Trying Not To Love You

The next morning, I woke up to something tickling my feet. Trying to kick it away so I could go back to sleep, I heard someone say "Shit."

I sat straight up. "Sorry Hails." Looking around, I was very confused for a minute, and then I realized where I was. "What time is it?"

"Six-thirty. I thought I should wake you up so we can get back to the dorm and get ready for class." She said, rubbing her wrist that I kicked.

Groaning, I flopped back down in bed, threw the pillow that was next to me and hit Hunter with it. "Hunter, get up."

"I am up." He said, as he started to sit up against the headboard. He took the pillow I threw at him and put it over his lap.

Hailey started laughing hysterically. I sat up and glared at her. "What the hell is so funny?"

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she pointed to the pillow on Hunter's lap. "That is." Then she turned, and walked away, still laughing.

Hunter moved the pillow to get out of bed, and I saw what Hailey had laughed at. I started laughing. "You know, I can help you with that."

"Laugh it up." Hunter said, as he walked to his dresser to put on a pair of jeans.

I finally calmed down enough to get out of bed. I went into the bathroom to relieve myself and throw some water on my face. Remembering my clothes were soaked and there was no way I could wear them home, I went back into the bedroom and found Hunter leaning up against his dresser.

"My clothes are still soaked. Can I borrow a pair of sweats?"

He shook his head and started laughing, "No. It looks like you are wearing that back."

I just shrugged my shoulders. "Fine by me." Then I walked away, swaying my hips.

I heard Hunter groan, and a minute later, his drawer slammed shut. I sat down at the kitchen island where Hailey was eating cereal.

"So, did you talk to Dominic last night?" She asked, putting a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.

"Yeah, I told him I needed a break. I need time to think."

"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 did not 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 did not 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 did not 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 that 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."

"I didn't know that is where you worked. We didn't pack anything to wear." I looked behind me at Hailey. "Let's run back in."

We ran back in. 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 watching me intently 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 did the guy handshake he did with my brothers all the time.

"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, placed a kiss on it and then did the same to Hailey. That is all it took and I knew Hailey was done for.

I was right. She looked at me with a dreamy look in her eyes. Shaking my head, I looked over at Hunter. He nodded his head for me to walk in first.

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 pantie-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 should not be thinking that way with all the shit I was dealing with Dominic about, but I could not 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 could not 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 f*cking crazy." I immediately relaxed when I realized it was Hunter.

I looked over my shoulder at Hunter. "Yeah, well you deserve it. Why didn't you come out here earlier?"

Hunter 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 embarrassing. 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 him 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 f*ck 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.

Dominic let go of my arm, then said, "You said you needed a break. I give you your space, and this is what you f*cking 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 f*cking panties in your room. You didn't find boxers in mine." I yelled back at him.

He did not respond. He just pulled me towards the front door. I looked back to Hunter who was following me, and shook my head no. I did not 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 kissing, I yelled, "Damn it Dominic, what the f*ck?"

Dominic dropped the hand that was on my upper thigh, and took a few calming breathes before he spoke. "You have no idea what you do to me. We need to get the f*ck 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." He said.

"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 did not respond to him. I just 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 did not say anything. That just pissed me off even more. I wanted him to tell me I was wrong, but he did not, 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 did not answer and eventually, he left.