Chapter 2
CAT AND ALEJANDRO
“That elf is evil.”
There was no other explanation. It had to be evil. And a tattletale. Because yesterday, when she’d been skateboarding through the house, doing her best tricks, no one else had been around.
Except that damn elf.
Yesterday, it had been hanging onto the banister and had had a clear view of her on her skateboard.
A coincidence that Alejandro found out what she’d been doing?
She thought not.
That darn elf had gotten her butt spanked.
That wasn’t cool. She was losing good girl points because of that elf.
“Are you reporting back to Santa as well as Papi?” Cat glared up at the elf. It was sitting in the enormous Christmas tree that Papi had installed in the entrance of the Southampton house.
She hadn’t been allowed to decorate this tree. Apparently, it was too big. Well, she’d done a few of the lower branches, but Doomy Gloomy had done most of it.
He’d been allowed up the ladder.
She still didn’t understand what the big deal was. She had excellent balance. You should see her on a skateboard.
There was no trick that she couldn’t do.
Well, she had had trouble gaining air. It wasn’t so much the getting into the air part, but the coming back down. She’d put up a small ramp yesterday and managed to fly through the air, then crashed down.
That’s what Alejandro said he’d been most upset about. That she could have hurt herself.
Pfft.
That was ridiculous.
She was like rubber. She bounced back up. Good as new. All right, so there was a bit of a bruise on her hip. Thankfully, it hadn’t been showing yesterday when Alejandro had checked her over.
It was all the elf’s fault that she’d gotten her bottom spanked.
Sure, she was conveniently forgetting the rules about not skateboarding in the house, not skateboarding without supervision, and not skateboarding without protection.
What the heck did she need protecting from?
It was time to get revenge.
There was just one problem. How was she going to get to the darn elf? The tree was tall and the only ladder she’d seen was the one that Bernie had used to decorate the tree. And it had been locked away.
It was almost as if Bernie didn’t trust her not to use the ladder.
Shocking, really.
What about if she climbed the stairs next to the tree? That would get her to the right height. But she still wouldn’t be able to reach over and grab the elf, which was about three feet away from the stairs.
Hmm.
Cat tapped her chin. She guessed there was only one thing to ask herself.
What would Donatello the Ninja Turtle do?
Everything had to be perfect for when her family got here. Maeve and Gray would arrive tomorrow afternoon. Then everyone else was arriving tomorrow evening.
Except Isaiah.
She still didn’t know how she felt about him being out there on his own, looking for the wannabe Deity. The wannabe Deity was dangerous. Maybe as dangerous as the real one had been.
A shudder of trepidation ran through her.
Which was silly. No way was he getting to her again. Alejandro wouldn’t allow it. Neither would Rafael.
Although Rafael seemed to be preoccupied at the moment. Maybe he had a girlfriend? But if he did, why wouldn’t he have introduced Cat to her?
Hmm. Where was he right now?
Actually, that didn’t matter. It was better that he wasn’t around . . . made it much easier for her to get away with things.
Or it would have, if that darn, stinking elf wasn’t always watching and reporting back to Santa and Alejandro.
Cat pointed at him. “You’re going down, Elfie.”
The elf just smiled back at her.
Dumb dude. Cute, but really not very smart. He should be running scared after her totally credible threat. Why did he always move at night? Why could she never catch him moving during the day?
Turning, she spun back quickly to face him. Then she did it again.
He didn’t move.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Right. How was she getting him down? She couldn’t have him hanging around and ruining all of her fun with her friends. Who knew what sort of mischief they might want to get up to?
“No way you’re going to ruin that, Elfie,” she told him. “I’m really sorry, but you’re going to have to leave. I’m not having anything ruin this Christmas.”
It almost hadn’t gone ahead. They were all so worried about Isaiah and this wannabe Deity. But Alejandro had plenty of security in place. He was sending his jet for Gray and Maeve while Jenner was using his own private jet to get the rest of them up here.
She still couldn’t believe that Immy and Jenner were together. Immy had been in love with him for so long, she hadn’t seen how that would work. But apparently, it worked if they had Tobias with them.
Epic.
Finally, Cat remembered something that might help her get the elf. Bernie had one of those gadgets that you could use to pick stuff up off the floor, so you didn’t have to bend over.
Now, where did he keep that thing?
The utility cupboard! She raced away. She had to be quick. Alejandro had gone back to the city this morning to deal with something and she wasn’t quite sure when he would be back. Bernie, a.k.a Doomy Gloomy, was in the kitchen cooking up a storm. And Rafael was . . . nowhere to be seen.
It was killing Cat not to know what he was up to.
He was her bodyguard. Was he really allowed to have something going on in his life that she didn’t know about?
She thought not.
Finding the grabber-thingee that she didn’t know the proper name for, she rushed up the stairs and held it out toward the elf.
Urgh, she was still too short. “Mierda!”
Not cool.
She was only short by a few inches. How the heck had the elf even gotten there? It really must be magic, as no one could have stuck him there.
Hmm. Beyond the banister, the stairs still reached out a few inches. If she climbed over, she could hold onto the banister with one hand and lean out with the grabber-thingee.
Genius.
Cat climbed over and leaned. Nearly there . . . nearly there . . .
“Cat!” Bernie boomed. “What are you doing? Rafael! Cat! Stay still or you’re going to fall.”
“I won’t fall.”
Rafael ran toward them. She knew he was coming because he made more noise than a herd of elephants. He had enormous feet which thudded on the floor and shook the walls.
Which didn’t help her with her hold on the banister. Her hand slipped.
“Uh-oh.”
Cat glanced down. She was rather high up and she was practically leaning against the tree which wobbled. Not good.
“Catarina, get back over the banister,” Rafael boomed as he ran up the stairs.
His face was filled with thunder and Cat was starting to regret her life choices.
Because she knew she was in big trouble. Part of her wondered if she would be better off letting go. Alejandro wouldn’t punish her if she had a few broken bones.
No, he’ll just wait until your bones are healed and then he’ll punish you.
That would give her something to look forward to.
Probably best she didn’t deliberately let herself fall.
However, she was struggling to pull herself back up and her hand was slipping.
Joder!
Suddenly, Rafael was there, his large hand wrapping around her wrist. Reaching over, he grasped her under the other arm, lifting her back over the banister. He set her down on the stairs, which was just as well because her legs didn’t want to work for some reason.
“Oh God. I think I’ve had a heart attack,” Bernie said. “Dead, I’m dead.”
“Oh no!” She tried to jump up, but her legs were still spaghetti, and she fell back down. “Help Bernie, Rafael! He’s dying.”
“I’m not really dying,” Bernie told her with a frown. “Just saw my life go before my eyes. What the hell were you thinking?”
Cat frowned at him. “Doomy Gloomy! You shouldn’t pretend to be dying when you’re not! What were you thinking? I was worried about you. That’s not very nice.”
“That’s not . . . very nice? I was worried about you! You could have fallen. And then what do you think would happen to Rafael and me? We’d be dead.”
“Doomy Gloomy, don’t be such a drama queen! Nothing would happen to the two of you if I were to get injured, or, Lord forbid, die. I mean, yes, it would be difficult for you both to keep going, I understand that. I would obviously leave a huge hole in your hearts that would make it difficult.”
For some weird reason both men were glaring at her.
She had no idea why.
“Catarina, if you die on our watch, we’re dead,” Rafael said.
“Yes, you said that. Although I still think you’re being overly dramatic. There will be plenty of reasons to carry on. You know, after an acceptable period of mourning.”
“We’d be dead because Alejandro would murder us!” Doomy Gloomy snapped at her.
Sheesh.
No, he wouldn’t.
Although both of them did seem quite adamant. Speaking of Alejandro, though . . .
“You know, I really don’t think there’s any reason for us to tell Alejandro about this little incident, is there?” she asked, managing to pull herself onto her feet.
Her legs still shook, but she held her ground.
Yay for her!
“Not tell Alejandro?” Rafael repeated, crossing his arms over his massive chest. It still seemed surprising to her that he could cross his arms considering how large his biceps were.
He stared angrily down at her. She didn’t know what his problem was, though. She hadn’t done anything wrong!
Had she?
Wellll . . . she guessed that was kind of debatable.
“Alejandro needs to hear about this,” Doomy Gloomy said. He was certainly living up to his nickname today.
All doom and gloom.
So was Rafael a.k.a McGrumpface.
“And he will,” Rafael added.
“You know, I don’t like when the two of you gang up on me. And it’s Christmas, surely I can get a pass? You can think of it as my Christmas present.”
“No,” Rafael said.
“Certainly not,” Bernie said.
She was doomed.