Tricking the Souls Page 3

“Too late, suckers,” I teased.

  “You’re still a twerp, you know that?” Landon said with a laugh, ruffling his hand over the top of my head. I swatted his hand away then reached up to smooth my hair back down.

  “You’re just getting slow in your old age.”

  “Old age? That’s it, you’re going to pay for that.” He took a threatening step forward and I squealed, laughing hysterically as I ran and hid behind Gio.

  “You may have this room,” Carter said from the doorway. “But I’m calling dibs on the one above it. That way you can hear me and Ryan, banging our headboard all night long, right above your head.”

  “Ohhh! Well played, my man,” Landon said, giving him a high five.

  I rolled my eyes as the two of them made some rather vulgar gestures. “Maybe I should have thought this through a little better,” I admitted to my husband.

  “Too late now, sweetheart,” he said, giving me a sympathetic hug.

  “I used to wish I had siblings. Now, I’m kind of grateful my parents stopped with just me,” Akio joked from the doorway where he and the others were watching. Everyone laughed, but as I looked at my two brothers, I had to disagree. We loved to tease and torment each other, but at the end of the day, I couldn’t ask for better friends than my two brothers.

  As the rest of the guys went in search of their own rooms, Gio and I went out to help unload the cars. Everyone was starving by the time we got our stuff put away, so Gio and I got to work making dinner while our friends found the plates and silverware and began setting the table.

  “This is delicious,” Matt praised as he took a bite of his pasta carbonara.

  “Thanks. It’s pretty easy to make,” Gio told him.

  “Well, I don’t see any reason to mess with perfection. Maybe you two should be in charge of cooking the entire time we’re here,” Rylie joked.

  “Nice try, but we’re taking turns,” I told him.

  “Now, let’s not be too hasty,” Gio warned me.

  I gave him an incredulous look. “We cook all the time at the restaurant. Do you really want to spend your vacation doing it?”

  “Well...not exactly. I’m fine with the others taking turns. Just not...Carter.” Giovanni’s expression remained serious as Carter let out a surprised gasp and I had to cover my mouth to hold in my laugh. I knew exactly what he was referring to.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m a great cook. Aren’t I, babe?” Carter argued, turning to his husband.

  Ryan’s eyes widened as he suddenly found himself in the hot seat. “Well...”

  “I was trying to help,” Carter continued, shooting his husband a glare.

  “Your help almost destroyed my restaurant,” Gio stressed.

  He looked around the table at the other guys then went on to recount the time Carter showed up at the restaurant, pretending to be me. What followed was a series of unfortunate events that ended with food all over the ceiling. By the time he’d finished his story, we were all laughing, including my twin.

  “Hey, at least it wasn’t all for nothing. My interference helped you to realize what an idiot you were being, so you’d go after my brother and make him yours. So, if you really think about it, you should be thanking me,” Carter announced, seeming rather proud of himself.

  “I do thank you for that,” Gio conceded. Carter gave him a smug grin. “But I still think it’s in all of our best interests if you stay out of the kitchen this week.”

  We spent the rest of dinner sharing funny stories about each other, including the time Akio found out that Morgan’s initials were O.M.G. and even a few stories about Gio that I’d never heard before from when he and Micah were growing up together.

  It was late by the time we cleaned everything up and we were all tired from the long drive, so we decided to go ahead and call it a day. Gio and I took turns having showers and then climbed in bed together. I scooted closer to him and laid my head on his chest, running my fingers through the dark hair there.

  “I’m so glad we’re here. I miss Sarah, but this is nice; the two of us together, having fun with our friends. No work or bills or any other obligations,” I said softly.

  “I agree. We should really make it a point of getting away more. We both work too hard sometimes.”

  “You know what else we should do more often?”

  A laugh rumbled up from his chest. “I have a pretty good idea,” he said, already rolling me onto my back. I grinned up at him as he settled himself above me. My legs wrapped around his waist, hooking together at the ankles.

  “Do you have any idea how much I love you?” His lips brushed over mine and my cock immediately responded.

  “Show me,” I whispered.

  Hours later, a shrill sound woke me from a dead sleep. Gio sat straight up in bed beside me. “What the hell is that?”

  “I have no idea. Sounds like a car alarm,” I told him as we both rushed to put some clothes on. The other guys came rushing out of their rooms as we stepped into the hallway, looking as confused as we were.

  “Is that a car alarm?” Isaac asked.

  “I think so. Maybe a raccoon set it off,” Lachlan suggested.

  “I might agree, except it sounds like more than one alarm,” Ryan noted.

  “You guys stay here and I’ll check it out,” Micah offered.

  He made a move toward the front door, but Landon grabbed his husband’s arm, stopping him. “I don’t want you going out there alone.”

  “Babe, I was a SEAL. A car alarm is hardly dangerous,” he assured him.

  “Yes, but you don’t know what or who set them off,” Landon argued.

  “Let’s just all go together,” Hudson suggested. Landon offered him a grateful smile and we all filed out onto the front porch.

  My jaw dropped as soon as I stepped outside, not sure if I could actually believe what I was seeing. “What the hell?” I murmured, repeating Gio’s earlier words.

  All three car alarms were going off, horns honking, radios blaring, and headlights flashing, but that wasn’t all. Micah’s Jeep was completely jacked up off the ground, Hudson’s SUV was covered from top to bottom in colorful sticky notes, and Gio’s car had been sealed shut with layer after layer of cling wrap.

  I stared in shock as Micah, Gio, and Hudson rushed down the steps and silenced two of the three cars. However, it took a little more work to get through the cling wrap so they could turn off Gio’s car. When they were finished, Gio turned to stare at the rest of us, his arms folded across his chest.

  “Okay. Which one of you clowns did this?” he said. I watched as everyone looked around, expressions showing their suspicion.

  “It wasn’t us. I was sound asleep with my guys,” Matt spoke up.

  “Wasn’t us either. We fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow,” Lachlan added. We continued around the group, each person denying that they had anything to do with the trick.

  “I doubt it was raccoons, so it had to be one of you,” Landon said.

  “Well, if no one will admit it, there’s only one fair way to handle this,” Carter said. Everyone turned to him to see what he would suggest. He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s game on, my friends. You better sleep with one eye open.”

  As we looked around at each other, we began to grin. This was going to be fun.

  Chapter Four

  MORGAN

  I held Akio’s hand as we walked down the stairs, following our noses to the source of the tantalizing aroma that permeated the air. “Something smells delicious,” I said as we walked into the kitchen. We were one of the last couples to arrive downstairs, but after being woken in the middle of the night, it’d felt good to sleep in for a bit.

  “Yeah, Landon and I figured we’d take the breakfast shift this morning, that way we don’t have to cook tonight,” Micah said with a grin.

  “That, and there is less chance of us screwing up pancakes. I mean, we’re not as bad as Carter in the kitchen, but we’re certainly no Caleb
either,” Landon added. Carter flipped his middle finger up at his older brother, making us all laugh.

  “Well, I’m willing to take my chances. I think all the fresh mountain air is messing with my appetite because I woke up starving,” Akio said.

  “I’m the same way whenever I come here,” Carter told him. “Dad always said it was all that good, clean Tennessee living.”

  “Well, whatever it is, I’m glad you’re all hungry because we made enough to feed an army.” Landon proved his point as he and Micah began carrying food over to the table. I stared in disbelief as they brought over a stack of pancakes piled high, a large bowl of fluffy scrambled eggs, a plate of buttered toast, about five pounds of bacon, and a fresh fruit salad.

  “Holy crap, you weren’t kidding,” Ryan said as he watched his husband snatch a piece of bacon off the plate and shove it into his mouth.

  As everyone began piling food onto their plates, I noticed there were three empty chairs. “Where are Hudson, Isaac, and Matt?”

  “They’re outside. Apparently, the sticky notes got wet overnight with the dew, which made them cling to their car as if they’d been super glued onto it. Poor guys have been out there for over an hour trying to get that shit off,” Micah explained.

  Rylie barked out a laugh and everyone turned to look at him. “What? That shit’s funny.”

  “You know, you do seem awfully amused by all of this,” Carter pointed out. “Is it because you’re the one who set it all up?” Rylie looked around at us, our suspicions piqued by Carter’s observation.

  “I had nothing to do with it. I was just as surprised as all of you when those alarms started going off.”

  “I can attest to my husband’s innocence,” Lachlan assured us. “He was in our room with me the whole night.”

  Micah eyed them both skeptically. “Like you wouldn’t cover for him.”

  Lachlan tried to hold his friend’s stare for several seconds, but eventually, his laughter won out. “Fine. Yes, of course, I would. He’s my husband. But I’m honestly telling the truth. Rylie and I were in our room the whole time until the alarms woke us.”

  Caleb spoke up as he poured syrup over his pancakes. “Yeah, well, whoever it was, it’s been a mess to clean up. Gio and I helped them as much as we could, but then we had to come in so we could call Mom and make sure Sarah was doing all right without us.”

  “And was she?” Akio asked.

  “She’s doing great. In fact, I think she was a bit perturbed that we had interrupted her special time with Gram and all of her cousins. She couldn’t wait to get off the phone with us,” Gio said with a frown.

  Caleb reached over and patted his husband’s hand. “That’s just because my mom has a million fun things planned for them this week. It’s like Disney World on crack. There’s no way we can compete with that.”

  Akio glanced over at me and we shared a smile. I raised an eyebrow in question, but he gave a subtle shake of his head. Just then, the door opened, and Isaac, Matt, and Hudson all walked in, carrying wads of colorful papers in their hands. They tossed them in the trash and washed their hands before joining us at the table. While we finished eating, we all talked about some of the things we wanted to do that week, including hiking, paintball, and attending a local pumpkin festival.

  “So, what should we do first?” I asked.

  Landon spoke up. “I have an idea, if any of you are interested. I did some research when I found out we were coming here, and I saw there’s a place where we can rent ATVs. They own hundreds of acres and have paths all throughout the woods that we could ride on.”

  “That sounds like fun,” Isaac agreed. “I wonder if they have anything bigger than a four-wheeler so the three of us could stay together.”

  Landon nodded. “According to their website, they have a pretty large variety of off-road vehicles. I saw several that could hold three or four people.”

  Matt looked at Isaac and smiled. “Perfect.”

  Agreeing that we all wanted to do that, we quickly cleaned up the kitchen and went to our rooms to get ready. It was a bit chilly outside and I knew it would be even colder under the shade of the trees, so I pulled on a pair of my warmest socks and tugged a hoodie over my t-shirt before grabbing my jacket. I watched as Akio finished doing the same and then turned to me.

  “What’s with the frown?” he asked.

  “I’m just wondering how we can basically dress the same, but I come out looking like a lumberjack while you look like you just stepped off the pages of some men’s fashion magazine.”

  Akio laughed. “I don’t know, I happen to like the rugged, outdoorsy look you have going on.”

  I grinned as I began closing the distance between us. “You do, do you?”

  His mouth curved into a smile as he ran his hands up over my chest. “I really do. Makes me want to take you out in the woods and climb you like a tree.”

  I cupped his face with my hands. “You can climb me anytime you want to,” I said and then I sealed my mouth over his in a long, slow, tantalizing kiss.

  I could never get enough of Akio’s lips. They were like a drug to me; soft, full, and sweeter than honey. I licked over them and he opened up, granting me access. I delved inside his mouth, the taste of him wreaking havoc on my brain.

  “Hey, Akio and Morgan, we’re wasting daylight. Let’s get a move on,” one of the guys called up the stairs. I groaned as Akio pulled away, resting his forehead against my chest as he tried to catch his breath.

  “I’ll kill whoever that was. I’m serious. Kill them and bury the body deep in the woods,” I claimed.

  Akio started laughing. “That would take too much time. Plus, you’re too sexy to go to jail. Better to just do what they want and then sneak away the first chance we get.”

  “Fine, we’ll go with them now but I’m holding you to that. The first opportunity we get, I’m going to kidnap you and do wicked, wicked things to you. You’ll be lucky if you can even walk when I’m through with you.”

  “Ohh! Sounds perfectly filthy and I’m going to hold you to that,” he informed me. I pulled him in for one last kiss and then we joined the others who were already gathered by the front door.

  “You boys ready to go have some fun?” Carter asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

  “They interrupted my fun,” I grumbled, low enough that the others couldn’t hear.

  Akio swatted my arm, but I could see him trying not to laugh. “Hush.”

  “Let’s do this!” Carter shouted. My younger cousin may have been a world-famous rockstar, but at home, he was the same goofy guy he’d always been. The fact that he’d never let his fame go to his head was one of the things I admired most about him.

  I took Akio’s hand as we walked out to the car and then I held the door open for him, earning myself a beautiful smile. Will my heart ever not trip over itself with that smile? I hoped not.

  It didn’t take long to reach our destination, and we all piled out of our cars, eager to get out on the trails. The place was as incredible as Landon had described, with ATVs in every imaginable size and color.

  “How did we never know this was here? This would’ve been awesome to come to when we were kids,” I told Landon.

  “We just never thought to look. Besides, we were always too busy creating our own fun.”

  “If by fun, you mean creating trouble then yes, that’s exactly what you were doing,” Caleb teased.

  Landon and I looked at each other and then shrugged. We knew there was no use arguing. Especially, since what he said was true. Out of all my cousins, I’d always been closest to Landon and the two of us had somehow, always managed to get ourselves into trouble. I cringed whenever I thought about the worry we must’ve caused our mothers over the years.

  A rustic-looking shop stood along the edge of the forest, its wooden walls and tin roof making it look as if it would topple over with one strong gust of wind. Of course, I knew that the craftsmanship used years ago was often much stur
dier and durable than the newer building materials we had to choose from. Tennessee’s landscape contained old barns, abandoned churches, and even a few one room schoolhouses. I could’ve easily spent the entire day exploring those buildings and admiring the work the original builders had put into them, but that would have to wait for another trip.

  We saw several people going in and out of the shop, so we went inside hoping to find someone who worked there. The little store was cute, with antiques hanging from the ceiling, old license plates nailed to the walls and a soda machine in the corner that had probably been around since Nixon was president.

  A man who looked to be in his seventies stood behind the counter and he gave us a friendly smile as we walked in. “What can I do y’all for?” he asked in that laid-back manner that older, southern men tended to have.

  “We’re interested in renting some ATVs,” Landon explained.

  “Well, y’all came to the right place then. Name’s Jessie and I’ll be happy to set ya up,” the man responded cheerfully. We listened as he went through his ATV choices and their prices and after we’d made our selections, he rang us up.

  “Now, each of y’all needs to take one of these maps. They show the different trails y’all can ride on. Each one is color coded by difficulty level. Red is the most difficult and some of ‘em can get downright treacherous, so if it’s your first-time out riding, I’d stick to the greens and yellows. You’ve got enough gas to last y’all several hours, but if y’all wanna stay out longer than that, come back in and I’ll top y’all off.”

  “That sounds good. Thank you very much,” Micah said.

  After paying the rental fees, we followed Jessie outside where he let us pick out our ATVs. “You want to drive?” I asked Akio.

  He shook his head. “No, I’m a little nervous about this. I’d rather you do the driving and I’ll just hang on and squeeze my eyes shut.”

  He chuckled like he was joking, but I could hear the slight tremor in his voice. My eyes narrowed in concern. “What are you nervous about?”

  Akio shrugged. “Falling off, tipping over, getting lost—”