“You don’t need to worry about that,” Natalie said. “Our father is a good man. He’s tough, but as long as you show him respect, he’ll respect you back. He’s not like your mother. He’s not a?—”
Cooper laughed quietly. “This whole saying what’s on your mind thing really runs in the family, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Nico took Cooper’s hand into his own and walked with him out to the living room.
They took a seat on the floor beside the Christmas tree that was parked in the corner, just like it was in the house Nico grew up in. Natalie sat on the other side of Cooper, while their father sat directly beside the tree, wearing a Santa hat with the Knights logo embroidered into it.
He grabbed the first gifts and passed them out to Nico, Natalie,and Cooper.
They all unwrapped their presents in unison: a pair of matching socks for all three of them. Now, many people would complain about receiving socks for Christmas, but Nico was not one of those people. He fucking loved socks. Could never get enough of them because they always seemed to come up missing.
Nico crawled forward and dug through the pile of presents under the tree. He found the one he was looking for and passed it to his father. “This one’s from me.”
His father shook the gift beside his ear. He was always like that, trying to guess what presents were by the way they sounded or the way they felt in his hand. “I’m going to guess it’s a football.”
Nico and Cooper shared a quick look.
Nico’s father tore open the gift, and it was indeed a football but not an ordinary one. It had thirty-four signatures on it. One for each quarterback in the league, plus one former quarterback. It took Nico two years to obtain all the signatures, and by the time that happened, the Denver quarterback had retired and been replaced with a former second-stringer.
Nico leaned forward, his gaze focused on his father as he waited for him to spot it.
The man looked up with tears swelling in his eyes. He’d found the thirty-fourth signature—that of Elon’s. Nico had found his brother’s signature on some old documents and had it professionally recreated by a calligrapher. The man set the football on the ground and leaned over to hug Nico. He patted Nico on the back and sobbed, “I love you so much, son.”
“I love you too, Dad.”
Nico saw a small present that was addressed to “Babe” from “Babe.” Unless there was something going on he wasn’t aware of, he assumed that was his. He took it into his hands and sat back down.
“How did that get there?” Cooper shook his head vigorously. “Why don’t we wait for that?”
Nico scoffed and ripped the wrapping paper off the front, saw what it was, and tossed the box behind him. “Yeah, I think we should wait.”
Cooper’s cheeks flushed as a matching set of three butt plugs lay behind them.
Nico watched as Cooper clawed at the red and white wrapping paper with an elegance Nico couldn’t comprehend. Presents were meant to be torn open, not treated with kid gloves. The suspense was killing Nico, and he even knew what was inside. Cooper ripped away the paper from the cardboard box and glanced up to Nico with the slightest hint of irritation.
“What?” Nico gasped. “Did you think I was going to make it easy for you?”
Cooper nodded with a laugh. He ripped open the box and pulled out a heavy black rock.
“I have to keep you on your toes,” Nico said.
Cooper searched through the box, his hand ruffling through tissue paper. He pulled out a laminated sheet of paper and glanced over it before putting it back into the box.
Nico’s eyes sank. “Do you not like it?”
Cooper’s eyes danced nervously around the room. “Can I speak to you privately?”
Nico understood it wasn’t a question. It was a demand. He stood up with a sigh and followed Cooper into the kitchen. When Cooper twisted on his feet, Nico was terrified of what he was about to say.
He didn’t say anything.
Cooper pulled him in close, placed a hand on each of his cheeks, and kissed him. He bowed his head against Nico’s, his voice cracking as he spoke, “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me.”
Well, Nico knew that part. “I thought you didn’t like your gift.”
“Are you crazy?” Cooper shook his head gently. “I fucking love it.”
Nico glanced into the box, at the illustrated portrait. “That’s just the proof. The actual artwork is being delivered to your house next week. I’m going to warn you it’s a little bigger than I originally intended.”
