In the Life of Laynie

Chapter 20📷Birthday Blisters

A few weeks had passed since I last saw Milo. He was avoiding me at every turn. Since speaking to Robbie I had realized how much I hated being alone. I moved out of my apartment and into Jax and Kace's four-bedroom penthouse. I have to admit I was starting to get spoiled to the finer things in life.

My room alone was as big as my apartment. My clothes didn't even fill a fraction of my closet. Don't even get me started on the pool in my bathroom. The boys also grew pretty fond of Aiden making him the fourth member of the group. He had been living in a hotel, vainly searching for a place to stay. They had the room so there was no reason not to offer it to him.

We were starting my birthday off at a small cafe down the road from my new home. The guys all insisted on giving me a gift before the big party they had planned. I tried to talk them out of it, but it was a no go. Jax insisted I needed to make more friends. Truthfully, I wouldn't mind having some female friends. I had men coming out of my ears. Sadly, none were the one I wanted to spend my birthday with. I sipped on my caramel ice coffee while the guys laid out their gifts in front of me. I took the first gift Jax handed me. Opening it, I found a purple studded dog collar.

"Umm... It's pretty." I told him, trying not to seem ungrateful.

"Isn't it? You should put it on tonight." Gauging my other two roommates, I learned I could beat them at poker easily. Their mouths were hidden behind a newspaper and a cup of black coffee, trying to keep their laughter at bay.

"You promised no tricks today!" I laughed, playfully kicking Jax in the shin.

"It's not a trick!" He whined.

"You expect me to wear this to my party?"

"God, no! I meant you should put it on her tonight!" Jax dropped a picture of a solid white bulldog puppy onto the table. "I'm picking her up this afternoon. You should take the picture with you to work and think of a name."

"I can't believe you got me a dog."

"Don't be too thankful it was for selfish reasons. When I told him he couldn't have her. She turned into the perfect gift for you." Kace said, handing me a large gift bag. "It's for your new room."

After removing the tissue paper, I slid a large white picture frame out. Inside the frame was a huge collage of my friends and me. The first picture I settled my sights on was the largest one in the middle. Milo and I were on the floor in his family cabin, sitting Indian style across from each other with our heads together, hand in hand. My eyes were closed, but Milo's were trained on me with a blissful grin smeared across his face. Seeing the way he was looking at me, brought tears to my eyes. I wanted him to look at me that way again.

I hated the burden he carried when he looked at me at the bar. He was battling himself the same way I had done for so many years. I didn't even realize I was crying until Aiden put his hand on my back with a comforting look. I hurried to erase any evidence of my tears, reviewing the rest of the heartfelt moments. I exploded into laughter when my eyes landed on one of Jax and I laid on the floor after we fainted.

"Let me get this straight...while we were unconscious... in very bad health... You decided it was a good time for an impromptu photo op?"

"I wish I could take the credit. Unfortunately, I can't. I had to hit up Archie for that one. He was also responsible for the one of you and Milo." Kace informed me.

I thought about the way Archie acted while we were all together. To put it in simple terms, he was a complete and utter dick. However, the way he captured those moments had me looking at him in a new light. I would definitely have to get in touch with him to get my hands on more of his work. It seemed we had more in common than I thought.