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“Oh shit!” Noa exclaims.

“Mine,” Cave says.

“Oh god, y-yours,” Noa stammers. “Always fucking yours, you nightmare of a man.”

Cave silently laughs, moving his hands slowly, while I reach down and slip my hand beneath his sweats, releasing his hard cock and maneuvering myself above it.

“Is this okay?” I ask, and he nods.

Then he bucks up, the tip of his cock pushing inside me as I sink down, taking every inch of him. He makes a noise deep in his chest when I set the pace, keeping his eyes locked on mine as his hands move in time with our rhythm. All of us are connected to him at this moment. Noa rambles on about this being the best Christmas ever, and though I laugh, I have to agree. Our families are here and Cave is home.

Cipher presses his palm against the side of my face, and I turn to him. He mouths, “I love you,” and I do the same. Cave’s pace changes when mine does; he’s still following my lead.

“Cave,” Cipher whispers, drawing our Scarecrow’s gaze his way. Cipher makes a small sound, and he comes into Cave’s palm.

I slow, knowing my orgasm is close, and wrap my hand around Cave’s wrist, bringing his hand to my mouth so I can lick the cum from his fingers.

“Fuck, that’s hot,” Noa groans out. “Squeeze me harder . . . Yes, just like that. Fuck!”

Noa comes hard, his body jerking as cum squirts into Cave’s hand. Noa’s eyes find mine, and I do the same as with Cipher. I take Cave’s wrist and bring his hand to my mouth, licking the cum from his skin while keeping my eyes fixed on Noa’s, who then pushes up enough to wrap his hand in my hair and bring me closer to him, smashing his lips to mine.

Cave grabs my waist and keeps moving, while Noa deepens the kiss. His fingers touch my clit and circle insistently until my orgasm erupts. My whole body trembles fiercely, though my scream is muffled by Noa’s lips.

Noa pulls back, and I slump against Cave, who wraps me in his arms.

“I want everyone to know that this is the best Christmas Eve of my entire life. It even trumps the one where Mom accidentally invited both her parents on the same night after they’d divorced, and Grandpa threw mashed potatoes at Grandma, and us kids thought it was a food fight and joined in.”

Ignoring Noa’s revelation, I close my eyes and listen to Cave’s heartbeat, knowing that this is real, that he is back.

“Cave, I feel like now is a good time to share something with you, since you’re all subdued and feeling lighter and more relaxed than when you walked in.” I open my eyes to see Noa standing in front of us. “I did something, and not on purpose,” he confesses. “You’re going to hate it, but you need to be forewarned, but it was an honest mistake.”

I snort, knowing exactly where this is going.

“In my defense,” he continues, “I only ordered a hundred. There was a decimal situation, which has since been fully resolved.”

“It hasn’t been resolved,” Cipher interjects. “There are still nine hundred and one trees in the cornfield.”

“It’s seasonal—it will be fully resolved after Christmas.”

“Home,” is all Cave says.

I press my hand over his heart, not wanting to be away from him, from knowing he is real.

“You’re not mad? Good—because Lach and I decorated the outer trees, and it looks so festive, and the lights are rigged so that if you run along the edges, they light up. It would make for a good chase, and I’m still waiting to see heaven again.”

Cave laughs out loud and shakes his head. Something in him has changed, but not for the worse, like we were expecting. He seems lighter, almost as if the demons inside him are not clawing their way to the surface. I hope we get to experience more of this Cave, because I love seeing him happy.

Chapter Fourteen

Cave

It is not always the people you were given,

It’s the people who showed up.

The man who digs holes.

The man who fixes things.