“Oh my God. I am never eating again,” Cory decided in a moan, rubbing his stomach. Travis agreed.
“Didn’t you see all the desserts in there?” Alexis questioned.
“Desserts? Okay, maybe I have a little room left,” Cory decided. He was a sucker for sweets, and if they tasted anything like the rest of the food, he’d be a happy man. The women moved into the barn and cleaned up, but mostly probed. Everyone wanted to know about Cory—was it serious, was she in love, did she hear wedding bells. Alexis answered with I don’t know, more than anything. Geesh, they hadn’t even been together but a few weeks, barely over a month.
“Stop patronizing me. Ask Paige all this stuff. She’s been with Jordan for over a year.”
“Paige is going to college. She’s not allowed to think about marriage yet,” Lisa assured her.
“Mom, there’s something I have to tell you,” Paige said, seriously. Alexis instantly laughed.
“Shut up. That’s not even funny. That thing better stay in his pants.”
“I’m going to watch the guys,” Alexis said. Nope, she wasn’t going there. She took the opportunity to get the hell away from Paige’s meddling mother before something slipped, and the Cory questions.
Cory raised his arm for Alexis, but kept talking to Sam.
“She’s such a riot. I swear I laugh more at the two of them in one day than I ever did my own kids. Some of the things they come up with, I tell ya,” Sam said.
“I’m so happy you’re doing this, Sam. It means a lot to know that she is having so much fun while I work.”
“I love having her. She helps a lot. I don’t have to go dig worms with Emily anymore, Riki loves doing it.”
Cory had more firsts that day than he’d ever had in one day. After displaying how much he sucked at horseshoes, Cory declined the clay pigeon shooting. He was, however, impressed as hell at Alexis shooting skeet, never missing a shot. He found that as sexy as watching her shift gears in her Jeep. The cowboy boots helped, too.
By seven in the evening, the less rowdy crowd—the ones who weren’t planning on sticking around for the drinking—had cleared out. Around a bigger fire, they sat around with the kids and made s’mores. Riki had a blast, fascinated by the marshmallow at the end of her stick. Cory had to tell her no more after two.
“Pwease, Daddy. Me wike it.”
Sam saved the day by showing her an empty pack of marshmallows. “Come on, let’s go wash your patties. You’re all sticky,” Alexis coaxed. She took her wrist rather than her hand to avoid the sticky fingers. They returned in warm pajamas. Thank God the s’mores were cleaned up and the kids were settled down. Once Walt and Lola knew the hidden drinks had started to change personalities, they ordered the little ones in the house. Finally…
Riki was so excited to sleep in her new Doc McStuffins sleeping bag with Emily and the other girls. They were watching a movie and eating popcorn. Riki didn’t mind leaving them for the older girls at all and Alexis was ready to let loose and have some fun. And that’s exactly what she did.
She laughed when she returned from settling Riki in. Her cousin Dillon was in the corner, holding a bottle of beer and a microphone. “May I have your attention please? It appears that Mom and Pop McKinley have left the building. Please find your nearest alcoholic beverage and proceed to PARTY!” he yelled to the ceiling, and then the music turned louder. Garth Brooks began to sing, “Friends in Low Places,” and the drunken McKinleys sang along.
The coolers full of beer were now out and the atmosphere changed from family fun to getting drunk. Alexis was no exception. She drank her first beer in record time and opened the lid to the cooler to get another one.
“You keep that up and you’ll be drunk in an hour,” Cory assured her.
She kissed him and smiled. “That’s my plan, Doc.”
A crowd stood around one of the picnic tables inside, the group laughed, enjoying their adult time together. Alexis told Travis to shut the hell up at least ten times. He was determined they were doing shots. She was sure that they were not.
“Oh! Come on. That’s our song,” Travis ordered with a strong hold around Alexis’s waist, pulling her unwillingly to the middle of the floor. The alcohol flowing through her veins kept her from being self-conscious, shaking her ass and dancing with Travis in front of Cory. She was drunk and didn’t give a shit. She held her beer in one hand, and line-danced with Paige on one side and Travis on the other.
“Aren’t you going, Bernie?” Cory asked with a big smile, sitting beside her on top of the table.
“No way. They’ve tried to teach me that for years. I can’t dance like that. I trip over my own feet. Can you dance?” she asked.
“We don’t really have country music in Chicago. The way we dance there probably wouldn’t be appropriate here.”
“Oh, Cory, you just wait until the alcohol kicks in. You haven’t seen anything yet,” Bernie warned.
“Hmm, interesting,” Cory admitted while chugging the rest of his beer, watching Alexis move her ass and dance with her family and friends. Now that was sexy. As the song ended and the dance floor cleared, the entire room howled to Hank Jr.’s, “All My Rowdy Friends” next.
Alexis took another beer from their cooler and winked at Cory. She handed him another one, too. He took it, opened it, and handed it back. She sat between his legs and they watched the younger kids on the dance floor dancing to more modern music, something from Snoop Dogg. Alexis was sure Jim was about to walk out there and rip Jordan’s head off from the way he danced to Paige’s backside. Everyone thought it was funny, except for him, of course.
“Okay, guys, this one’s for you, take that special someone by the hand and show her to the dance floor,” Dillon called as Aerosmith’s, “You’re My Angel,” echoed through the room.
“You heard the man,” Cory said with an open palm and dancing fingers. He took Alexis by the hand and led her to the open floor.
Alexis placed her arms around his neck and he wrapped his around her waist and pulled her close. Alexis closed her eyes briefly, loving his smell and being in his arms. She looked up at him, meaning for it to be quick peck. Things got a little heated and out of hand when he parted her lips with his tongue. Alcohol no doubt played a part in that, too. She didn’t mean for it to be that emotional, but Cory took control. He kissed her more deeply and passionately than she would have cared to be shared with her family and friends. The public display of affection ended when her family and annoying Travis hooted and hollered. Alexis laughed, turned her eyes to the crowd, and told them all to go to hell.
“Back down, boy. You’re sleeping in the basement,” Travis yelled.
Cory gave him a sarcastic smile and turned his attention back to Alexis.
“I am going to dip you,” he warned.
“Dip me? What the hell does—aaah,” she squealed when she figured it out. Cory parted her legs with his and swayed his hips, seductively into hers. He twirled her back, holding her hips, and pumped his into hers twice, permeating another group cheer from the meddling spectators.
“You still aren’t getting any. Not in the McKinley house, anyway,” Travis assured him with a very loud laugh, too loud. Alexis told him to shut up.
“Tame your dude,” Alexis ordered Bernie.
“There’s no taming this dude. Sorry, Lex.”
“I can’t let you go to bed tonight without making love to you,” Cory whispered.
“Stop talking like that. Yes you can. I promise you’ll survive until tomorrow.”
“I might have if you would have let me this afternoon when Riki was napping.”
“Stop it, you’ll be okay. I promise,” Alexis assured him again while leading him back to their table when the song ended.
“Come on, Lex, you big sissy. One shot of vodka and I swear I’ll leave you alone,” Travis begged.
Alexis could already feel the beers she’d consumed, but decided to do one, just to shut him up. Travis set the two shot glasses on the table
and filled them with the bottle hidden behind the brown paper sack.
“Mine has more,” Alexis complained and Travis added more to his.
“On the count of three…ready, Lex?”
“Yes,” she replied with a long, drawn-out breath, preparing for what she knew would burn.
“One, two, three!”
“Awe, you bastard, Travis,” Alexis yelled with a tight, scrunched face, trying to keep the shot down. “That was tequila, you son of a bitch,” she accused and then punched him in the chest. Alexis knew she’d get too drunk and needed to reel it in. But…she didn’t. Instead, she let Travis talk her into another shot, and then another, and another. Why? She had know idea. Other than the fact they made her stupid, Alexis didn’t have an excuse. She’d be cussing herself in the morning and she knew it. She swallowed shot after shot like she was trying to prove something. To who, was the big question.
By the time the party started to dwindle, Alexis was inebriated. She knew she was going to be sick. Dammit. She hated Travis. One last slow dance in Cory’s arms was all it took. She didn’t feel the same things Cory felt.
“Cory?” Alexis questioned.
“Yeah?” he answered back quietly, enjoying the feel of her in his arms.
“I need to go outside,” she said, and quickly left his hold.
Cory followed, but stopped long enough to grab a couple paper towels on his way out.
“Oh, God,” Alexis moaned a dying whimper, moving to one of the outside picnic tables. She dropped to the bench and her head fell into her hands.
“I’ll be right back,” Cory announced. Alexis didn’t move. Alexis couldn’t move.
“Oh, God, I hate Travis,” she recited in a groan. She kept her face planted in her hands until Cory returned with hot coffee.
“Here, drink this.”
She accepted it with gratitude, clumsily brushing hair from her face.
“Alexis! Are you drunk?” Travis called from the barn door.
“Go to hell, Travis. Why did you let me get this drunk?”
“I don’t think I could have stopped you if I would have tried,” Cory countered in a matter-of-fact tone, wrapping his arm around her. Alexis sipped the hot drink and leaned into him.
“Well, maybe not, but you should have tried. Cory, why don’t you talk about your family?”
Cory laughed at her sudden switch in train of thought. “You and Riki are my family.”
She smiled while blowing out a puff of air, liking the answer, but that wasn’t the one she’d been looking for. “Tell me about your parents. I know you have one sister but I know nothing about your family.”
“I never really grew up with a family, not like this, nothing like what you have with your family. My mother’s a federal judge in Chicago. My dad is a corporate lawyer and so is my sister. I grew up very well off and was raised by Ellen.”
“Your nanny?”
“Yes, and she is probably dearer to me than my own family. Is that enough?”
Alexis sipped her coffee. “No, go on.”
He smiled and continued. “There’s not much to tell. I always wanted to be a doctor and my family thought it was preposterous. They thought I should be in politics, and if it weren’t for Ellen, I probably would have been. She taught me from a very early age to always do what was in my heart. When I had Riki, my family was furious with me, and Ellen was the only one that made me feel like I was doing the right thing.”
“I’m glad you have Riki.”
“Me too, feel better?”
“I’m still too drunk. Let’s go to bed.”
“Yes you are.” Cory held Alexis’s hand and walked her across the yard to the house.
“Don’t ever let me do this again.”
“Hmm. Okay. Are you really making me go to the basement?” he questioned while stopping her in the kitchen, wrapping her in his arms.
Alexis kicked off her boots and patted his chest. “Yes. You have to go to the basement, Cory. Just go to sleep…it’ll be morning when you wake up.”
“That sounds like something you would tell Riki.”
Alexis kissed him and said goodnight. The room spun too much to care about his plea to stay out of the dungeon. Cory watched her stumble her way to the stairs, stopping when she saw Riki sit up.
“Me want you, Wexis,” Riki whined.
“Okay, baby, I’m coming,” Alexis replied in a side sway, stepping over little girls.
“Ouch,” one of the teens loud whispered.
“Sorry, Sarah,” Alexis quietly spoke, feeling the fingers below her bare feet.
“Wexis,” Riki whined again.
“I’m trying to get to you, hang on a second.”
Riki stood and wrapped legs around Alexis’s waist when she reached her. “Me wike a monkey,” she said while she clung to Alexis, causing her to stumble again when she had to turn back. She set Riki to the floor to retrieve the monkey. Bending over with her in her arms was a horrible idea in her state.
“You want to sleep with me?” Alexis asked while she rubbed her back and made her way to the bed upstairs, screaming her name.
Cory smiled, satisfied, took a deep breath, and headed to his designated spot on the pull out couch. There were nineteen boys, all still wide-awake and full of piss and vinegar.
“What’s up, guys?”
“You don’t want to know,” one of the boys assured him, sending a domino laughing affect from boy to boy. Whatever. Cory didn’t care enough to ask, either. He lay down and breathed in a deep breath, feeling a bar across the middle of his back. Cory groaned and covered his head with a pillow. Lucky for him it was already early morning, three or four more hours, that’s it. He could handle that.
Or not.
Cory got up and ran to the other side of the room with the rest of the boys when the loudest fart he’d ever heard came from the smallest boy in the room.
“My God! What the hell did he eat? I think we should put him out in the barn,” Cory joked, sort of. “That’s it. I’m out of here,” Cory exclaimed when the boy did it again. He took the stairs three at a time with laughter trailing behind him.
He made his way up the next set of steps, shushing the creek in the stairs with a finger. Which door was it? What if it was one of her brothers’? He knew her parents slept downstairs, but he didn’t know how protective her brothers were. He did know how good their aim was with a rifle. The clay pigeon recollection reminded him of that. This was a horrible idea. He should have asked for a tour.
“Lex,” he called in a loud whisper, opening the first door he came to.
“Shhh, you’re going to get yourself shot. She’s in the next room,” Sam called from a bed through darkness. Cory opened the next door and quietly closed it behind him.
“Cory, what the hell are you doing?” Alexis questioned in disbelief.
“I cannot sleep with those animals, not without a gas mask anyway. I promise I’ll leave before daylight. No one will ever know I was here, please,” he begged.
“Get in here,” she said, already smiling and moving over for him. She raised the covers, snuggled to his chest, and sighed a relaxed breath, happy that he was there.
“How do you feel?” he asked with a kiss to her forehead.
“Ten times better since I brushed my teeth, but still a little dizzy. Damn Travis,” she added.
“Alexis,” Cory whispered.
“Hmm?” she sleepily hummed.
“I love you.”
Alexis’s eyes popped open, suddenly wide-awake. The words screamed over and over in her head while silence filled the still room.
“Cory, I don’t know what to say to that.” Unable to move, Alexis kept her head on his chest and tried to slow the adrenaline rush.
Cory moved her when he turned to his side and quietly said, “You don’t have to say anything.”
The last thing Alexis remembered after that was Cory’s hands up her shirt and his lips on hers. And maybe getting sick again.
Eleven
Alexis woke to a thin line of sun shining right in her eyes from the slit in the curtain. She squinted and looked behind her, smiling at Cory’s defined back and turned to Riki.
Shit! Where the hell was Riki? Alexis moved quietly out of bed, hoping for the best. That’s when she realized she was naked. Not only was she naked, Cory was naked. Jesus. She didn’t remember that at all. Did they? The scent of sex assured her that they did when she lifted her leg to slide into her panties. “Great. Great. Great,” she whispered over and over, throwing on clothes.
Alexi’s fears became real when she found Riki in the kitchen with her family. She knew as soon as she saw the disapproving look on her mother’s face that she’d been the one who retrieved Riki. Crap.
No sooner had she left Cory’s side, he stirred, too. After a quick stop to the bathroom, he followed her down. Cory stopped before entering the kitchen when he heard the ass-chewing.
Alexis sat at the bar with Riki in her lap while she listened to every angry word from her mother. Each word echoed loudly in her aching head, and she held her tongue for as long as she could.
“You know what the rules are in this house, Alexis, and you purposely defied us,” her mom reprimanded. “And you had that baby in bed with you. What were you thinking?”
“Okay that part is fair but the whole not being married thing is dumb. You need to realize this is not 1942. For God’s sake, Mom, and just for the record, it was not on purpose.” Hell she didn’t even remember it.
“That’s the way God intended it. If you’re not married you’re not going to act like you are, not in my home.”
“Jesus Christ, Mother, do you really think we don’t sleep together? Do you really think we don’t have sex?” Alexis questioned with her hands, cupping Riki’s ears.
Walt stepped in next. Great… “Alexis, that’s enough. You’re not going to talk to your mother like that, and by God, don’t you dare take that tone with her.”