A Brac Pack Crazy Family Christmas 24 (12 page)

Then he started in on how people no longer had the Christmas spirit because they bought fake trees instead of the real ones. He was confused as hell, and a headache was starting in his forehead.

The guy didn’t have all of his candy canes in a row. That was for sure. Caden was getting irritable as hell because it had been forty minutes since he started walking and Mark hadn’t even come looking for him yet. Didn’t his mate care?

Caden quickened his pace, tired as hell from his long trek in the cold. He wanted to get home and get warm. He wanted to wring Mark’s neck as well!

That man was in a world of trouble.

* * * *

Mark picked up the axe from the lumber box, getting more pissed off by the second. He stomped through the backyard, heading into the forest, Caden following behind him quietly. If his mate had a problem, he needed to speak his damn mind!

“You know, being together as long as we have, I would think you could talk to me about anything, Caden. I can’t honestly understand why you’re acting this way.”

Nothing.

Mark growled, no longer in the mood to cut down a tree. He was ready to kick someone’s ass though. He’d never touch his mate, so he needed to find someone or something to take his anger out on. This was fucking ridiculous!

Mark swung around, ready to put Caden over his knee and teach him a lesson about temper tantrums when he noticed that his mate wasn’t behind him.

“Caden!”

Nothing.

Did he go back to the house? “To hell with it. I’d rather do this alone if he’s going to act that way.”

“You!”

Mark swung back around to see his mate storming toward him, exhaustion tugging at his eyes. What the hell? “Oh, now you want to talk?”

Caden growled as he got in Mark’s face, his fists balling up at his sides. “How dare you not give a rat’s ass about me!” Mark was even more lost than when he started out. “That’s your fault. You should have said something.” Fuck if he was taking the blame for something he had no clue about. He wasn’t even sure what the hell they were talking about.

Caden’s head snapped back at Mark’s biting words, a look of rage and hurt filling his eyes. “I shouldn’t have to say anything. You should have been there for me,” he said quietly and then spun around, walking back toward the house.

Huh?

What the fuck just happened?

Mark stood there for a moment feeling like he had been left out of a very important conversation. Did he miss something?

He growled as he stormed toward the house. He wasn’t going to be in trouble for something he didn’t do, hopefully.

He tossed the axe back into the box and headed upstairs. They were going to hash this out whether Caden wanted to or not. And if he didn’t, well, Mark had his ways of making his mate talk.

He found Caden sitting on the side of the bed…again. But this time he looked livid. At least the blank stare was gone. “Talk!” Caden jutted his chin out as Mark closed the door. So he wanted to do this the hard way? Fine. Mark tossed his coat aside, kicked his boots off, stripped down, and then pounced.

Caden yelped and then glared up at him. “You can’t make me.”

“Wanna bet me?” Mark said as he leaned back and grabbed Caden’s shirt, ripping it open. Caden glared up at him, but didn’t say a word. Next Mark slid down his mate’s body, unsnapping his jeans and separating the flaps. When Caden didn’t lift his hips in assistance, Mark bent down and removed his shoes, and then practically ripped the jeans from his body.

“Still can’t make me,” Caden said, but his voice wasn’t as angry or as strong.

Mark reached into the side drawer and pulled out a dildo, tossing it on the bed. “We’ll see about that, pup.” Caden gave a low growl, making Mark’s cock jerk. He grabbed the lube, tossed it next to the toy, and flipped Caden onto his stomach.

Whether it was instinctive or because his mate knew he was wrong, Caden tucked his knees under him without saying a single word.

Mark would take that…for now. When this playtime was over, his mate was going to talk. He’d make damn sure of it.

Grabbing the lube, Mark squeezed the bottle, letting the gel coat his fingers. He set it aside and then ran his hand over Caden’s flared mounds before bending forward and licking a path from bottom to top of one soft mound.

Caden groaned.

Mark ran a finger up his mate’s crease and then separated the beautiful globes as his wet finger rimmed the tight muscle. When his mate bucked, Mark slid a finger inside of his warm channel.

“M–Mark.”

He smiled as he slid another in next to the first one and scissored his fingers, stretching his mate for their play. When three fingers moved around inside Caden’s ass, Mark pulled his hand free and then lubed the silicone toy.

As the dildo breached his mate, Mark watched in wonder. He knew that he would never tire of the sight. Caden had changed his life, his world, and made Mark the happiest man on the planet. He may be the alpha of the two, but he honestly hated when Caden was angry with him.

As the dildo slid all the way inside of Caden’s ass, Mark leaned down and ran his tongue over his mate’s sac. His hand slid under Caden, stroking his mate’s cock as Mark pushed and pulled the dildo in and out of his mate’s ass.

“Mark.” Caden groaned.

That was more like it. He wanted Caden to always call his name like that. He was determined to always make his pup feel that way.

Mark sucked one orb into his mouth, lapping at it as he fucked his mate’s ass with the toy. Caden pushed his ass back, meeting the dildo thrust for thrust.

Mark rose over his mate, removing the toy and replacing it with his lubed cock. He thrust deep, ramming his cock in to the hilt.

“Mark!”

His lip pulled back in a grin as he grabbed his mate’s sides, slamming into him over and over again. His cock was so hard that he felt like a battering ram against his mate’s soft skin.

“Come.”

Caden threw his head back and howled as his hole pulsed around Mark’s cock, milking it, pulling it deeper into his ass. Mark jetted into Caden, feeling the tight fist stroke his shaft until he was roaring his release, his body shattering as his orgasm exploded inside of him.

Mark pulled his flagging cock free and then pulled his mate close to his chest.

“Why didn’t you come pick me up when my truck broke down?” Caden asked as he cuddled close.

“Huh?”

* * * *

Ruttford laughed hysterically as the Caden clone trailed behind him. He had replaced Caden with a clone to fool Mark as he distracted the real Caden. The angry combustion between the couple as explosive.

It was a hoot!

A damn good prank!

Hell, he was funny!

God, it was good to be him. He snapped his fingers, the clone disappearing as he whistled and walked down the hallway.

Now where was Nero?

Gunnar and Nero

“Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock…” Nero hummed along to the song as he hitched his hips from side to side, looking through the box of Christmas decorations. He groaned when he pulled out the macramé of tangled cords. He could have sworn he folded them with extra care last year when he stored them.

Now he was going to go through the process of untangling the Christmas lights. He had no choice. His OCD would
not
allow him to walk away from this.

“What do you have there?” Dr. Nicholas asked as he walked into the library.

“It’s not right, not right at all.” Nero huffed as he dropped five piles of discombobulated cords onto the carpet. “I folded these nice and neat last year. Yes, I did.”

“Would you like some help?” Dr. Nicholas asked as he squatted down and pulled the first heap toward him. Nero cringed. It was his job to make this right, his job to uncoil the coiled. He ran a blue-gloved hand over the back of his neck.

“I swear I won’t touch you,” Dr. Nicholas said as he glanced over at Nero. “I kind of like untangling Christmas lights. It’s almost tradition.”

Tradition his ass. There was nothing Christmassy about tangled cords. Nero knelt by the second pile, sighing as he began his arduous task of making the cords look neat and pretty.

“We should plug them in as well to make sure all the bulbs work,” Nicholas commented as he tossed the cord this way and that, staring at it like it was a Rubik’s Cube. “How did they get so tangled?” That was what Nero wanted to know. He knew for a fact he never would have just thrown the lights into the box haphazardly. No, no, no. He would never have done that. Never.

“This string works,” Dr. Nicholas announced from across the room. Nero looked up to see the lighted string blinking. It wasn’t a pretty string of lights. More like a heap of sad lights giving off an SOS, but thank goodness for small favors.

“I think we may need reinforcements here, Nero. It’ll take forever to get these strings strung out properly.” Nero glanced at the other three piles and sighed. They looked more like they had been knotted all the way instead of just tangled.

Tossing the second pile down, Nero conceded. “Okay, but don’t ask Cecil or Blair.” They would never take the job seriously. Those two would only make matters worse, and probably make it into a game of who could drive Nero nuts the fastest.

Dr. Nicholas nodded. “Gotcha.”

Nero went back to his task, wondering if it was even worth it. If his OCD wasn’t riding him hard, he would just go out and buy all new lights. But it was, so he untwisted, unknotted, and stretched out the first cord. Pleased with himself, Nero grabbed the male end of the cord and plugged it in.

Nothing.

He scratched his head, unplugged it, and giggled when it began to blink for him in the most beautiful Christmas colors ever.

And then it went out.

Nero gave a soft growl as he unplugged it, and then plugged it in.

It began to blink once more.

“Okay, you go into the ‘have to find out what’s wrong with you’

pile,” Nero said as he laid the cord out nice and neat on the floor next to the bookcase.

“I hear you need rescuing,” Gabby said as he strolled into the library, setting his son down on his feet. Nero glanced at the toddler, wondering if this was such a good idea.

“I, uh...” He glanced over at the rest of the cords that still needed untangling. Nero tossed his hands up in defeat. “I do, I do,” he said and then watched in horror as Nevada ran over to the cord he had just untangled and grabbed it, running across the room and around the desk. “No!”

“That wasn’t very nice, Nevada,” Gabby scolded the toddler as he chased his son down.

Nero was ready to pull his hair out as he watched Gabby grab the cord and bunch it up in his fist as he grabbed the toddler with his other hand.

This was not happening!

“Sorry about that,” Gabby said as he handed the drool-laden cord back to Nero. He pinched it between his fingers, holding it as far from his body as humanly possible. “I–It’s okay.”

“I’m going to get him out of here. Sorry I couldn’t help.” Nero nodded, his eyes transfixed on the slobber smeared all over the prongs. He shuddered as he dropped the string of lights onto the carpet.

He needed a new pair of gloves.

And he needed to go
thank
Dr. Nicholas for sending him such helpful people.

Nero walked out of the library, holding his hands out in front of him as if they were an infectious disease as he made his way to his office where he had a whole stash of boxes filled with gloves.

As soon as he walked past his office door, Nero peeled the tainted gloves off of his hands and dropped them into the wastebasket. He walked into the bathroom and opened the cabinet doors where Gunnar had just stored a fresh supply.

He inhaled sharply when he saw the bare cupboard. “No!” He spun around, his head snapping back and forth, but he didn’t see a single box anywhere in sight. “No! No! No!” He raced from his office, holding his hands high so he wouldn’t touch anything as he ran as fast as he could to his bedroom. Nero reached the closed door and looked down at the handle in panic.

He was going to have to touch it in order to open it.

Nero yanked his shirt over his head, praying no one came along to see his half-naked form, and wrapped the fabric around his hand. He twisted the doorknob, but it was locked.

Oh hell, hell, hell
.

“Open up!” Nero shouted as he kicked the door with the tip of his shoe repeatedly. His hands felt like germs were spreading all over them like a plague out of control.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Gunny said as he came down the hallway.

“What has you so worked up, nutter?” Nero was going into nuclear meltdown mode, that was what.

“Gloves, I need gloves.” He shoved his naked hands in Gunny’s face.

“Gloves, gloves, gloves, gloves…”

“Okay, hang on,” Gunny said as he opened the bedroom door.

Nero looked down at the handle as his brows pulled together.

What the hell? He forgot about the mysteriously locked door and ran into the bathroom. “Give me a pair, gimme, gimme, gimme.”

“Uh, Nero.”

Oh, he didn’t like that tone. Not one bit. No, not at all.

“There aren’t any gloves in here.”

“
No!!!!!!”

Gunny threw his hands up, pushing his palms out repeatedly.

“Calm down, nutter. I’ll run to the store and grab some for you. Just sit on the bed and relax, babe.”

Nero nodded as he tried to pull in a lung full of air. Where in the hell were his gloves? Nero reached into the nightstand and grabbed his hand sanitizer. He dumped a large amount into his palm and tossed the bottle back into the drawer. He wrung his hands together, over and over again, forcing the sanitizer to do its job.

His nostrils started to burn from the alcohol, but he didn’t care.

Nero got up and walked to the door, looking outside in the hallway to see what was taking his mate so long. He’d been gone for two minutes already. Where the hell was he?

“Here you go,” Ricky said as he walked by and shoved a manuscript into Nero’s exposed hands. He screamed loudly as he dropped the germ-filled pages and ran in a circle, his hands once again feeling like they had the creepy crawlies.