Page 154 of Mayhem
“Did you wake her up?”
“Yes and no. She wanted to sleep, so I let her,” he responded.
“I’ll put her a plate up.”
Cruz nodded as Paetyn turned back to the stove. He decided to make her a fruit bowl once they finished eating. It would allowher to have something heavy or light since they were supposed to eat with their parents when they went over that afternoon.
They ate, and Cruz did the dishes after making Erin’s fruit bowl. He joined Paetyn in the living room to watch television until Erin woke up.
An hour and a half later, she came down the stairs dressed in one of their t-shirts, and he assumed panties. She walked over, kissing them both.
“Why didn’t anyone wake me?” she asked.
Cruz glared at her playfully as Paetyn chuckled. “Cute,” he said, shaking his head. “Paetyn put a plate in the microwave for you, and there’s a fruit bowl in the fridge.”
“Thank you. We can exchange gifts after I eat,” she responded, heading into the kitchen, and Cruz smacked her on the ass in retaliation for her question. No, she wasn’t wearing any panties.
Once Erin finished eating, they retrieved their gifts from under the tree and sat on the couch to exchange them. Cruz and Paetyn typically didn’t exchange gifts. After a while, it became hard to buy for one another mainly because they would buy anything they wanted or needed for themselves right then.
“Can I go first?” Erin asked.
“Sure, Angel.”
She handed them both a small, wrapped box. “You can open them at the same time.”
Cruz removed the wrapping and opened the box. Inside was a watch. It was nice, gold with black accents, something he would have bought for himself. He shouldn’t have been surprised that she knew him so well and had learned what he liked throughout their relationship. He glanced at Paetyn to find it was a watch, too. It was distinctively different from his and very much something Paetyn would have bought.
“Take them out and flip them over,” she requested.
He took it out and turned it over, reading the engraving on the back.Until time stops and the world spins clockwise. Love, Erin.
Cruz turned her to face him and gave her a soft kiss. “Thank you, Maly.”
“You’re welcome, baby.”
She turned her attention to Paetyn as Cruz returned the watch to the box. He placed it on the coffee table before handing Erin a small gift bag. She pulled out a jewelry box. Inside was a compass necklace. He’d come across it while looking for something to get her. He wanted something more sentimental, and while he’d liked the one he saw, he wanted something better quality. He decided to have it custom-made—a platinum pendant with an intricate design of the directions on the front. The back was engraved with,Leads me back to you. She smiled at him before thanking him with a kiss.
She opened Paetyn’s next and pulled out the two-star maps. The first was of her birthday, captioned with,The greatest gift was born this day, with her name, date of birth, and the latitude and longitude of where. The second was the day she told them yes, captionedThe beginning of forever, with their names, the date, longitude, and latitude. They wanted to incorporate something important to them with something she enjoyed, the stars.
She thanked Paetyn the same way before gently putting the framed maps back into the bag.
“I have another gift for you if you’re okay with it,” she told them.
“Why wouldn’t we be?” Paetyn asked.
“It’s more permanent. I drew a tattoo design that I think represents us. It’s a simple design, and I wanted to give it to us if you’re okay with that.”
“I think something like that would be perfect for us,” Cruz responded.
“You don’t even know what it is,” she teased.
“We don’t need to. We know how talented you are,” Paetyn replied.
“You tell us when you want to do them, and we’ll make time,” Cruz added. “We have another gift for you,” he told her.
Paetyn gave her the ring box. They hadn’t seen a need to wrap it. She stared at it for several seconds before opening it. Inside was a two-carat, flawlessly cut diamond that contrasted against the gold band, which had tiny intricacies and smaller diamonds adorning it.
“This is beautiful,” Erin said softly.
