tell me what happened between you two?” I asked.
Cooper shrugged but spoke up first. “Mason doesn’t want you with Hunter.”
I stopped walking but Cooper kept walking until he realized I had stopped. Hunter just kept on walking. Either he didn’t realize I had stopped, or he didn’t want to hear anymore.
“Wait a second, what are you even talking about? Hunter can't be with me.” I really must have missed something last night.
Cooper nodded his head. “Well, he does. He told us last night.” Coop glanced over to see my reaction.
Taken back by this, I said, “It doesn’t matter if he does or not. There will never be a Hunter and me. He would not do that to you guys.”
“Mason still hates the idea. I don’t have a problem with it as much as he does, but I still don’t like it. I know he has always been there for you when we couldn’t but you are our sister and it’s just not right.”
“Yeah, well, you guys have nothing to worry about.” I stormed past Cooper.
Bentley was hanging at the house with a few of his friends. They were going out for the night so he told us to make ourselves at home. Hailey pulled out the vodka and poured me a shot. She knew I was still a little upset and, when I needed her, she was always there.
I went into the freezer and, much to my surprise, Hunter had replenished my ice cream supply. I shut the freezer door and Hunter was standing there.
“Damn it, you scared me.”
“You hanging in there?” He said with a sad smile
“Yeah. No tears today, right?” I was trying my damnedest all day not to think of what I would have to deal with when I got back home.
After everyone settled, we started the movie, but I didn’t last long. I was exhausted from not getting much sleep and being at the park all day. I was awakened by someone running a finger from my temple down my neck and back again.
When I opened my eyes, Hunter leaned over me. I glanced around the room. Everyone was gone except Cooper who was asleep on the couch across from us.
I snuggled into his touch and asked, “Can you tell me what happened with you and Mason?”
He hesitated as if he had to decide if he wanted to tell me or not. Then he finally said, “I told him I loved you and that I have for a long time.”
My eyes went wide with surprise. “Why did you do that?”
“It just came out.” He checked to make sure Cooper was still asleep. “I was pissed at Dominic for proposing to you. I lost it when I left your room.”
I sat up; I couldn’t believe this was happening now. God, I wanted him, but why now? This was too much, too soon.
“You shouldn’t have told them that.”
“I know, I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that. Mason was pissed.” He looked down to the ground. “I know you don’t need to deal with any more shit right now.”
“You’re right. I don’t, not now.” I curled away from him.
He sat on the floor next me, but, before he returned to his room, he whispered.
“I’m sorry, CC.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The next morning things seemed to be less intense between everyone. Mason seemed to be in a much better mood, and I’m sure Hailey was to thank for that. We all hung around Hunter’s until lunchtime when Mason and Cooper had to leave to go back to school.
We were all saying our goodbyes when Mason pulled me aside. I knew this was coming.
“I don’t like it, Kenz.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I know you don’t understand. You might be pissed, but I’m just protecting you. You just had your heart broken; I don’t want to see you go through that again.”
“Mase…”
“I know you have feelings for him. I’ve known since last summer.”
Shit. How embarrassing.
“I told Hunter to stay away from you. I know he broke your heart that night because he didn’t have the balls to tell you back then that he loved you. I’m just protecting you.”
This is why Mason and I have a love/hate relationship; sometimes he was too overprotective.
“Mase, I love you, but sometimes you need to let me learn my own lessons. You can’t always be here to protect me.”
“Well, while I’m here now. Please, for me, stay away from him. Give yourself some time. I know he told me he loves you but he hasn’t told you.”
He was right. Hunter didn’t tell me directly that he loved me. I understood where Mason was coming from. I wasn’t ready to think about loving someone else right now. I needed to concentrate on me. No one else but me.
“Get over here and hug me goodbye.”
After they left, Hailey and I went back inside to help clean up our mess and then had Hunter take us back to the dorms.
God, I didn’t want to go back there.
Before we left, Hunter asked me to take a walk out on the beach with him. I slipped off my flip-flops and stepped into the sand. I loved the way the warm sand massaged my feet. Hunter came up behind me, wrapped his arms around me, and held me for a while.
Hunter rested his chin on my shoulder and said, “I know you need space, so I’m going to give it to you. But know I’ll be here waiting for you when you’re ready. There is no one else who has ever had my heart like you. I’m sorry I never told you how I felt before.”
I didn’t answer him right away.
“Why now?” I asked.
“After what I saw that asshole put you through, I can’t have you going through that again. It is killing me seeing you like this.” He took a deep breath and then le
t it out. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“I get it, I do, but you hurt me too. I cannot go through that again. I need time.”
“You’re right, I did and it’s been killing me ever since that night. I thought leaving you alone was the right thing to do. You met Dominic when I left for school, so I thought you were over me and I stayed away.” He kissed the side of my head then continued. “I’ll be here when you are ready to talk, but I didn’t just say what I said because I was pissed that Dominic was asking you to marry him. I mean it, CC.”
“What did you tell Mason? I want to hear it from you.”
I needed him to tell me those three words more than I ever needed anything.
“You’re not ready to hear them again.”
He let go of me, reached for my hand and walked us back to the house. I was slipping my flip-flops back on when he said, “When you’re ready to hear those words I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you a million times, but I need you to know I mean them when I say them.
That was the problem; I needed to hear them now. He wouldn’t tell me. I couldn’t handle that. I was already broken. I couldn’t let him break me anymore then I already was. I needed time to figure things out.
“Okay then. I want to go home.”
***
Over the next few weeks, I concentrated on myself, school, work, and nothing else. I was lucky enough that I had not run into Dominic at all since that night. I did see him a few times around campus, but I always turned and went the other way. Hunter, on the other hand, I still saw. We would still go to lunch after class, but that was it. I never went over to his house when Hailey hung out with him and Zeke. I wasn’t trying to be a bitch, but I needed time to deal with all my shit.
Tuesday after class Hunter, Hailey, and I were going home for Thanksgiving break. I couldn’t wait. I missed being home. I had been talking to my mom a lot lately, trying to plan different things for Chloe’s baby shower that weekend. That was a huge distraction for me. I knew once I was home, I would be busy. We were having everyone over for dinner Thursday, going shopping on Black Friday, and then Saturday was Chloe’s baby shower.