A Brac Pack Crazy Family Christmas 24 (11 page)

“Please be okay, babe,” Evan whispered to himself as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Lewis’s number.

Lewis knew that Evan wouldn’t be able to reach him right now.

No one would. He was too busy being selfish to care that Evan was going out of his mind with worry. All Lewis had to do was call his mate, reach out and tell him that the craving was clawing at his throat, and Evan would have been there in a heartbeat to help him through it.

A tear slid down his face as Evan slid the phone back into his pocket and looked out of the glass once more. He loved Evan so much that it hurt sometimes. He had never let Lewis down, never cheated on him, and never lied to him. Yet here Lewis stood with a shot glass in his hand, never having told his mate how the holidays affected him.

“I want to go home!” Lewis shouted, but the bartender ignored him as he laid a hand on Lewis’s shoulder, the scene fading away from him.

Lewis cried out, but no one heard him.

He glanced around when the scene before him was unfamiliar.

“Where are we?” he asked as he swallowed hard, seeing all the headstones lining up before him. “Where the fuck are we?” He shouted the question at the man guiding him through his life.

Lewis’s whole body shook, a cold shiver racing down his spine and enveloping him when he saw an older version of himself stumbling along, looking very drunk.

The older Lewis fell down in front of Lewis, curling up into a ball on one of the graves. Lewis took a step closer, and then his very soul cried out when he saw Evan’s name etched across the marble headstone. He dropped to his knees, rocking back and forth as the older version of him pulled a flask from inside his worn and dirty jacket.

“I love you, Evan, forever,” he said as he took a long drink. “I’m so sorry.”

“What happened?” Lewis asked the bartender.

The man turned toward him, his eyes blazing red. “You fell off of the wagon and slept with a dozen men in your drunken stupor. Evan had gone mad. He was shot to death with a multitude of silver bullets while killing your last lover as you stood by and watched, too drunk to care.”

Lewis screamed as he threw the shot glass as far as he could, the sound of shattering glass echoing through the graveyard as he covered his face with his hands and wept. He wanted his mate. This couldn’t be his future.

“Please tell me I can change this!”

The bartender laughed, fire spewing forth from his mouth as the ground trembled. Lewis curled up into a ball, not caring what happened to him. He had killed Evan with his selfish decision.

“No!”

“Okay, man.” The detective took a step back. “You don’t have to drink it.”

Lewis blinked his eyes, seeing that he was back in the bar. He jerked back and forth, hearing the laughter and seeing that the clock hadn’t moved an inch in his journey.

He glanced down to see the shot glass still curled tightly in his fist. “I’m going to head home,” he told the detective. Lewis was going to learn the man’s name first thing tomorrow. “I have something very special planned.”

The detective nodded his head, a large smile plastered across his face. “Have fun. I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Lewis said as he walked by the counter, setting the drink down and wiping his hand across his jeans. He stepped out back, getting into his car. There was no way in hell he was going to let that future happen.

He raced home, throwing the car in park and jumping out. Lewis practically ran to the front door, flinging it open and seeing Evan standing there smiling at him. “You had me worried.”

“We need to talk before we go for our walk.” Evan cocked his head, inhaling deeply as a dark mask covered his face. “Have you been drinking?”

Lewis grabbed Evan’s hand, pulling his mate to their bedroom and then slamming the door shut. He spun around, cupping Evan’s beautiful face as he kissed him like he hadn’t seen him in forever.

Evan pulled back, his eyes narrowed. “You have been drinking!” Lewis shook his head as he stood there and explained everything to his mate. He told him about the way the holidays affected him, about his craving today and other days, about how much he loved his mate.

He skipped the whole thing about traveling through time. He was trying to convince his mate he
wasn’t
drunk. He had a feeling that telling Evan about the journey he just took wouldn’t go over so well.

“I’m proud of you for leaving and coming home,” Evan said as he pulled Lewis into his arms and held onto him tightly. “But you should have told me about the holidays a long time ago,” he said and then swatted Lewis on his ass.

Lewis yelped and then laughed. He didn’t care. He had his mate and his life. He was never going to do anything to jeopardize that again. His eyes widened when he saw the way Evan was staring at him.

He had that look that told Lewis that he was about to get fucked within an inch of his life. Lewis was all for that as he quickly tossed his clothes aside. Hell if he was passing up the opportunity to let Evan love all over him.

Never again.

He laughed as he shot to the bed, Evan on his heels as he stripped naked. Lewis bounced on the bed, watching as he mate came after him. Evan crawled into the apex of his legs, grabbing the lube and wetting his fingers.

“You don’t mess around, do you?” Lewis teased.

“Never, when it comes to you.”

Oh god, he was going to melt on the spot.

“I love you with every breath I take and will help you fight this until my last breath.”

Lewis didn’t plan on Evan taking his last breath for centuries to come. He spread his legs wide as he reached up and kissed his mate.

Evan lined his cock up, spreading Lewis’s legs like a wishbone as he drove home.

Lewis shouted, loving every second his mate was inside of him where he belonged. He grabbed his mate, pulling Evan toward him as a new craving entered him. He was craving to feel his mate’s lips all over his. Lewis curled his fingers in Evan’s hair, refusing to allow an inch to get between them as Evan fucked him properly.

He arched his back and shouted as his release shot from his cock, making Lewis cry out Evan’s name over and over again. His mate growled and sank his teeth into Lewis shoulder as his cock throbbed in Lewis’s ass, filling him with his mate’s cum.

Lewis wrapped his arms around Evan’s shoulders, holding on for dear life. His mate lay over him, enclosing Lewis into his arms.

Christmas had a whole new meaning now. No longer did he think of the past when he heard Christmas songs, but of the future where Evan was firmly planted.

* * * *

“
You sent him to that bar
.”

Ruttford leaned against the house, not wanting to see the two men rutting together. “No, I sent the bartender to him. I may like my games, but I’m not
that
big of an asshole.”

“
We’ll see, Ruttford. We’ll see
.” The warning was clear in Nick’s voice as it faded away.

The elf rolled his eyes as he walked away, grumbling to himself about the next mate.

Mark and Caden

Caden got out of his truck, wondering what in the blue blazes was going on now. How the heck did he own a mechanics shop with his mate and
his
truck seemed to be the one that kept dying on him?

That didn’t make any sense to him.

Caden circled around to the front, knowing dang well he hadn’t a clue what he was looking for. He may be half owner of a garage, but he was the bookkeeper. What did he know about engines?

That was what his mate Mark was for.

Caden pulled his jacket around his body as he turned around to get back into his truck.
To heck with it.
He’d sit in the dying heat in the cab of his truck and call his mate.

There was no sense in him standing out here in the biting cold just staring at the engine, praying he miraculously figured out the problem.

Just as he reached for the door handle, he heard a voice coming from behind him.

“Do you need some help?”

Caden spun around, seeing a
very
short guy smiling up at him in a pair of blue coveralls. Caden thought it odd that the man just appeared out of nowhere. He glanced around, not seeing another truck on the road.

Okay, this isn’t strange in the least.

He pulled his cell phone out, ready to call Mark when he noticed it was dead. What rotten luck he was having today!

“I…uh…”

“What seems to be the problem?” the man asked as he walked around to the front of the truck, looking at the hood as if it should pop open of its own volition.

“It just cut out on me.”

“No sputters or groans?”

Caden shook his head back and forth, keeping a safe distance from the stranger. “No, none.”

The guy waved a hand at Caden and then the hood, an impatient look on his face. “Well, then, pop the hood and let’s have a look.” Caden opened the driver’s door, doing as the man said. What choice did he have? It wasn’t as if he knew what he was doing. And if the stranger could get his truck running, Caden would be a happy man.

“Try starting it,” the man said from under the hood.

Caden blinked. How the hell did he get under there so quickly?

No matter. Caden climbed in and turned the key, but nothing happened. He tried again, but it still didn’t turn over.

“Hold on,” he heard the guy yell.

Caden yelped when the guy slid from under the hood and hit the ground. He rushed out of the truck, wanting to make sure he was okay.

“Are you hurt?”

The guy got up and dusted his backside off, smiling up at Caden.

“Not in the least. Now go see if you can start it now.” Caden eyed him for a moment and then went back to the cab, climbing inside and turning the key. It started!

Caden whooped with joy…until he smelled smoke.

He jumped out, racing around the truck to see the man smacking the engine with a shop rag. “What happened?” he shouted as he watched swirls of smoke spiraling up from the engine.

“Hell if I know. That shouldn’t have happened,” the man said and then coughed, waving his hand in front of him. Caden could have sworn he heard the guy mutter something about Nick.

“Can it be fixed now?”

The guy gaped at Caden like he was nuts. “Does it look like it’s going anywhere?”

Dang it!

He was supposed to meet Mark at home, and then they were going out into the forest to pick the perfect Christmas tree. Nothing was going right! Caden kicked the front tire, wishing he could shift and run home, but he couldn’t do that with this human around.

He had to ditch the guy.

“Thanks for your help, really. I’m just going to walk home from here. Have a nice day,” Caden said as he spun on his heel and headed toward the Den.

“Oh, no. I can’t let you walk by yourself on this long deserted road. I’ll walk with you, and then you can let me use your phone to call for a ride.”

Caden growled. If the stranger walked with him, it would take an hour and a half to get home! Not to mention that his balls would have crawled up in him until they rested in his brain from the freezing cold.

He knew he should have worn a heavier jacket. Caden considered putting on a burst of speed and running into the forest where he could shift quickly and get the hell out of there, but he couldn’t leave the guy stranded when he had been kind enough to stop and… “Hey, where’s your car?”

The short man chucked a thumb over his shoulder. “A few miles back. I’m out of gas.”

Caden sighed. Hopefully Mark would notice and come looking for him when he didn’t show up on time. That would save Caden the hours of walking in the cold.

* * * *

Mark walked into his bedroom to see his mate sitting on the side of the bed. Caden was just sitting there staring off into space with a blank look in his eyes.

“You ready to go find a Christmas tree?” he asked as he grabbed a coat for him and Caden out of the closet. When his mate didn’t answer, Mark looked over his shoulder to Caden still sitting there with that blank look.

“Are you okay, pup?” Mark asked as he walked over to the bed and laid Caden’s coat down for him.

His mate stood, grabbed his coat, and slid it on mechanically, jerky-like, as Mark shrugged his onto his shoulders. “Are you coming down with something?”

Caden’s head moved back and forth stiffly as he walked toward the bedroom door. Mark racked his brain to think of anything he could have done to upset his mate. He couldn’t think of one reason why he was getting the cold shoulder.

He sighed as he walked out past Caden, leading the way. Caden didn’t say a word as he walked down the steps stiffly, his knees rising higher than they should have, almost as if he were marching down them. His brow rose as he watched his mate slowly make it to the bottom step.

“You know, not talking to me isn’t going to solve anything. You need to tell me when something’s bothering you, babe.” Caden’s head slowly lifted and then fell, giving him a stiff nod.

Mark growled softly as he walked toward the kitchen, heading to the back door. He hated when Caden put him in the doghouse. Normally he had a very good reason to, but Mark was at a loss as to why his mate was acting strangely toward him. This wasn’t like Caden.

His pup usually followed behind him like a…pup. Caden wasn’t mindless, not by far. He had his say, kept Mark in his place, but was the sweetest man on the planet. What the hell was had he done?

“Hey,” George said as he slammed a pan onto the stove. “I’ll be ordering takeout until I can figure out what the hell is wrong with my
new
stove. What do you and Caden want for dinner?” Mark looked over his shoulder at his mate. Caden’s head moved from side to side, the blank look still strapped in his eyes. He frowned at his pup and then looked back at George. “I guess we’re not hungry, George.”

“Suit yourselves.”

Mark opened the back door, his eyes watching his mate as Caden marched right on out without a word spoken.

It sucked being in the doghouse. Especially when he couldn’t figure out why.

* * * *

Caden was ready to pull his hair out. The little bugger was going on and on about how people shouldn’t cut down trees for Christmas because they only threw them out a few weeks later and how it was such a waste.