a Beautiful Christmas

by Ember-Raine Winters

  “Shit,” I grumbled. “We’re just telling the whole world what a monumental idiot I am.”

  They all laughed as we walked back out of the bank. Twitch was already on the phone and I could literally hear him biting back his laughter as he told the story. It didn’t take long before Twitch hung up with a big shit-eating grin on his face.

  “You may never hear the end of this one,” he laughed. “But, Keller is gonna see what he can get from the ATM.”

  “Shit, I forgot to tell you what Jared said.” Griffin slapped himself on the forehead. “He saw a red-haired guy with a Dodgers cap and sunglasses get into your trunk this morning.”

  “Is that all?” I grumbled. I was sure there had to be more to it. It almost seemed orchestrated in its perfection.

  KENZIE

  Convinced that something was off, I headed up to the Hollywood Hills. I knew Bob wasn’t there; he had work back in Maryland. After he recovered from the injuries he sustained in Somalia, he’d gone back to work, intent on tightening up the laws. He didn’t want someone like Barnes ever obtaining the kind of power he had again.

  I admired the man for his dedication to the law and to the people of the country. Glad that there were people like him in positions of power to counteract the bad guys who only care about their bottom lines.

  A thought niggled at me the whole way up to Bob’s house, and I was so distracted that I nearly missed the turn. I got to the circle driveway and turned off the engine. I had no idea why I was so nervous, but I needed to see what was in that bag.

  A large bald man opened the door and stared at me with open hostility. “My sister brought a bag to you this morning and I kind of need to see what’s inside it.”

  “Miss Tasha put the bag in the safe. I cannot open it,” he said gruffly.

  “Well, see, the thing is that I really need to get into that bag, so can you take me to the safe? I’ve been there before.”

  “I’m sorry, Miss. I can’t let you in.” He started closing the door. I put my foot in between the jam and the door bounced off my sneaker. He huffed in exasperation.

  “The stuff in that bag is my boyfriend’s. I need to see what’s in there.”

  “Move your foot before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing,” he growled.

  “Fine.” I pouted and walked back to the car.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  MARCY

  When I got back to the apartment, I was bone tired and completely starving. Any ideas I had of eating were delayed when my phone rang. Looking at the caller ID I grinned. “Hey Dad.”

  “Marcy, I just got a disturbing call from my house-sitter about a certain bag that was left in his care. It seems something’s in there that you girls hadn’t anticipated.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, dread filling my belly.

  “A little blue box.” I nearly dropped the phone at that statement. “Kenzie went to the house a little while ago, trying to see what was inside and my man turned her away. Your prank may cost Trey the one shot he has at proposing to the woman he loves.”

  “Shit. Fuck. Shit,” I chanted. “This isn’t good. What was Trey thinking?”

  “I don’t know, but I think given the circumstances it might be time to end this little game of yours,” he said chiding me.

  “How do we do that without Kenzie getting suspicious? She already knows something is up. What if we do end it and then she figures it out?”

  “I thought you girls were smart. I only helped you with this half-baked scheme because I figured you were right about the men getting antsy.”

  “This isn’t our fault,” I said indignantly. “Who would have guessed that Trey would be stupid enough to leave an engagement ring in the trunk of his car?”

  I froze as a throat cleared behind me and turned around to see Mac standing there glaring at me. “Who are you talking to, Pix?”

  “Uh… I have to go,” I said and quickly hung up the phone.

  I tried to escape but Mac caught me around the middle. I smiled seductively and rubbed my body against his. He groaned but still had the stern look on his face.

  “Hey babe, how was your day?”

  MAC

  I was this close to killing Pixie. She thought she was all sweet and seductive, but I heard what she said to whoever was on the phone. I should have known it had been the girls. Something about the whole thing felt off since I got the call that morning.

  “Spill it, Pix.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with big doe eyes.

  “Cut the crap, Marcy.” I growled. “I heard you. What’s really going on?”

  She sighed and pulled away. Covering her face with both hands, she proceeded to mumble into them. “It wasn’t malicious, we just thought you guys needed something to chase. All four of you have been restless lately.”

  “You’re not making any sense. Tell me what you pinheads did so I can fix it.” I grumbled.

  She looked at me between her fingers and I saw tears starting to leak from her eyes. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry,” I said and pulled her into my arms.

  “Teh as o bery,” she said into my chest and I chuckled.

  “How about you say that again, in English this time.” I kissed the top of her head.

  “There was no robbery.” She pulled her face away, and I could see the tears still in her eyes. “We faked the whole thing, so you guys could have some fun chasing a criminal that didn’t exist. The bag is at Bob’s house in the hills.”

  “So nothing’s missing?” I asked and lead weight lifted off my chest.

  “No, nothing’s missing. I’ll go to Bob’s and get the bag in the morning and return it.” She sighed.

  I couldn’t even find it in me to be mad that the girls had pulled one over on us. The relief was too great to even worry about what they did. I squeezed her tight and kissed her deeply. “Come on, let’s go pick Johnny up from school and go out to dinner.”

  “That’s it? You’re not mad?”

  “Nope, I’m just glad the stuff is safe and I don’t have to worry about some two-bit thief,” I replied, but already an idea was forming for a little payback. The girls would never know what hit them. I grinned to myself and led her out the front door.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  TASHA

  I was getting ready for my seduction game when I got a phone call from Captain Keller. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “I have some interesting surveillance footage of one of my best detectives breaking into Trey Thomas’ trunk. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  The bottom dropped out of my stomach. Surveillance footage? Kenzie had said she looked everywhere and there were no cameras, so I never even looked around before I broke open his trunk. What the fuck am I gonna do now?

  “I have no clue. Why would I steal from my sister’s boyfriend? I have more money than I know what to do with.”

  “See, I thought the same thing when Parker brought the footage and told me it was you, but video doesn’t lie, Tasha. What kind of game are you girls playing?”

  “How do you know it wasn’t just me?” I asked warily. I was not getting the rest of the girls in trouble if I could help it.

  “Parker, he went to the scene and saw the exact place Kenzie parked. He also pulled up the parking lot footage and saw that it was practically empty, meaning she didn’t want the car visible on any cameras. She didn’t anticipate the ATM machine in perfect view of the car.”

  I could hear the smirk in his voice and I groaned out loud. Wouldn’t help lying at this point. My own boss had me dead-to-rights. “It was just an innocent prank. There was nothing in there but a couple of kids toys and even if they didn’t figure it out, we would have given them back before Christmas.”

  He chuckled then. I had no idea why he was laughing. We were in some deep shit if the guys figured out what we did. “I’ll go get
the bag first thing in the morning and return it to Trey.”

  “It’s a little late for that. They filed a police report this morning and they’re desperate to get that bag back. After what you told me, you girls might be in some trouble. They valued the contents of the bag at over ten thousand dollars.”

  “What the fuck? What do you mean ten grand? There’s no way those kid’s toys are worth that much.”

  “I can’t tell you what they said was in there, only that you better tell them it was you and hope they drop the case.”

  “Yeah, I’ll go over there first thing in the morning and get the bag and confess to everything,” I replied and hung up the phone.

  I paced the room for all of five minutes trying to get ahold of Kay before I stopped. Kay took naps in the afternoon with Nat and shut her ringer off so no one would disturb her.

  It didn’t matter, there wasn’t anything I could do about it at the moment. As I walked into the bedroom a splitting pain hit my stomach and I doubled over, but it was gone just a second later. Taking a deep breath, I stripped off my clothes and laid on the bed completely naked and waited for Twitch to come home.

  TWITCH

  The house was relatively quiet when I walked in the door. I shut the door firmly behind me and locked it for good measure. We had found out early on that even the most secure buildings could be breached. That’s how I met Tasha.

  I heard a guttural moan coming from the direction of the bedroom and fear spiked through me. Was it Tasha? Was the baby coming? Did she fall and wasn’t able to get back up? All of those questions ran through my head as I bolted for the bedroom.

  I didn’t see any blood or even any sign of distress. What I did see, had my knees buckling and the last ounce of restraint I had melting away.

  Tasha was laying on the bed, completely naked. From where I was standing at the door, I could see her glistening pussy as she circled her clit and pushed two fingers inside herself. This woman is trying to kill me.

  “Mm…” she moaned. “Dylan, fuck me Dylan.”

  My feet started moving of their own accord and before I knew it, I was kneeling on the bed beside her. Her eyes snapped open and a seductive smile played on those perfect lips.

  “Please fuck me. I need to come so badly,” she begged and I nearly gave into her pleas.

  “No darlin, I’m not going to fuck you,” I said sternly and I could see the glare start to form on her pretty face. “But, I will make you come.”

  Leaning over her I took one sensitive nipple into my mouth and sucked it, hard. Her hips bucked and I smiled against her skin as I ran my tongue down her body and made it to where she wanted me most.

  I was hard as fucking steel and it hurt like a bitch, but I had seen pain and misery. A little pain in my dick wasn’t going to kill me. Flattening my tongue I ran it up her center and flicked her clit with it. Her hips bucked and her back arched off the bed as she screamed my name. I lifted my face up to watch as she came, then felt a gush of something by my hands. Looking down I realized a giant puddle of water was soaking into the sheets.

  “Please tell me that you didn’t just pee on me,” I said in horror. She screamed again, but this time her scream was a painful shriek. “Shit, the baby’s coming?”

  She nodded her head, teeth clenched together as she rolled into the fetal position. “Hold on, darlin’. I have to get you some clothes.”

  She reached for me, but I was already off the bed and moving. I grabbed clothes at random from the closet and dialed my phone. Kaylee was supposed to help Tasha through all the childbirth stuff, since Tasha didn’t have any family nearby. Her mother was a complete sociopath and had ended up in prison for her part in Barnes’ operation. Kenzie wouldn’t be of much help, she knew computers and not much else. Kaylee and Marcy were the only ones who had been through this before. Kaylee didn’t answer her phone, so I called Griffin. I put my phone between my shoulder and ear as I dressed Tasha to go to the hospital.

  “What’s up?” Griffin asked after a moment.

  “Where’s Kaylee?” I asked flustered. Tasha wasn’t making it easy to get her dressed.

  “It’s nap time, bro. She’s asleep.”

  “I need you to wake her up. Tasha’s in labor.”

  “Twitch, that shirt is too small. What are you doing?” Tasha groaned and I cursed. I hadn’t even checked what I was grabbing. I ran back to the closet and found one of her new loose-fitting maternity shirts.

  “I’ll wake her up and we’ll meet you at the car in ten,” Griffin told me, then hung up the phone.

  “Come on, baby. You gotta get up, so we can get you to the hospital.”

  She groaned again and shook her head. “I can’t move, it hurts too bad.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  KAYLEE

  A rough shake had me bolting upright in bed, and I hit something hard that shouldn’t have been there. The nightmares had gotten worse since the kidnapping and even though I was seeing someone for my problems, it didn’t seem to be enough.

  “Fuck,” Griffin cursed rubbing his forehead.

  “Ow,” I whined and glared at him. “You know you’re not supposed to wake me up like that. What is wrong with you?”

  “Tasha’s in labor. We need to get downstairs.”

  “Shit, really? I was just with her a few hours ago and she had no symptoms.”

  “I don’t know. Twitch just called and said he needed us to go.”

  “What about the kids?” I asked jumping from the bed. I ran a brush through my hair and waited for Griffin. He was staring at me trying not to laugh, and I couldn’t see why he was wasting time.

  “Babe, you may want to change out of the fluffy bunny pajamas.” He cracked up laughing. I looked down and sure enough, I was wearing fluffy bunny pajama bottoms and a white tank top sans bra. I groaned and walked to the closet to throw something on. Griffin was still laughing as he walked out the door.

  Rolling my eyes, I continued getting dressed. I should leave the fluffy bunnies on just to spite him.

  GRIFFIN

  I walked out the bedroom laughing, but I loved her cute little pajamas that she wore all the time. She could honestly wear a paper bag and I would love it. I dialed Mac and waited.

  “Hello, what’s up?”

  “Are you in the building?” I asked needing someone to watch the kids immediately. Buck and Bubba had stayed after the problems with Barnes were over, but I wasn’t too sure how either of them would be watching Nat for any amount of time.

  “Yeah we just got back from dinner. What’s going on?”

  “Tasha’s in labor. We need to head over to the hospital. Can you watch the kids?”

  “Yeah, we’ll be right there.”

  I dialed Trey next just so he would know that the investigation had to be delayed for a bit.

  “Yo, what’s going on?” Trey answered, like the idiot he was.

  “Tasha’s in labor. I figured she would want you both to know.”

  “Yeah, thanks bro. I’ll let Kenzie know when she gets back,” he grumbled.

  “Where is she?”

  “Not a clue. She took off from the grocery store this morning and I haven’t seen her since.”

  “Chill brother. She’ll be back. She’s not gonna do another runner,” I said, trying to sound convincing. Kenzie was a wild card. None of us knew what she might do. I knew she loved Trey, but sometimes fear won out in the end and people do what they do best and for Kenzie, that was run.

  Kaylee finally walked out of the bedroom and we had only minutes to meet Twitch downstairs. I opened the door and Mac and Marcy were standing there. Mac was poised to knock. I had totally forgot about them coming. “Hey, thanks so much for doing this.”

  “No problem, go help Trix.” He smiled nervously. I filed that away for later. I could tell he was on edge, but we were in a hurry.

  “Hey Johnny, Leanne’s in the playroom trying to keep Lance quiet so he doesn’t wak
e up Nat,” I said as we walked out the door.

  “Hi Griffin. I’ll make sure they don’t wake her up.”

  “Thanks, buddy.”

  “Bye,” Marcy chimed in, hugging Kay as we rushed to the elevator.

  We made it to the underground parking garage minutes later. Twitch was cradling a moaning Tasha in his arms and I flinched. She was in a lot of pain.

  “Come on,” I said and helped Twitch get her in the car.

  “Ahh,” Tasha screamed as I jumped in the driver’s seat.

  “Hold on, Tasha. We’ll be there soon.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  KENZIE

  It was times like these that I really wish I had my explosives. Trey didn’t like having stuff like that in the house, and Brock had gone off the grid again so I couldn’t get any firepower from him.

  I was crouching in a tree outside Bob’s house. Yeah it was wrong, but something kept niggling at me and wouldn’t stop until I saw what was in the bag. After baldy left the house, I shimmied down the tree. Disabling the house alarm was easy, so much so, that a conversation with Bob about changing his alarm codes would be necessary. They were the same as the ones he gave Trey months before when we had to go in and get all the information on Barnes. Smirking to myself, I walked into his office and opened up the bookshelf before typing the code for the safe. It opened slowly and I saw the toy store bag sitting in there. There was nothing else in the safe and it sat there innocently, enough… just mocking me. I paused, the voice of reason speaking up for the first time since I set out to find out what was really going on.

  You’re a sneaky bitch, Kenzie. What if it’s just an innocent gift? You’re gonna feel like an ass for ruining the surprise.

  I shook my head to clear it. Reaching in the bag, I felt around until my hand landed on a small square box and I froze. Shit! What the fuck is he thinking?

  My breathing became shallow as I pulled the little blue box out of the bag and nearly dropped it in my haste to get away from it. I couldn’t breathe. My skin was too tight. I slammed the safe closed and bolted for the door. Fresh air was now the most important thing.