by SM Olivier
To my right, I could see a kitchen full of stainless steel and white. Again, it was super impersonal and sterilized looking. I looked in front of me and noticed the television was on. My large, bronze-colored feet were braced on a coffee table in front of me. A half glass of amber liquid was sitting on top of it.
I looked down and noticed I didn’t have a shirt on. I traced the tattoo on my chest, knowing I had outlined the red mark that once lied there. I looked down my sculpted arms, muscular chest, and six-pack abs. I was wearing a pair of white linen pants. The fabric was light and comfortable on my skin.
“So, are you coming with me or not?” said the beautiful blonde, posed in a doorway.
I leaned back and looked at her. Behind her, I could see the bedroom I was in last time I was here. She was tall, lithe, and big-breasted.. Her red lips looked large and bee-stung. She was wearing a red halter top dress that contrasted with her fair, creamy skin. A Santa Claus hat was on her head, and she wore red heels.
“Hello?” she said in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.
I tried to find my voice but was unable to. Who am I? Who are you? Where am I?
I was only able to shrug.
I could see the annoyance cross her face before she gave me a generous seductive smile. She walked towards me, like she was walking on a catwalk instead of a living room floor. As she moved closer, I could see a mirror behind her. I jumped up to see what I looked like. I needed another clue.
She saw me advance toward her and effectively blocked my line of sight. A triumphant smile spread across her face. “You know,” she cooed coyishly, “Mark and Jen would love to see you, and I really need a date. I really wish you would reconsider tonight. I don’t want to go to this Christmas party by myself.” She gave me a seductive pout.
I grabbed her shoulders, hoping to move her out of my way. I needed to see what I looked like! I nearly got a glimpse when…
I blinked, disorientated. “What?” I gasped as I looked around.
I was lying on my bed, and all my guys were in the room, with the addition of Will and Megan.
“What happened?” Jace asked, concern lacing his voice as he pushed my hair off my face.
“I jumped again,” I said a bit dazed.
Slowly, my memories came filtering back. I groaned, slamming my hands on the bed. I had been so close to seeing what Otto looked like. That stupid, blonde bimbo had prevented me from looking in the mirror.
Not wanting to give any details, I sat up, bracing my head. It no longer hurt, and I didn’t feel like I was going to vomit anymore. It was Christmas Eve, and I wanted to make the most of it for the children. Micah, Ella, and Alex never had a real one. They deserved a real one without me falling apart.
“Are you okay?” Will asked with a frown.
I stretched my neck from side to side. “I’m fine.” I then turned and looked at Troy. “What engagement party are we going to be working?”
Troy pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through it. “Mark Holmes and Jennifer Chamberlain,” he stated after a moment.
“He’s going to be there,” I said triumphantly as I swung my legs over the side of the bed.
“What are you doing?” Noah asked in alarm.
“Isn’t it time to eat?” I asked as I looked down at my watch. I had been out for about an hour. My brows knitted. I was only in his head for about five minutes. How was that possible?
“Are you up to it?” Drake said hesitantly. “I can make you a plate, and you can eat it in here.”
“Not on Christmas Eve,” I insisted as I stood up. “I’m fine. Honestly.”
“You didn’t see yourself before you passed out,” Jaxson wiped a weary hand over his face.
I really hated the baggage I carried around. It seemed like I was always needing to be rescued and worrying the guys. I sighed. I hated putting them through all this.
“I’m alright now,” I said in a quiet voice. “Honestly,” I insisted.
“If she says she okay, let’s go eat,” Megan said firmly.
I flashed her a grateful smile and allowed Jace to take my hand. I kissed the back of his hand and squeezed it. Ella, Alex, and Kade perked up when they saw me. Everyone was in the living room spread out watching a movie.
The food was in disposable metal pans and covered in aluminum foil on the counters, buffet style.
Suddenly I felt famished. “Let’s eat!” I exclaimed enthusiastically.
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked worriedly.
“I’m fine.” I waved her off as I went to the counters to begin unwrapping the pans. I told myself I wouldn’t get annoyed. I convinced myself their concern showed me they cared.
“Sounds good to me, that prime rib has been calling my name.” Terrance clapped his hands in anticipation as he gave me an encouraging wink.
It seemed to snap everyone out of their enquiring, worried glances. I was thankful for that. I grabbed my plate and piled a massive amount of food on it. I planned to eat it all, too.
I paused to appreciate how festive it was in here. I admired how Jemmy and Dawn had the stockings ready by the tree. It was pretty impressive seeing the three-foot-long stockings overflowing with gifts.
A twinge of pain hit my heart. Dad would have loved this. Dad would have loved the guys and even grown to like Will. I knew it.
Some of our team didn’t have much family or wasn’t close to their family, and that’s why they had chosen to spend their Christmas with us. I still felt like I needed to pinch myself at times. This time last year I was stressing about the number of gifts I had gotten for Ella. I had been filled with fear that Heidi was going to party too hard and ruin our Christmas as she had in the past. At that point, she wasn’t with Tom yet, so it was Russian roulette on who was going to be leaving her bedroom in the morning.
My only hope back then was to graduate high school, save enough money to get myself and Ella out of that environment, and pray we would have a good day together. I had tried to keep the tradition alive with Ella, as far as what Dad and I would have done. Our meals were generally spent at whatever restaurant was open. Then we would try to find another place we could spend indoors that was open and warm. The longer we could stay out of the house, the better.
“I want everyone to open my gifts first,” Jemmy said with a mischievous grin.
“We’re not wearing ugly sweaters again. Our Christmas cheer will not extend that far,” Noah insisted with a groan.
She giggled wickedly. “It’s not ugly sweaters.”
“But something just as bad,” Jaxson said with an eye-roll.
Troy looked at the rest of us sitting at the table as he started to scroll through his phone. “Jemmy made homemade Christmas gifts one year, and needless to say, we didn’t accept them graciously.”
“Because they were ugly!” Jaxson interjected.
“I don’t know… I really liked my snowman ornament,” Remy smirked as he looked over at Jemmy.
“It was a cat,” she cried out plaintively. “I remembered the cat you tried to ask Pops to keep, and he wouldn’t let you.”
“Because I’m allergic to cats,” Will interjected with amusement around his lips.
I looked over at Remy in surprise. I would never take him as a cat person. Maybe a dog person. A breed that was huge and tough like him. He gave me a small smile and shrug. I loved watching the light in his bluish grey eyes. It had been some time since I’d seen his smiles reach his eyes.
“Long story short,” Troy continued, “Pops made the rule that we had to be thankful for our gifts and show graciousness. We had hurt Jemmy’s feelings so bad she refused to leave her bedroom. Pops told us to choose one gift each under the Christmas tree and open it, then proceeded to tell us that we had to return it the day after Christmas.”
Troy handed me his phone, showing me a picture of them standing next to a Christmas tree that looked like it was ten times the size of the one we currently had. The men stood in front of it with unamused looks, whil
e Jemmy was grinning ear to ear. I covered my mouth to prevent a loud laugh from escaping. Their sweaters weren’t just ugly, they were positively hideous. Some of the ‘ugly’ sweaters I had seen were a cute ugly, but these couldn’t even fall into that category. It was as if Jemmy had scoured every store possible to find the most hideous one’s ever!
Remy had a red sweater on with several cats wearing astronaut suits riding rockets, the words Meowy Christmas boldly emblazoned across his chest. As I looked at the rest of the guys, the sweaters only got worse to downright distasteful.
Remy huffed over my shoulder and shot Troy a look. I could see the mirth in Troy’s eyes. I was almost certain, even though he had hated being tortured by Jemmy, watching the guys suffering with him amused Troy to no end. Why else would he have kept a picture that was apparently two or three years old?
“I opened up socks that year,” Jace said a bit smugly as he took a sip of wine.
“I opened up my new cleats,” Jaxson said woefully. “I didn’t know that’s why Dad was allowing us to open gifts without her. I just knew I had asked for new cleats for months and it was in the shape of a shoebox. I had several more months before I could even get another pair.”
By then almost everyone was laughing, some to the point of tears.
“You all were so spoiled and needed to learn a lesson,” Will spoke up in his own defense.
“You always did like playing the part of Santa Claus at Christmas,” Megan gave him a loving look before stroking his face. “He always liked the giving more than the receiving, even as a kid.”
“Most women wouldn’t complain about that, especially in the bedroom,” Marcel murmured mischievously under his breath. He was careful not to say it loud enough for the children, Will, Megan, and Mr. Moore to hear.
I stared at him, my mouth was wide open with amused shock as Jemmy squealed and held her hands over her ears. “La la la I can’t hear you!” she shot him a disgusted look. “How dare you plant that image in my head?!”
“I don’t think I want to even know,” Megan sniffed as she looked the other way with a small smile around her lips.
“Jemmy, yet again, found a new weakness in the household to exploit,” Noah said with a laugh, continuing the story. “Every year since then she goes out of her way to find the most hideous, ugly presents for us.”
“I buy nice gifts, too,” Jemmy said defensively with a grin.
“One year, she bought us itchy wool sweaters, not to be confused with the hideous Christmas sweaters,” Remy said, shooting Jemmy an annoyed look as if he was remembering the torture of not only having to be appreciative of the gift but wearing it as well.
Drake took off his glasses to wipe his eyes. “The worse was the Hawaiian shirts in the most hideous colors. Mine was puke green.”
“No way! The worse were those red cowboy boots she got us that one year,” Troy said insistently.
Rachel laughed. “So, the moral of the story is never hurt Jemmy’s feelings or tick her off?”
“Please say you don't include me in your twisted gift giving,” I groaned.
“I was nicer this year,” Jemmy said with a smile.
“Because I suggested she be…nicer,” Gavin gave her a pointed look.
She rolled her eyes. “Stop trying to make me a nicer person.”
We all laughed at the seriousness in her tone.
I was sitting on Remy’s lap as we started to hand out the stockings. Beth and Cora were late for dinner, but at least they were here with Patrick and Nadia. They allowed the children to skip the meal in favor of exchanging their gifts. My eyes widened as I watched them open their presents. They really were getting spoiled. We told everyone not to go crazy on them when we were asked about ideas. One small little gift was all they needed, honestly.
Terrance bought all the children iPods. Marcel bought them fifty dollars in iTunes gift cards each. Dawn purchased them wireless headphones. Sam got them iPod hard cases and an additional twenty-dollar iTunes gift card.
“I thought we agreed to not going crazy on them,” I said dryly as they immediately began opening their gifts.
Alex, Ella, and Nadia were excited as well, considering I thought they would be too young to appreciate or even want a music player. Terrance quickly let them know they could download movies on it as well, causing more cries of delight from them.
“No,” Terrance said with a large smile. I could see that it made him happy that he made them happy. “You said please don’t go crazy. I never agreed to anything.”
I wanted to admonish him, but Remy pulled me close and kissed the side of my ear. “Let it be,” he murmured next to my ear. “He makes good money with no one to spend it on. If they want to spoil them, let them. How often do you think Alex and Micah got Christmas like this? How about Ella? They’re just making up for lost time.”
I grabbed his face and kissed him with all the pent-up emotion I was feeling. I didn’t care that the living room was packed with close to twenty people. I wanted to convey my feelings of love to him. Otto may come into our lives, but it would never change the way I felt about him.
“Will you sleep with me tonight?” I asked him after we pulled away breathless.
“You never have to ask me,” he said gruffly as he ran his fingers through my hair to pull me close for one more kiss.
“My turn!” Jemmy squealed, pulling us away from our little bubble. I looked up to see her standing and doing a little dance.
The guys groaned collectively. Noah let out another growl of frustration when he saw the boxes that looked suspiciously like clothing boxes. Jemmy handed everyone in the room her gift, including Megan, Pops, Mr. Moore, Cora, and Beth.
Pops gave her a raised brow, and she gave him a sickeningly sweet smile and batted her eyes at him. “We should accept every gift we are given with grace and thankfulness. It’s the thought that counts and not the contents of what’s in the box,” she said in a gruff voice that I assumed was a feeble imitation of Will.
“You are delusional if you think I’ll wear anything your crazy mind has conjured up. I may be your brother from another mother but I ain’t under the same rules Pops gave you!” Marcel said as he sucked his teeth.
“My rule was to accept the gifts with grace. I never said anything about wearing the gifts given to them,” Will said with a smirk.
Jemmy cackled as she covered her mouth with glee.
“You’re kidding me!” Noah said in disbelief. “You knew she was exploiting us, and you continued allowing her to torture us over me not appreciating a popsicle stick framed dancer picture that looked suspiciously like a hippo and crocodile mated and had the ugliest child ever and it was supposed to be me?”
“I always told you, boys, to pay better attention to the little details.” Will barely smothered his laugh.
“Unbelievable,” Jaxson muttered as he started to open his gift.
“These are cute!” Dawn exclaimed as she pulled out a pair of Christmas pajamas. It was solid red with a green elf on the shirt, and the pants were red and green stripes.
“We need a new tradition!” Jemmy clapped her hands happily as she pulled out a matching pair of Christmas pajamas. “Blake, can I use your bedroom to change?”
I nodded with a smile.
“Me too!” Rachel cried happily as she pulled out another one.
“Me three!” Dawn exclaimed.
“After years of being required to wear your crap, I refuse,” Jaxson called after her retreating back. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Please Jax,” Alex pleaded as he held out a green pajama top with a red, white, and black plaid reindeer. The bottoms matched Jaxson’s discarded pajamas.
Jaxson looked at me and gave me a pleading look. I smiled and shrugged. “Fiiiine,” Jaxson said with a sigh. “Come on, boys, let’s get our Christmas pajamas on.”
“Yay!” Alex fist bumped the air and went running in the direction of Jaxson’s bedroom.
Micah and Kade seemed
more reluctant in joining in Jemmy’s reindeer games but still got up. Patrick was halfway to Jaxson’s room already.
“We’re next for your bedroom,” Cora insisted as she held her own pajamas up. She was smiling, and I was glad to finally see that she was coming back to the real world. She really seemed to enjoy watching the children open their gifts.
“We’re now allowing Jemmy to involve us in her shenanigans?” Beth gave her a mock look of horror.
“We are,” Cora said with a smile as she started gathering the discarded wrapping paper littering the floor.
I watched as everyone else opened their gifts. It looked like she had purchased all the girls and women the elf pajama sets, and the men and boys the plaid reindeer pajamas. I stood up, gathering mine in my arms. My jeans and Henley were not as comfortable as the pajamas, and I would gladly switch them out. After the amount I ate at dinner, I was looking forward to slipping into something I could breathe better in.
“Come on, Ella and Nadia, want to get in our PJs?” I asked as they squealed at their matching pajamas.
“So, this is happening?” Troy asked wryly as he stood up.
“When in Rome, I guess,” Terrance muttered as he started to head to the bathroom.
I grinned because I could see he was secretly pleased to be included in our new family tradition.
We had a little over twenty minutes before we were expecting Miranda, Greg, Harry, and Hazel. Everyone but my family left not too long ago. The children asked if they could go over to Will’s and play with their new gifts for a little while. We gave them permission, and they ran out of the apartment in excitement.
I was amazed to find out that I was hungry once more and went into the kitchen to pick at some of our leftovers. Even though we had a lot of people over, we still had quite a bit of food left. I threw some macaroni and cheese on a plate with ham.
“Are you eating again?” Remy asked with a smirk as he started to open tins of cookies.
“I need to. I need as much energy as I can for tonight,” I said suggestively as I placed the plate in the microwave.
He growled low in his throat as he came up behind me, wrapping me in his massive arms. “We’re not sleeping for some time,” he whispered in my ear. “I hope the guys wear ear muffs tonight because I fully intend to have you screaming my name over and over again.”