Trying Not to Love You (27 page)

Mason still wasn't talking to me, Hunter or Hailey. Hailey always said she was fine and that she wasn't worried about Mason. I knew it was eating her up inside. There were a few times I caught her crying late at night. She said they talked a few times but never for long, because baseball was taking up a lot of his time. I talked to Cooper and he said that Mason was still being a dick about all this shit. He was snapping at him and Jaylinn all the time and Cooper was fed up with it. I asked about what he was doing all the time that he claimed he was busy. Coop said that he was at baseball most of the time but when he wasn't he was out partying and getting trashed.

Hunter was not himself since that night at the house when he and Mason got into it. It was eating at him. I think when he caught Hailey crying a few days ago, that it caught up to him, because he started to take it out on me. He would pick a fight for no reason. I was late getting home from work last night and he flipped out and asked me a million times where I was.

I was starting to get sick from all of the tension around Hunter and me; my stomach never could handle that. Just the other day, as soon as I opened my eyes, I had to run to the bathroom to get sick.

I woke up this morning and as soon as my eyes opened, I ran off towards the bathroom to throw up. Hunter came in as he has the last few times and held my hair back for me. When I was done, he would help me in the shower. He apologized for taking things out on me and I would always forgive him. How could I not, when he looked at me with those eyes of his that had my stomach doing flip-flops. After we showered, he carried me back to bed and made love to me. He always made sure to take his time with me after I got sick or after fighting.

I must have fallen asleep after we were done because Hunter's side of the bed was empty and cold. After getting dressed, I went downstairs to get something to eat because I started to feel sick again. Hailey was sitting on the bar stool, eating a sandwich and reading a book.

"Hey Hails."

"Hey sleeping beauty. Hunter keeping you up all hours of the night?" she said laughing.

I shook my head. Only Hailey would bring that up. "No, actually he isn't keeping me up at all lately."

"You sure have been sleeping a lot. You feeling ok?" She asked.

"Not really, all this tension with Mason and all of us is really starting to wear me down. I wish he would just get over it so we can all move on. It's been two months since that fight, and enough is enough." I said, turning to grab a bowl from the cabinet.

"I know, I keep trying but as soon as I bring it up, he makes some kind of excuse to get off the phone." She closed the book in her hand and put it on the table.

"Hails, work on your relationship with Mase. Don't worry about us; I'm his sister. He has to get over this eventually. Once we go home for the summer, Mom will put a stop to this bullshit."

"I know..." A raging Hunter, who had just walked in and slammed the door, cut her off.

"What the fuck, CC?"

"Hunter, what the hell is going on?"

"You tell me, what else are you hiding from me?" He walked over and stood inches away from me.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." My stomach started turning. "What's going on?"

"Dominic showed up on Christmas morning and you never told me?"

I grabbed my stomach, trying not to think about getting sick again. "It wasn't a big deal. Cooper was there with me. He just stopped by to tell me that Brittany lied about being pregnant. That's it; he wasn't there more than 5 minutes before I told him he had to go."

Oh my God, I was going to lose it. I took off running towards the bathroom to throw up again.

Someone knocked on the door. "Come in." I said moaning from the bathroom floor. The tiles were cooling my face off.

"Oh sweetie, are you ok?" Hailey said lifting my head on to her lap.

"Hailey, you have to get me out of here. I can't do this shit anymore." My stomach was turning again; I held it tight trying to make it stop. "I can't be around him. Every time I am, my stomach knots up and I get sick."

I started crying. I didn't want this to happen. I tried to ignore it but it just wasn't going away. He was pissed off about something that happened two months ago, something that was no big deal at all.

"Alright look, you go grab your stuff and meet me back downstairs. I'll get us back to the dorms. I think you just need a little space." Hailey said while she was running her fingers through my hair.

I got up off the floor, threw some water on my face and went upstairs to grab my things. I quickly put everything in a bag. I didn't want to have another fight with Hunter; I just needed to get out of here. I was walking down the stairs and I could hear Hailey and Hunter's voices. I couldn't hear what they were saying so I walked out the front door quietly to wait for Hailey. She was taking forever in there with him. Bentley had pulled up in the driveway. I ran over to him before he got out.

"Bentley, could you give me a ride back to the dorms please?" I didn't wait for an answer. I just climbed in his car.

"Yeah sure, everything ok?"

"No, but it will be."

He dropped me off and I said, "Don't tell Hunter. If he asks if you saw me, just say no."

"Kenzie, you know I can't do that." I knew that I shouldn't ask him to lie for me but I just didn't want him coming after me.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. Thanks for the ride Bentley." I opened the car door just as Hunter and Hailey pulled up behind us. "Shit!"

Hunter came stalking over to me. "Don't ever take off like that again. I am not fucking around CC. I don't give a shit if we are fighting or not." Then he stalked back to his car and Hailey got out.

"Come on sweetie; let's get you up to our room." Hailey grabbed my hand and we walked into the building. I turned one last time to look over at Hunter but someone blocked my view. Once my focus came to the person in front of me, I was surprised to see Dominic with Brittany off in the distance.

Great fucking timing, I thought. I haven't seen him since he showed up on Christmas morning, here I had just had a fight with Hunter over him and now he is standing in front of me all within an hour of Hunter mentioning his name.

"You ok, MacKenzie? You don't look so good." I looked past him to see Hunter speed out of the parking lot.

"Dom, today's not a good day ok. I really need to get her upstairs." Hailey opened the door, and we walked in.

Dominic followed us the whole way up, but didn't say anything more. I walked into our room, went right over to my bed and pulled the covers over my head, begging sleep to come.

I had not heard from Hunter for two weeks, not one word. I saw him a few times around campus while walking to class. He always had his head down, so I knew he never saw me. I was still throwing up every day from the stress of losing Hunter. I had hoped nothing like this would happen to us but when Mason refused to come around, I knew that it would eventually lead to Hunter and me splitting apart.

I was at work one day, sitting behind the counter scanning ID badges, when Logan came in with a cheeseburger in his hand. The smell of it made me immediately sick; I could not even make it to the bathroom. I got sick in the trashcan right next to where I was sitting.

After I was done, I looked up to Logan, who had his jaw dropped open slightly. "I'm sorry; I haven't been feeling well lately. Whatever that is," I said, pointing at his cheese burger, "made my stomach turn."

Logan closed his mouth, nodded his head and walked off towards the back office. I went to find him, because I wanted to apologize again for getting sick in front of him while he was eating. I heard him talking on the phone and waited a minute before I walked in.

"Dude I think she's pregnant." I shook my head, guessing he got someone pregnant. "You have to get her to take a test." I wondered why he couldn't just get her to take the test. He got her pregnant. "Because, when I was home over Christmas break, my sister was the exact same way." Forget it; I will talk to him about it later since it didn't sound like he was getting off anytime soon.

When he came back out about ten minutes later, he said, "Go home."

"What?" Shit, I shouldn't have waited to talk to him. "I don't get off for another two hours. If you're worried about me getting sick again, I won't."

"I'm not worried about that; just go home. I'll cover you." Logan grabbed my hand and helped me off the stool I was sitting on.

"Are you sure? I really don't mind staying. I already feel better."

"I'm sure." He said with a stern look on his face.

I reached down to grab my purse from under the counter and put the strap on my shoulder. Logan asked, "Are you leaving Friday for spring break?"

"Yeah, Hailey and I are heading home. Why what's up?"

"I got your shift covered tomorrow; I'll see you after you get back." Logan said while he grabbed a student's ID to scan.

"If you're sure? I know Hailey wanted to go home early so this would be great."

"I'm sure; see you when you get back."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Kenzie?" Logan called out. I stopped walking and turned around to look at him. "Take care of yourself."

"I will."

As soon as I walked out of the library, I sent Hailey a text to see where she was. I was walking and texting when Dominic snuck up behind me.

"Damn it, Dominic." I said.

"Sorry, thought you heard me coming up." I finished my text and slid my phone back in my purse. "Are you heading back to the dorms?"

"Yeah, I was just texting Hailey to find out where she was. Logan is covering for me, so we can get out of here sooner for break."

"You talking to Hunter yet?" Dominic asked, kicking a rock that was lying on the sidewalk.

"No." I watched as the rock bounced in the street and saw Brittany standing at the ending of the sidewalk watching us. I had seen Dominic and her talking a few times but I wasn't sure what the story was with them.

"How are you getting home then?"

"I asked Jackson to come pick us up."

"Well I can take you; I was actually getting ready to leave tonight anyway. I got a nap in earlier and I'm not tired now, so I thought I would head out tonight."

"Um, let me call Hailey." I reached in my purse and dialed Hailey's number.

She must have been out with Zeke or Bentley because I heard the radio volume lower before she said, "Hello."

"Hey, where are you?"

"Oh I'm out with Zeke; he's taking me back to the dorms right now. Why what's up?"

"So Logan sent me home because I got sick at work and gave me tomorrow off. Dominic offered to take us home tonight. You want to go?"

"Hell yeah! I'll be there in ten minutes. Love you, bye." Then she hung up on me. I guess she was in a hurry to get home.

"I guess we're heading home tonight. Thanks Dominic."

"Sure no problem. I have a few last minute things to pack and take care of so I'll come meet you in about an hour?"

"Yeah sure."

I walked off towards the dorms and Dominic took off the other way towards Brittany. Hailey and I got everything ready to go and put all our bags by the door, waiting for Dominic to come. He finally showed up right on time. We got all the bags loaded in his car and left to head home.