Page 13 of Festive

Rebel shakes her head, leaning in and pressing her lips to mine. “I love you.”

“I love…” I pause, and smirk at her, bringing the gingerbread back up to my mouth and taking a bite, “… your cookies,” I tease with my mouthful.

She scoffs, pulling back from me, though she’s smiling, knowing I am joking. “Asshole. Fine. Eat your cookie.”

I reach out and pull her back to me, pressing my lips to hers more forcefully this time.

I fucking love my Old Lady.

I don’t care who knows it.

“Ahem!” Someone interrupts, and regrettably, I pull back from Rebel, turning to see Amber standing beside us with Kenna.

We separate quickly and straighten ourselves out.

“Daddy! Amber said I should show you my drawing.”

Rebel scowls at Amber, but I squat down to Kenna and grab her drawing. “Okay, firefly, what have you got for me?”

She brings up the piece of paper, and from what I can tell, it’s a drawing of Kenna, Kinzley, Rebel, and me, but then there’sa woman next to me holding my hand. My stomach churns as I glance at Amber, an uneasiness washing over me. “Kenna, can you tell me who these people are?”

She giggles. “Of course, silly, that’s Kinz, and me, that’s Mama, and that’s you and your friend, Snow White.”

My eyes bug out of my head while standing abruptly, turning to look at Rebel, not really knowing what to say.

“I thought you might like to see this,” Amber states, and I dip my head.

“Yeah, definitely. Thank you, Amber… Kenna, what makes you think I have a friend called Snow White?”

She shrugs. “I hear some of the guys around here talking about her sometimes. I mean, I have never seen her, but I think it’sreeealcool that you know her, Daddy. She’s super pretty in the picture books.”

Fuck.

If she goes to school or anywhere, for that matter, telling people we’re hiding Snow White out at the clubhouse, every-damn-thing could turn to shit. Our whole operation could go up in smoke.

“Kenna, the thing is, Snow White, she’s very special. And if anyone found out about her outside of the clubhouse, anyone at all, she would be ina lotof trouble.”

“That’s why she hides?” Kenna asks, her eyes wide in curiosity.

Rebel nods. “Yes, sweetheart, she has to hide to keep herself safe from the evil people, the bad guys.”

“Like the Evil Queen?”

I smirk at how young and naïve my daughter really is sometimes. “Yeah, Kenna. We have to keep her safe. Can you do that? You can’t tell anyone that Snow White is here, not your friends at school, and especially not the teachers. No one.”

She zips up her mouth like she is keeping it sealed, thenpretends to throw the key to the floor and then stomps on it for good measure.

I exhale. She sure is a firecracker, my daughter.

“Secret’s safe with me, Daddy. Can I put my drawing on the fridge, though?”

I snort. “Yeah, firefly, go on.”

She bounces on her toes and then runs off in excitement. Amber goes to take off after her, and I reach out to grab her arm. Her big eyes turn to me, full of hope, and I quickly remove my hand as I dip my head at her. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. You did good, Amber.”

A slight flush crosses her cheeks when she smiles, then takes off after Kenna.

I shift my eyes to Rebel and widen them. “Jesus Christ,” I murmur.

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