Page 72 of Knot what I want for Christmas
“Happy Christmas, Hollie!” Annie squeals at me down the line when I answer. “I’ve got the best news.”
“Happy Christmas,” I squeak back, really hoping the guilt isn’t obvious in my voice. “What news?”
“Old Samuel – he has a snow plow, and he heard about the fact you’re stuck at the ranch without us on Christmas Day, and he’s clearing the path for us. We’re nearly home. About five minutes away.”
“Five minutes?” I gulp. I wasn’t expecting my best friend home today. I was expecting more time to work out in my head what I was going to tell her. To come up with a plan and a story and possibly some self-defense moves in case she decides to attack me.
“So what have you been up to? What have you been doing?”
“What have I been doing?” I repeat.
“Yeah,” she says, “while I’ve been gone.”
Panic spirals through my body and my brain completely blanks. The only seriously unhelpful thing that springs to mind is –your brother, I’ve been doing your brother. Not helpful one bit. I squeeze my eyes and try to think of something else.
Think of an excuse. Think of an excuse quickly, Hollie.
But nothing comes to mind. Nothing at all. So I do what any sensible 30-year-old would do in this situation: I pretend the line has gone dead and hang up the phone. My arms shake as I stare at the screen, which lights up almost immediately and starts buzzing again.
“Shit,” I mutter. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.”
It’s at this moment that the three very hot alphas come strolling inside the house.
“What’s wrong?” Clay asks.
“Annie!” I screech, shaking the phone in his direction.
“Why don’t you answer it?” Nash says.
“She wants to know what I’ve been doing since she’s been gone. And I can’t tell her – not over the phone anyway. Althoughmaybe that might be safer considering she’s going to kill me. Ahhhh. What should I do?”
“Give the phone to me,” Clay says.
“Oh my God.” I clutch it to my chest. “What are you going to do? What are you going to tell her? She’s going to hate me. She’s going to disown me as her best friend. And it’s Christmas too.”
“She’s not going to disown you, Hollie.”
“I’ve broken Girl Code. Of course she’s going to disown me.”
Clay ignores my panic, holds out his hand, giving me a stern look – all raised eyebrows and set jaw. He’s pretty irresistible that way. I’d do anything he said, including sinking to my knees and sucking on his cock. But I think what he wants right now is my cell phone, so I hand it over. He answers it and brings it up to his ear.
“Hello, Annie. Happy Christmas.” Silence. “We brought her back to the cabin. We thought it would be best that she wasn’t on her own during the snowstorm.”
I can hear Annie’s rambling voice from the other end of the phone. High-pitched, hyper, and real damn fast. That probably means she isn’t buying this.
“We’ll see you soon,” he says, and then he hangs up.
“She knows,” I say.
“She doesn’t know,” Clay says.
“But you’re going to tell her, right?” Nash asks.
“Oh God!” I tumble down onto the nearest armchair, bring my knees up to my chest, wrap my arms around my legs, and bury my head in my lap.
“Are you having second thoughts?” Clay asks.
“No,” I mutter.
