Trying Not to Love You
Page 23

We met Hailey and Hunter outside, and walked the few blocks down to Ocean Mystique where Zeke worked. The walk was insanely quiet and it was uncomfortable, to say the least. There was so much tension in the air.
When we walked in, Hailey and I went to the back of the shop were Zeke was setting everything up for us. Since the room was small, Hunter and Dominic waited out front. Hailey was very nervous after she saw all the stuff lying on the tray, and made me go first.
I hopped up on the table. Zeke walked over to me and asked which side. I pointed to my right. He took his marker, and made a dot where the stud would go. He handed me the mirror. I smiled, and said, "Perfect."
He went back over to his tray, grabbed the needle and the clamp and then turned around back to me. "Now the only thing that is going to happen is your eyes will water, and you will feel some pressure."
I nodded, understanding what he was telling me. He placed the clamp on my nose, and then said, "Now take a deep breath in." I did, and I felt the pressure of the needle going through my nose. "Now let it out."
He turned back around to his tray, grabbed the stud and then said, "You're going to feel a little more pressure." He was slowly sliding the needle out and putting the stud in.
"You're done, quick and painless." He handed me the mirror so I could check it out. I loved it.
"I want my tongue done, too."
His eyes shot up to mine as if I said something crazy.
"What?" I asked, shrugging my shoulder
"You sure? That one will hurt, and your tongue will be swollen for a few days."
"I'm sure."
Zeke walked out of the room to grab the bar bell, and when he came back, we did the same basic procedure all over again. When I was all done, I hopped off the table.
"You're turn." I said, smirking at Hailey.
She jumped up on the table. Zeke did the exact thing he did to me. When he finished, we walked out to the front of the store so we could pay.
I grabbed my wallet from my purse, and looked at Zeke, waiting for him to tell me how much I owed him. He shook his head, and looked over my shoulder. I turned around, and Hunter winked at me. Not wanting to piss Dominic off about Hunter paying, I turned back to Zeke and handed him money for a tip. That way, it looked like I paid.
I walked over to Dominic, put my arms around him and asked him what he thought.
"Looks cute. I like it." Then he leaned in to kiss me.
I pulled back a second later and said, "No getting carried away." Then I stuck my tongue out at him, and took off running and laughing, out of the store.
I heard Dominic groaning as he came up behind me. He put his hands on my hips, pulled me back to him and then he said, "Baby that is f**king sexy."
We said our goodbyes to Hunter and Hailey, who had come down on Hunter's street bike. How the hell did he get that down here? I got a little jealous of the fact that he was riding with her; he never let anyone ride with him but me.
On the way home with Dominic, I decided to tell him about my brothers' visit. Because everything seemed to be going better for us again, I did not want to start of hiding stuff from him.
"Babe, you know that I don't care about you hanging out with your brothers, but I have a problem with you being with Hunter."
"And I have told you a hundred times, you have nothing to worry about." I said, squeezing his hand as we were walking back to his car.
"It's not you, it's him. Just don't go anywhere alone with him, alright?" He said, squeezing my hand back.
"Promise." I was making a lot of promises lately; I just prayed that I could keep them all.
10
Everything was finally feeling back to normal with Dominic and me. We were spending a lot of time with each other. Cooper and Mason kept postponing their trip because of Jackson. Chloe was having some blood pressure issues with her pregnancy, and he did not want to leave her until he knew she was ok. Finally, after the third time rescheduling, Jackson just told Cooper and Mason to go without him. My brothers were arriving today. We had a whole weekend of shit to do while they were here. They were going to call me when they finally made it to Hunter's, and then we were all going to meet at Raven's to get something to eat.
I needed to do some studying since I would not have time this weekend. Hailey had been spending more and more time with Hunter and Zeke lately, but she was here today. I guess she was excited to see Mason, even though she would not admit it. She jumped in the shower since we still had a little while before we would meet up with everyone.
When she walked out of bathroom, I heard her sniffle. I looked up at her, and her eyes were all red and swollen.
"Hails, what's going on? Why are you crying?"
She just shook her, and walked over to her dresser, her back turned towards me. I got up and went over to her. I place my hand on her shoulder, and she just broke down.
"Please sweetie, tell me what is wrong."
She just shook her head again. I pulled her over to the bed and sat down; she curled up in a ball on the bed, and put her head on my lap. We stayed like this for a while. She cried and I ran my fingers through her hair. I knew she would talk to me when she was ready.
Finally, she started to calm down. I reached over and handed her a tissue. She wiped the remaining tears, sat up and played with the tissue in her hand.
Then she said so low I barely heard her, "I love Mason."
I knew it! "OH Hails, I already knew this." I reached over and hugged her. "You think I didn't notice all the sneaking around you were doing back home?"
She shrugged her shoulders.
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
Sighing, she looked up at me and said, "I didn't want you to get upset with me and freak out that I had a crush on your brother. I know you hated all the fussing the girls did at school over them."
"You are my best friend, and you are nothing like those girls were. I am glad you finally told me, but what about Zeke? You guys have been seeing each other a lot."
"We are just friends, and most of the time Hunter is with us. Zeke is fun to hang around with, and he helps keep my mind off Mason."
"So, I guess you're excited Mason is coming?"
"Hell yeah, I can't wait to see his sexy ass." I cringed and she started laughing.
Groaning, I said, "Ok here's the deal; if you're talking to me about my brother, I only want the PG version. I don't want nightmares."
She got serious, "So you are seriously ok with me and Mason? He seems to think you're going to have a problem with it."