Rev the Halls (25 Days of Christmas: Bikers & Mobsters)
Chapter 1
One
COLT
Silverpine, Oregon is home, where both support and chaos live in the Woods household.
My parents are expecting a house full of grandkids.
They're gonna have to rely on one of my six brothers for that because I'm gay and it'll be a long time before that happens.
The smells of pine and peppermint hit my senses when I step into the overly decorated house. I brush my hand over a hand-knit Christmas blanket that was a gift from a customer of mine after we fixed her granddaughter’s car one year.
It is like Christmas took over the Woods household, with all the decorations and lights, but I am used to it; this is what I grew up with since my mom and dad are both obsessed with Christmas.
Every December twentieth, my parents host their famous Christmas party and everyone in Silverpine is invited.
Thank fuck we live in a large house with eight-bedrooms, seven TVs, six leather sofas, five bathrooms, two dining rooms, four restrooms, one large kitchen big enough to rival a restaurant, and a partridge in a pear tree.
I am one of six Woods brothers: Huxley is the oldest, then me, followed by Ridley, then along came the twins, Tatum, and Tristan, and last but not least my baby brother Cormac arrived. He was planned, after my mother became broody over one of my cousins and decided she wasn’t quite done yet.
Luckily for my folks, I am the only gay son in the family and I’m thankful that my brothers have already started giving them grandbabies. Huxley has two kids: Verity, who is seventeen, and Ozzy, who is fourteen. Their mom bailed a few years ago after some poor shmuck gave her attention.
Ridley has a twelve-year-old son, Ty, who is a mini version of his dad.
The Woods family is tight; we are there for each other through thick and thin.
When one of us hurts, we all hurt. We were brought up to love and support each other, no matter what the situation was.
It stems from my father having to go no-contact with his family years ago because he wanted to marry my mom.
Sure, we might bicker over the last cinnamon roll, or argue about whose turn it is to wash the dishes, as our mom does not wash any dish after she has cooked for us.
“Colt, is that you?” I hear my mom calling.
“Yeah, Ma.”
“We are in the kitchen.”
“Who would have guessed,” I mutter to myself.
My mom pretty much lives in the kitchen through most of December; she is always baking and cooking meals for the shelter in the next town over. We all volunteer over there a few times a year to help the staff out.
Stepping into the large open kitchen, my gaze scans over the lights and garland that wrap around the room. Christmas-themed kitchen items adorn the surfaces.
“How is work, Son?” I look to my dad, who’s sitting at the island, drinking a cup of coffee, no doubt a Christmas blend; him and mom love that shit.
I am a straight black kind of guy—the only thing straight about me.
“Busy. I left Rid booking in another truck for tomorrow. The woman’s daughter is home for Christmas and she does not have the right tires on, so we are fitting them.”
“That’s good. She’ll need them when the snow hits,” Mom adds.
I step to her, kissing her cheek, then make myself a coffee.
Taking a sip, I lean my ass against the counter and watch my parents interact. They have always been like this, never ones to shy away from affection in front of us boys. We all learned that showing the person you love how you feel should not be hidden.
They still dance around the house, poke fun at each other, kiss and touch whenever they can. I want that one day, but I am already forty, so my time is slipping away.
Images of River flash through my head, but I blink them away. Fuck, that man has been the main star in my perverted dreams lately, but he is thirteen years younger than me, so I keep my distance. That does not stop me thinking of him when I jack off in the shower though.
My brothers know how I feel about him, but they know that I will not go there. For one, he is too young; plus, I am a ‘Daddy Dom,’ something I found out in my early twenties, and I am not sure if that is the type of thing River is in to.
He is flamboyant, and I fucking love waiting to see what outfit he is wearing when I bump into him. People see me as the rough and gruff one of the Woods boys, with my slicked-back hair, facial hair, and tattoos that cover most of my body, including the front of my neck.
“Earth to Colt. You okay there, Son?”
I blink and smile at my dad.
“Yeah, Dad, just thinking about the garage Christmas gifts.” Hopefully he believes me.
His eyes me for a second, before nodding and looking down at his paper.
“Are you seeing anyone, Colt? It has been a long time since you went on a date,” Mom chimes in.
I can hear the hope in her voice that I will find someone to settle down with. With all six of her sons being single, my mom tries her best to get us hooked up with someone she hopes we will fall in love with.
My mom is a hopeless romantic, but my dad is a man who thinks it will happen when it happens and we can’t force love.
Huxley thought he found love once, and look how that turned out for him, but that is his story to tell.
Ridley is different; he was called to the hospital one night to find that a woman had left her newborn baby, just hours old, and said that my brother was the father.
We did a paternity test and in fact, Ty was Rid’s.
The mother was found a few weeks later, sucking on a cocktail in Cancun, saying that she had never had a child, and refused the baby outright.
To make things all above board, we had her sign papers that said that she would never come for Ty, or Rid’s money.
That was twelve years ago, and we have not seen or heard from her since.
“Mom, you know that if I were seeing anyone, half the town would have told you by now. Look at how quickly you all knew that Cormack was on a date, three towns over.”
We laugh but damn, the people of Silverpine are a bunch of gossips, but there is nowhere else I would rather live. We protect our own out here.
“Well, he should not have gone so far away; we did not know that girl he was on a date with.” My mom huffs, making me laugh.
She is very protective of her sons, and has proven that over the years with her actions and words.
“Woman, when are you going to stop interfering in their lives? Let them be; it will happen when it is supposed to happen.” He winks at me. “And if it were to happen to one of our sons this Christmas, what a Christmas miracle that would be.”
I groan into my mug, and my mom’s eyes light up like a Christmas tree. Her smile is wide and bright and fuck me, I would love to make her happy and tell her that I have met my one, but right now, I am not sure that will happen.
I go into the city of Portland, Oregon for my hookups, preferring to keep my sex life private.
My mom makes me stay for some food. She likes to feed us, saying that since we all live alone, we do not eat enough, even though she made damn sure that each of us knew how to cook meals so we could survive.
Family for the Woods crew is top priority. Anyone we get with will know that family is a big part of our lives. You don’t just get one of us; you get the whole messy, loving, fiercely loyal pack.
We show up for birthdays, promotions, heartaches, and just for the hell of it. If you cross the threshold, you’re expected to take a seat at our table, ready or not.
Sure, Silverpine has its share of gossips and busybodies—half the town probably knows your business before you do.
Anyone who wants to be with a Woods knows they’re signing on for Sunday dinners, impromptu barbecues, and the sort of warmth that fills a house and spills out onto the lawn—oh, and a nosy mother who likes to interfere in our lives, so be prepared for that.
My parents do not discriminate against anyone who wants to live their lives the way they want to. Fuck, they loved me when I told them I was gay, not once showing any nasty shit like some have over the years.
Family isn’t just important—it’s everything.