Livvy’s eyes skirt behind me, her brow raised as she watches Evan. “You little rascal! It was you!”
“Evan,” Cal says, his voice deep. “Did you paint Livvy’s grass?”
I shake my head, not believing that this is the conversation going on right now. Who the hell paints grass?
“I may have wanted to experiment,” Evan says sheepishly. “But Seb was the one who found the paint in the shed and brought it out!”
“You tattletale,” Seb grits out.
“That’s it!” Livvy shouts, standing up and wobbling. How many sherries has she had? “You’re all grounded, go to your rooms,” she reprimands seriously as she points toward the house.
There’s a beat of silence before everyone breaks out into raucous laughter, the sounds of five men surrounding us as they lose all their inhibitions and give way to it.
Livvy tries to move back a step but stumbles to the side as Cal stands up to steady her. “I think you’ve had one too many.”
“I have not!” Livvy stares at him outraged.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
“I don’t need you to put me to bed, Cal. I’m not a toddler.” She stumbles again, gripping onto his arm. “Whoa, have you been working out?” She stares up at him wide eyed as her hand grips his arm. “Your muscles have muscles.”
“Hey! Get your hands off my man.” Mal stands up, much the same wa
y that Livvy did.
“What’s the matter, Mal? Afraid that Cal will want a piece of this.” She waves her hands at herself, dipping to the side. I’m sure she’d be on the ground if it wasn’t for Cal keeping her upright.
“Come on,” Cal encourages, helping her inside with Mal at his back.
“Wow,” I whisper. I look down at the grass, imagining what it would look like orange. “What did it look like?”
“What did what look like?” Evan asks, his hands wandering down to my thighs as he pulls me flush against him.
“The grass.”
“It was the best grass in the world!” West shouts, standing up as his eyes widen. “We should paint it again!”
Seb and Evan groan. “Don’t you dare,” Seb warns. “She’d kill us all if she woke up tomorrow and her grass wasn’t green.”
“You’re such a Debbie downer,” West moans. “And on that note, I’m hitting the hay.”
“I better get going too,” Evan says, his voice low. I nod my head even though the last thing I want is for him to leave. “I have something for you in my car.”
I lift up off his lap, following him into the house and starting to clear up the kitchen as he heads outside.
I’ve placed everything in the dishwasher and wiped all the sides down when he comes back in. I lift my head up, a smile on my face that drops when I see the thunderous look shadowing his eyes.
“Evan? What’s the matter?”
He closes his eyes and when he opens them back up I can see that he’s slammed his walls down as he steps closer. His body is stiff as he leans down and places a kiss on my lips and hands me a small box.
“I didn’t want to do it like this.” A muscle in his jaw ticks. “I’ve got to go, but I saw this and thought of you.” He places another kiss on my lips before spinning around, the sound of the door shutting vibrates through the house a couple of seconds later.
I stare at the door, frowning, wondering what happened for him to be so angry. I step forward, about to follow him out when I remember the box in my hand.
I run my finger over the black velvet material and open it up. Tears spring to my eyes when I see a silver chain with two hearts intertwined hanging off it.
The last time I was given a gift was the day I turned fifteen from Gran. My thoughts tumble as I remember the look on Gran’s face as she handed me a butterfly charm to add to my bracelet that was overflowing with charms that captured memories.