Six Saviors Christmas Novella

by Christmas Novella (retail) (epub)

  "Me."

  "What happened?"

  "Well, Axel was talking to Eden and—”

  Blake held up a hand. "Stop right there. I don't need to hear any more."

  He sat down one chair away from Axel who glared at him stoically. "I'm going to tell you right now, my friend. You need to stay away from Eden. Hudson is not going to let that one fly."

  Axel narrowed his gaze and crossed his thick arms over his chest. "I was talking to her, Blake. She talked to me a bit about the Bible, then asked me to show her how to make hot chocolate. It's not like I had her pinned down on the couch and had mounted her from behind. Hudson's reaction was totally uncalled for."

  He nodded, completely understanding where the male came from. However, this was Hudson's child they talked about. Eden seemed very sweet and innocent—he imagined Hudson's thoughts ran something along the lines that Axel would only ruin her, if allowed.

  "I get it, man. But this is Hudson's kid—his daughter. If I were you, I'd stay so far away from her that she forgets your name."

  Axel rolled his eyes. "But I'm not doing anything. I talked to her."

  Blake raised an eyebrow at him. He'd heard stories of Axel's sexual prowess, and even some rumors about sex clubs, but for the life of him, he didn't know where they would be located. The guy may have had innocent intentions regarding Eden, but the gossip, which he never confirmed or denied, made him Enemy Number One when it came to the single female in the silo.

  "Just trying to help you out, Axel. If I were you, I'd pretend like she didn't exist."

  Noah grunted in agreement. "It's a solid piece of advice."

  Axel sighed, then spoke through gritted teeth. "Fine. I'll ignore her."

  Blake stood. "It's for your own safety, man."

  He offered a fist, and Axel bumped. Turning to Noah, Blake asked, "So, what else is going on?"

  "Not a lot. Just going over some paperwork. Looks like the bad guys are taking a Christmas holiday."

  Huh. It didn't seem like there was anything else in here that could keep his mind off his problems, so he better look elsewhere. "Okay, I'm out of here, then."

  He took the stairs to his quarters, and tried to call Sophia again. Once more, it went directly to voicemail, and his anger and desperation grew. They couldn't get anything worked out if she kept ignoring and avoiding him. This time, he left a message.

  "Sophia, at some point, you need to talk to me, so call me back."

  As he changed into his workout gear, he thought he probably should have left a humble apology instead, but whatever. She couldn't ignore him forever.

  After dinner that night, he sat in the Great Room watching an old John Wayne movie. He zoned out through most of it, but when he did pay attention, he had to laugh at how the movie shit on the face of political correctness. How times change.

  Gripping his cell phone in his hand, he waited for it to ring, and checked the screen again for what seemed like the millionth time. Nothing.

  He turned his attention to the Christmas tree. It really did look pretty, and staring at the lights relaxed him a bit. He'd never really had Christmas as a kid, and bit he had to admit, he really did enjoy the decorations. He thought of them as ‘festively tacky.’ Now, if they had some snow, it would be almost perfect. However, living in the desert, it wouldn't happen, and he imagined there were some people around the world who sat in feet of snow and wished they could be enjoy sixty degree weather as he did.

  Stretching, he decided to call it a night as exhaustion rolled through him, and he considered taking a sleeping pill in hopes of avoiding his bloody dreams of murder and mayhem.

  He rode the elevator to his quarters and pulled off his shirt before opening the door. When Sophia came home, would she try to sneak into Megan's room again, or would she sleep with him?

  Grinning, he decided he'd beat her at her own game. He went into his room and pulled some blankets and pillows from the bed and dragged them out to the hall. After making himself a nice little place to sleep, he laid down.

  She wouldn't get past him tonight. The elevator would wake him, and he'd finally pin her down and talk to her, no matter what room she went to.

  Feeling pretty satisfied with himself, he quickly drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 13

  Three Days before Christmas

  Blake limped to the elevator, feeling as though someone had jammed a knife in his spine. His brilliant plan of sleeping on the floor hadn't given him the upper hand as far as Sophia was concerned, just a knotted back.

  When he'd woken this morning, neither Sophia nor Megan had been in their quarters, and it looked like they hadn't even come home.

  Worry and anger flooded through him. If she had found trouble downtown, he'd never forgive himself. If he could find his damn phone and see that she hadn't called, he wanted to put his fist through a wall and pretend it was her lack of courtesy.

  Cursing the whole way up to the kitchen, he gingerly maneuvered over to the coffee pot.

  Nico came in. “Hey, Blake.”

  He tried to keep his voice neutral, but didn’t succeed. Fury bled through, instead. “Where’s Sophia?”

  Glancing over at him in confusion, Nico answered. “I left you a note last night. Why were you sleeping in the hallway, anyway?”

  “What note?”

  He sighed. “Alaina called just before my phone died, so I couldn’t leave you a text. They stayed downtown last night. The line for Santa was too long for them to wait yesterday, so they want to get there first thing in the morning."

  His nostrils flared and his anger surged. This was getting ridiculous.

  “So, I went to your quarters to either tell you or slip a note under your door if you weren’t there, and found you out in the hall. I left you the note instead of waking you.”

  Blake carefully sat down at the kitchen table, and winced on a groan. So much for the damn elevator waking him.

  “I see sleeping on the floor screwed up your spine.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “Do you want some milk in your coffee?”

  He shook his head, then took a sip. It burned his lip and tongue and only seemed to piss him off further.

  “You should have Cohen help you out with that back.”

  As he glared at Nico, so many retorts played on his tongue, none of them nice.

  Nico seemed to get the message. “I’ll see you later.”

  Left alone again, he sighed. Furious, he couldn’t believe the way she hadn’t even had the decency to pick up the phone and call to tell him she wouldn’t be home. What was she doing? What did she try to prove by avoiding him? He realized he hadn’t been nice—in fact, he’d been downright cruel to her. However, how was he supposed to apologize if he couldn’t even talk to her?

  Maybe it should be time for a mea culpa via voicemail and text. If she would continue to act this way, then he needed to do something.

  He realized his phone rested in the pocket of his sweatpants, and he cursed. His brain was so frazzled, he hadn’t even thought to check for his phone in the very clothes he wore to bed.

  Pulling it out, he hoped to see some type of message from her, but there was none. Instead, he stared at the picture of him, Sophia, and Megan that served as his background. They all wore silly fake mustaches and top hats. Sophia and Megan both had rosy cheeks, all their eyes glittering with happiness. Megan’s corkscrew curls hung in a tangled mess around her face. He grinned, remembering that day. Megan had been studying Charlie Chaplin, and Sophia had thought it would be fun to dress up as him. They’d laughed themselves silly as they’d tried to make a silent movie, just as Charlie had done. They'd quickly found out they had been incapable of extended periods of silence.

  His heart clenched in his chest, and a deep ache took root. He missed his girls, and he wished he could set back the clock and do that whole terrible conversation all over again. Would he have acted differently? Honestly, probably not. That little monster inside her made him f
urious. It would ruin everything they had.

  Yes, he’d leave Sophia a nice message this time, but first, he needed to do something about his back. It hurt just enough that he couldn’t think of anything pleasant to say. He called Cohen.

  Later that afternoon, he lay on his bed. Most of the crimps had been relieved, but the heating pad seemed to be helping a lot. As he shut his eyes, he thought how nice it would be to have a pain pill … or heroin.

  Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his racing heart. Just thinking the word got his engine roaring. Obviously, he wouldn’t find any heroin in the silo … unless Axel had some. He looked like he might like to dabble in drugs every now and then. However, Blake would never ask him. But, he bet Beverly had some pretty good pain pills locked up around somewhere. He could sneak just one, just so he could have a few hours of floating on clouds, his troubles and worries disappearing …

  He sat up in bed and pulled the heating pad out from under him, wiping away the beads of sweat forming on his brow. His heart felt like a fist slamming against his sternum, and his breath came in short spurts, as if he’d ran a few miles. Damn addiction.

  Sophia had always been around to help him through his rough patches like this.

  Picking up his phone, he dialed her with shaky hands. Breathe. It’ll pass.

  Hi, this is Sophia. Please leave me a message. Beep.

  “Hi, honey, it’s me. Look, we need to talk. I acted like an ass, and I’m sorry. I need … I need you to come home, baby. I miss you, and I want to get this thing figured out. So please, call me, or better yet, get home.”

  He lay back down again, shut his eyes and continued to take deep breaths.

  A few minutes later, his phone rang, and he answered without looking to see who it could be. He’d been let down too many times, but hope flared in his chest.

  “Yeah.”

  “Hi, Blake.”

  Relief washed through him. “Hey, Sophia. When are you coming home?”

  She sighed. “I’m not sure. We’re having a good time downtown, and we found another Christmas play Megan wants to see tonight.”

  His fury began to bubble. “I need you here.”

  “Why?”

  “So that we can talk about that … fucking thing growing in you!”

  She remained quiet for a moment, and he actually wondered if she’d hung up on him.

  “Sophia?”

  “Do you even know why you’re so angry?”

  He sat up in bed. “Of course I do! You have fucking Satan’s spawn growing inside of you. That’s why I’m so angry!”

  Her voice remained calm. “No, Blake. That’s not it.”

  He shook his head as he placed his feet on the floor, and held his forehead in his hand. “Fine. Why am I so pissed off, Sophia? You tell me.”

  “You need to figure that out. Once you have, then we can talk.”

  “No. I need you to come home. I need you here with me.”

  A long pause ensued.

  “Just like I needed you the other day? When I wanted to have a civil conversation about something very important, and instead you stood over me, screaming at me like I was a dog who’d just peed on your new carpet? Actually, you wouldn't even talk to a dog that way.”

  The need to toss the phone against the wall almost overwhelmed him. Taking a deep breath, he fought to keep his voice calm as desperation clawed at his soul. He needed his mate and his daughter with him.

  “Look, I was a jackass. I get that, okay? Just, please come home.”

  She sighed. “Yes, you were an incredible jackass, and you will never speak to me that way again. If I come home now, when you haven’t figured out what fuels your anger, then you’ll only lose your temper once more, and I refuse to be on the receiving end of it.”

  He sat in stunned silence. Sophia had always been strong, although she seemed so delicate. Even after going through Hell and back with Micah, she still had a spine of granite. Blake believed every word she said, and he worried he’d never see her or Megan again.

  “Don’t keep Megan away from me.”

  “This has nothing to do with Megan. This is all about you, Blake. I’m not keeping her so that she never sees you again. I’m remaining distant so that you have time to think, to figure out what is driving this awful anger that’s eating you up.”

  Falling back against the pillow, he rubbed his face. This woman would drive him right back to heroin with her stupid games. “Fine, Sophia. Tell me why I’m so mad. You seem to hold all the answers, so let’s hear it.”

  “You know very well that if I tell you why you’re so furious, you won’t believe it.”

  His patience snapped. “Dammit, Sophia! Quit fucking talking to me in riddles and puzzles!”

  “Goodbye, Blake. Think about it.”

  When his phone went silent, he pulled it away from his ear for a moment, absolutely livid.

  He launched the phone across the room, where it hit the wall and fell to the floor. “Fuck!”

  Staring at the ceiling for a while, he was actually happy Sophia hadn’t come home, because his anger had just escalated, and frankly, he became a little bit concerned of the thoughts running through his head.

  He imagined holding her up against a wall with his hand wrapped around her throat, or kicking her in the stomach to get rid of that damn Satan’s spawn.

  In the end, he also knew that he’d never follow through with any of it.

  She seemed to think there had to be a reason for his anger. Well, that reason grew like a parasite inside of her. End. Of. Story.

  Shutting his eyes, he tried not to think about the conversation, and concentrated on taking some deep breaths and calming down.

  He’d be by himself for a while, and he needed to hold his shit together, even though he felt like he would fly apart at any moment.

  Chapter 14

  Two Days Before Christmas

  Blake sat at the weight bench feeling utterly defeated. No music thumped through the speakers, and he didn’t have the energy to even lift a five-pound weight.

  Sophia hadn’t come home again, and the ache of missing her and Megan had overtaken his chest. Frankly, he had no more energy to be angry any longer. They would be having Satan’s son or daughter, and what happened after that would just be how it would be.

  He picked up his phone and called Sophia.

  When she answered, he begged, “Please come home.”

  She hesitated a moment before speaking. “Do you know why you’re angry?”

  Sighing, he sat down on the mats, laid back, and closed his eyes. The harsh glare from the fluorescent lights above hurt his retinas. “I’m not angry anymore, Sophia. If you want to have that monster, then fine, we’ll have it. I won’t fight you. Just please—come home. It’s almost Christmas, and I want to be with you and Megan.”

  She sighed. “Blake, are you really that out of touch with your feelings that you can’t figure this out?”

  He didn’t even have the energy to become frustrated. “I guess so. I’m just a dumb fucker who can’t get in touch with his inner goddess. I’m sorry. Can you come home now?”

  A long stretch of silence ensued. “Yes, we’ll be home later today.”

  His body relaxed, tension he didn’t even know he’d been holding draining from him. “What time?”

  “I don’t know. Later this afternoon.”

  Sitting up, his heart thrummed in his chest. “Good. I’ll see you when you get here.”

  “Blake, I want you to think about why you’re angry. Really consider it.”

  Another smartass comment hung on the tip of his tongue, but he bit it back. Granted, he hadn’t thought about a reason for his anger, except the devil child. Now that he could see an end to Sophia’s absence, his head felt clearer, like maybe he could do what she asked.

  “Okay.”

  “Do you promise me?”

  “Yes. And I also promise I will never speak to you that way again. I was wrong, Sophia, and if I could cu
t off my dick to make those words go away, I would.”

  She burst out laughing, and tears stung his eyes.

  “No, you wouldn’t.”

  He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Okay, you’re right. But if you insisted I cut off a dick to make the words I spoke go away, I’d find one. Maybe Noah’s or Jovan’s.”

  She giggled more, and it felt like his chest expanded three sizes. He’d made his mate laugh—such a simple thing, but one that meant so much to him.

  “Oh, stop it. I’ll see you later.”

  Standing, he hung up the phone. With renewed purpose, he strode out of the gym. He wanted to make sure that everything would be perfect when Sophia and Megan got home, and he had a lot to do.

  Chapter 15

  The sheets had been changed, the toilet scrubbed. He’d put away all of Megan’s toys and vacuumed both bedrooms, and also replaced the light bulbs in the bathroom Sophia couldn’t reach and had asked him to change two weeks ago.

  He’d gone into the suburbs just west of Phoenix and bought a few bouquets of flowers and a ring for Sophia that held four stones, one for each of them—him, Sophia, Megan, and that damn … baby.

  Prior to slipping on a pair of jeans and a white button-down shirt, he had showered, shaved, and slathered on some deodorant. He also had patted a bit of cologne Sophia had bought him a few months ago, but which he’d never worn.

  As he paced the kitchen, he kept an eye on the door leading into the silo and debated sitting out on the steps, but decided against it. He’d look like a lost little puppy waiting for its owner, and although he felt that way, he’d never admit it or show it to another living soul.

  Hudson glared at him. “Blake, if you’re going to pace, at least put yourself to good use and grab a spatula.”

  He shook his head. “Can’t do it, man. I’ll only screw it up, then you’ll get pissed and stab me or some crap.”

  After a moment, Hudson nodded. “You’re probably right. But you need to go somewhere else. You’re making me nervous.”