Finding Ever After

by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  “Um I would mind. I would mind very much.” Bas chimed in. “Can we just load her stuff in the car and get out of here?”

  “I second that, let’s get this show on the road. I am ready for a week of sun, swimming and getting sloshed! Woo!” Vi was much too chirpy and enthusiastic. It should be illegal to be so obnoxiously cheery before noon. I could tell she had already had at least two cups of coffee but I would bet it was more like three or four.

  My duffel and bathroom tote were sitting on the floor beside the door. Chris picked them up, “This it Tink?”

  “Yeah, I just have to grab my purse and put the garbage and recycling bins by the curb, so they’ll get picked up on Tuesday.”

  “Hey Marcus.” Spade called out.

  “On it.” His voice came from out on the porch.

  “He doesn’t have to move them, I can do it.”

  “Nah, Rainbow that’s what the runt is for.” I could only imagine how bad of a time they all gave him. He was like the baby brother to five unruly egomaniacs.

  I did a quick check of the house to make sure all the lights were off and the windows locked. Outside everyone was standing around the porch waiting.

  “Thank you Marcus, for moving the bins.” Even though I’m sure he was used to being bossed around I still wanted him to know that I appreciated it. Noticing Vi’s Beemer in the driveway and the black vintage looking car parked behind it, reminded me last night’s events. “What about my car?” I stopped on the steps.

  “All taken care of Rainbow. I had it towed to our shop this morning and they’ll get new tires put on it and take care of the door. I told them to leave it locked up in the garage until you’re ready to pick it up.”

  “You’re a mechanic?” I never really thought about what the guys did outside of the band. I knew Chris worked for a construction company, and Kyden told me he gave music lessons on the side because he refused to take his parents money, but I had no idea about the rest of them.

  “Yeah, Rainbow, I gotta have something to do when I’m not serenading the panties off of chicks and since my only other skill set is killing people, I figured mechanic would be better than hired assassin.” Even though he was making light of his experience in the military, I noticed, for the first time, something dark and almost tortured in Spade’s eyes.

  “How much is it going to cost me?” I wasn’t really worried so much about the price, as I was just upset that I was having to deal with it in general. I shouldn’t be having to pay anything. I should have four perfectly good tires on my car.

  “Nothing babe. It’s taken care of.”

  “That’s not necessary, I have the money. I can pay for it.”

  “No you can’t. It’s already been paid for.”

  “By who?” I asked him suspiciously. I didn’t need him to pay for me. It wasn’t fair for him to have to cover Connor’s damage.

  “Come on, let’s just get going.” Kyden interrupted, brushing past me and striding over to his bike. Spade walked over and climbed into the driver’s seat of the black muscle car that I was sure had to be a late sixties Impala. I didn’t know anything about cars, but I was very familiar with the Winchester brothers, and it looked an awful lot like Dean’s car. Ace climbed into the passenger seat, while Vi and Jake got into her car. I noticed Danny and Marcus heading toward the Impala and Bas and Chris were moving to get into Vi’s car. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

  “What car am I riding in?” I asked, not sure that I was going to like the answer.

  “You’re with me Princess.” He was smirking and holding up his spare helmet.

  No. No. No.

  There was no way I was riding on the back of that bike. Number one, I had no desire to have my body parts smeared across the pavement. Two, if I had to spend an hour and a half plastered to his back, breathing in his intoxicating scent with my arms wrapped around his hard abs, I would probably throw myself off the bike in order to put myself out of my misery.

  “Can’t someone else ride on the bike, and I can ride in the nice, completely enclosed metal box, that has seatbelts?” He just raised his eyebrows at me like I was crazy.

  “Princess, there’s no way in hell I’m riding down the freeway with one of those jackasses wrapped around my waist. I don’t ride doubles with dudes, so get on.” If we crashed and my leather jacket got ruined, I was gonna kill him. I loved that jacket.

  “You had better go the speed limit this time.” I warned him.

  “What do you mean Princess? I was going the speed limit last night.”

  “Not in this country.” I retorted, tightening the strap around my chin as he started up the sleek and powerful machine. Just because I didn’t want to ride one, didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate it. As soon as I was in place, my arms found their way around his torso. The bike started moving and we followed the other vehicles out of the driveway. Once we were out on the street, the bike shot forward and we flew past the others.

  “Are you insane or do you just have a death wish?” I yelled.

  “I can think of worse ways to go than squeezed between your thighs Princess.” He hollered back, and if I wasn’t so afraid of crashing, I would have hit him.

  Chapter 15

  I loved Vi’s family’s home on Prince Cove. Bas and I had come here with them every summer since we became friends with Vi our freshman year. Her parents were the cool, loving parents the rest of us lacked, excluding Bas’ dad. They treated Bas and I like family and they didn’t look down on anyone, not even me, knowing who my father was.

  We used to come every Fourth of July, and I was glad to be back again. I’d missed this tradition. We would spend hours laying on the dock, soaking up rays and jumping in the ocean to cool off, or swimming in the pool. Vi’s parents would grill out every day, and then on the fourth there was a big festival in Falmouth, which was only a twenty minute drive, with live music and an incredible fireworks show at the end of the night. This year, the guys were the headlining act at the festival.

  The house, if you can even call if a house, more like mini mansion, was amazing. It was set on four and half acres and looked right out at the cove, with a columned porch and a deck that stretched one entire side of the house. Just off the deck, a stone patio cascaded to the in-ground pool and hot tub and a walkway through the gardens that led down to the dock. There were balconies off of each one of the five bedrooms and the property surrounding the estate was beautifully landscaped. The inside was just as lavish but still tasteful.

  Vi and Jake took the master suite, but all of the rooms were bigger and more extravagant than the master bedroom at my place. The guys started pairing off to claim the remaining four bedrooms. Ace and Marcus were together in one, Danny and Spade took another, so that left Chris and Kyden together and Bas and I in the last room.

  “So Bas and I will take this one and you two can have the room on the third floor.” Chris announced. Wait a second, that’s not right.

  “That works We’ll take the room up there.” Kyden responded. No, that does not work.

  “But … I thought you and I would share Bas?” I couldn’t share with Kyden. Last night was one thing, but I absolutely, definitely, positively was not sleeping in the same bed as him for a week. No. Freakin. Way.

  “Sticking those two in a room together would be a bad idea.” That was the only explanation Bas gave and I was not satisfied by it, but he and Chris disappeared into the room leaving me with little choice. I would be having words with them later.

  When I reached the top of the stairs that led to the third floor room I considered turning around and pushing Kyden down them before I turned the knob and entered our room.

  “What happened to you not sharing a bed with girls?” I asked Kyden as I tossed my bags down at the foot of the bed.

  “Last night might have changed my mind.” He winked. “Besides, it’s girls that I’m screwing that I don’t sleep with. You and I aren’t screwing. You and I are friends.” His mouth curled up in an impis
h grin when he said that word. “I’m all about trying new things now, broadening my horizons and I think this ‘just friends’ is actually going to be a lot of fun.” The way he said that made me very nervous.

  “Please tell me you at least brought pajamas?” His grin was answer enough. “Great. Well you better stay on your side of the bed.” What was Bas thinking? Wasn’t he the one who told me to stay away from Kyden and now he was practically locking me away in the tower with him.

  “Hey, relax. I brought shorts and it’s only for a couple of nights. Monday morning Ace and Spade have to be at work and then they’ll come back on Wednesday but Marcus leads some study group or genius thing at MIT so he won’t. Once they’re gone I’ll take one of those rooms and you can have this one to yourself. That is if you still want to kick me out then. Who knows, you might actually enjoy having me in your bed.”

  “Just. Friends.” I made sure to put an emphasis on each word. “That’s it. So keep all of your body parts to yourself.” He chuckled before disappearing into the adjoining bathroom that we would also be sharing up here. I quickly changed into a pair of shorts and went to find the others before I really did push him down the stairs.

  When I went downstairs Vi asked if someone would run to the store to pick up the groceries we needed, I immediately volunteered Bas and I. I wanted a minute alone with him so I could grill him about his suddenly joining Team Kyden. We made a list and everyone chipped in then I drug Bas out of the house.

  “What the heck were you thinking putting me in a room with him?” I practically growled the second we pulled out of the driveway in Vi’s Beemer..

  “Were you not the one who was all ‘grr don’t even talk to him, he’s an evil manwhore, stay away’? Because I’m pretty sure that was you, and now instead of hating him you’re practically pushing me on him.”

  “I never said he was evil. It’s true that I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the idea of you getting within three feet of him at the time.” I raised my eyebrows. “Okay, so I hated the idea of it, but I never hated him. I actually love the guy, even when he is a complete dick. All those guys are family. I was just worried about what he could do to you, you’ve already been through too much. I’ve realized though, that I underestimated you and I shouldn’t have. You’re handling him just fine.”

  Of course he would decide to have faith in me just as I was beginning to doubt myself, but there was no way I could admit to just how not fine I was around him.

  “Yeah, you should’ve listened to me when I told you that I wouldn’t fall for him.” I hoped I sounded more convincing than I felt. Maybe I should’ve listened when Bas warned me the first time. I should’ve stayed far, far away. Really I did try though, it was circumstances that kept pushing us together. One more thing to blame Connor for. I was starting to hope he would show his face, so I could hit it repeatedly, with a bat, or a crowbar, or a car.

  Bas didn’t say anything else, he just turned up the music on the stereo and I had to wonder what he was thinking. It wasn’t often that I couldn’t read him, but now was one of those times. I still thought something was up with him and the faint smile he wore told me I was probably right.

  At the store we grabbed two carts and began filling them with the items on the list. For the most part everyone agreed and by everyone, I mean the eight guys who outnumbered the two of us girls, that we would grill out every day. So we grabbed packages of burgers, hotdogs, steaks and chicken. Vi and I were fine with that but we made sure to inform them they were in charge of doing the grilling. It was unnecessary though, they all looked appalled that we thought they might even consider letting us near their precious grill. Men! At least I didn’t have to cook. Vi and I would just be responsible for the side dishes to go with.

  I divided up the rest of the list and I went in search of the main ingredients we would need to make the potato, taco and pasta salads, and sent Bas to pick out the fruits and veggies. He had learned a long time ago, on the many trips I sent him to the store for me, how to sniff and feel out good produce.

  Once we met back up and were satisfied that we had enough groceries to feed a small village, or large group of guys, we got in line at the checkout. When he started unloading his basket with everything from the cart, I noticed that five extra packages of Oreos, not counting the three that were planned, somehow made it into his cart, along with way more beer than I thought we needed. I’m the only one out of the group that doesn’t drink though, so what did I know. Being around my father, and the constant stream of guys working for him that were in and out of our house and his businesses, was enough to convince me I didn’t want anything to do with alcohol, not even in moderation, something none of those guys knew.

  Bas saw me eyeing the Oreos disapprovingly. “Hey, you get your own pack of Nutter Butters, so we each need our own pack of Oreos. It makes perfect sense.” He had me there, I knew I wasn’t going to win this one, so I let the Oreos slide and they all put in beer money, so I wasn’t going to say anything about that either, but I really hoped this wasn’t going to be one big long beer fest weekend.

  My apprehension must’ve showed and Bas was in tune with my thoughts. “Don’t worry, it’s not going to be like that. The guys like to have fun, but they know their limits and won’t get out of control, I promise.”

  Bas was the only one who really understood my aversion to being around large groups of drunk guys. He was always the one I called to help me sneak out of the house when things got out of hand. I trusted him though when he said this wouldn’t be like those times.

  Making everything fit in the car so that the chips, bread and eggs wouldn’t be smashed and the beer and drinks wouldn’t slide around was like a game of Tetris, but we got it all in, and hopefully everything would make it back undamaged.

  When we got back to the house the guys all came out to help carry in the bags, and the general consensus seemed to be that Bas had made a smart call with the Oreos. Apparently I should’ve known that when we were making the list and they all concurred that Oreos were a must, it meant they each had to have their own pack. I was informed that if I had returned with less, I would have been sent back.

  After everything was put away we decided to head down to the water and enjoy the sunshine. It was a comfortable eighty two degrees out, with a slight breeze. Not too hot, but plenty warm for sunbathing and swimming. They all rushed to their rooms to put on swim suits, but I didn’t need to change so I just grabbed a book, a water bottle and a towel and walked down to the water.

  I was laid out on the dock with my copy of Pride and Prejudice, I know the ultimate girly book, but it’s like a comfort blanket for me. It feels good no matter where I’m at or what mood I’m in. I was only six pages in when I heard feet pounding down the dock. I didn’t have time to react before the whooping and hollering started, followed by five big splashes that sent a spray of lake water up all over the dock, soaking me. Somehow I think that might have been their intent.

  I heard a deep laughter coming from behind me. I set my book down and turned to see Kyden standing at the base of the dock in his swimming trunks. This was the third time I had seen shirtless Ky and the sight wasn’t any less stunning than the first or second time. In fact it was probably more so. The first time I hadn’t gotten a good look, as I was pinned beneath him on the princess bed and then he was up and out of the room before my brain was even functioning properly again. The second time was last night and between my emotional state and the lack of lighting in my bedroom I really hadn’t taken him in then, either.

  Right now, with the sun shining on his smooth skin, the color of golden honey with just a sprinkling of dark hair and abs so well defined I would have believed they were carved from marble, I couldn’t have looked away if I tried. My eyes were also drawn to the massive piece of art that covered his ribs. It was a sprawling tree, with the root tips disappearing just below his waist line. I couldn’t make out the details but it looked very intricate and I wanted to run my fingers over ev
ery inch of it, trace each line from the top all the way down. I was suddenly thinking it was a good time to jump in the lake and cool myself off because holy six pack Batman that boy is hot. Even with my sunglasses on there was no way he didn’t know I was checking him out.

  “Hey it’s only fair if you’re gonna keep staring like I’m an ice cream sundae that I get to look as well. Where’s your swimsuit Princess?” He started moving down the dock toward me.

  “I don’t wear bathing suits. I try to expose as little skin to the sun as possible, ya know skin cancer and all.” The lie came out easily, after all it was the same one I had been using for years and because of my mom no one questioned it. Even Ky lost the devilish grin that had been plastered across his face a moment ago.

  “Is that the kind of cancer she had Princess?” He crouched down beside me, his eyes were soft, but once again there was no pity.

  “No she had a form of leukemia.”

  “For the record Princess, those little shorts are cute as hell and I have a feeling when that tank top is soaking wet and sticking to your skin, it’s going to be just as good as a bikini.” He started to stand up and I looked at him confused.

  “Why would it be-” Realization dawned on me but it was too late, he was already leaning over to pick me. “No!” I squealed and tried to get away, but his arms were around me before I got two feet and then we were both moving toward the end of the dock together. I removed my sunglasses and tossed them back toward my towel so I wouldn’t lose them in the water. I could hear the other guys in the water cheering him on and it sounded like Vi was somewhere up on the shore laughing as well. I held my breath as I felt him push off from the dock and then I was submerged in the cool ocean water. At first the temperature change was a shock, but by the time my head bobbed back to the surface and I took a few breaths it wasn’t so bad.