“Don’t even start,” she giggled, “My ass has been at work since seven this morning. Damn inventory control.”

I walked over and took the bottle from her and she threw her arms around CC. “I miss your face bitch.” I heard Hailey’s muffled voice.

“Miss you too.”

CC, Jackson, Chloe and I, all said goodnight to our boys before they left with their grandparents.

CC spoke up from her seat in the recliner, “Now listen to me. I don’t want to hear one damn word about the shit that’s gone down these past few weeks. Not. A. Word. Tonight’s going to be fun. Us girls are letting our hair down, so hold on to your hats boys.”

All the guys raised their eyebrows and shook their heads; the girls looked at each other and winked. We were in for a ride tonight.

15

I was determined to have a good time tonight; I hadn’t taken any of my pain medicine so I’d be able to drink with everyone. Mom and Dad promised they’d be fine with Ryder for the night and I’d told myself there’s nothing I needed to worry about.

“Kenz, shot?” Hailey asked me on the way to the kitchen.

“Hell, yes!” Hunter was watching me; I smiled and blew him a kiss, causing Cooper to throw a pillow right at the back of his head.

“Knock that shit off.” Mason groaned.

Hailey reappeared with eight shot glasses, a lemon, knife, cutting board and my sugar bowl. She put everything down on the living room table and chucked the lemon at Mason. “Make yourself useful, Ace.” Hunter, Jackson and Cooper started hooting and hollering. Jaylinn, Chloe and I threw our heads back and started laughing.

As Hailey started pouring the shots, she informed us, “We’re playing a game. It’s called Ask Me About…” Hailey and her games. I shook my head, shit never ended well with her games.

“How the hell do you play that?” Jackson asked as he adjusted Chloe’s legs across his own.

Hailey smiled at him, “You ask one person about something, anything at all. If they don’t answer they have to take a shot.” She chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of drinking tonight. I’ll go first.”

Hailey was giving Mason the evil eye; this was not going to be pretty. “Mason. How many girls have you slept with?”

See! He was staring her down; I didn’t think he was going to answer. “Eleven.”

Cooper coughed out the word “bullshit.”

Mason diverted his eyes to Cooper. “My turn,” Mason said.

“Jaylinn, did you hand in your v-card yet?” Jaylinn cringed and Hunter went stiff as a board next to me. I needed to fix this so things didn’t get out of hand and ruin my night. I reached over and ran my finger up his thigh, on a path to his zipper. It’d been more than a month since Hunter and I had made love. I knew he was trying to patiently wait those six weeks. I was going to try and push those boundaries tonight, even if I was secretly doing it for Jaylinn.

When I reached the zipper he sat back and pulled the covers that were draped over my legs over his lap. Now he’s getting it. I shifted so I was angled towards him and reached for his zipper. He looked at me, eyes hooded.

Jaylinn answered, “No.” Hunter sighed, so much for my plan. Oh well, it was fun anyway.

“Kenzie, have you ever been caught having sex?” Jaylinn asked.

I rested my head on Hunter’s shoulder for a second, trying to contain the laugh that was bubbling up. “Hell yeah,” I glimpsed over at Hailey as she shuddered. “How many times now Hails?”

She picked up a shot and downed it, “Too many to count.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I’m still trying to figure out how you were bent over with your stom—” Three pillows were thrown at Hailey cutting her short, while Hunter and I laughed hysterically.

After I was finally able to calm down enough to talk, I knew who I was going after, I just hoped she kept it clean for my sake. “Hailey,” she smirked, “craziest place you’ve had sex.”

Her mouth fell open, oh shit, here it comes. She didn’t look in Mason’s direction once, no eye contact, no nothing. Something was going on with them. “In my Jeep, while we were driving.”

“How the hell did that work?” Jackson asked. Clearly he was thinking really hard about this.

Mason piped up, “It just does.” Hailey still never looked in his direction, while he stared a hole right into her.

“He’s right, when you want it enough, you make it work.” Finally she glanced at him, but only for a second. That statement had so many meanings, especially for those two.

“They’re just lucky enough their crazy asses didn’t get pulled over when the cops passed.” Jaylinn said in a fit of giggles.

This is what I missed; no one had a care in the world right now. I wanted to bottle this time up because I knew it was going to be short lived once the night was over. I was content in Hunter’s arms, these people were my family. Some might not be blood, but I loved them just as much.

“Chloe, you’re up girl.” Jaylinn said. Chloe’s eyes widened. I didn’t know why, she knew how crazy things were going to get. “Have you ever faked an orgasm?”

Jackson narrowed his eyes at Jaylinn.

Chloe didn’t answer at first, she looked at Jackson and the answer flashed across her face. She looked at me, then reached for the shot glass, dipped a lemon slice in sugar, and downed her shot. Everyone was quiet until Cooper snickered first, and then everyone lost it. I had pains in my stomach from laughing so hard. I’d pay for that tomorrow.

Jackson picked up a shot and downed it, “You couldn’t have just answered the question?” He slammed down the glass on the coffee table.

“Hell no! No one wants to hear how many times that’s happened.” Chloe said with a straight face. I was about to wipe my tears away, but stopped midway to my face and gawked at her. Then I saw the red creeping up her neck and she burst out laughing, while Jackson just sat there stunned. After a few minutes he turned his glare on Hailey and she gave it right back. Hailey had known what she was starting and she wasn’t going to be intimidated by Jackson.

“Alright Hunter,” Chloe smirked. Most of the time this girl was prim and proper, but sometimes she let her hair down, and tonight was one of those nights. “Most daring place you’ve had sex.”

Hunter swore under his breath and shifted his body towards me; I reached over and started for his zipper again. His eyes snapped to mine and held my gaze. I knew he was thinking about that night, that night was heaven for me.