Chapter Twelve #2
Those words, “for Christmas”, had become a magical incantation over the past two days, one the girls had quickly learned I couldn’t resist. I set my cup down on a nearby table, already resigned to whatever fate they had planned for me.
“All right, what’s this surprise?” I asked, knowing full well I was walking into a trap.
“First,” Zelda said, holding up one finger, “you need to sit in the middle of the room.”
“On the floor,” Kira added helpfully, pointing to a spot near the tree. “You’re too tall for a chair.”
I glanced at the hard floor, then took stock of my still-healing ribs. Pain had warned me to avoid sudden movements and awkward positions, but I had no hope in hell of denying them when they gave me those big eyes, wide and full of excitement. Which made the decision for me.
“Lead the way,” I said, resigned to my fate as I gestured for them to go ahead.
They both took my hands and led me to the spot they’d chosen.
I braced one hand against my side where the worst of the bruising remained and went to my doom willingly.
The movement sent a sharp jab of pain through my torso that nearly took my breath away.
I managed to control my expression, but a hiss of discomfort escaped through clenched teeth.
“Are you okay?” Kira asked immediately, her brow furrowing with concern.
“Just a little sore still, darlin’. Nothing to worry about.” I finished lowering myself to the floor, crossing my legs in front of me. The position pulled at my healing ribs, but it was bearable. “See? I’m fine.”
Zelda studied me skeptically, her eyes narrowed. “You’re still hurt from fighting Dad.”
“Not your dad anymore,” I corrected gently, meeting her gaze. “And I’m healing up just fine. Now what’s this surprise you’ve got planned?”
The girls exchanged a look, communicating in that silent way they had, before Zelda nodded decisively.
“Stay right there. Don’t move.” They darted back to the decoration table, and I saw them gathering materials with the serious concentration of artists selecting their medium.
When they returned, their arms were full of tinsel, battery-powered string lights, and sparkly beads that had been draped on smaller trees around the room.
“We had so much fun last time, we’re going to turn you into a Christmas tree again. Besides, Christmas trees are an important thing this time of year,” Kira announced, her voice solemn as though imparting great wisdom.
I raised my eyebrows, looking from their expectant faces to the pile of decorations now scattered around me on the floor. “Again?”
“Yep,” Zelda clarified, already sorting through the tinsel. “You’re big enough even sitting down. And it’s much more fun to decorate you than a stupid old tree.” Yeah, I heard the humor in Zelda’s voice.
A laugh rumbled up from my chest, making my ribs protest again, but I couldn’t help it. “Can’t argue with that logic, I suppose.” I heaved out a sigh. “Fine. I guess Christmas only comes once a year.”
“Except for Christmas in July,” Zelda added, not even looking at me as she focused on her task.
Kira beamed at me, clearly taking my response as enthusiastic consent. “You did pretty good last time, but you have to remember to hold really still,” she instructed, carefully unwinding a strand of battery-powered lights. Again.
Fuck my life.
On second thought, no. If the girls wanted to turn me into a human Christmas tree every night until next Christmas, who was I to argue? Especially when it made them look and act so carefree.
I settled more comfortably on the floor -- or rather, as comfortably as possible with cracked ribs, and prepared myself. Zelda approached first, draping a length of silver tinsel around my shoulders like a scarf. She stepped back, head tilted critically to the side, then adjusted it slightly.
“Your beard needs decorating too,” she decided, picking up a handful of smaller tinsel strands.
With surprising gentleness, she began to weave them through my braided beard, her tongue poked between her lips in concentration.
Meanwhile, Kira had circled behind me, carefully wrapping a string of colored lights around my upper arms.
“Is this okay?” she asked softly, her eyes serious as she checked my face for any sign of discomfort.
“It’s perfect,” I assured her, and was rewarded with a smile that lit up her whole face.
I sensed rather than saw our audience forming.
A few chuckles reached my ears, followed by the distinctive click of phone cameras.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Knight with his phone raised, a shit-eating grin on his face that told me these photos would be circulating among the club members for years to come.
“The great James ‘Tiny’ Reeves, brought to his knees by two fierce young women armed with tinsel, lights, and beads.” Griffin teased, passing behind Knight.
“I’m sending this to my sister, Susie. Her husband, Stunner, will sympathize.” Gunnar stood at the edge of the crowd, snapping pictures.
“Perfect timing,” Hannah, Gunnar’s twin and Knuckles’ wife laughed as she looked at her phone.
She turned it to Gunnar who snorted cider out his nose, coughed several times, and wiped his nose on the back of his sleeve before collapsing into a nearby chair because he was laughing so hard. “I swear to God, that never gets old.”
“What never gets old?” Zelda asked, turning from her task to walk over to Hannah. To my consternation, every kid in the place came over and got a hand in this whole human Christmas tree project like someone had thrown up an emergency flare.
Zelda squealed, snagged Hannah’s phone and ran to Caleb. And I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Especially when Gunnar snorted another drink out his nose. This time, he just let the drink drip into his short beard while he outright guffawed.
When Zelda and Caleb returned, Caleb was wearing the biggest shit-eating grin I’d ever seen. Zelda was carrying a bucket as she hurried over.
Again, like some kind of invisible signal went up, the kids abandoned me to gather around the bucket and Zelda. Meanwhile, Caleb went to stand with the others, watching with varying degrees of amusement.
“Ah, hell,” I said under my breath. “I got a bad feelin’ about this.”
The feeling intensified when Zelda held up a can of hair spray. Before I could really appreciate what was about to happen, the group of them descended on me with… something. I couldn’t really see, but they used the hairspray on my beard. They used… a lot of hairspray. On my beard.
Ten minutes later, there were pictures being taken by every fucking brother in the club.
The kids were laughing and squealing and my ribs hurt like a motherfucker, but I stayed still, growling occasionally just to get the kids to giggle.
Which they did. Continuously. I knew the pictures were going to be epic and I’d never live them down, but I wouldn’t trade this moment for anything in the world.
Not when it put such joy on the faces of all my girls.
“Perfect,” Zelda declared, standing back to admire her work.
A strand of tinsel slipped down, tickling my nose, and I couldn’t suppress the laugh that rumbled up from my chest. The pain in my ribs was worth it for the delight on the girls’ faces.
“Will someone at least give me a mirror so I can see how fu -- er, friggin’ jolly I look?”
More laughter and this time I was pretty sure Gunnar was gonna manage to drown on the amount of cider he aspirated. Hannah stepped over to her brother and whacked him on the back several times while wiping tears from her own eyes as she laughed herself.
Through the growing crowd, I caught sight of Penny.
She stood a few feet away, one hand pressed to her mouth, the other clutched tightly at her chest. Even from this distance, I could see the sheen of tears in her eyes, but they weren’t tears of sadness.
The smile that broke through as our eyes met was pure joy -- unexpected and overwhelming in its intensity.
I held her gaze, trying to communicate everything I couldn’t say aloud in that moment.
I love you. I love them. I would endure far worse than decorated dignity for the sound of their laughter.
She seemed to understand, nodding slightly as she wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, her smile so fucking beautiful I knew there would never be a time in my life when I didn’t miss her smile any time I couldn’t see her lovely face.
The crowd had grown, other children watching with wide-eyed, joy-filled fascination as the fearsome biker was transformed into a gaudy Christmas creation. A few of the smaller kids giggled behind their hands, while the adults made no attempt to hide their amusement.
“Stand up,” Zelda commanded once she was satisfied with her decorating. “Slowly, so nothing falls off.”
Rising from the floor with my injuries was going to be even harder than sitting down had been, but I wasn’t about to disappoint them.
I braced one hand against the ground and pushed myself upward, gritting my teeth against the sharp stab of pain in my side.
The lights and tinsel shifted but mostly stayed in place, thanks to the girls’ careful arrangement.
I thought I saw glitter dust falling as I disturbed some of the more textured garland they’d wrapped around me.
Had to be. Right? Sweet, God, what had they put in my beard?
Once I was on my feet, Zelda tugged at my hand. “Now you have to bend down so we can get on your shoulders.”
I crouched carefully, allowing first Zelda, then Kira to climb onto my shoulders. The added weight sent fresh pain through my ribs, but I locked my knees after I’d straightened slowly, supporting each girl with one hand to keep them balanced. Yep. It was as difficult as it sounded.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Zelda announced to the gathered crowd, her voice ringing with pride, “we present… the Christmas Tiny!”
A cheer went up from the crowd, followed by applause and more camera flashes and I knew Caleb, the little shit, had been recording the whole fucking mess from the second he returned with Zelda and that fucking bucket.
I stood there, tinsel tickling my neck, lights blinking against my chest, beads tangled in my beard, and two nearly teenage girls perched triumphantly on my shoulders.
As ridiculous as I must have looked, the wonder on Penny’s face as she watched us made me feel ten feet tall.
And I still didn’t know what they’d put in my beard.
OK, so maybe it was more denial than ignorance.
Because, I absolutely knew I was going to have to shave after tonight.
Penny gave me a look of sympathy which she ruined by turning her lips inward as she tried valiantly to suppress a laugh.
“Go ahead and laugh,” I told her, mock irritation in my voice.
“I’ll get my revenge.” I snapped my teeth at Penny.
Which delighted the girls to no end. And everyone else.
Whoops went up all around and everyone laughed until I thought more than one of the kids had to go pee. Couple of my brothers too.
“The best Christmas tree in the whole compound,” Knight declared, raising his cup in a mock toast. “Glitter beard and all.” There wasn’t a single person in the common room with us who didn’t roar with laughter.
“Stunner says to tell you he recommends at least three shampoos the first day.” Hannah gave me a serious look, like she wasn’t talking about something as serious as desecrating a man’s beard. “He said you could probably cut back to two after that. Says it takes a good month to get it all out.”
Penny did something with her phone, then turned it around so I could see the picture of myself, the girls sitting on my shoulders, wrapped in Christmas lights, tinsel, icicles, garland…
and the biggest, sparkliest glitter beard in red, gold, and green in the whole Goddamned world.
I fucking loved it. Of course, I couldn’t let them know how much I loved it.
So I was appropriately outraged. Which caused more laughter.
Kira leaned down, her mouth close to my ear. “Are we too heavy?” she whispered, concern evident in her voice.
I turned my head slightly to meet her worried gaze. “Not even a little bit, darlin’.”
The smile she gave me was worth every twinge, every ache, every bit of discomfort. As I stood in the center of the room, surrounded by my brothers and decorated like a Christmas spectacle, I realized I’d never felt more at home.