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He grins. “And I always keep my promises.”
Climbing out of the car, Eli helps me out from the other side before grabbing our bags. Well, mine is more of a case, but I had no idea what to bring to a cabin by a lake, so I’ve over-packed. Eli bears the brunt of my indecision, having to carry it down the pathway that leads to the sparkling water. “That’s Myles’ cabin,” he says, pointing at a pretty wooden building with a wraparound veranda at the far end of the lake. “He’s planning on rebuilding next summer, to make more room for the family.”
He points out all of his brothers’ cabins, before we finally make it to his. And I’m biased, but I really do think it’s the nicest. He’s painted it a soft green, and like his brother’s, he has a porch all around. At the front a huge wooden hot tub overlooks the lake.
“I love it,” I tell him and he beams.
I’m kind of impatient to get inside, not only because it’s freezing but because I haven’t spent a lot of time at Eli’s place. I think I’ve been afraid of being seen going in and out of there, which seems silly now.
“So this is…” He stops dead in the center of the doorway and I almost barrel into him. Then he groans. “Those motherfuckers. I’m gonna kill them.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Seriously. I’m gonna make it painful. Chop one ball off at a time.”
“Let me see,” I say, trying to look past him and into the cabin. I’m trying not to laugh because he never gets riled up like this. “Get out of the way.”
He steps away and my attempts not to laugh completely fail me. The front door leads into a cozy living room. And every wall in it is plastered with that photo of Eli as a baby. Naked. Blown up so you can see everything.
His mom was right. He was impressive from the start.
“Oh my God. Your dick is everywhere.” Tears sting at my eyes.
“I can’t believe they did this,” Eli mutters, grabbing his phone. He punches his finger against the screen and lifts it to his ear. His call connects and I hear the buzz of a voice before Eli replies.
“Sleep with one eye open, you asshole,” he says. “I’m gonna get you.”
The conversation continues but it’s freezing so I step past him, trying to look beyond the Eli homage on every wall. It’s hard though, because hewasa cute baby.
The living room has a fireplace on one side, with logs stacked up from the floor to the ceiling beside it. There are trophies and photographs on the long mantlepiece – whoever did the redecoration put them back when they were finished. If I couldn’t see Eli’s irate face, I’d think he did the wallpapering himself.
He walks inside, his phone glued to his ear as he tries to tug one of the photos off. It refuses to budge. “What did you stick it to the wall with?” he asks the person at the other end. I don’t hear the reply but I can see the look of horror on his face.
“I’m gonna have to steam them off.” He shakes his head. “No,you’regonna have to steam it off. You did this.”
I walk in front of him and take the phone from his hand. His brow dips as I lift it to my ear.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hey, Mackenzie. Do you like Eli’s new look?”
It sounds like Liam. “I love it. I want it to stay.”
Liam coughs out a laugh.
“Seriously. It’s going to be the next new trend. Anyway, Eli and I have to go now. We have a hot tub to use.”
Liam lowers his voice. “Is he really pissed? We thought it would be funny.”
“We?”
“Holden and I. Though we had to pay Brooks to do it last weekend when he was at the house.”
I look up at Eli. His jaw is so tight you could cut your fingers on it. “He’s fine,” I say. “He’ll get used to it.”
“Have a good weekend,” Liam says. “We’ll see you at the game.”
“You’re coming?”
