“I want to see the Krampus parade. Please! Mom said I had to ask you, and you said I get to pick, and I pick Krampus. Please, I really want to see what they look like. The flyer says naughty children shouldn't go, or you could be snatched and eaten, but that's just pretend. You won't let him hurt me, right?”
She wraps her arms around my neck, holding me close as I whisper in her ear, “You’re safe with me, kid. You're always safe with me.”
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 22 - BRYNN
“Explain it to me again,” I say breathlessly, as the group of us make our way into town from the clubhouse. “I really thought Christmas was meant to be about the old jolly guy in red and Mariah Carey.”
Mac chuckles, taking a sip of the beer in his hand. “Krampus was really just another legend created to keep kids in line. He’s like Santa, but instead of getting coal if you’re naughty, a Krampus snatches you up and takes you to the underworld to eat you,” he explains, nudging Jovie, who hits him with a dark glare. “Scary looking dudes. Tall, hairy, and horny.”
“Like Axel,” Hades comments under his breath.
Jovie glances around.
“Is Axel not coming?” she asks, looking up at Grizz while she holds his hand in a death grip. Despite the smile that’s been plastered on her face all day, the kid is still unsure how she feels about large hairy monsters who snatch children, so not only has she glued herself to Grizz, but she convinced Hades and the other boys from the club to join us.
“He’s gonna meet us there,” Grizz assures her, lifting her into the air to help her skip over a puddle.
“I’m surprised Victoria lets this kind of stuff happen in her town,” I comment, already catching sight of some of the decorations up ahead. The street is already thick with people, some who apparently come into town just for this parade.
“Actually, this one is all Victoria,” Hades answers with a huff, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. “For someone who walks around here like her shit don’t stink, she sure does get some kind of joy out of scaring it out of tourists.”
“Anything to bring in money to a town where she has her fingers in half the businesses,” Grizz agrees with a shrug. “But who are we to complain? She brings people in, and we make money too. People gotta eat.”
Right, Victoria is essentially a business woman, and one who knows everything and anything about Hallowed Springs. She wants it to highlight its beauty, and for it to be successful, which is why I imagine she has never protested too much about the boys owning and running The Gallows.
She’s aware of how important a part they play in her master plan.
She may be a bitch, but she's an intelligent one.
The snow crunches beneath our boots as we get closer to the parade route down Main Street, where Hallowed Springs’ joyful and cliché Christmas décor has been replaced. Instead of twinkling fairy lights, strings of red lanterns hang between lampposts and buildings, casting an eerie glow over the street.
Heavy chains hang between waist-high metal poles in the way velvet ropes would usually line the red carpet at a fancy event. But if you take in the large human-sized cages that are staged along the road, the soft, haunting piano melody playing in the distance, and the mysterious fog rolling in from god knowswhere—it’s obvious that this is anything but the Christmas parade from hell.
Jovie steps right up to the chain barrier, gripping it tightly, while Grizz stands behind her for support, his hands on her shoulders. She’s determined to be brave and face these so-called monsters head on, while I’m perfectly okay with admitting that all it would take was one of them to say boo and I’d probably pee myself, so I’m only too happy to take a few steps back and allow Grizz to be the parent in this moment.
Let Grizz be the parent.
Something in my stomach flutters as I watch the two of them stand there together.
Since we showed up in Hallowed Springs, I’ve watched Jovie and Grizz’s relationship bloom, and since we moved into his cabin, it’s become something I never could have imagined before.
I used to think I was unlucky, and that family is something you either have or you don’t.
My dad left.
My mom loved her addictions more than she loved me.
And Jovie’s father didn’t even stick around long enough to see her come into the world.
I got content with our family only ever being me and her, and always made sure I showed her the kind of love that would fill that empty space so she would never feel like she was missing out.
So she would never feel like I did.
Not knowing where I belonged.
But watching her and Grizz hold tight to each other, watching Hades handing her Christmas candy from his pocket like a drug dealer, and watching Mac crouch down beside her to explain everything that’s happening… I feel like maybe we need to make more space.
