by Ciz, Alley
Right now, all that mattered was Holly was there and officially his. He'd claimed both her mind and body, now all he needed was to claim her soul. Not in a creepy, sell your soul to the devil sort of way, but in the way she had claimed his. She was his soulmate, and it was time to prove he was hers.
He eased his arm from beneath her body, and gingerly made his way out of bed, slipping into a pair of basketball shorts, then headed to the living room.
Though it wasn’t an official training day, thanks to the holiday, he didn’t have any true days off during camp.
A few sun salutations to warm up, and he grabbed the jump rope from the storage cube in their entertainment center.
Earbuds in, he started with an easy pace, steadily hopping heel-to-heel as he lazily spun the rope around his body, keeping it steady for the almost seven minutes of Ed Sheeran’s “Make It Rain” before increasing his tempo when it switched to 5SOS’s “Youngblood.”
Flick-flick-flick went his wrist as he whipped the vinyl cord faster and faster around his body.
No more easy heel taps, instead his toes barely touched the ground before lifting into his next quick jump.
Jump-jump-jump-jump.
Faster and faster.
Sweat coated his bare chest as he increased his speed.
Whip-whip-whip.
He reached the peak of his workout, the rope slicing around twice before his feet touched the ground. The song came to an end, the rope halted, and he paced in a small circle to bring his heart rate down from the pounding staccato he'd worked it into.
Movement in his peripheral caught his attention, and he whipped around, still on high alert from the night before, only to relax when he saw Holly watching him from the hallway.
Dressed in his BTU t-shirt.
Only his BTU t-shirt.
Bare legs on display.
Lust filled her eyes as they greedily scanned him from head to toe. His cock stirred awake at her inspection, rising to full mast when her tongue peeked out to swipe across her bottom lip.
He pulled out his earbuds.
“Morning, Cupcake.”
“Morning, Stud Muffin.”
He crossed the room, pulling her in, not giving one fuck that he was a sweaty mess. He’d clean her off real good in the shower. “Ooooh, full title this morning.” He bent to drop a quick kiss on her mouth.
Her lips lingered in their pucker for a few seconds after he pulled away, tempting him to go in for another.
“I think after last night, you earned it…at least for today.” Her tone was confident, but she blushed.
Damn right. He made her come eight times last night.
“I’ll take it.” He kissed the tip of her nose. Nudging her back toward his bedroom, the sound of a key turning in the front door had them both spinning around.
His muscles tensed and she went rigid as they waited to see who it was, last night’s events still fresh in their minds. He shifted around, shielding Holly with his body. Any threat would have to go through him.
As if in slow motion, the door pushed open, and the breath he wasn’t aware of holding whooshed from his lungs as his sister strode into the apartment still in her Ninja Turtle pajamas.
The door remained open, and like clowns exiting a clown car, the rest of his friends filed in behind Rocky. Gage first, never far from his pregnant wife, then the girls from across the hall and Deck. He was surprised—not sure why given how close they all were—to see the rest of the Covenettes closing out the parade of their squad.
So much for spending a quiet morning alone with my girl.
Like they did every time they saw him, the Donovan twins ran straight for him cheering “Bin, Bin, Bin, Bin” on the way. He loved those girls something fierce.
“Olly,” they both squealed, each having trouble pronouncing the H in his girl’s name. Lucy attempted to kamikaze dive out of his arms to Holly, his quick reflexes the only thing keeping her from taking a header and him having to face the wrath of her dad.
“Hey, Lu.” Holly beamed as she reached to take the child from his arms, mouthing the word earrings when he arched a brow at her knowing who she was taking.
“Bin ucky.” Lacey smacked a hand to his sweaty chest, shaking it in the air, face scrunched up in disgust.
“No, Lay. Not yucky, it’s awesome.” He blew a raspberry against her neck.
“Ucky, ucky,” Lacey screeched, pushing to get his sweaty head out of her face. He might cringe at how his mom asked him all the time when he was going to settle down and give her grandbabies, but he sure as shit loved kids.
Holly was in the middle of listening to an intense story about crime-fighting turkeys—almost-two-year-olds and their imaginations—and it was the first time the thought of a family dinner was something to look forward to. Because let’s be honest, he knew there was a Steele family dinner on the horizon.
“Lu, Lay,” Jordan called out to her kids. “Come here so Uncle Vin can get ungross and Aunt Holly can put some pants on.”
Holly blushed at the reminder of her half-naked state. “Aunt Holly?” Her voice strangled with emotion.
Jordan gave her a do you even have to ask look. “Yup. All Covenettes are aunts. You’re part of the family. Sorry to tell you this, but you’re stuck with us for life.”
“Yeah, no take-backs,” Rocky agreed, and if he didn’t already love his sister with all his heart, that right there would have done it. She was speaking for so much more than just The Coven, she was doing it for the Steeles as well.
Now to prove to Holly he was also playing for keeps.
* * *
After the fastest shower known to man, Vince found Holly waiting for him in his bedroom, looking adorable swallowed up in his shirt and joggers. She needed to roll the waistband over more than once to keep from walking all over them.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are, Cupcake?” He didn’t miss the way her eyes tracked over his bare chest and down to the white towel knotted around his waist.
The way she looked at him made him grateful for every minute he logged training at The Steele Maker.
“Umm…I have bedhead, no makeup, and I’m swimming in your clothes…yeah.” She made a scoffing sound in the back of her throat. “Real beautiful.”
It killed him how she couldn’t see she was perfection, absolute perfection, and it had nothing to do with her looks. He closed the distance between them, cupped her face between his hands and brought his forehead down to touch hers.
“If I can only accomplish one more thing this year, it wouldn’t be winning the belt next month.” He shook his head. “No…it would be proving to you once and for all how utterly perfect you are in my eyes. Anyone who doesn’t agree can go fuck themselves because they are wrong.” His eyes bore into hers. “Perfect.” The last word was an impassioned plea as he captured her mouth with his, not pulling back until she melted into the kiss.
“Good.” He took in the dazed expression on her face when he straightened, needing to stop before he said screw their friends waiting in the living room and screwed his girlfriend instead.
He dressed in a pair of sweats and a Blizzards t-shirt since his boys were playing that afternoon, took Holly’s hand, and went to join the rest of their motley crew.
It looked like they called everyone because Sammy and Jamie were playing pool with Maddey and Becky while Kyle and Lyle rushed Holly, sandwiching her between them in a group hug.
“You okay, Sweets?” Lyle asked, holding her out at arm’s length.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” He liked that she looked to him as she answered.
“How do you think they found you?” Kyle wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
She shrugged. “I have no idea. It doesn’t matter, they figured it out. What’s done is done.”
“Actually,” Jordan cut in, breaking from her conversation with Justin. “I might.”
She had an almost guilty expression on her face, which didn’t make any sense. Linking his fing
ers with Holly’s, he led them both to the open recliner in the room, pulling her down to settle across his lap, while they tried to untangle the events of the last twelve hours.
“Hold on,” Gemma cut in handing him a bowl filled with steel-cut oats, fresh fruits and chopped nuts. “Eat this.”
“Aye-aye.” He gave his usual salute. “What’s going on, JD?” he asked around a spoonful of oatmeal.
“I think I know how Holly’s family figured out she was in Jersey.”
He ran a soothing hand along Holly’s thigh when she tensed. He understood why the topic caused her stress, but he'd be damned if they would actually get close enough to hurt his girl again. Not a fucking chance.
“Can you stop dragging things out? That’s Beck’s style, not yours. Spit it out already, because not gonna lie…you’re kinda freaking me out with your face right now.”
Jordan’s hands flew up to her cheeks. “What’s wrong with my face?”
“Oh…you are so lucky Jake has a day game today because Brick, would kick your ass for that, Vin,” Skye taunted, sticking up for her bestie.
“Oh, don’t start, Red,” he said, unconcerned with the threat. “You know it wasn’t an insult.”
“Oh, yeah?” Becky was never able to resist stirring the pot. “How is one supposed to take a comment like that? Please, enlighten us.”
He heard Gage snort, only to have his brother-in-law hold up his hands in surrender as if to say you’re on your own and I’m glad I’m not you right now when he shot him a dirty look.
“I mean,” he started, shooting daggers at Nick and his not helpful gesturing—“you look unsure of yourself, and you’re never unsure of yourself, JD.”
It was Jordan’s turn to snort. “Yeah, right. But if that’s what you want to believe, don’t let me stop you.” The smile she gave him told him she wasn’t offended in the least by what he said and their friends were just being their usual smartass selves. “So yeah…this is what I was referring to.”
He took the phone she offered, the latest meme featuring the girls at a Blizzards game on the screen. In the picture, the now eight Covenettes, plus the twins, were standing and caught in various stages of yelling at something happening on the ice. There in the middle of it all was his girlfriend, looking a little wide-eyed at what was happening around her. He couldn’t blame her—those girls got vicious if anything happened to one of their guys, and Ryan had taken a nasty hit during the game.
Holly leaned into him, resting her chin on his shoulder while she looked down at the phone, her hand rising to cover her mouth as she saw herself immortalized in meme form.
“If I had known you were trying to stay out of the public eye, I would have never suggested you come to the game.”
Holly sought out Kyle, the two sharing a silent exchange before she returned her attention to Jordan. “No. The game was the most fun I can ever remember having.”
“Hey.” They had gone on a few dates leading up to the hockey game, and they were hella fun, if he did say so himself.
“Present company excluded.” She ran a thumb along his jaw. “I’m done running. I didn’t know a life like this existed. I’m not giving it up just because my family doesn’t approve.”
He was so damn proud of her.
Thirty-Three
Counterfeit Coven Conversations
From the Group Message Thread of the Boys— AKA Counterfeit Coven Conversations
DAUNTLESS SUPERMAN (Vince): Ok. We need to come up with a plan for what to do about Holly’s family. There is NOTHING I like about this situation.
THE BIG HAMMER (Jase): You know I got your back bro.
BIG DECK (Deck): Same.
CAPTAIN AMERICA (Ryan): *GIF of Captain America strapping his shield onto his back*
THE BOONDOCK SAINT (Nick): *GIF from The Boondock Saints of the guys sitting in a car saying “I’m strangely comfortable with it”*
THE GREEN MONSTER (Damon): *GIF of The Boondock Saints lighting up their cigarettes together outside*
THE SEAL DEAL (Justin): Just keep it “legal”
THE KRAKEN (Gage): Just make sure your sister won’t want to kick my ass for it.
HUGE HOSE (Wyatt): *GIF of guy pointing up saying “THIS.”
HUGE HOSE: But for Beth, not Rocky.
THE FEROCIOUS TEDDY BEAR (Griff): *GIF of waving grizzly bear*
THE BRICK WALL (Jake): I take it this isn’t a Coven sanctioned mission?
JUST RAY (Ray): You know we give the girls shit for texting when they are together…
BIG DECK: Well not all of us are together so it’s ok.
WANNA TUCK (Tucker): Why do I have to be so far away? I wanna kick some ass.
ROCKSTAR MAN (Jamie): I might have an idea.
DAUNTLESS SUPERMAN: Sammy…NOT A WORD to Madz.
THE SPIN DOCTOR (Sammy): *GIF of Genie from Aladdin zipping his lips into a zipper.*
DAUNTLESS SUPERMAN: Glad to have you onboard, Jame.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: I knew I liked you for a reason.
THE BIG HAMMER: Agreed… knew we let you into the group for a reason.
WANNA TUCK: Yeah… he’s a ROCKSTAR.
THE SPIN DOCTOR: Or… Uh… you know… my husband.
DAUNTLESS SUPERMAN: Let’s plan.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Holly cranked up the speaker volume, belting out the words to “This Christmas” with Christina Aguilera. She needed something to take her mind off life and focus on the Ninja Turtle cake she was making. At her current rate, she would be at the shop well after closing.
It had been a week since the creeptastic break-in at her place, and she hadn’t been able to shake the eerie feeling of being watched. She told herself there was a better than likely chance her family had hired someone to keep tabs on her whereabouts, cataloging her comings and goings, but hadn’t spotted anyone that fit the bill.
The feeling of unease only went away with Vince. He managed to do the one thing she never thought possible after coming face-to-face with her old reality—he made her feel safe.
She wasn’t naive enough to think her family was done with her or that they would fade quietly into the night. She’d been avoiding most discussions about her family, wanting to stay a resident of Denialville for as long as possible. She knew she had important things, crucial things, to figure out if she was going to remain free from their clutches.
That was a problem for another time. For now—she had a cake to decorate.
The cake was baked, a delicious death by chocolate, filled with fresh cannoli cream with both mini milk and white chocolate chips. The baking itself didn’t take long, even when mixing things from scratch. It took longer for the layers of the cake to bake than mixing up ingredients. The time-consuming part—and her money-maker—was decorating. Cutting, shaping and creating the pieces out of fondant was what took her hours, if not days, to complete.
Each layer of the cake was trimmed, the crumb layer of frosting laid down as a base for the fondant. The eight-inch round she'd prepared for the bottom layer was waiting on the island.
She brushed hair from her face, smiling at the glimpse of purple tips she allowed Lyle to convince her to get. She wondered if whoever her family sent to find her took pictures. Diana Vanderbuilt would shit a brick—metaphorically of course, because ladies didn’t poop *insert eye roll here*—if she saw that not only had she chopped off the locks to just above her shoulders, but that she was being lowbrow by putting such a blasphemous color in it.
Her mother, ladies and gentlemen. She gave new meaning to stuck-up elitist bitch, among other terms.
Taking the container of fondant she'd sectioned out for the bottom layer, she dumped it out onto the counter. As she kneaded the fondant to warm it up and make it more pliable, her mind wandered to the wicked things Vince did to her in bed the night before. If she wasn’t sleeping at his place, he was crawling into her bed, usually with a pleasurable way of letting her know he was there.
The frustration of her situ
ation bled into her movements as she used more force than necessary to roll out the fondant to the proper thickness. She didn’t like the uncertainty of what her family planned hanging over her head. Honestly, it straight up pissed her off. They'd showed their hand with the mistletoe message, now they were toying with her like a cat would a mouse before killing it. She didn’t like it. Not one bit.
Each day she spent with Vince, the more certain she became she was in love with him. Though he didn’t say the words, she suspected he felt the same. It was in the way his steel gray eyes turned molten as they looked at her from across a room, or the way he always found an excuse to touch her. She expected to feel smothered, but didn’t.
Not once did he try to control her, or make her feel like she needed to check in with him. If he asked what she was up to or what her plans were for the day, it wasn’t so he knew where she was at all times, or because she needed his approval, it was because he wanted to see her, not keep tabs on her.
There was no pomp and circumstance to it. It wasn’t to put on a show, to say look at my pretty trophy, be jealous of our perfect relationship. She knew firsthand how deceiving looks could be. She'd lived it and had no plans of ever going back to that way of life.
Trimming the edges of the rolled out fondant to the correct size, she draped it over the rolling pin to position it on the cake.
She set to work on the tedious task of pulling, tugging, and smoothing so the fondant lay flat without any bubbles or creases. She wanted to focus on it and not what it would cost her if her family got their way.
Family, in her experience, was a four-letter word. But not the way the people here did it. Family meant something to them. It stood for so much more than the standard definition.