"Yeah?" she asked warily.
"Yeah." My tone was firm. "Let’s drop them faster than we were going to. Let’s get their faces and names splashed everywhere. And, while you’re at it, let’s go nuclear."
"You want me to drop DeLaCroix’s name? I thought we were saving that as the grand finale?"
"We were. But this just moved the goalposts. Let’s drop his on the 25th." I smiled with delight at the chaos that was about to ensue over my least favorite holiday of the year. "Let’s destroy Christmas, huh?"
"Grinch," she grumbled.
"You know why."
She fell quiet, and it was, I’d admit, nice to talk to someone who knew everything. All my past history, all my lies and truths, all my secrets. There was no hiding from Savannah, not when she’d been there at the time.
"I do know why," she said eventually. Sorrowfully. "What are you doing for the holidays?"
"Nothing. I’ll be staying with the Sinners. What about you?"
"The fam’s going to Hawaii. But I’m not."
"Why?"
"Camden pissed me off."
I whistled under my breath. "Isn’t that what Camden does best?"
"Well, he can go fuck himself. He’s all up in arms about me trapping Wintersen."
I snickered. "Probably channeling that time you whacked him in the balls too."
Savannah cackled. "Oh, shit, how did I forget that?"
"Guaranteed his balls have muscle memory or something." My laughter deepened. "I wish you’d seen his face when you smacked him instead of the piñata. I thought he was going to be speaking at a higher octave for sure. You probably helped his singing career."
She released an amused sigh. "Good times."
"Not for his penis. You’re welcome around here if you want to. I don’t know what they’ll be doing for the holidays, but the offer’s there."
"I’m not sure what’s happening for Christmas to be honest."
"She’ll be coming to dinner with me."
I arched a brow. "That Aidan Jr.?" I knew he was staying with Conor even though, and this was quite sweet, Conor had tried to hide that fact from me.
"It is."
"I’m on speaker?" I groused. "Savannah, you’re supposed to warn someone when they’re on speaker."
"He sneaked up on me," she defended. "I thought I was alone."
I huffed. "That reminds me... talking about sneaks. If you arranged anything for the holidays, made plans for Christmas, just for a coffee or whatever with friends, reschedule. Even if it’s a delivery from a store, change the times. You don’t know who was listening in or what they were scoping out."
"Damn."
"I know it’s tedious," I murmured apologetically. "But it’s for the best in the long run."
"I guess."
"Do it," I ordered. "Don’t fuck around either. I’m being serious. They went old school last night but that doesn’t mean they’ll keep going with that MO."
"Yes, Mom. I’ll change scheduled times and things."
"Good. Now, hop to it. We have Christmases to destroy, don’t forget."
"As if I could," she said wryly.
I hummed with delight then disconnected the call.
Like a real anti-Santa, I had mayhem to reap, chaos to sow, and havoc to dispense.
It was all in a day’s work.
Twenty-One
Aidan
"Won’t it raise eyebrows? My going to Christmas dinner with you?" was the first thing she asked after Star cut the call.
I shrugged. "Does it matter? Either way, you’re coming with me."
Her lips twitched. "Is that what a masterful Aidan looks like?"
"If you haven’t seen that already, then I’m doing something wrong."
She eyed me up and down. "At the moment, you just look like a porter."
"A well-dressed one," I corrected, retreating out of the doorway to her room and starting down the path to mine.
"Where are you going?" she called out, the words hitting my back as I trudged down the hallway.
I didn’t answer, because I didn’t particularly want to call it ‘our’ room. That was adding connotations and pressure to things that I wasn’t ready to deal with yet.
Just because it felt like I’d been waiting five years to fuck her against the wall didn’t mean that was going to happen.
Not just because of my knee, either.
She caught up with me just as I entered the room, and tugged things off my shoulders and unlooped them from my arms as she dumped them on the floor in front of the bed.
She shot me a look then asked, "Next thing you know, you’ll be giving me your class ring."
I snorted. "Do I look like the kind of guy who’d have a class ring?"
"No, you look like the kind of guy who’d have given that away at the time. I bet you had so many girlfriends back then, your dick almost dropped off from exhaustion."
My brows rose at the sudden acid in her tone, but I’d admit, I liked hearing it. Liked it too much.
Unencumbered now her things were on the floor, and I could tell she wasn’t about to argue with me about staying in here, I carefully lowered myself to the bed, resting my leg out flat as I did so.
"You didn’t know me back then. I could have been an angel."
She grumbled, "You’ve never been an angel."
I had to grin. "You’d be wrong. I was good until I hit the terrible twos. Or, at least, that’s what Ma says."
"I’ll be sure to ask her on Christmas morning," she chimed in, but she was still shooting me dirty looks.
"You can’t seriously be jealous of high school girlfriends," I mocked, unable to believe that was the reason for her scowls.
She huffed. "You don’t want to think about TV executives fucking me, well, I don’t want to think about chirpy cheerleaders fucking you behind the bleachers."
I squinted at her. "There’s a difference. Mostly it’s about twenty years."
"Okay, so do you want to hear about how my high school boyfriend tried to screw me in the teacher’s lounge?"
Irritation washed through me. "No."
She smirked. "I think I made my point."
"That we’re both highly irrational where we’re each concerned?"
"Yes." She unzipped her bag and started pulling clothes out of it. "I knew that five years ago though."
"So did I," I admitted, and I’d been running ever since. Or, hobbling, I guessed, was more appropriate. Rubbing my bottom lip with my thumb, I asked, "This is going to get intense, Savannah. I overheard a lot of your conversation with Star. You need to prepare yourself for the fallout."
"Will you have my back whatever happens?" she asked, her eyes meeting mine with a calm that sank into my bones.
"Of course."
"Will you stop anyone from killing me?"
"Now I know you’re in danger."