Hangovers and Holidays (Untouchable Book 5)

by Heather Long

  Coop ignored him and pinned me with a look. “Fine, it’s not a big deal now, I just… Maddy was gone, again, doing whatever, and Tiddles was sick. I had to take him to the vet, and my license said I couldn’t drive without a licensed, over eighteen driver in the car, and I hadn’t had a chance to hit the DMV ’cause…” I made a wave with my hand. Maddy again. No need to get there. “So I took him. Got pulled over on my way back for a rolling stop because I was tired. Got a ticket, went and got the restriction off my license that weekend, and got the ticket dismissed. They cut me a break. But yes, I’ve had a traffic ticket. If we’re going by age, then you’re next.”

  He glared, at the shot glasses not me, and sighed. A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he clearly needed a distraction.

  “Probably wouldn’t have gotten it if I’d dared to flirt with the cop. He was cute.”

  Now he glared at me, and so did the other guys. I swallowed a smile. Goal achieved.

  “Never have I ever not noticed when someone was flirting with me.” Damn.

  “Wow,” I said as I reached for my shot glass. “Rude.”

  Archie snickered. “You tried to make him jealous.”

  “No, I succeeded.” I tossed back the shot, and that wasn’t as bad as the first one. Exhaling, I slid the glass back to the table for Coop to refill. “But you guys may have to tuck me in shortly, because holy crap, that’s strong.”

  “We’ll look after you,” Jake promised, then elbowed Archie. “You’re up.”

  He studied me a beat and said, “Never have I ever had a good day with my dad.” The darkness in his eyes promised every single word was true. Archie may have made his peace with what a piece of shit his father was, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.

  “Suck up,” Jake teased, and it helped, lightening the mood a fraction as he, Coop, and Ian all took their shots. My hand didn’t even twitch toward my glass. Couldn’t have a good day with a person who didn’t exist.

  “Can’t help it if it’s the truth,” Archie said, sprawling back and rubbing a finger along his lower lip. But when I raised my brows, a little worried about him, he smiled. It was the barest curl of his lips, but it told me he was okay.

  The guys shook off their shots, and then Coop refilled the glasses.

  “Never have I ever,” Jake began and then considered his answer, before smiling at me, “wanted someone the way I want you.”

  No one reached for a drink, and the silence in the room swelled with everything that statement held.

  “And you called me a suck up,” Archie mused, alleviating some of the tension, and laughter rippled through the room.

  “Your turn, Baby Girl.” Challenge twinkled in his eyes, amusement that dared me to get them back for their teasing.

  I could totally do that.

  “Never have I ever gone down on a girl.”

  The rich baritone of his laughter as the guys groaned buoyed me. But all four of them did their shots.

  “You asked for it,” Ian told me. “Never have I ever gone down on a guy.”

  Yeah, I could have seen that one coming. I did my shot, and wow, my lips were tingling. And around we went again.

  “Never have I ever…cheated on a test.”

  To my utter shock, Archie did a shot, and we all stared at him. He smirked. “I went to boarding school. It wasn’t about needing the answers so much as seeing if I could get away with it.” He grinned. “Never have I ever not been on the honor roll.”

  Jake flipped him off and so did Coop. Ian grinned as he squeezed my toes, because neither of us needed to drink. Honor roll had been right up there with getting into Harvard. Yes, I might have overthought that need to get to college a lot.

  “Never have I ever stood in line at midnight to get the latest game,” Jake said, and it was Coop’s turn to glare. Because yes, he had, and I’d stood in that line with him so I picked up a shot.

  I was going to be so drunk.

  “When I start puking,” I told them, “I don’t want to hear any complaints.”

  “I’ll hold your hair,” Ian promised. “But let’s throw some snacks down.”

  “On it,” Archie said as he bounced off the sofa. “Hang on a sec for your turn, babe.”

  He came back with chips and salsa. And despite our earlier lunch, I was starved. Archie also brought out water.

  “Never have I ever taken a class I didn’t want to in order to be with someone else.”

  “And just like that, you go from being the sweetest girl in the room…” Coop mused, then winked as all four of them tossed back their drinks.

  “Though I’m a little hurt. You could have taken a basic engineering course just to hang out with me.”

  “And me,” Jake piped in.

  I laughed. “Seriously, guys, you always asked me what I was taking when it came time to pick classes. You had me pick first. How was I supposed to match my schedule to yours?”

  “And this is why you are the smartest girl in the room,” Coop said, slurring a little. Not that I could really talk. My tongue had joined my lips in numb land, and my fingers and toes were tingling. I had also started in on the water.

  It was Ian’s turn again, and he stretched his legs out before dragging both of my feet into his lap. Oh, he was massaging my right foot, and just like that, I wanted to purr. “Never have I ever…” He mused for a long time.

  “Getting lost over there?” Archie asked with a grin.

  “Just trying to decide what I haven’t done,” Ian answered with a shrug. “Fine… Never have I ever had sex somewhere public.”

  Dammit.

  Jake and I both reached for our glasses.

  “Wait…” Archie leaned forward, looking from me to Jake and then back. “When?”

  “Thanksgiving,” Jake said, grinning at me as we saluted, and I giggled at the sudden stares from the other three as I knocked back my shot.

  “Though technically…”

  “It counts,” Jake told me.

  “Fair enough.”

  “Technically?” Coop asked, and I pushed his face away from me, even as he grinned. He rescued my shot glass as I settled back on the sofa. Ian was doing wonderful things with my foot. And a yawn stole through me.

  “And on that note,” Jake murmured. “Switch it up.”

  “On it.” Coop stood, then braced himself a moment like he had to keep from swaying, and vanished toward the kitchen.

  “Eat,” Archie ordered, nudging the basket of chips toward me.

  “I will,” I told him. “You know I can eat, but I’m floaty as hell right now, and this is kind of nice. It’s not even embarrassing to think about the fact that I’ve had sex with every single one of you. Sometimes, with two of you at the same time”

  And it wasn’t.

  “It’s actually kind of nice,” I continued as Coop wandered back in with fresh glasses and another huge bottle of water. He half nudged me up, and then I was in his lap while my feet were still in Ian’s, and Coop offered me some of the water.

  “It’s more than nice,” Coop told me. “I doubt you’ll hear any complaints.”

  “Ha,” I said, and then took a long drink. Oh, that was cold and good, too. The chip was really salty. “Aren’t we still playing?”

  “Pausing,” Jake told me. “You’re smashed, Baby Girl.”

  I squinted at him, then held up my thumb and forefinger together. “Little bit. But feel free to keep going, I just won’t do any more shots.”

  “We’re good,” Archie said.

  “Aww, c’mon, it’s kind of fun, and I don’t wanna be a party pooper.”

  “You’re not a party pooper,” Ian soothed. “But go ahead, Angel. What have you never?”

  “Hmm…lots of things. Though that list is getting smaller.” Then again… “I mean, I would have said never have I ever been on a date, but that wasn’t entirely true, even before this year.” I pointed accusing fingers at them. “You guys kept trying to take me on dates, especially Archie, I just didn’t se
e it.”

  “Very true,” Archie said. “Apparently, we just sucked at dating.”

  “Fuck,” Jake said. “That’s true, isn’t it?”

  Coop laughed, the vibration of his rumbling chest making me smile. “Yup. So it’s all our fault, Frankie. We should have gotten better at it.”

  I sighed. “Guys, how do we make this work?”

  I didn’t mean to get maudlin but…

  “I love this. I love all of us, and you said I didn’t have to choose, but…how do we really make this work? Archie and I don’t have to worry about what bad meatloaf thinks because—you know—fuck them.”

  “Atta girl,” Archie said with a wink.

  “But Ian, your parents…”

  “I don’t care what they think.” Despite the shine in his eyes and the whiskey he’d drunk, Ian sounded stone cold sober. “They’re my parents. I love them. I respect them. They can love and respect me. But they don’t make my decisions. I’m where I want to be.”

  “Ditto,” Coop and Jake echoed.

  “But still…how do we make it work?”

  “By doing what we are,” Archie said. “We’re making it work right now. We’re all on the same page.” He flicked his gaze to Ian briefly, then back to me. “Finally. We all love you enough to work, and we get along. We know how to share.”

  “And when we don’t,” Jake said with a shrug, “we know how to settle that, too.”

  “What are you worried about?” Coop asked me, and I focused on him because sometimes, it was just easier to talk to him about this stuff. Not that I didn’t or couldn’t talk to the others, but Coop just seemed to roll with stuff. He never judged me. “I don’t judge you. Fuck, if I did that, you’d have to judge me, and let’s be honest, I’m way more judgeable.”

  “That’s not even a word. Also did I say that out loud?”

  “Yes,” came three other answers in varyingly amused voices.

  “Oh.” I winced. “You guys aren’t hard to talk to…”

  “We get it, Baby Girl. Answer Coop. He’s the voice of sanity in the room anyway.”

  “True,” Ian agreed, and Coop scowled.

  “Wow. I’m not sure I want to be stuck with that job.”

  “Too bad,” Archie chided. “Now hush and let her talk. What are you worried about, babe?” He repeated Coop’s earlier question.

  I ran my tongue over my lower lip and Coop groaned, but at my questioning look, he just shook his head and offered me another chip to eat. Hmm. Food was good. “I tried to talk about this the other night,” I admitted. “About what happens if I don’t choose. And…you said it was fine, you all still wanted one on one time with me—not complaining about that at all.”

  Archie chuckled. “Good to know.” Despite his smile, he studied me with such intensity, it was like he stared right through me.

  “I’m thinking about what comes next. We’re—we’re going steady or—I’m going steady with all of you?” Was going steady even the way to put it?

  Jake pushed up off the sofa and stalked off through the house. My heart sank.

  “Yes,” Ian said quietly. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re my girlfriend. But you’re also Coop’s, Archie’s, and Jake’s girl, too. We’re your boyfriends. Weird?” He gave a shrug. “Maybe, but the idea has grown on me. Especially over the last few weeks.”

  “Because I broke up with you?”

  “Partially,” he conceded. “But you need all of us, and we work really well together where you’re concerned.”

  “Besides,” Jake said as he reappeared. “There’s something that seems to keep escaping your grasp, and I want to make it as clear as possible.” He nudged stuff aside on the coffee table and sat in front of me before tugging my hand over and sliding a ring right onto my middle finger.

  I stared at it for a beat, and it took my whiskey-soaked brain a hot several seconds to catch up. It wasn’t just a ring. It was a class ring.

  It was the class ring for our year.

  I glanced from it to him. “What…?”

  “I knew you wouldn’t order one. You always weigh the practical versus the frivolous. The ring would be frivolous to you. The fact that you’ve been weighing your decisions like that for years will never fail to piss me off, because you shouldn’t have had to do that. So I ordered this for you…”

  “You’re doing this now, asshole?” Archie asked, an edge to his words.

  “You shower her in gifts. Fuck off, Arch, and listen.”

  I stared wide-eyed up at Coop, and he rounded his eyes in return, so we both looked at Jake. Those pale blue eyes were anything but cool as he locked his gaze on mine.

  “I thought…” Ian began, then held up his hands when Jake glared at him.

  Yeah, okay. I squirmed to sit forward, and Coop helped because my limbs were still on the floaty side. I cupped Jake’s face to bring his attention back to me. “You ordered this for me?”

  I hadn’t really looked at the ring, but it was hard to miss with my hand against Jake’s cheek.

  “Yep. See the four stones on the corners?”

  There were four stones there, one big one in the center and four stones on the edges, smaller but definitely there. Our graduation year was etched on one side, and on the other, it had my name. Below our year was a rose, and below my name were hearts intertwined.

  “Those are our birthstones. Green for Bubba. Pink for Coop and Archie. Blue for me.”

  Coop chuckled. “The only pink I like.”

  And I couldn’t help flashing a grin back at him before focusing on Jake again.

  “The diamond is you,” he said. “Right in the center where you belong.” He covered my hand with his. “That is how we make it work. We make it what we want it to be. Not promising easy. Not even promising I won’t beat the crap out of these idiots if they get stupid with you. But what I do promise is that I’m in. All the way. Whatever shape it takes, however we make it.”

  “Me too,” Archie said. “Even if I could have lived without the pink. I’m in. For all of it.”

  “And me,” Ian repeated. “I meant it, I’m here. Whatever shape this relationship takes. I’m here.”

  “You heard my answer on the mountain,” Coop said against my ear, but my gaze remained locked on Jake’s. “They’re right though. We will figure this out. We’re not perfect. Any of us, but we want to make this work. For you. For us.”

  “The question,” Jake continued softly, tracing a finger over the ring, “is do you want this to work with all of us? Because I think we can do it. And I don’t give a rat’s ass what anyone says about it. I’ll take out anyone who tries to make you feel bad about it.”

  Flushing, I took a deep breath and then looked at each of the guys. Was I a little drunk? Oh yeah. Was I feeling floaty? Definitely. But they were all stone-cold serious and sober. They wanted me. “I want it to work,” I said slowly, then licked my lips before finishing, “I want us to work. Whatever that looks like.”

  Jake’s smile lit me up, and he cupped my face and dragged me down for a kiss. The only one not touching me at the moment was Archie, but I could feel the weight of his gaze, and when Jake let up for a breath, I exhaled.

  Okay.

  We were doing this.

  I glanced at my ring. “You know I should yell at you for spending money on me. I should yell at all of you.”

  “But you’re not going to,” Coop said. “Because spoiling our girlfriend is our prerogative.”

  I laughed. “Only if I get to spoil my boyfriends.”

  “You can spoil me, or despoil me, anytime you want,” Archie said. “I totally volunteer as tribute.”

  Jake snorted. “Yeah, but it’s my birthday here shortly, and the birthday boy…”

  I grinned at him. “Gets whatever he wants.”

  “I can’t wait for it to be my birthday again,” Ian said idly.

  “Speaking from experience,” Coop said. “I’m pretty sure we can’t wait for it to be all our birthdays, though at
the moment, I’m thinking about Frankie’s.”

  And just like that, I flushed, and I was pretty sure it hit my toes with how hot my body went as all four of them focused on me.

  Their soft chuckles promised they hadn’t missed it, but they also let up on it, and some of the ragged emotion eased as Ian went to grab his guitar and Archie cleaned up the shots.

  “I think it’s time for terrible action movies.”

  I could do terrible action movies.

  I could do just about anything.

  I glanced down at the ring on my finger. Coop thumbed a tear away from my cheek before I even realized it had fallen. “Happy tears, right?” he asked against my ear.

  “I’m kind of an emotional drunk,” I admitted, and he pressed a kiss just below my ear before tightening his arms around me.

  “You’re not drunk,” he said softly.

  No, not on alcohol. Tipsy? Sure. But I was more drunk on all of them.

  “Never have I ever been this happy,” I said when they cued up the movie and passed out the popcorn.

  No one reached for their drinks, and I grinned before tucking my head against Coop’s shoulder. I thought the trip couldn’t get more perfect.

  I was wrong.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Happy Holidaze

  The tattoo artist eyed all of us as we stood at the counter. Coop had a couple of sketches out, and Archie had some images up on his phone. Jake and Ian were studying the pics on the walls, and I was studying the layout of the shop. This place was by appointment only. You were supposed to do a consultation on one day and then come in on another to get the work done.

  I didn’t want to ask how much money Archie had thrown at them to change the rules. He didn’t say a word about it either. It was just Archie. Always fixing things. But it was also Jake’s birthday, so I would not make a big deal out of it. As it was, I woke to Jake curled around me this morning and full of affection. Not sex, just cuddling and kissing and petting. It had been nice.

  Sex would have been good, too, because apparently, I had an insatiable appetite for these four, and maybe it was a good thing I’d waited so long to discover this. I didn’t know how we would have managed before now.