Chapter Seven
My nerves are at an all-time high, but not in a bad way. No, I’m excited. The last time I was this antsy was when I got to watch a baby koala be born during my junior year of college when I was an intern.
What if this isn’t what I think it is, though.
The way he asked if I would go on a date with them and the conversation that followed made it sound like this would be a group date. Just them and me, but what if I’m wrong? What if this is a date where I’m with Hudson and the other two bring dates of their own?
My stomach rolls at the thought. God, talk about a nightmare. I don’t know if I could sit through a date while watching them give another woman attention.
You’re wrong. It’s a date. Hudson said we would talk about what it would look like if I dated all of them.
Placing my hand on my stomach, I blow out a breath. I’m being ridiculous.
I wish I had someone to talk to. Someone to reassure me that this is okay.
My phone goes off on the kitchen island. Grabbing it, I smile when I see a text from Hudson. It’s a GIF that says “final countdown” on it as a dude dances around.
Giggling, I scroll up and read the other texts that have been sent between the four of us.
As soon as Hudson left, my phone started blowing up.
Levi and Walker pretended to be jealous that he saw me and they hadn’t.
All day, every day, the messages flow between us.
A mixture of daily updates on what we are doing to random GIFs to make someone laugh.
There’s even been a couple of times where they tease each other in the chat, and one of them tells me to tell the other two to be nice to them.
It’s comical.
It hasn’t ended there, though. As soon as Levi and Walker had my number, they started messaging me on their own too. All three of them text me, wishing me good morning. Levi’s usually comes in before I wake up. Walker’s while I’m in the shower and Hudson’s shortly after.
I never thought a simple text could make me feel special, but it does. Every time they send one, my heart races.
Me: What should I wear?
Hudson: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Tipping my head back, I laugh. I should have seen that coming.
Walker: She can’t wear nothing and ride on the back of a bike.
Levi: Wear jeans, boots if you have them, and a sweater. We got the rest. We’re on our way.
Me: I’ll see you three soon!
Squealing, I set down my phone on the kitchen island and head into my bedroom.
Moving to my closet, I grab my favorite pair of jeans. They are black with holes strategically placed from my knees up to my thighs. I tried them on as a dare and fell in love with them. I always thought buying jeans with holes was dumb and a waste of money, but these made me feel amazing.
Next, I move to my shirts and start rifling through them.
When I see the “Hocus Pocus and chill” shirt I smile.
It’s white with orange lettering. It’s perfect.
After slipping it on, I move to my sweaters.
I don’t want anything that will cover the wording, so I move to the cardigans.
At first, I slip on a black one that goes down to my thighs.
Turning from side to side, I study myself in the mirror.
It’s not bad, but not quite right. Taking off the cardigan, I look for another one.
When I see the new one I bought that’s black-and-white checkered, I know it’s the one.
“Perfect,” I murmur as I study myself in the mirror. The sweater rests just below my hips and is slightly baggy but not overwhelmingly so.
Next, I go to my accessories drawer and put on some mixed metal jewelry. When I open the drawer to grab a pair of sunglasses, I pause. There, folded up on top, is a bandana that’s white with orange and black accents.
Perfect.
Moving back to the mirror, I tie it around my head, keeping my hair out of my face. My hair is down and wavy.
I look good.
Checking my watch, I see that I’m running out of time. I grab a pair of Converse boots with a heel and put them on. Taking one last look in the mirror, I apply some lip gloss.
Well, this is it. This is as good as I’m going to get.
When the doorbell rings, my heart skips a beat.
This is it.
My stomach feels like it’s about to take flight with butterflies as I walk to the door. With shaking hands, I open the door. All three men turn toward me and have different reactions when they see me.
Unmistakable desire rolls through Walker.
Levi looks speechless.
Hudson bites his lip with wide eyes.
“Damn, baby, you make it tempting to stay in and hang out here,” Hudson says.
“We can.” The words fall from my lips, unbidden.
“No, we’re taking you out. You look amazing, Pixie,” Walker rasps.
Just the tone of his voice makes me shiver.
“You cold?” Levi asks.
“N-no.”
Levi holds out a leather jacket. “I hate to tell you to cover up when you look this good, but I need you to be safe.” He pauses. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
Taking the jacket from him, I slip it on.
“This fits perfectly. How did you know?”
Levi smirks. “Let’s call it a lucky guess.”
Walker reaches forward and grabs the ends of the jacket. Very carefully, he zips it up.
“There you go,” he says as he drops the zipper.
I can feel my cheeks turning red. “Thank you.”
“Do you need to grab anything?” Walker asks.
“Just my wallet and keys. One second.” Moving over to my bag, I grab both things, plus a tube of lip balm. “Okay, I’m ready.”
This is stupid.
Not going on a date with my Pixie, but where we are going.
When Hudson got home the other day, he pitched the idea to us and told Levi and me to trust him. That she would love it. He said that she was obsessed with Halloween and would think it was awesome.
I’m not so sure. We only get one shot to impress her, to hook her and make her want to go out with us again and again. I’m not sure this is it.
Time’s up, I think as I turn into the parking lot.
As soon as I shut off my bike, I turn to watch Pixie jump off Hudson’s and rip off the helmet on her head.
I expect her to crinkle her cute button nose and go along with this, but when I look at her, she shocks the hell out of me.
“A pumpkin patch?” she squeals as she claps her hands and dances around.
Hudson mouths, “I told you so,” before turning to her. “Not just a pumpkin patch, but they have a corn maze and a bunch of other shit. You like it?”
“Like it? Try love it. This is perfect,” she says with a hint of awe in her voice. “I’ve always wanted to go to one of those Halloween fests. This is basically just like that without the band.”
Okay, so maybe I was wrong. Maybe this date isn’t going to be a failure.
Levi and I get off of our bikes and share a look, silently expressing that we are relieved that Hudson was right.
“Do you want to wear your leather jacket or do you want me to place it in my saddlebag?” I ask her.
She turns toward me and starts unzipping her jacket. “If you don’t mind putting it up, I would appreciate it. I think I’ll get a little warm if I wear it and my cardigan.”
“Of course.”
I take the jacket from her and place hers and mine in my saddlebag. When I straighten, she eyes my cut for a second but doesn’t say anything. I wait for the questions and the inevitable disgust to come, only it doesn’t. Proving how perfect she is for us.
“Where would you like to start first?” Levi asks her.
She taps her lip as she looks around, humming. “I think we should do the maze, then food, followed by picking out some pumpkins. If that’s okay?”
“Sounds good to us,” Hudson tells her.
I take her right side while Hudson takes her left, and Levi walks behind us. The worker outside of the maze looks at us like we are crazy but keeps their mouth shut. As we make our way through the maze, I start to relax and have a good time when it becomes clear that Esme loves it.
After a lot of laughs and wrong turns, we find our way out of the maze.
“That was amazing, right?” she asks, hands clenched under her chin.
She looks at us with those bright-as-fuck eyes with a smile on her face.
She’s happy. So fucking happy.
“That was honestly better than I thought it would be,” Levi tells her.
“I told you, and here you were questioning my awesomeness,” Hudson tells us, making her laugh.
“Where to next?” I ask gruffly.
She bites her lip. “Would you think it was stupid if I told you I wanted to get my face painted?”
“Fuck no. Shit, I’ll get mine painted with you,” Hudson says with no hesitation. He grabs her hand and starts pulling her that way.
Levi comes to stand next to me. “Somehow he always manages to prove me wrong.”
“Same.”
He slaps my shoulder. “Come on, let’s catch up before he can run off with her for good.”
And he would do it too.
We catch up with them right as they reach the face-painting booth.
Levi and I stand guard as she gets a fox on her face and Hudson gets a skull on his. They look absolutely ridiculous but so fucking happy.
Once they are done, we move on and order way too much junk food. Two different funnel cakes, one traditional and one with Nutella. Burgers, nachos, loaded fries, normal fries, fried pickles, and fried Oreos.
“I’m going to have to hit the gym after this,” Levi mutters, making Esme giggle.
“What? Do your abs feel threatened by a little grease?” she teases.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this is more than a little,” he quips.
“Totally worth it, though,” Hudson says as he pops another fry in his mouth.
I grunt in agreement.
Esme leans into my side, resting her head on my upper arm.
“If it makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure I have a food baby now,” she says.
Fuck me. Just the thought of her round with my child, our child, makes my dick twitch.
It’s too soon. Way too fucking soon.
As much as I like the idea, I don’t want to rush it. That will come when it’s supposed to.
I look over at Levi and see he’s struggling with it too. He likes the idea as much as I do. Then again, I’m not surprised. Dude has always been obsessed with having a family. Having a legacy.
Groaning, Hudson breaks the tension. “Okay, I’m done. I can’t eat anymore. What’s next, darlin’?”
A crease forms between her brows. “Well, I wanted to pick out a pumpkin, but I just realized we would have no way of getting it back to my place since we rode the bikes. We should have taken my car.”
“If you want a pumpkin, you’ll get one,” Levi tells her.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Let me handle it, and I promise you it will arrive back to your place shortly after we do,” he tells her.
A beautiful smile crosses her face, making my stomach clench.
“Okay, then let’s go find some pumpkins. I want you guys to get one too.”
“Anything you want,” I tell her.
“Anything?”
“Yes,” the guys and I say in unison.
“Name it, and it’s yours,” Hudson adds.
“Then maybe if you don’t have plans, you guys would like to go back to my place and carve them with me?” she says hesitantly, like she’s prepared for us to turn her down or make fun of her.
Fuck that. Her asking us to do an activity as simple as stabbing a pumpkin over and over again is nothing.
“Consider it done. Now let’s go get you your pumpkin,” I tell her, making her smile.
Yeah, she can definitely have whatever the fuck she wants as long as she keeps looking at me just like that.