Beyond Christmas (Corrupt Chaos MC #1.5)

by Bink Cummings

  “No, I don’t.” I’m honest with him because it’s the truth. Lachlan rears back like I’ve slapped him, so I continue, praying to defuse the situation. “I would like to marry you on the same day you saved me. It’s kind of our anniversary of sorts, and it just makes sense to do it that way. Plus, it’ll give me enough time to plan it with Whisky and Bridget.”

  Cheesy rice, I can’t believe I admitted that. It’s something I might have dreamt of a time or two. Never something I thought I’d ever be able to say aloud to anyone, especially him. Guess the cat’s outta the bag now.

  Lachlan’s sour face melts into one of brilliant elation, and he rewards me another one of those rare smiles. Twice in one day has to be a record or something. Hugging him around his waist, I nuzzle my nose between the flaps of his vest, to his shirt-clad pec. My stomach flutters at the amazing feeling of being here with him, touching him, loving him. And to think: just months ago, I couldn’t let him touch me. Now, I’m an addict.

  “I can give ye that, my leannan.” He embraces me in return, holding on tight. “And if ye dinnae want kids, then we’ll be bloody grandparents in twenty years when Pip gives us a grandbaby.”

  I hate to tell him that the poor lad is probably gonna be a grandpa sooner, but I don’t wanna spoil his content mood. “Okay, sweetheart; thank you. Now, let’s go mingle with our family.”

  Breaking away, I lift to my tippy toes to kiss him on the lips. Not satisfied, he grabs my butt, hooks my leg over his hip, and slips his tongue into my mouth. Hot and heavy, we toy with each other until we’re left breathless and his cock is rock-solid under his kilt.

  Tearing my mouth from his with a gasp, my lips throb with the beat of my heart. Reaching down, I grasp his thickness in my palm. He groans with need, slapping my hand away. I let it fall to my side, grinning wickedly at him.

  “I cannae let ye do that here, lassie. Ye wanna play, we do that at home,” he says, sampling his bottom lip, as his eyes roam over me like a thousand little fingers ghosting over my curves. “But, we can go home if ye want,” he adds, and I shiver, throttling a moan as I squeeze my thighs together to dull the ache that’s started there.

  “Oh, no you don’t! Sniper and I make out all the time and do dirty shit, but we never leave. It’s Christmas. You are not going anywhere,” Whisky admonishes, moving toward us and linking her arm with mine. “Plus, Bonez just got here. You can play with your fiancée later. She’s mine for now.” She shoos Lachlan with a swat on his butt. Chuckling, he kisses me quickly on the lips before rolling his eyes at his sister and sauntering off.

  Whisky turns to me. “I think it’s time to play nice with Bonez.”

  Crap, I guess so…

  Suppose I forgot to mention that I haven’t spoken to Bonez much since the wrapping party. We exchanged a few texts here and there. I’m not upset with him, I just dunno what to say. I mean, every time I picture his face, all I can hear is him ordering Penny—who’s standing right over there with her husband, talking with Bonez—to “Take that dick deep, baby. Yes, just like that. Fuck her harder, Gunz. Make her squeal.” Then she squealed and I knew it was because of Bonez and his directives. There are just some things you can’t unsee or unhear. Your hunky best friend that smuggles a grapefruit in his pants, is supposed to be your best friend. You shouldn’t know what he sounds like having sex … or listen to a woman begging for his big dick. I know it’s above average, because it’s impossible to ignore when he wears black slacks like he’s doing right now. It’s there—the pink elephant in the room. Fudge, it’s probably as big as an elephant. And no, I’m not admiring it. I love Lachlan and his. But, seeing a bulge like that is like seeing a woman with huge headlights—it’s impossible to overlook. It’s just kinda there, like boom look at me…

  I’m talking about this too much, aren’t I? Shooty shootster, I am…

  See, I’m super nervous as Whisky drags me over to their little group. The group with the woman’s husband. The husband who has to know his wife was being fucked by that grapefruit smuggling best friend of mine. Sheesh … I need to take a breather … I think I might actually have a panic attack, or worse, say something I shouldn’t.

  We sidle up to their group and Bonez smiles my way, then frowns. “Maggie, are you okay?” he asks and I bob my head.

  “Yep. Sure. Never better,” I lie, swapping my attention to Penny and her husband. She looks friggin amazing in a slouchy red sweater and jeans today. She even has makeup on that makes her even sexier. I didn’t even know that was possible.

  “Hi, I’m Mags.” I offer my hand to her husband. It’s trembling when a fellow Carolina Rose, water drinking hunk, takes it into his and bends to kiss it. Crimson burns at my cheeks at his sentiment and Bonez chuckles.

  “She doesn’t handle attention very well, Mikey.”

  “I can see that.” His amused eyes meet mine, and with my hand still folded with his, he pulls me to him, forcing me into a friendly hug. I go stiff, not reciprocating. “You should get used to the attention, Maggie,” he whispers to my ear as I inhale a deep, anxiety-laden breath, instantly getting a head full of his intoxicating cologne.

  Wowza.

  My brain swims as he tacks on, “You’re simply delicious … Bonez has told me a lot about you,” before releasing me. Shaking my head to clear it, I find myself trying to stay upright on wobbly legs. Um … yikes … he’s smooth and good looking. Tall, lean, with a goatee and black hair with little flecks of gray sprinkled throughout. Heck, he’s even impeccably dressed. Everything about him screams money.

  Standing next to me, Bonez throws his arm over my shoulder, tucking me to his side. I use him for support to regather my barrings.

  “I’ll be right back,” Whisky comments and I peer over my shoulder to watch her greet Thor and his girlfriend who just walked in.

  Yes, Thor; you heard me correctly. Here’s the basic lowdown on that front. After a few weeks in the hospital, and a lot of soul searching on his and Lachlan’s part, they’ve come to some sort of truce. Pretty sure his messed up face is what fixed their problem. He’s not as pretty as he used to be. His blond hair is longer now, but his face is marred and scarred from Lachlan’s onslaught. He ended up apologizing to Lachlan a couple weeks after he left the hospital, and they’ve mended fences enough to be on an even keel. At least my man doesn’t wanna kick the crap outta him anymore. And Thor didn’t get voted outta the club, even though Cas pushed to see the sucker gone. Lachlan told me that justice had been served and he was giving him one final shot. Guess it’s worked, since Thor now has a girlfriend and seems to be less of a player than before. Looks like Lachlan knocked some sense into him. It did him some good.

  “Maggie.” Bonez jostles my shoulder.

  I turn my head back around. “Huh?”

  “Mikey was just asking how you like Carolina Rose?”

  Oh … right…

  I regard Penny’s husband. “I like it a lot. Better than where I grew up in Kansas. But I guess home is where the heart is, right?”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” He smiles and Bonez gives me a little hug before we lapse into a casual conversation about Mikey’s job and Bonez’s, too. The jargon they use is the kind that makes me want to jam hot pokers in my ears. However, I remain polite and listen to them ramble. Penny and I share a knowing glance now and again, grinning at one another.

  Briefly, Lachlan makes an appearance to say hello and give me a kiss, before joining Cas and Sniper in some sort of drinking game. One that forces a losing Sniper to wear a ring of plastic holly around his junk and run around the Christmas tree five times. I stare at his head as he sprints, not wanting to get a glimpse of his dick. It’s all in good fun, though, and everyone has a good laugh. Pretty sure Whisky also shot some lewd pictures with her phone.

  “I don’t know why he tries to beat Smoke. Every year he kicks his ass,” Bonez remarks.

  “They do this every year?” I ask.

  He nods. “Yeah. It’s tradition. Sniper and Cas challenge
Smoke to a whiskey drinking contest. Sniper always loses and has to run around the tree naked. Last year, they made him dip his cock and balls in Cool Whip before he ran. After he was done, Whisky got on her knees to clean it off. Wasn’t a smart penalty when the man ended up with a blowjob.”

  Jesus! Whisky and her kink. She could put most men to shame. Heck, I’d die of mortification before I even got to my knees.

  “At least it wasn’t whipped cream this year!” Peanut hollers with his wife by his side, who elbows him in the ribs, snickering.

  “Don’t tempt me, old man. I might do it again just to have her lick my balls in front of all you suckers,” Sniper teases, tossing the holly onto the dirt ground.

  “Ewww, Dad! Stop talking!” One of their sons fake gags, reminding me so much of Bridget.

  “Mom licks your balls enough. We don’t need to witness it, too,” their other son laments.

  Covering my mouth with my hand, I chuckle behind it. Never thought I’d hear anyone say that on Christmas day.

  Sniper gets dressed, and his club brothers pat him on the back as Lachlan winks at me from across the barn. Blushing, I wink back.

  “No more talk about my old man's, nuts. Time to eat!” Whisky yells over the rowdy men, and we filter over, making a line to get our dinner. Lachlan set my meatloaf at the head of the first table so I know it’ll be the first thing to go. Next to it is a whole spiral ham, and carved turkey on a Christmas serving platters. We’ve got three tables lined with food. I’m definitely gonna be stuffed before the night is through.

  Ready the forklift.

  Nursing a Mikes Hard Lemonade with my hand resting on Lachlan’s knee, I carry on my conversation with Penny. She’s seated at the oversized card table across from me with her husband to her left and Bonez beside him. The men just completed a round of poker.

  “So, you and Mikey have two grown children?” I ask.

  Nodding, she takes a swig of her Bud Light. “Yes. We have a son and a daughter. Mary is twenty and Michael junior is twenty-five.”

  Out of my peripheral, I catch something off and turn to see Bonez nibbling on Mike’s ear. What the! Penny doesn’t seem to care when she continues, gesturing to my ring. “So when’s the big day?”

  Bonez moves his tongue to Mike’s jaw.

  Not again! Can this man ever keep it in his pants for one day? I need a dang breather. Bonez really needs to cool it around me.

  “It’ll be next year sometime.” I rush my answer, sounding vague. Then I stand, wave to Penny, and kiss Lachlan on the cheek, before speeding out of the bar and back into the barn.

  Over in the corner, I see Cas and Bridget in some sort of argument. She’s slapping his chest and pushing him away, but he’s not budging.

  Can’t I catch a darn break? Isn’t this Christmas?

  I approach them. Cas is the first to notice me, and takes a step back to give Bridget space. She darts from around him, throwing herself into my arms with a sob.

  Shooting him a dirty look, I hug her tightly as her face presses to my neck. “What’s wrong?” I rub her back.

  “It’s nothing, Mags,” Cas grumbles, tugging a smoke from behind his ear and putting it to his lips. “She just doesn’t want to accept my Christmas present.”

  “What was it? Your dick?” I blurt on the defensive, wrapping my arms tighter. Guilt eats at me for voicing that in the first place. Nonetheless, I shove that warranted feeling to the back burner so I can stick up for my girl, instead of apologizing.

  “No, it wasn’t. And fuck you very much for thinking so.”

  “Well, what do you expect? You and Bonez are first place contenders for the biggest man whore of the year.” Crap! I can’t believe I said that, too! I’ve gotta shut up.

  Bridget giggles against my throat. Great, she thinks this is funny.

  Releasing a sigh, Cas’s face loses color and he drops his head to stare at his feet. “It’s not like that,” he mumbles under his breath, kicking the dirt.

  “Then what’s it like? I’m here to listen whenever you need me. You know this. But today is not the time for drama. It’s Christmas. Leave her alone. If you wanna sort junk out, do it another day. Let’s enjoy Christmas and forget all of the bad stuff, okay? Isn’t it about time to open presents, anyhow?”

  “Aye, it is,” Lachlan intrudes, his arms locking around Bridget and me from behind. He kisses the back of my head. “I love ye both so bloody much.”

  “We love you, too, Dad,” Bridget states.

  My insides get all warm and fuzzy. This has been quite the day. Last year, I spent Christmas in my apartment eating a frozen dinner and reading. As a matter of fact, I’m fairly certain I’ve done that for the past three years. If I were dating a guy at the time, I’d always lie and say I had some place to go. When, in reality, I just didn’t want to celebrate a holiday with someone I could barely tolerate. Sounds pathetic, I know. But I never said my life was full of rainbows and unicorns. It’s sometimes chaotic and messy. Until times like this when my man is hugging me and my girl is cuddled in my arms, making my life worth it. Making all of that dark murk that I trudged through for years a blessing in disguise. I don’t believe you can truly appreciate joy until you’ve been through hell and back. I’m not saying I’ve had it worse than most. And I’m not comparing my demons to yours. I just know that I’ve been through a lot. Now, I’m facing the best years ahead of me. The amount of appreciation and happiness I feel could bring me to my knees. I’m—

  “Grab your bale and set your asses down!” Whisky yells, ripping me from my thoughts. I welcome the distraction.

  Our little bundle of love separates and Lachlan grabs us two straw bales off the pile at the back of the barn. “Here,” he says, dropping them by my feet.

  The three of us sit as Whisky takes center stage. My eyes wander the expanse of the barn that’s full of our biker family. Cas is seated with Fawn and her boyfriend a few feet away. I can feel Cas’s eyes on Bridget without having to look. Bonez is seated with Penny and her husband to my right. He’s kissing her neck. I love that man, but he’s a whore. He’s gotta take it down a notch.

  Sniper, their Corrupt Chaos president, takes front and center next to his wife. He raises his hands in the air. “Whisky and I wanna wish you all a Merry fucking Christmas! This has been a tradition of ours for the past eight years to exchange gifts with our brethren … And we’ll get to that in a minute. But first, I wanted to announce that this year we raised the most money ever to donate to our fallen heroes. I wanna give a huge shout out to Cas and Mags for all of the hours they spent restoring that badass Nova to be auctioned off. So, why don’t you two please stand so we can thank you properly.”

  I turn bright red as Lachlan forces me to my feet and Cas flashes me a wink. “Let’s hear it for them and the twenty thousand dollars we were able to donate, thanks to their hard work!” Sniper cheers and the entire barn erupts with him. Hands are clapping, people are hootin’ and hollerin’, and Whisky whistles so loudly it hurts my ears.

  I think I might faint.

  My knees go wobbly and Lachlan must notice when he supports my hips with his big hands. I bite my lip to focus my nervousness elsewhere.

  “All right, that’s enough!” Sniper demands. “I think y’all might give Mags a stroke.” The crowd laughs at his joke, and I drop next to Lachlan with a huff, thinking that Sniper wasn’t too off the mark. My hands are already clammy and my heart’s pounding in my chest. I could almost throw up.

  Lachlan kisses my temple. “Are ye gonna be okay?”

  I lean into him, using him as my support. His arm curls around my back, allowing me to rest my head on the side of his chest. I relish in his comfort and take a deep, calming breath. “Yes, I’ll be fine. Just don’t make me do that again.”

  “Na promises.”

  Fine. Next time I’ll lie and give Cas all the credit. Though, restoring that Nova sure was fun. A lot of long nights were spent on that baby. Turned out pretty damn perfect after we bought it f
rom its original owner and fixed her up. Totally worth the payoff.

  “Now, it’s time for the presents,” Sniper explains, plucking the first present from a box at the bottom of the tree. “For Magaledene.” He holds it up.

  Oh, no, not again. Why am I being put on the spot?

  “I’ll get it,” Bonez offers, and I sigh, my shoulders deflating in relief. He twists out from the middle of his bale partners and retrieves my present from Sniper’s outstretched hand.

  “Isn’t anyone else opening presents, too? Do they do this one by one?” I whisper to Lachlan.

  “Na, but the first present is from Whisky. It’s her most important gift she’ll give tonight. It’s—”

  “It’s usually a present to Sniper or me. This is a huge honor,” Bridget cuts in, tapping my thigh in reassurance as Bonez hands me the colorful gift. I sit up straight and set it on my lap as all eyes fall on me.

  I nod to Bonez in thanks and he returns the sentiment before returning to his seat.

  “Open it,” Bridget whispers. “Then everyone will focus on handing out the presents they brought.”

  Jiminy Christmas, okay. I can do this.

  Peeling away the thick paper slowly, I unwrap the box. Lachlan doesn’t wait for me to ask for help when he unsheathes his dagger and slices through the tape. “There, ye go, my leannan.”

  “Thanks.” I smile shyly, pretending there isn’t a room full of eyes searing holes through me.

  I take a deep breath.

  Opening the flaps, I peek inside. Awe, she didn’t! There’s a scrapbook in the bottom, and on the cover is a candid shot of Lachlan and me picking pumpkins in October. He’s smiling, holding two tiny pumpkins in his hands and pretending to bench press them while I’m busy laughing at him. Gosh, I look so happy and so does he.

  Chewing on my lip, I blink away my emotions and pull it out. Lachlan removes the box from my lap and I flip through my gift, getting more choked up as I turn the pages. There are so many pictures of me, of him, of us, Bridget, and some of Whisky and Sniper. There’s even one of Bonez blowing a kiss to the camera with a little note beside it that says, I love you. Thank you for coming into my life. Welcome to the family.