Less than a minute later, Enzo’s wearing a velvet Santa hat with a giant pompom at the end of it. It has little bells attached, so every time Enzo moves, he makes a jingling sound. He shakes his head at Winter, but he’s smiling as he does it.
“Another bet?” Alec asks.
“Not this time.” Enzo eyes Alec’s sweater. It’s bright red with a sequined tree appliqued onto it. “What about you?”
Alec glances down at his sweater, and then at the matching one I’m wearing. “No bet. We just thought it would be a fun tradition.”
Out of the blue, my throat goes thick.
I hoped. But I never really thought it would happen.
“Here,” Enzo says as he hands a large box to Alec. Then he gives me a slightly smaller one. “And here’s yours, Hazel.”
“It’s from me,” Gage calls over. He grins. “I hope you like it.”
I turn over the gaily wrapped present in my hands. “I’m sure I will,” I tell him.
While I’m still picking at the edges of the paper, Alec tears into his gift. Then he stares at the contents for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.
It’s a Valentine’s Day sweater; probably one of the gaudiest I’ve seen. It has hearts made of sequins and the word Love is written in tiny sparkle balls. As he holds it up to look at it, Winter says, “It’s from me. Hazel told me how much you loved the Christmas sweater, so I thought…”
“It’s perfect,” Alec replies with a grin. “Now I just need to find a matching one for Hazel.”
Once he folds it back up and sets it aside, Alec turns to me. “What did you get, Haze?”
I carefully separate the edges of the paper and peel them away from the box beneath. As soon as I read the words on the box, my heart squeezes.
It’s the Epic version of the newestWorld of Warcraftexpansion pack, complete with the best flying mount, a special gryphon pet, and a transmogrification set for my armor.
“Alec said you didn’t have this one yet,” Gage explains. “And since you’re playing WoW with us now… I thought you’d like it.”
Hugging the box to my chest, I reply, “I do. Thank you, Gage. I can’t wait to try it out.”
“When we get back from my parents,” Alec offers. “Maybe on Sunday, we can all run some quests together.”
“Sounds great,” Knox agrees. “I’m down.”
“I’ll ask Jess if she’s free,” I add. “I bet Kane got her the expansion pack, too.”
Though it was sad saying goodbye toTenebris Veil—despite the terrible part of it, I had a lot of good memories as well—I couldn’t bring myself to play it anymore. But now I’m playingWorld of Warcraftwith Alec, Gage, Knox, their friend, Webb, and Jess. And this time, when I play, I know Alec’s taken all the precautions to make sure my identity is completely concealed.
From across the room, Ronan lets out a loud cheer. He holds up a six-pack of beer for display and says, “Lark. This is great. Hill Farmstead is one of my favorite breweries.”
Max pulls a large geode from a tissue-stuffed boxand calls out with a smile, “Rory. I love this. I’ve never seen one this nice before.”
She beams at him. “Oh, good. I bought it from this place in Utah. They’re supposed to have the best geodes.”
When I first heard about Max’s rock collecting hobby, I was surprised. It didn’t fit with his intimidating appearance. But seeing him smiling so widely, his eyes lit up with enthusiasm… Well, it just goes to show we never really know what’s going on inside a person.
Or the struggles they’re going through.
Alec lifts me off his lap and sets me onto the cushion beside him. He catches my hand and says, “Actually, I have a gift for you, too.”
I look at him in surprise. “But we’re doing presents tomorrow.”
“I know.” He reaches into his pocket and draws out a small box in a robin’s egg blue. “But I wanted to give you something on Christmas Eve, too. Start another tradition.”
“Alec. I didn’t bring anything for you.”
