Trying Not to Love You - Page 30/61

"Alright, bye." I hung up the phone and asked, "Hails, are you ready? Hunter is on his way over."

"Yes, let's get the hell out of here. I miss my bed back home."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Is that all you miss?"

"What else would I miss?" She asked, sitting on her bed, twirling her hair around her finger.

"Oh I don't know, maybe my brother?"

She started to blush and I knew that she was missing him like crazy. "No, why would you think that?" Then she started giggling.

"Yeah, sure" I answered, rolling my eyes at her.

There was a knock at the door and I yelled, "It's open." I was expecting it to be Hunter but it was not. It was Dominic.

Hailey jumped off her bed, stood next to me and said, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came by to say Happy Thanksgiving to Kenzie and to make sure she had a ride home."

"Yes, Hunter is giving us a ride home. Now please leave." Just as I finished my sentence, the door flew open and Hunter walked in with a murderous look on his face.

"What the f**k are you doing here? I thought I made it pretty clear to stay the f**k away from her." Hunter walked over and shoved Dominic towards the door.

"Chill out Hunter. I was just checking to make sure she had a ride home. I know Chloe's baby shower is this weekend, and she is looking forward to it. I would have called but she changed her number."

The day after all the shit went down, Cooper called and had my number changed, so there would be no way for him to get in contact with me.

"Yeah well, she did that for a reason Dom. Now get the f**k out."

Dominic looked over to me before he turned and walked out the door. I did not understand why he was trying to hang onto me. He did this to us, not me. He was expecting a baby in a few months for Christ sakes.

"You okay CC?" Hunter asked.

"Yes. Ready to go, Hailey?"

"Yes please, before any more bullshit goes down."

The ride home was fairly quiet. I sat up front with Hunter while Hailey curled up in the back and fell asleep. I was not in the best of moods since Dominic made his impromptu visit. Hunter could sense it, so he let me be. I was trying to get comfortable enough to take a nap but I just could not find the right position. Finally settling in, Hunter reached over and grabbed my hand, linking our fingers together. I fell asleep within minutes.

Hunter squeezed my hand, and I slowly started to wake up to him saying, "CC, we're home."

I stretched and asked, "You coming in to say hi to everyone, or are you going to head home?"

"I'm going to drop Hailey off then head home. Mom and Jaylinn are waiting for me. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok." I put my hand on the door handle and dropped his hand that was still holding onto mine, but stopped before I got out. "Thanks again for everything Hunter."

He smiled that smile that I loved so much and said, "Anytime."

I got out of the truck and made my way around to the bed where Hunter met me to hand me my bags. Before I could grab it, he reached over, pulled me into a hug and he kissed the top of my head.

I hugged him back and said, "Bye Hunter. When you wake Hailey up, tell her I will call her tomorrow."

"Sure."

I walked towards the house, so happy to be home and away from school for a few days. When I walked in, my mom sat on the couch reading and my dad sat next to her, watching TV.

"There's our baby girl." Mom said when I came into her view.

"Hey mom, hey dad, I'm exhausted. I'm going to head on up to bed. We'll talk more in the morning." I said while yawning.

"Ok, you need me to make you anything to eat?" Mom asked.

"No, we stopped before we got here. I just need some sleep."

I went up to my room, loving the comfortable feeling being home already gave me. As soon as I opened my door, I dropped my bags, went to lie on my bed and fell into a peaceful sleep.

14

The next morning after I got up and took a much-needed shower, I made my way downstairs. My mom was in the kitchen making breakfast. When I went in, my entire family, including Hunter, Hailey, Jaylinn, and Mrs. McCormick were sitting at the table.

"Well, look who decided to finally grace us with her presence," my dad said as he got up from the table to wrap his arms around me.

"Morning, guess I was more tired than I thought I was. I feel a lot better today. So Chloe, are you ready for this weekend? How's my nephew been treating you?"

"Girl he never stops moving. I am so uncomfortable. I cannot wait for this to be over. I have to wake Jackson up all the time because I keep getting bad back cramps and I can't get up out of bed."

"Aww, leave my nephew alone. He's getting tough before he comes into this family. He's gonna need his muscles with all his uncles around," I said smiling at her.

"I just can't wait until I get to finally hold him in my arms."

"I bet. So what's the plans today mom?" I went to sit at the only open seat at the table, which happened to be next to Hunter. He leaned over and whispered good morning in my ear. I replied by reaching for his hand under the table and giving it a squeeze. I cast a quick glance in Mason's direction and saw him glaring at me.

"Well, you and I need to get all the decorations for the shower and stop by the hall and check it out real quick. Then we're going to come back and pick up all the girls and go get pedicures."

That sounded relaxing, and was just what I needed. "Ok sounds good. Hails, you going too?"

"No, I'm good. I have to spend some time with my mom," she told me, looking displeased.

The rest of breakfast consisted of small talk made by everyone. Hunter and I eyed each other the whole time and he found small ways to touch me. I could not explain the feelings I was developing for Hunter, but I knew for sure that every time I was with him, I felt safe and at ease. I guess my heart had finally started to heal.

After cleaning up from breakfast, mom and I headed out to the party store to pick up decorations, balloons, party favors and everything else we needed for Chloe's shower. After stopping by the hall, which was beautiful and perfect for the baby shower, we went to the grocery store to pick up last minute things for Thanksgiving dinner. About an hour later, we were finally on our way home, but when we pulled into the driveway, Jackson was outside, pacing back and forth.

"Hey Jackson, what's going on?" I asked, walking towards the trunk to grab some of the bags.

"Chloe is having back cramps again and she keeps crying because they are causing her so much pain. She just kicked me out and told me to go take a walk."