her room, and I leaned against the doorjamb to mine, waiting for the others.
“Matching tattoos are sexy,” Coop said as he appeared in his doorway, wearing an identical set of pjs to me and probably the others, too. The red bottoms were covered in little Santas, while the white tank tops just said ho-ho-ho.
I’d seen dumber things. At least they were comfortable.
“Stop your bitching,” Archie said. “It’s fucking Christmas. Show some spirit.”
Jake snorted. “That should be a goddamn jingle. Work on that, Bubba.”
The pair stood in their own doorways, and yep, we were all wearing identical outfits.
“You guys are adorable,” Frankie drawled as she stepped out of her room, hands on her hips. “And apparently, we’re not matching one hundred percent.”
She had on the exact same bottoms and a white t-tank that did nothing to hide her nipples and the fact that they were peaked and stiff against the fabric. But it was the words on the tank that had me swallowing a guffaw.
Coop didn’t even try, and Jake shot Archie a look like he was pissed, but his eyes danced too merrily to make it seem real. Archie just grinned and strolled right for her. “Don’t mind if I do,” he teased, as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to him.
Her tank top sported a spring of mistletoe in the center with the words Kiss Me and arrows pointing up and down.
Raunchy.
And hilarious.
Only Archie.
Then again…I wasn’t complaining.
Without question, Frankie was the best present we could have gotten.
You Get Me
You Get Me
Frankie
“Which one of your assholes sent me the cactus?” Rachel eyed me through the video chat. The quirky grin and raised eyebrows had me cracking up.
“That would be me,” Coop yelled from the other side of the room. “But really, it’s from all of us.”
“Well, fuck you,” Rachel replied. “I have no idea how I’m getting a condom cactus home.”
A condom… “A what?” I asked, staring at her, and she turned the camera to the cactus sitting on the table. It was indeed a phallic-shaped cactus that looked like it had a condom on it, with little spines sticking out. Laughter escaped me, and I clapped a hand over my mouth.
“Yeah, yeah,” Rachel snarked as she reappeared on the screen. “Merry effing Christmas to you, too.”
It was kind of adorable, and I’d seen the card attached to it. I didn’t know if she’d meant me too, or not. But the guys were getting a kiss for that.
From a set of pricks to the prickly bitch, thanks for sticking it to us and with us.
“Is it really that bad?” I asked, but before she could respond, there was a sound behind her and she twisted.
“Get out, Mack,” she said. The guy must have responded because she huffed. “Get out before I throw this cactus at your eyes, and you need to protect those things. They’re the only balls on you.”
I snorted another laugh, but the door closed and Rachel stared at me with wide eyes that she then crossed.
“Ugh, please tell me all about how miserable you are and that you have gotten tired of all the dick,” Rachel said, but at my expression, she sighed. “No, you look ridiculously happy, which is good. It means I don’t have to stab any of them. Tongue lessons working out for you?”
“I think they’ve got it covered,” I managed to splutter without blushing too much. Actually, the blushing had dialed down some. There was a freedom to being here. “We got tattoos.”
“You got…” She gaped at me. “Pictures or it didn’t happen.”
“I’ll show you when we get home.” Then, because Rachel really did look kind of miserable… “How much longer are you stuck there?”
“We go home day after Christmas, thank fuck. I’m tempted to bedazzle some horns and wear it to dinner tomorrow, because if I’m going to Hell, I might as well get a full scholarship.”
Poor Rachel.
“Girls’ night, as soon as I’m back,” I promised her. “Anything you want to do…”
“Anything?” She waggled her eyebrows.
“Watch it, Manning,” Jake called from across the room.
“You’re just bitter ’cause you want to watch,” Rachel said and winked at me.
I rolled my eyes, and she burst out laughing ’cause Jake went quiet. I glanced over to find all four of them staring at me.
“So…” I said, trying and failing to contain my smile as I looked back at the screen. “Tell me you’ve done something fun while you were there.”
“Drove out to Amish land to get away from the fam,” she said.