Chapter 19 Cat and Alejandro
CAT AND ALEJANDRO
Christmas Day
Gray cleared his throat as they all settled into the living room on Christmas morning. He stood, looking around at them all.
Cat felt her stomach tighten. She couldn’t tell from the look on his face whether he had good news for them or not.
“Well?” Cat cried. “The suspense is killing us!”
“We’re pregnant!” Maeve yelled, throwing her arms up in the air.
Everyone descended on Maeve excitedly, while Gray barked out orders for them to be careful with her.
“Oh my God, he’s going to be in OPD mode until you give birth,” Cat told Maeve.
“He’s always in OPD mode.” Maeve replied. “But yes, he’s going to be even worse.”
“Best Christmas present ever!” Immy said, dancing around the room.
Maeve giggled as Gray forced her to sit back down. Cat sat with a contented sigh.
“Come on, let’s open some presents,” Sampson said. “Immy, you go first.”
“Yay!” Immy squealed as she opened her Christmas present. “A walking, pooping unicorn! Just what I always wanted. Thanks, Santa!”
“Wow,” Cat told her. “That’s really cool, Immy.”
Maeve nodded, tearing her eyes away from her new sparkly gold shoes. They were so pretty.
Next it was Cat’s turn. She grabbed her present. She just knew this was going to be a jet pack and a ticket for a trip to the moon.
She pulled off the wrapping paper, revealing an entire astronaut suit with a jet pack on the back.
“Yes!” she cried.
There was also a note. She picked it up, reading it excitedly.
Dear Cat,
Unfortunately, the elves couldn’t get the jet pack to work, but I’m sure you can use your imagination. And when trips to the moon become very safe, your Papi said he would take you.
Santa.
“Santa wrote to me!” she yelled. “And I didn’t get coal in my stocking!”
“Yay!” Immy and Maeve cheered.
“That’s a small miracle,” McGrumpface muttered.
She was too happy to tell him off, though. But if he kept up that attitude, she was going to put salt in his coffee!
“Here, this is from Dahlia.” Maeve Gray a wrapped package.
Ooh, what was it?
“She knitted it,” Maeve explained to everyone.
Gray sighed and opened the present. Cat giggled as he pulled out a sweater.
“Put it on!” Maeve told him. “I need a photo of you for Dahlia.
Gray pulled a face as he put on the sweater.
Everyone took one look at him and burst out laughing. He just shook his head as he stared down at the sweater.
“First, she knits me a poop sweater and now I get a dick sweater.”
“It’s meant to be a Christmas tree,” Maeve explained with a giggle.
“That isn’t a Christmas tree,” Abe said. “It’s a dick for sure.”
Maeve was wearing her own sweater from Dahlia, which was nearly as interesting. Cat thought it was probably meant to be Rudolph, but he looked very abstract. Why was his head so big and his body so small?
“She knitted things for everyone else, too. She said she was sorry that she didn’t have time to do sweaters for you all.” Maeve handed out packages.
Cat eagerly opened hers. “Yes! My very own Dahlia scarf!” It was white with brown splotches that kind of looked like bits of dirt and it was really thin at one end and thick at the other. “I’ll treasure it forever.”
“It’s interesting,” Alejandro said.
She turned to him and burst into laughter. He’d gotten a hat. It was so big that it fell halfway down his head. It was green with these weird yellow pieces coming off it, like it was growing hair.
“You look awesome, Papi!” she told Alejandro.
“Awesome is not the word I would use,” Sampson said with a smirk.
“Well, I think you rock it!” Cat told him, leaning into him.
“What even is this?” Abe asked as he stared at what he held. “Is it a scarf? It’s all stitched in a circle.”
“It’s a snood!” Maeve told him. She put it over her head so it sat around her neck. “See?”
“I see. The color is . . . interesting.”
It was neon yellow. They’d be able to see him on the moon.
As everyone laughed and took photos, Cat stood there with a smile.
There was only one thing missing . . . and she just hoped that out there Isaiah was safe and happy.
As she thought that, her phone buzzed on the coffee table. Around her, several other phones went off too.
Picking up her phone, she glanced at the message.
“Isaiah,” she said.
“Fuck,” Abe muttered. “Where is that bastard?”
“I’m going to kill him for worrying us all,” Sampson added.
“He says, Merry Christmas,” Immy added. “I’m so worried about him.”
“At least he’s alive,” Alejandro said. “And thinking of you all.”
Yes, there was that.
But when he returned, Cat might just murder him herself.
Alejandro wrapped himself around her from behind, kissing her neck until she relaxed.
“Merry Christmas, Kitten,” he said. “I hope it’s been a good one, even without Isaiah here.”
She glanced around.
Jenner wiped Immy’s face as she sat on Tobias’s lap. She’d had a hot chocolate mustache.
Abe and Sampson laughed over their creations from Dahlia. Even Rafael, the Scot, and Bernie had been given Dahlia creations. Bernard was looking at it like it might bite him while Rafael was actually rocking his snood.
The Scot was talking to Cat’s mama. She’d arrived earlier that afternoon to celebrate Christmas with them. She looked amazing in her bright pink scarf that was so long it reached down to her feet.
Gray was fussing at Maeve to sit down. In the end he sat and drew her onto his lap. His hand rested on her tummy and Cat sighed.
There was going to be a new member of their family soon and she couldn’t wait.
She turned to Alejandro, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“It’s been amazing, Papi. Merry Christmas.”
Cat tapped her spoon against her hot chocolate mug.
The three of them were gathered in the living room next to the Christmas tree.
Maeve let out a yawn. They were all tired after an amazing Christmas day but this was important.
Maeve was snuggled under a blanket on the sofa and Immy had joined Cat to sit on the floor in front of the fire. The men were all away doing manly things.
Boring.
Her mama had just gone to bed and Bernie was . . . well, she wasn’t sure where he was.
But that didn’t matter.
“Right, I’ve called this meeting of us Littles because we have something important to discuss.”
Immy’s eyes widened. “What is it?”
“The evil elves. They’re all tattletales. They’ve been tattling on us back to our Daddies and it’s unacceptable.”
“How do you think they’ve been doing that?” Maeve asked curiously.
“Because they’re magic, of course,” Immy said.
Cat shook her head. “No, Immy. It’s not magic. Not good magic. This is evil magic.”
“I don’t think that elves are evil, Cat,” Maeve told her. “And if you were being good they wouldn’t have anything to report back.”
Cat glared at her. “I don’t want logic right now, Maeve. I want action! We’re kidnapping Evil Elfie. Are you with me?”
“Aye-aye!” Immy said excitedly.
“Oh, this is a bad idea,” Maeve said. They both got up and followed Cat as she snuck out to the entrance where she was certain that Evil Elfie was still hanging out.
That elf was going down.
She stuck to the shadows, tiptoeing down the hall to the entrance. Behind her, Immy and Maeve made enough noise to wake the dead.
Turning she held her finger up at them.
Both of them nodded.
Then they reached the entrance and glanced up at the tree.
The elf-less tree.
“Nooo,” Cat cried. “Where did that little brat go?”
“Maybe he went back to the North Pole?” Immy suggested, taking hold of one of Cat’s hands. Maeve moved to her other side and took hold of that hand.
“Sneaky little elf. I’m gonna get you next year,” Cat said. “Just you wait.”
Alejandro turned off the recording device in the Elf.
“Next year, I’m going to need one of those,” Gray told him as they settled into chairs in Alejandro’s office. “Might have figured out what was going on with Maeve sooner if I had one.”
“It didn’t catch everything Immy got up to,” Jenner said as he poured himself a drink.
“But it helped,” Tobias added.
“Bet you needed all the help you could get with Cat,” Sampson said.
Alejandro huffed out a laugh. “I’m actually thinking about setting up a few of these cameras all year around.
Abe snorted. “Cat won’t be happy about that.”
But they would help keep her safe. Which is what really mattered. Alejandro leaned forward, placing his arms on his desk. “Now, we need to talk about something. What are we going to do about Isaiah?”
The others all looked at each other.
“We need to find him,” Sampson said.
“And soon,” Abe added. “Before he gets himself into real trouble.”
“Then let’s figure out how to do that.”
Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you enjoyed some time with Cat and the gang from the Crime Boss Daddies series.
I know you’re all dying for more information about Isaiah. I promise that’s coming along with Charlie’s story.
Hope your holidays are wonderful wherever you are.
Laylah xx