Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
An unusual frost fell over Florida the night before Christmas.
Nico stood on the porch of his father’s house, wearing a thick hoodie.
A sprinkling of snow could be seen on the grass, but the ground was too warm for any accumulation.
It was the closest thing Nico reckoned he’d ever get to a white Christmas.
He headed back inside just as the sun broke over the horizon.
Nico snuck quietly back into the guest room and climbed back into bed, wrapping his arms around Cooper, who was still fast asleep. It was the first time in Nico’s adult life he slept with another person under his father’s roof, which was a nerve-wracking experience.
On Christmas mornings, Nico wasn’t too different from a child. He always found it difficult to sleep the night before, but this Christmas was different. He had, at most, three hours of sleep.
Nico slipped a hand into Cooper’s boxers, taking hold of his morning wood. Cooper groaned and shifted his body backward, pressing against Nico’s.
Cooper’s eyes flashed open as he cocked his head over his shoulder. “Not in your father’s house.”
“Relax,” Nico whispered. “As long as you’re quiet, everything will be fine.”
Nico stroked Cooper slowly, forcing a stifled moan from the back of Cooper’s throat. Nico hushed him with a kiss.
The door flew open.
“Time to open presents, boys!” Nico’s father said with a clap.
If Nico’s father saw anything, he hadn’t suggested that he did. Still, Nico tiptoed around his father on the way to the kitchen to assist Natalie with making mimosas for everyone. Nico’s definition of assisting was standing with his back against the counter, watching Natalie do all the work.
“Did Dad say anything to you?” Nico leaned over to Natalie.
“He told me to get the hell up.” She laughed as she carefully poured champagne into three flutes, and sparkling white grape juice into a fourth.
“Nothing else?”
Natalie turned to him. “Your cheeks are flushed.”
“He walked in this morning—”
Natalie held her hand up. “Please stop talking.”
Cooper walked into the kitchen, shaking his head. “Your father has a lot of love to give and a lot of threats.”
Nico rolled his eyes. “He’s still pissed about the night after the Super Bowl.”
“He knows about that?” Cooper arched a brow. “Does he know everything about that?”
Natalie chuckled under her breath as she finished off the mimosas with a splash of cranberry juice on top.
“He’s aware of the important details,” Nico said, passing a flute to Cooper. “I’ve been slow-dripping information to him because he’s a little bit older and has some health problems. Don’t want to give the man a heart attack again.”
“I’d prefer if we kept some of the more salacious details to ourselves, because the last thing I need is your father hating me. Especially considering the current state of my relationship with my mother.”
“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.”
“How big?”
Nico tried to use his hands to show just how large the artwork would be, but his arms didn’t stretch out far enough. “It’s big.”
Nico understood loving Cooper meant knowing Cooper loved Luke, too.
At first, the very thought of Cooper loving someone else terrified Nico.
Over the years, he learned it was possible for Cooper to do both.
That Luke didn’t have to be a shadow that haunted the both of them.
So, he had an artist in Paris illustrate Nico and Cooper, together, with the ghost of Luke standing behind Cooper with his palm on his shoulder.
Nico pulled Cooper close and angled his phone in front of them.
It dawned on him at that moment that they had never taken a selfie together.
Cooper smiled at the camera, but Nico wanted their first selfie together to be special.
Nico turned to Cooper, pecked him on the lips, and stayed there while he tapped the camera button.
He took a quick glance at the photo before showing the phone to Cooper for his approval.
“It’s cute,” Cooper said with a gentle laugh. “Are you going to put that as your screensaver?”
Nico eyed him suspiciously as he opened up his Instagram app, selected the photo, and uploaded it with the caption: Please forward all inquiries to my agent @Tommyparkeragent. #ChristmasWithFamily #NoQuestions.
Cooper’s phone dinged and Nico watched the expression on his face change as he realized what Nico had done. “You’re such a damn brat.”