Surviving Regret (48 page)

Hunter nodded. “Same goes to you.”

I gestured for Jackson to speak. He frowned.

“Look, I don’t have a problem with this. You’re already family. I don’t have to worry about someone looking after her now.” He shrugged. “We aren’t your problem. Mason is. He hates this. We tried to talk to him, but he’s not hearing us. Maybe if you talked to him one-on-one he might listen.”

“Yeah, alright, I’ll try.” I gave Cooper and Jackson a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek before taking Hunter’s hand.

“Two down, one to go,” I said.

He scratched his head. “Make that two to go. Your dad still hasn’t said a word to either of us.”

Jackson chuckled. “He’s easy. Just have Kenzie bat her eyelashes. Always works.”

I laughed. “Shut up, you’re just jealous.”

We returned to the table. Mason was still missing. Hailey mouthed, “Sorry.” I shrugged. There was nothing she could do. She gave me my weekend alone with Hunter, and I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.

After dinner was all done, the girls and I cleaned up and started the dishes. The front door opened and slammed shut.

Mason.

Hailey dried her hands and took off after him. I waited a few minutes before following her out.

Chaos descended on the living room. Mason and Hunter were nose to nose. Jackson and Cooper had a hold of them so no one would take a swing. Both were yelling at each other. My dad jostled between them and broke the fight up.

“Mason, walk away now!” He yelled at Mason.

“This is my fucking house. I’m not going anywhere. He can fucking leave!” Mason pointed over my dad.

Hunter shoved Jackson’s arm off him. “Fine, I’ll fucking go.”

“Wait, Hunter, don’t go.” He wasn’t stopping. I ran after him. “Wait, I’ll go with you. Just let me grab my shoes.”

I ran to get my Uggs and hopped down the hall, slamming them over my toes. Dad cornered Hunter. Mason shouted from the other room.

“Daddy—”

“Baby girl, go upstairs.” He yelled at me.

Well, he was still calling me Baby Girl, so he wasn’t pissed at me. Not wanting to push him any further, I walked off towards my room. Dad was pissed enough. I backed off and mouthed a quick ‘I love you’ to Hunter.

Hailey found me a few minutes later, collapsed on my bed, and just stared at the ceiling.

She laid down next to me and sighed. “I’m sorry he’s being such an asshole about this. He ruined the whole weekend once he figured out that you and Hunter were together. When he saw the text, he just lost it.”

“It’s ok, I shouldn’t have responded.” I turned to look at her. “Thanks for helping me though.”

She sat up and had a huge smile on her face. “So, tell me everything!”

“Oh my God, Hails, it was perfect; he was perfect. I’m so glad I waited for him. I can’t even explain to you how I feel about him now after this weekend.”

“Aww, I wish the asshole didn’t ruin my weekend though. I had plans for us.”

Groaning, I said, “Please don’t, I don’t want to hear it.”

She laughed. “See we can get along, why the hell can’t they?”

Shaking my head, I replied, “I don’t know. I knew this was going to mess shit up with Hunter and me though. I hope he doesn’t choose them over me.”

“Don’t even think like that, Kenz. Seriously. If he wasn’t serious about you, he wouldn’t have gone away with you, and I’m pretty damn sure he would have left by now.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Hailey and I talked about everything we did during the weekend for a while before my dad appeared in my doorway.
Damn!
I wonder how long he has been standing there. I hoped not that long, or he would now know that Hunter and I slept together.

Hailey climbed off the bed and excused herself.

“You know I love you, baby girl.” Dad edged over the bed. “I talked to Hunter and Mason. I don’t know what good it did, but I tried. I don’t like all this fighting. Are you sure that this is what you want? Mason seems to think you’re going to get hurt for some reason.”

“Dad, I’m sure, even if it doesn’t work out between me and Hunter, and I get my heart broken…I love him.”

He sighed. “I thought so. You always did have a crush on him.” He smiled. “Just protect your heart, baby girl. You know I already think of Hunter as a son. I’m leaving this to you two to figure out.”

“Thanks, Daddy, I love you.” I gave him a big hug.

“Love you too.”

Hunter knocked on the open door and I waved him in. “You ok?”

He hesitated. “Yeah.”

My dad patted his shoulder and gave us our privacy. I pulled Hunter onto the bed and massaged his shoulders.

“So what did Mase say?”

He tensed a little bit under my hands. “He told me I’m not good enough for you.”

“He’s wrong, Hunter. You are.” I kissed the back of his neck.

“I think I’m going to get out of here and let shit cool off.” He stood and wrapped his arms around me. “I love you, CC.”

I cupped his face in my hands. “I love you too. You give me the chills when you say that.”

He gently stroked my arm, prompting even more goosebumps, and kissed me again. “Let’s run downstairs and get your bags.”

We passed Mason and Hailey on the porch. I eased by him and I walked Hunter to his truck, out of Mason’s view.

“I’ll be over around ten to take you back to school,” he said. “Wish I could stay a few more days, but I’m pretty sure Mason is ready to get rid of me.”

“I’m his sister.” I smirked. “He can’t stay mad forever.”

Hunter grunted, started the truck, and took off.

I took my bags and approached Mason.

“Can we talk now? Like adults?” I asked.

Hailey tried to get up off his lap. He pulled her back. Her jaw clenched.

“You need to talk to her. Knock this shit off, Mase.”

Mason’s eyes narrowed. He looked past me. “I ain’t talking to anyone.”

I stood there, stunned that he would say something so hurtful and immature. Hailey pushed his shoulder back, got up, and walked in the house. A second later, she came out with her purse and keys and told Mason, “I’m leaving. When you decide to grow up call me.” She glanced at me. “Love you, Kenzie. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure if I was going to cry or scream. Mason threw the front door open with such force it banged against the wall

His voice carried over the house.

“Bitch.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The last two months flew by in a haze. All my classes were going great; and Hailey and I had moved out of the dorms and in with Hunter and Bentley. We only stayed at the dorms once a week to make our presence known. I had offered Bentley money for Hailey and me staying there all the time but he told me as long as we cooked dinner three times a week then that was payment enough. Otherwise, they would still be eating pizza every night.

Mason still wasn’t talking to me. He ignored Hunter and abandoned Hailey. Hailey said she was fine, but I knew it was eating her up inside. There were a few times I caught her crying late at night. She said they talked a few times but never for long, because baseball was taking up a lot of his time. I talked to Cooper and he said that Mason was still being a dick about all this shit. He was snapping at him and Jaylinn all the time and Cooper was fed up with it. I asked about what he was doing all the time that he claimed he was busy. Coop said that he was at baseball most of the time but when he wasn’t, he was out partying and getting trashed.

Hunter hadn’t been the same since the argument. I think when he caught Hailey crying a few days ago, that it caught up to him because he started to take it out on me. He would pick a fight for no reason. I was late getting home from work last night and he flipped out and asked me a million times where I was.

The tension made me sick. As soon as I woke, a wave of nausea swept up from my stomach. I ran to the bathroom to throw up. Hunter came in as he had the last few times and held my hair back for me. When I was done, he would help me in the shower. He apologized for taking things out on me and I would always forgive him. How could I not, when he looked at me with those eyes of his that had my stomach doing flip-flops. After we showered, he carried me back to bed and made love to me. He always made sure to take his time with me after I got sick or after fighting.

I must have fallen asleep after we were done because Hunter’s side of the bed was empty and cold. I went downstairs to get something to eat before I started to feel sick again. Hailey sat at the bar, eating a sandwich and reading a book.

“Hey, sleeping beauty,” Hailey said. “Hunter keeping you up all hours of the night?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, actually he isn’t keeping me up at all lately.”

“You’ve been sleeping a lot. You feeling ok?”

“Not really.” I grabbed a bowl from the cabinet. “All this tension with Mason is really starting to wear me down. It’s been two months since that fight, and enough is enough.”

“I keep trying but as soon as I bring it up, he makes some kind of excuse to get off the phone.” She closed her book.

“Hails, work on your relationship with Mase. Don’t worry about us. I’m his sister. He has to get over this eventually. Once we go home for the summer, Mom will put a stop to this bullshit.”

Hunter raged into the room, slamming the door and interrupting Hailey.

“What the fuck, CC?”

I frowned. “What the hell is going on?”

“You tell me, what else are you hiding from me?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” My stomach started turning. “What’s going on?”

“Dominic showed up on Christmas morning and you never told me?”

I grabbed my stomach, trying not to think about getting sick again.

“It wasn’t a big deal. Cooper was there with me. He just stopped by to tell me that Brittany lied about being pregnant. That’s it; he wasn’t there more than five minutes before I told him to leave.”

My stomach rolled. I took off running to the bathroom to throw up again.

Hailey knocked at the door. I greeted her from the bathroom floor. The tiles helped to cool my face off.

“Oh, sweetie, are you ok?” Hailey said, lifting my head on to her lap.

“You have to get me out of here. I can’t do this shit anymore.” My stomach was turning again; I held it tight trying to make it stop. “I can’t be around him. My stomach won’t stop knotting.”

I started crying. How could this happen? He was pissed off about something that happened two months ago, something that was no big deal.

“Alright look, you go grab your stuff and meet me back downstairs. I’ll get us back to the dorms. I think you just need a little space.” Hailey ran her fingers through my hair.

I got up off the floor, threw some water on my face and went upstairs to grab my things. I quickly put everything in a bag. I didn’t want to have another fight with Hunter. I snuck down the stairs as Hailey confronted Hunter in the living room. I waited outside, but she didn’t follow. Bentley pulled in the driveway and I ran over to his car.

“Bentley, could you give me a ride back to the dorms, please?”

“Yeah, sure, everything ok?”

“No, but it will be.”

He dropped me off and I said, “Don’t tell Hunter. If he asks if you saw me, just say no.”

“Kenzie, you know I can’t do that.”

I knew that I shouldn’t ask him to lie for me, but I didn’t want Hunter chasing after me.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Thanks for the ride, Bentley.”

Hailey pulled up behind us. She hopped out of the car and rushed to my side.

“Come on, sweetie; let’s get you up to our room.”

I blinked back tears as we walked. She swore. My vision focused in time to see Dominic. And Brittany.

Great fucking timing.

“You ok, MacKenzie? You don’t look so good.” He asked.

“Dom, I really need to get her upstairs.” Hailey pushed past him and guided me to the room.

Dominic followed us the whole way up, but didn’t say anything more. I dove into the bed, pulled the covers over my head, and begged for sleep to come.

***

I didn’t hear from Hunter for two weeks. Not one word. The only thing worse than him avoiding me was my constant nausea. The stress was destroying my stomach. I knew it was bound to happen. Mason refused to back down, and I knew it would lead to the end of my relationship.

I sat in the library, scanning ID badges, when Logan snuck in a cheeseburger. The smell of it made me sick; I didn’t make it to the bathroom. I got sick in the trashcan under the desk.

Logan’s mouth dropped open. I frowned.

“I’m sorry; I haven’t been feeling well lately. Whatever that is,” I said, pointing at his cheeseburger, “made my stomach turn.”

Logan nodded and stalked off to the back office. After a few minutes of a relatively stable tummy, I went to apologize. He was on his phone, facing away from me.