Page 15 of Sam (Eye Candy Ink)

“I think Mischa should trade seats with me,” Zeke says and I do laugh then.

“Why are we all in my car?”

“We needed to talk to you,” Atlas says from behind me.

“In private,” Mischa adds, looking around like he’s a super-secret spy before he slinks down in his seat.

“Okay,” I say, drawing out the word. “About what?”

“Sam,” Atlas says.

“Yeah, what are your intentions with her?” Mischa asks, crossing his arms and trying to look stern but he can’t really pull it off when he’s also hunched down in the seat.

“Shouldn’tIbe asking that question?” Zeke asks from the back.

“No, her real dad and brothers should,” Nico adds in his usual no nonsense tone.

“Excuse me!?!REALbrothers and dad? What the heck are we?” Mischa asks, turning in his seat to glare at Nico in the back.

Nico grins at Mischa and I think it’s the first time that I’ve seen the guy smile.

“I think Sam seems happy. I don’t know why we’re here,” Atlas pipes in and Mischa turns his glare on him.

“It’s our job! We have to know that Max is a good guy and that he’s going to treat her right.”

“But we know Max and he is a good guy and he is treating her right,” Nico points out and Mischa throws his hands in the air, rolling his eyes again.

Zeke is grinning like a lunatic in the backseat and I honestly don’t know how to respond.

“I’m not going to hurt, Sam. I love her. I would never… I never want to do anything to hurt her,” I say quietly and the car falls silent.

Everyone seems to be weighing my words, trying to decide if I’m being sincere or not, but I am and after a minute, the energy changes and it’s light and carefree between us all once more.

“How’s Indie?” I ask Mischa.

Sam told me that they were trying to work things out but I hadn’t heard anything since. Mischa’s whole mood changes as soon as her name is brought up. His eyes get softer and he has a smile playing around his lips. I wonder if I look like that when I think about Sam. Oh, who am I kidding, of course I do.

“She’s good,” he says and I notice Zeke grinning wider.

“That’s my boy,” he says, reaching forward and clapping Mischa on the shoulder.

“Oh my god, dad. You’re embarrassing me,” he mumbles but I see that he’s smiling.

“What about you, Atlas? How’s your girl?” I ask, turning to look at him in the back.

“She’s great. I’m actually… I’m going to ask her to marry me,” he says quietly.

The car explodes with sounds of congratulations and Mischa practically climbs into the backseat to hug him. I laugh at his antics but Nico and Zeke are also trying to hug him and it just looks like a pile of bodies. I laugh, turning in my seat and that’s when I see her.

Sam is standing outside the car, a bewildered expression on her face as she tries to comprehend what is happening inside the car. I wave at her, smiling wider, and she returns it, stepping around the hood and to my door. I open it and drag her into my lap, slamming the door closed behind us.

“What are you all doing?” She asks, her hand wrapping around my shoulder as she tries to peer into the backseat.

Mischa is still halfway in the backseat and we have to help drag him back into the front. Sam laughs when his elbow bounces off the roof and he swears and I smile, loving the sound of her laugh, of her happy.

“I think your friends are crazy,” I tell Sam.

“Hey! We’re your friends too,” Zeke says from the backseat and I just shake my head.

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