Steal You Away

Chapter Seventeen

The smell of coffee drifted to Mackenzie's nose and tickled it with its delicious, tempting aroma. Taking a deep inhale, she instantly regretted the action and moaned. Jumpin' Jehoshaphat, her head hurt. Even breathing seemed to cause her skull to pound unmercifully. Wincing, she shut her eyes tighter in hopes of trying to block out the pain, but now that she was awake, it seemed to have taken up permanent residence behind her eyelids and was determined to split her cranium in two. She had been concentrating so hard on the hammering of her head, it took a moment for the fact there even was a smell of coffee filling her apartment to register.

Popping her eyes open, she ignored the flash of agony caused by the sunlight burning her retinas and wrinkled her forehead in confusion as she tried to unscramble her fuzzy brain. She was lying in bed...her bed...that much she was certain of and she sighed with relief. The rods of the pullout were gouging through the thin, worthless mattress and digging into her hip, which meant she was sleeping on the hideaway bed instead of on top. But what didn't make sense was how she got in the bed to begin with. Had Kara put her to bed and made her coffee? She frowned as she tried to remember the events of last night.

As she recalled, the evening had started out alright. She and Kara had cleaned the Stark ranch house. She had spectacularly embarrassed herself by falling into Trent Stark's arms, only she hadn't known it was Trent at the time and accidently called him Chase. Yup...that humiliating scenario punctuated with a pair of lacy, red panties she still remembered crystal clear. Closing her eyes, she fast forwarded past those less than pleasant memories to Kara begging and pleading her into going to a girl's night out with her friends. Kara had been ruthless, using every guilt trip in her arsenal until Mackenzie finally gave in and agreed to go. She remembered the Mustang, the crowds, getting hit on by some real characters at the bar and the scary bartender. She recalled Lily and Bailey...and how much beer she had consumed.

Which explained her pounding headache this morning, Mackenzie moaned to herself. Trying not to think about the amount of liquor she had drunk, she continued on sorting out the nights events when everything came crashing painfully back making her want to sob. Chase and Trent had appeared out of nowhere at their table, looking better than any man had a right to. A perfect image of the handsome brothers floated into her subconscious making her heart start to pound in rhythm with her head. The dancing...oh God, the dancing. The kissing...oh God...the kissing...all of it came back to her in a rush. Like some kind of hussy, she had not only kissed one brother, but both of them.

To make matters worse, she had made out with Trent in the middle of the dance floor for the whole world to see. Good gravy. Now everyone in Rapture would be wagging their tongues about her loose moral character. Mackenzie cringed at the ramifications her actions were going to cause. And to add to her misery, Justin had obviously witnessed it all. Him and his new girlfriend...who Chase and Trent seemed to have known. Intimately. Her heart sank at the thought.

A low groan and the feel of something heavy rolling over next to her made her freeze. Scratch that...not something...but someone. Makenzie felt her eyes grow wide as whoever it was stretched and moved around. Now that she was exceedingly awake, she could also hear someone pull out one of her patio chairs and sit down in the kitchen. Her body stiffened and her breath caught in her throat as she laid absolutely still. Her pulse rate shot through the ceiling as she racked her brain at who it could possibly be. The only thing she knew for certain, it wasn't Kara.

"Good morning," a gruff, deep voice said.

"Mornin'," the body next to her answered. "What time is it?"

"A little after seven. I made some coffee, want some?"

"Does a bear shit in the woods?"

A warm chuckle filled the room. "I'll take that as yes." Mackenzie nervously nibbled on her lip, listening to whoever it was moving around her kitchen and opening her cupboards. "She doesn't have shit in here for food nor does she have any sugar or cream, so you'll have to tough it out and take it straight up like a real man."