Surviving Regret (37 page)

“Humph,” was her response.

I turned to look at the clock on the stove, and then looked back at Hailey. “We need to get going; I need a shower before class starts.”

I got up out of my chair to grab my cell phone from my purse. She got up as well, placed her bowl in the sink and went into the living room. Hunter came into the kitchen, threw a bag and a pair of sweat pants at me.

“That’s what I thought.” I said, laughing at him.

He glared at me. “I'll be in the car.”

Hunter dropped us off, and said he would call us later. Hailey and I got ready and headed off to class. I didn’t see Dominic all day; I guess he was giving me the break that I asked for. During the week, football took up a lot of his time, but a small piece of me was hoping he would at least try to talk to me.

The rest of the week went by, and I didn’t hear from or see Dominic. Hailey was trying to keep me busy, but his lack of trying stung a little. I had hoped I would have heard back from the library by now, but nothing yet. By the end of the week, I needed to go out and have a little fun.

Hunter called Friday afternoon and asked what we had planned for the weekend. We made plans to hang at his house since he didn’t have to work. I hung up and told Hailey to pack a bag. Hunter would be here in a half hour. As we were on our way out, we ran into Dominic in the hallway. I looked up at him, but he looked down at the ground and walked away.

When we got into Hunter’s truck, I was immediately hit with the scent of his cologne. I was not the only one who noticed. Hailey said, “Damn Hunter, you have a hot date or something?”

“Ha-ha, smartass, no, but we are going out tonight.” Hunter said, casting a glance over to me.

“What? Where?” I asked.

“The bar where I work.”

“We didn’t pack anything to wear.” I looked behind me at Hailey. “Let’s run back in.”

Bolting out of the truck and back inside, I grabbed my black mini, lime green and black tank top, and my black pumps. I also grabbed the white dress that Hailey loved, and my white heels, and threw everything in a bag. Hailey had a bag with our makeup, hairspray, straightener and everything else we would need to get ready. Five minutes later, we were walking back out to the truck just as Brittany opened the door to our dorm, crying. Hailey mumbled, “Bitch,” under her breath as she pushed me past her.

When we arrived at Hunter’s, we took over his room so we could start getting ready. I jumped in the shower while Hailey started pre-gaming. I loved Hunter’s bathroom; it was huge. There were three showerheads that sprayed your entire body and the shower itself was big enough to have five people stand in it.

When I finally pulled myself out of the shower, I walked out into the bedroom in just a towel. Hunter stopped mid-sentence when he noticed me. Smiling to myself, I walked over to the bag by his leg, grabbed my black thong, black bra, mini and tank top and walked back into the bathroom to change.

When I came back out, Hailey went in to take a shower. I started blow drying my hair so it would be ready to straighten when she got out. Hunter was intently watching me the whole time.

“Does it always take you guys this long to get ready?” He asked from where he was perched on the bed.

“Perfection takes time.” I answered and winked at him.

An hour later, we were ready to hit the bar with Hunter. When we pulled up, the parking lot was packed. There was a line at the door, but Hunter went right past it. He walked up to the bouncer and shook his hand.

“CC, Hailey, this is my boy Zeke. He does my tattoos.”

Zeke was your typical bad boy: tall, dark hair, brown eyes, covered in tattoos and piercings.

“So this is CC, huh?” Zeke asked Hunter.

“Yeah, this is her.” He looked at me and winked.

Zeke grabbed my hand, lifted it to his mouth, and placed a kiss on it. He did the same to Hailey. That is all it took and I knew Hailey was done for.

We made it to the bar and Hailey asked Hunter, “Does he do piercings too?”

“Yeah, he does it all.” Hunter answered.

Hailey looked at me and before she could even ask, I said to Hunter “Can you take us to go see him this weekend?”

“Yeah, I can get him to hook you up.” He looked at the door and then back at me.

When he noticed me smiling innocently, his eyes widened. “What?” I asked.

He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them. I could see the battle he was having with himself. “Nothing.”

Hunter smiled his panty-dropping smile at the bartender, and she came over. “Hey, hot stuff, what can I get ya?”

“I’ll take my normal.” He looked at me and winked, then looked back at the bartender. “And a Sex on the Beach and a Cosmo.”

“You got it.” She turned away to make our drinks.

I started to blush thinking about actually having sex with Hunter on the beach. I shouldn’t be thinking that way with all the shit with Dominic I was dealing with, but I couldn’t help it. I glanced over at Hailey, and she just smiled at me.

After a few drinks, Hailey said, “Come dance with me.” I grabbed her hand, and we walked out onto the dance floor.

We danced for a couple of songs and this ugly guy started trying to move in on us. He couldn’t dance to save his life. I was not in the mood for this shit tonight. I looked over at Hunter, begging him with my eyes to come save us, and he just winked at me. The jackass winked! I shook my head and continued dancing with Hailey again, as the ugly ass guy tried to dance between us.

I had my back to Hunter. Someone grabbed my hips and pulled me to them. I tried to turn and punch this guy in the face, hoping that he would get the picture but then the hands on my hips gripped tighter into my skin.

“You’re driving me fucking crazy.” Hunter whispered in my ear.

I looked over my shoulder. “Yeah, well you deserve it. Why didn’t you come out here earlier?”

He started grinding his hips into my ass. “That’s why.”

Thank God I was already flushed from dancing, because if not, it would be downright embarrassed. I looked to the side and saw that Hailey was dancing with Zeke. He was whispering something in her ear, and she threw her head back laughing.

“This is dangerous, you know.” Hunter said just loudly enough for me to hear.

I froze for a second, and then spun around so I was facing him. I was waiting for him to pull away, but he put one arm around my waist, put his knee between my legs and he started to move to the beat again.

We danced like this for what seemed like forever. I was so lost in him that nothing else mattered to me. I forgot all about my problems with Dominic. I forgot about Hunter caring what my brothers thought. This right here was what I wanted more than anything; I just wished he was mine forever.

Hunter moved the hand that was on my hip to my lower back, and then ever so slowly, started to move it down to my ass. I moved closer to him, if that was even possible, and buried my face in his neck. As I placed a kiss on Hunter’s neck, I heard him suck in a breath. I pulled my face back and looked at him, but he was not looking at me. He was looking past me. I turned my head to see what he was looking at, and that was when I saw Dominic glaring at me.

“Shit!” I said as I let go of Hunter, and spun around to face Dominic.

Dominic walked over to me and grabbed my arm tightly. I knew I would have a bruise by morning. “Ow! Dominic, you’re hurting me. Let go.” I tried to yank my arm free.

“What the fuck do you call that, MacKenzie?” He seethed through his teeth while still glaring at Hunter.

“We were just dancing. Relax and let go of my damn arm.” I said, trying to pry his fingers off me.

“Let her go, Dom.” Hunter demanded.

“You said you needed a break. I give you your space, and this is what you fucking do?”

“I wasn’t doing anything.” I said.

“Bullshit. We’re leaving.” Dominic stated, and reached for my hand.

“I’m not leaving with you like this. Calm the hell down. You have no right to be pissed off. I found fucking panties in your room. You didn’t find boxers in mine.” I yelled back at him.

He didn’t respond. He just pulled me towards the front door. I looked back at Hunter who was following me, and shook my head no. I didn’t want them to fight, and I knew that was where this was leading. When we made it outside and around the corner into an alleyway, Dominic pushed me up against the wall hard and crushed his lips to mine.

He groaned as he tried to deepen the kiss, and once his tongue swept into my mouth, I knew he had been drinking. I could taste the alcohol in his mouth. He fisted his left hand in my hair while his right hand reached down to the hem of my skirt. I squeezed my legs closed and pushed back on his chest, trying to get him to stop. Finally breaking the kiss, I yelled, “Damn it, Dominic, what the fuck?”

Dominic dropped the hand that was on my upper thigh, and took a few calming breaths before he spoke. “You have no idea what you do to me. We need to get the fuck out of here.”

“Hailey is in there. I’m not leaving without telling her first.” Did he really think I was just going to leave with him?

“Fine, we’ll go in and tell her we are leaving. And you’re going to tell that prick to stay the hell away from you.”

“I’m not telling him to stay away from me. He didn’t do anything wrong. We were just dancing.” I said following behind him back into the bar.

He stopped right before he got to the door. “He wasn’t doing anything? You’re kidding, right? He had his hands all over you, Kenzie.” He ran his hands through his hair and pulled on it. “I know he has feelings for you. I’ve known for a long time. He will never pick you over your brothers. He’s just using you.”

I didn’t respond to him. I walked past him and opened the door to go tell Hailey I was leaving. I knew Dominic was right. Hunter would never be disloyal to my brothers. I was pissed at Dominic for bringing that up; I was pissed at myself for even thinking that tonight would mean anything to Hunter. I was only asking for more heartache.

Finally making it to Hailey, I told her I was leaving and asked if she could grab my things from Hunter’s and bring them back with her. She told me she would, and that she would see me in the morning. As I was heading back to Dominic, Hunter stepped in my way.

“Where are you going?” He asked with a slight panicked look on his face.

“I’m leaving with Dominic. Tonight shouldn’t have happened. You know that, Hunter.” I tried to step around him, but he stopped me.

He just stared at me as if he wanted to argue with me, but he didn’t say anything. That just pissed me off even more. I wanted him to tell me I was wrong, but he didn’t, he never would.

“You need to stay the hell away from me, Hunter. You can’t keep playing these head games with me. One minute, you are flirting and acting like you want me, then the next you are pushing me away. I’m tired of the back and forth.” This time when I moved around him, he let me.

As Dominic and I made our way back to campus, neither one of us said anything to each other. I was pissed at myself for letting Hunter get to me. I was pissed off at Dominic for not being the boyfriend he used to be. When we pulled up to the dorms, I got out of Dominic’s car, slammed the door shut and ran right to my room, locking the door behind me. Dominic tried knocking, but I didn’t answer and eventually, he left.

CHAPTER TEN

The next morning when Hailey came home, she was pretty quiet; I didn’t have much to say either. What would I have said? I freaked out because I was losing Dominic, and he pointed out the fact that Hunter would never want me. I wanted to know what happened after I left, but what would it have changed? Nothing. I just needed to get over Hunter, concentrate on Dominic and hope things would work out.

Hailey had made plans to meet up with Zeke from the bar last night, and she asked if I wanted to go along. I told her I was not in the mood to go out, and that I was going to spend a quiet night in bed reading. She warned I had until Monday to sulk, and that would be it. If I was not over my shit by then, she was calling my brothers. I promised her things would be ok. I just needed a little time by myself.

On Monday afternoon, I received a phone call from the library offering me a job. The only downfall was that it was from 6 p.m. until midnight, Monday through Thursday. I accepted the job because I needed time to myself and the distraction would be good for me. I’d start next Monday.

When Hailey came back after her last class, I told her about the library job, and that Logan would be the person training me. She smirked and told me to watch my back. She had not talked to him since that day in the library and I was surprised. She kept going on about him since that first time they met.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully—classes, homework, and only a few minutes with Hailey as she spent most of her time at Hunter’s.

Saturday night, I got my first text from Dominic. I guess our taking a break was not bothering him as much as it was me. I finally caved, and responded to his text that we needed to talk. I didn’t trust him one hundred percent but I still missed him. I missed him holding me. I missed him being sweet and caring. I even missed all the football talk. I finally gave up on him texting me back, so I plugged my phone into the charger and fell asleep.