Beyond Christmas (Corrupt Chaos MC #1.5) (6 page)

“They do this every year?” I ask.

He nods. “Yeah. It’s tradition. Sniper and Cas challenge Smoke to a whiskey drinking contest. Sniper always loses and has to run around the tree naked. Last year, they made him dip his cock and balls in
Cool Whip
before he ran. After he was done, Whisky got on her knees to clean it off. Wasn’t a smart penalty when the man ended up with a blowjob.”

Jesus! Whisky and her kink. She could put most men to shame. Heck, I’d die of mortification before I even got to my knees.

“At least it wasn’t whipped cream this year!” Peanut hollers with his wife by his side, who elbows him in the ribs, snickering.

“Don’t tempt me, old man. I might do it again just to have her lick my balls in front of all you suckers,” Sniper teases, tossing the holly onto the dirt ground.

“Ewww, Dad! Stop talking!” One of their sons fake gags, reminding me so much of Bridget.

“Mom licks your balls enough. We don’t need to witness it, too,” their other son laments.

Covering my mouth with my hand, I chuckle behind it. Never thought I’d hear anyone say that on Christmas day.

Sniper gets dressed, and his club brothers pat him on the back as Lachlan winks at me from across the barn. Blushing, I wink back.

“No more talk about my old man's, nuts. Time to eat!” Whisky yells over the rowdy men, and we filter over, making a line to get our dinner. Lachlan set my meatloaf at the head of the first table so I know it’ll be the first thing to go. Next to it is a whole spiral ham, and carved turkey on a Christmas serving platters. We’ve got three tables lined with food. I’m definitely gonna be stuffed before the night is through.

Ready the forklift.

Nursing a
Mikes Hard Lemonade
with my hand resting on Lachlan’s knee, I carry on my conversation with Penny. She’s seated at the oversized card table across from me with her husband to her left and Bonez beside him. The men just completed a round of poker.

“So, you and Mikey have two grown children?” I ask.

Nodding, she takes a swig of her
Bud Light
. “Yes. We have a son and a daughter. Mary is twenty and Michael junior is twenty-five.”

Out of my peripheral, I catch something off and turn to see Bonez nibbling on Mike’s ear. What the! Penny doesn’t seem to care when she continues, gesturing to my ring. “So when’s the big day?”

Bonez moves his tongue to Mike’s jaw.

Not again! Can this man ever keep it in his pants for one day? I need a dang breather. Bonez really needs to cool it around me.

“It’ll be next year sometime.” I rush my answer, sounding vague. Then I stand, wave to Penny, and kiss Lachlan on the cheek, before speeding out of the bar and back into the barn.

Over in the corner, I see Cas and Bridget in some sort of argument. She’s slapping his chest and pushing him away, but he’s not budging.

Can’t I catch a darn break? Isn’t this Christmas?

I approach them. Cas is the first to notice me, and takes a step back to give Bridget space. She darts from around him, throwing herself into my arms with a sob.

Shooting him a dirty look, I hug her tightly as her face presses to my neck. “What’s wrong?” I rub her back.

“It’s nothing, Mags,” Cas grumbles, tugging a smoke from behind his ear and putting it to his lips. “She just doesn’t want to accept my Christmas present.”

“What was it? Your dick?” I blurt on the defensive, wrapping my arms tighter. Guilt eats at me for voicing that in the first place. Nonetheless, I shove that warranted feeling to the back burner so I can stick up for my girl, instead of apologizing.

“No, it wasn’t. And fuck you very much for thinking so.”

“Well, what do you expect? You and Bonez are first place contenders for the biggest man whore of the year.” Crap! I can’t believe I said that, too! I’ve gotta shut up.

Bridget giggles against my throat. Great, she thinks this is funny.

Releasing a sigh, Cas’s face loses color and he drops his head to stare at his feet. “It’s not like that,” he mumbles under his breath, kicking the dirt.

“Then what’s it like? I’m here to listen whenever you need me. You know this. But today is not the time for drama. It’s Christmas. Leave her alone. If you wanna sort junk out, do it another day. Let’s enjoy Christmas and forget all of the bad stuff, okay? Isn’t it about time to open presents, anyhow?”

“Aye, it is,” Lachlan intrudes, his arms locking around Bridget and me from behind. He kisses the back of my head. “I love ye both so bloody much.”

“We love you, too, Dad,” Bridget states.

My insides get all warm and fuzzy. This has been quite the day. Last year, I spent Christmas in my apartment eating a frozen dinner and reading. As a matter of fact, I’m fairly certain I’ve done that for the past three years. If I were dating a guy at the time, I’d always lie and say I had some place to go. When, in reality, I just didn’t want to celebrate a holiday with someone I could barely tolerate. Sounds pathetic, I know. But I never said my life was full of rainbows and unicorns. It’s sometimes chaotic and messy. Until times like this when my man is hugging me and my girl is cuddled in my arms, making my life worth it. Making all of that dark murk that I trudged through for years a blessing in disguise. I don’t believe you can truly appreciate joy until you’ve been through hell and back. I’m not saying I’ve had it worse than most. And I’m not comparing my demons to yours. I just know that I’ve been through a lot. Now, I’m facing the best years ahead of me. The amount of appreciation and happiness I feel could bring me to my knees. I’m—

“Grab your bale and set your asses down!” Whisky yells, ripping me from my thoughts. I welcome the distraction.

Our little bundle of love separates and Lachlan grabs us two straw bales off the pile at the back of the barn. “Here,” he says, dropping them by my feet.

The three of us sit as Whisky takes center stage. My eyes wander the expanse of the barn that’s full of our biker family. Cas is seated with Fawn and her boyfriend a few feet away. I can feel Cas’s eyes on Bridget without having to look. Bonez is seated with Penny and her husband to my right. He’s kissing her neck. I love that man, but he’s a whore. He’s gotta take it down a notch.

Sniper, their
Corrupt Chaos
president, takes front and center next to his wife. He raises his hands in the air. “Whisky and I wanna wish you all a Merry fucking Christmas! This has been a tradition of ours for the past eight years to exchange gifts with our brethren … And we’ll get to that in a minute. But first, I wanted to announce that this year we raised the most money ever to donate to our fallen heroes. I wanna give a huge shout out to Cas and Mags for all of the hours they spent restoring that badass
Nova
to be auctioned off. So, why don’t you two please stand so we can thank you properly.”

I turn bright red as Lachlan forces me to my feet and Cas flashes me a wink. “Let’s hear it for them and the twenty thousand dollars we were able to donate, thanks to their hard work!” Sniper cheers and the entire barn erupts with him. Hands are clapping, people are hootin’ and hollerin’, and Whisky whistles so loudly it hurts my ears.

I think I might faint.

My knees go wobbly and Lachlan must notice when he supports my hips with his big hands. I bite my lip to focus my nervousness elsewhere.

“All right, that’s enough!” Sniper demands. “I think y’all might give Mags a stroke.” The crowd laughs at his joke, and I drop next to Lachlan with a
huff
, thinking that Sniper wasn’t too off the mark. My hands are already clammy and my heart’s pounding in my chest. I could almost throw up.

Lachlan kisses my temple. “Are ye gonna be okay?”

I lean into him, using him as my support. His arm curls around my back, allowing me to rest my head on the side of his chest. I relish in his comfort and take a deep, calming breath. “Yes, I’ll be fine. Just don’t make me do that again.”

“Na promises.”

Fine. Next time I’ll lie and give Cas all the credit. Though, restoring that
Nova
sure was fun. A lot of long nights were spent on that baby. Turned out pretty damn perfect after we bought it from its original owner and fixed her up. Totally worth the payoff.

“Now, it’s time for the presents,” Sniper explains, plucking the first present from a box at the bottom of the tree. “For Magaledene.” He holds it up.

Oh, no, not again. Why am I being put on the spot?

“I’ll get it,” Bonez offers, and I sigh, my shoulders deflating in relief. He twists out from the middle of his bale partners and retrieves my present from Sniper’s outstretched hand.

“Isn’t anyone else opening presents, too? Do they do this one by one?” I whisper to Lachlan.

“Na, but the first present is from Whisky. It’s her most important gift she’ll give tonight. It’s—”

“It’s usually a present to Sniper or me. This is a huge honor,” Bridget cuts in, tapping my thigh in reassurance as Bonez hands me the colorful gift. I sit up straight and set it on my lap as all eyes fall on me.

I nod to Bonez in thanks and he returns the sentiment before returning to his seat.

“Open it,” Bridget whispers. “Then everyone will focus on handing out the presents they brought.”

Jiminy Christmas, okay. I can do this.

Peeling away the thick paper slowly, I unwrap the box. Lachlan doesn’t wait for me to ask for help when he unsheathes his dagger and slices through the tape. “There, ye go, my leannan.”

“Thanks.” I smile shyly, pretending there isn’t a room full of eyes searing holes through me.

I take a deep breath.

Opening the flaps, I peek inside. Awe, she didn’t! There’s a scrapbook in the bottom, and on the cover is a candid shot of Lachlan and me picking pumpkins in October. He’s smiling, holding two tiny pumpkins in his hands and pretending to bench press them while I’m busy laughing at him. Gosh, I look so happy and so does he.

Chewing on my lip, I blink away my emotions and pull it out. Lachlan removes the box from my lap and I flip through my gift, getting more choked up as I turn the pages. There are so many pictures of me, of him, of us, Bridget, and some of Whisky and Sniper. There’s even one of Bonez blowing a kiss to the camera with a little note beside it that says,
I love you. Thank you for coming into my life. Welcome to the family.

My bottom lip trembles and the emotions win over as a monsoon of wetness trickles down my cheeks. I try to wipe them away, but they keep on coming. I can’t believe she did this. This is just too much.

“Merry Christmas, sister,” Whisky says.

I peer up from a picture of Whisky and me to meet her gaze. “Thank you for this,” I sniffle. “And Merry Christmas to you, too. This is so beautiful.”

“Pip and I wanted you to have something to commemorate your first year with your new family.”

“Well, it’s amazing.” A tear drops off my chin and onto my scrapbook. I swipe it away. “Thank you both so much.” I look over at Bridget, who has her own tears rolling down her cheeks. “I love you so much, you know? You’re one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.” Our gazes collide and we both begin to cry harder. I reach out to her for a hug. She meets me halfway to embrace and I kiss her cheek, muttering how much she means to me.

When we finally pull away, my face is a mess and Bonez is standing there with a box of tissues, which he hands to us. “Thanks,” Bridget and I blubber in unison.

“All right, show’s over. Time to hand out your presents,” Sniper declares, cuddling with his wife, who's also busy crying against his chest.

Everyone follows his instruction and begin to hand out their presents. A pile quickly builds on the dirt floor in front of our feet. I can feel it. I know these people are going to make me cry again. Sheesh, what a Christmas.

Lachlan leans over to kiss my temple and set one of the gifts in my lap. “For ye, lassie.”

For the next hour, everyone unwraps their gifts, exchange thank yous, and clean up their trash. By the time I’m finished, I’m continuously overwhelmed and have a steady stream of tears rushing down my face. I’m not sure what’s more to take: the engagement ring, the scrapbook, or the fifteen other presents. Bonez bought me my very own helmet that’s purple and white, almost identical to Viola’s paint job. Bridget gave me a fuzzy pajama set with matching socks. Lachlan not only gave me my ring, but my very own leather jacket with a patch that says Leannan on the chest, right under another patch that says Mags, property of Smoke. It’s a subtler statement than Whisky’s leather coat that says property of Sniper on the back in huge lettering. I like this much better. Cas’s present to me was tools, which is funny because that’s what I bought him, too. From the rest of our family, I received a variety of goodies, from cookies to candies, socks, lotion, bandanas, and other heartwarming gifts.