“Come on, Meatball.” I scratched the top of his head and stood up, stumbling a bit. He did some sort of dramatic yawn before hopping off the couch and following me to my bedroom.
I hated the way I felt. The guys had been nagging me to meet them out tonight, but I just didn’t feel like it.
I brushed my teeth and stripped down to my briefs, rolling my eyes when I saw my big beast of a dog lying on his back, sprawled in the middle of my bed.
I was too drunk to care.
“What kind of bet did I lose?” I climbed beneath the blankets as the room started to spin. “There used to be a beautiful woman lying there. And now she’s gone. It’s just you and me, Meatball.”
I squeezed my eyes closed, begging sleep to take me from my misery.
And thankfully, the booze and exhaustion kicked in all at once.
And darkness took me.
A jackhammer pelted me in the head numerous times before Meatball howled so loud that I thought my head would explode.
What the fuck is happening?
I sat up, my head spinning, as nausea climbed my throat.
The pounding continued, but I realized it wasn’t in my head; it was coming from outside.
I walked to the bathroom, took a piss, and then realized the noise was actually coming from my front door.
I pulled on my gray joggers and stumbled down the hallway as the world’s worst hangover dominated my movements.
I pulled the door open, startled when I saw them standing there.
My four uncles.
My godfathers.
As they clapped me on the shoulder one by one and stepped inside, I rubbed my face, trying to process what was happening.
“You look like shit,” River said, humor lining his tone.
“This is obviously bad,” Romeo said. He put an arm around my shoulder, walking beside me toward the kitchen. “Come on. Let’s get some coffee on.”
“There better be something to eat here,” Kingston said. “I’m starving, and we didn’t want to stop because we were anxious to get here.” He pulled the refrigerator open and started pulling food out.
“I think our boy probably needs food in his stomach too.” Hayes started the coffee and pulled out several mugs from the cupboard.
Meatball howled again, his new form of communication when he was hungry. He wasn’t much of a barker, but he sure knew how to howl.
“And what the fuck is this?” River held out a hand, motioning to my new four-legged best friend.
“This is Meatball,” I grumped as I stood at the kitchen island and set my forehead down on the cool porcelain. “He needs to eat.”
“I’ve got it, you go sit. You clearly went big last night,” Romeo said, ushering me to the kitchen table.
“Thank you. He eats the moist food in the bag in the refrigerator. He gets half a bag.” I picked my head up when Hayes brought some coffee over.
Kingston was cooking up some eggs, and River put some toast in the toaster, and I just sat there, sipping my coffee and replaying the evening.
ROD 911.
“Fuck. I texted you last night.” I sighed as I moved to the laundry room and grabbed a hoodie and pulled it over my head.
