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I’mjolted awake as my bedroom door slams against the wall followed by thundering footsteps and the duvet being ripped from my body. “Delivery for the birthday boy!”
Hudson ensures he throws his full weight onto the bed as he dives onto it, jostling me as much as possible and I groan loudly. He’s such a fucking dick. The dream drifts away from my subconscious, but the empty feeling clings to my skin like a disease. I roll onto my back and cringe at the light pouring in and the headache creasing around my temples to find all three of my brothers smiling down at me.
Hudson is taking up the empty space of my bed with a pancake in his hand and another in his mouth, Elias is glancing around the room in contempt as he takes in the mess before him, and Ashton is holding a steaming mug of coffee and plate of pancakes.
“Happy birthday, brother.” He smiles, leaning down and offering me the coffee first which I take with silent gratitude.
Elias finally turns my way and gives me a rare genuine smile as he says, “Yeah, happy birthday, Z.”
“Why the hell are you fuckers in here so early?” I exclaim, looking to Ash who takes a seat by Hudson’s feet on the bed, while Eli drags over the chair from my desk.
“Hey now, we might have a lot of shit going on right now, but we would never forget your birthday.” Eli’s words were meant as a joke but as soon as he says them, a silent crack goes through the room. It wouldn’t have been the first time no one had done anything for my birthday. It had happened once, when my dad first gave up on any pretense of caring about me. Brielle was always the one who ensured it never happened again.
I had been refusing to think about this day even as I knew it was approaching because I was unsure of what to expect. Not to mention I do my best to avoid anything that reminds me of her.
Hudson breaks up the tension by rolling over and propping his elbows on my chest before placing his chin in his hands. “So are you gonna eat that?” he asks, pointing to the plate still in Ash’s hands. I grab a pillow from behind my head and whack him with it, shoving him off my bed. I sit up and lean against my headboard, taking the plate from Ash and start eating.
“Eli, he’s being mean to me,” Hud whines from the floor.
“Fuck off,” I mumble around a mouthful of pancakes. Thank fuck Ashton knows how to cook. We’d probably starve without him. Eli and Ash exchange looks before shaking their heads and leaving my room.
Hudson, on the other hand, is quick to bounce back up on his feet and crawl back into my bed.
I roll my eyes. “Why are you so obsessed with me?”
“Your hair. Obviously,” he deadpans as he snatches a piece of bacon off my plate.
“Huh. I thought it’d be the beard.”
Ash and Eli come back into my room carrying extra plates. Ash hands one to Hudson before also plopping down on my bed while Eli takes the seat at my desk. “Pft,” Hudson scoffs. “That’s hardly a beard. More like scruff.”
I flip him off, not willing to chuck another pillow at him and risk syrup all over my bed. I’m all for food play in the bedroom, but none of these three guys are included in any of those fantasies. And syrup wouldn’t be my first choice anyways.
After a few moments where the only sound is the metal grating against plates, Eli asks, “Are you two idiots done now? We ready to talk about today?”
I raise a brow and wait for him to continue. I’ve never been a huge fan of my birthday being made into a whole production. I’m more than content with just this and going on with my regular schedule like any other Tuesday. There’s an excitement building in the room that says that won’t be the case for today though.
I look at Hudson. He’s practically bouncing in place, waiting for Eli to continue. Should I be excited or nervous?
“We got you a little present.” Eli’s smirk doesn’t help me decide which side of the scale I should fall on. His smirks can mean a hundred different things. I don’t like presents. Especially on my birthday. None of them have ever bought me something for it before.
I wait, more suspicious than ever. A snort escapes when Ash holds up a plastic grocery bag. “Ten out of ten for wrapping skills,” I laugh.
“It’s not the kind of present you wrap,” Ash replies with a shrug.
Intriguing. I’m less nervous now and leaning more into excitement.
Putting my plate to the side, I lean over and grab the bag and look inside. My first instinct is to laugh, my second is to question, “Why?”
Eli stretches his arms out in front of him before putting them behind his head. “It’s been a long time since we played some good, old-fashioned pranks. Don’t you think?”
I cock my head to the side. “Brielle?” Something about that doesn’t sit right with me. Feels too much like our playful past to be anything malicious. Nothing about anything in this bag would hurt her or do anything but make her roll her eyes and call us childish. Once upon a time, this shit would have even made her laugh.
“No,” Hudson answers, shaking his head. His dark expression mirrors my own thoughts and I know we’re on the same page.
“We were thinking Carson,” Ash says. “You know how much he likes everything to be perfectly in order.”
Oh. That is good. A smile stretches across my face. I start digging into the bag and pulling some of the shit they bought out. Spray paint, glitter, party streamers, and a pack of what looks to be penis stickers.
