“The hell we will.”
She moves to whisper something in his ear, and his smile spreads.
“Then again…”
Everyone laughs.
Gremlin hands Voorhees and Phantom their presents next, everyone watching as Phantom opens his, waiting for his reaction.
“Fuck, guys, you can’t be fucking serious.” He groans as he pulls out a bottle of hair spray, wrapped in a plastic casing that Hannibal printed out just for him. On it, it clearly says: Ghost-be-gone spray, and has a picture of his ex Eve, right on the wrapper.
Autumn doesn’t even flinch, she’s actually laughing right along with the rest of us, enjoying the joke for what it is.
“You guys suck,” he shouts, though he’s secretly loving it.
Voorhees opens up his gift, grinning when he pulls out a bar of soap attached to a rope and a five-dollar 7-11 gift card. “You know, these gifts get worse every year. Just so you know, I never fucking dropped my soap.”
“Sure you didn’t,” Drac jokes. “But just in case, I got you one you can keep a hold of.”
“Hardy har har,” Voorhees exclaims. “And what’s this puny gift card for?”
Drac shrugs. “Inflation sucks, my friend. By yourself a Slurpee.”
“I hate Slurpee’s,” he grumps, not enjoying his gift at all. We all know that Drac has something better for him that he’ll give to him later, but for right now, it’s nice to see him squirm.
“Alright, VP, you’re next.” Gremlin hands me a small box, neatly tied up with ribbon and bows. This was definitely not done by one of my brothers, this had female written all over it.
I carefully open the package, then pull out the mask inside. It’s almost exactly like the one that got broken in Mindy’s shop, but this one is made of soft rubber, something that will cuddle my face and not cut into it.
Then there’s a note in the box, one that rips my heart in two.
“I know your last one broke, and even though you don’t need it, I wanted to get you one that would cuddle that handsome face instead of cut into it.”
Mindy squeezes my hand. “You’re welcome,” she whispers, knowing damn well I’m not great at this kind of stuff.
“Thank you,” I bite out, replacing the flimsy plastic mask with the one she gave me.
“Looks good on you, Brother,” Voorhees exclaims.
Nothing mattered after that. I barely registered what everyone got as they ripped into their gifts, some stupid as fuck, others slightly thoughtful. My mind is wrapped around Mindy, wanting to hold her close and never let go. I know she’s nervous about Moseley, but he has no idea that the second this party is over, we’re hopping on a plane and heading to Italy. He won’t find her there. Not if I have anything to do with it.
By the time the last gift is opened, the room is loud with laughter, half the club is already drunk, and the fake tree is somehow upside down hanging from the ceiling.
It’s the first Christmas I haven’t actually hated. Which seems rather surreal.
Mindy snuggles up to me, holding me close, her head resting against my shoulder. Her laugh is soft compared to the chaos going on around us, but it still hits me hard.
She looks happy here. Safe. Like she belongs with us, even if she doesn’t fully realize it yet.
“You have fun tonight?” I ask her, nuzzling her hair with my nose.
“Absolutely! This is the best Christmas I’ve had in a very long time.”
“What about you? Did you enjoy yourself this Christmas?”
She looks up at me, smiling shyly as she admires the mask she gave me.
“Yes, it’s the first Christmas I’ve actually enjoyed. It wasn’t too bad fora place full of criminals, misfits, and idiots wearing Santa hats.”
