Page 28 of Another Christmas from Hell

Shrugging it off, Cayley pulled out her phone and went over the itinerary that she’d made for today, noting all the things that she needed to do in order to check this off her list and once again found herself wondering why Bryce was following her to the park a minute later when she took the path that would lead to the old playground.

“What are you doing?” Cayley asked as she slipped her phone back into her pocket.

“Accepting your invitation,” Bryce said, sighing heavily as he reached over and steadied her when her foot caught on a patch of black ice.

“Thank you,” Cayley said before adding, “I don’t remember inviting you.”

“You did. It was deeply moving and left me fighting back tears,” he said dryly, making her lips twitch as they navigated the path that would take them past the old baseball fields.

“I’m sure it was,” she murmured in agreement. “There’s only one problem with that.”

“What’s that?” Bryce asked, glancing down at her.

“That would negate the whole point of doing this alone,” Cayley told him when she spotted the Winter Festival set up on the far side of the old fields that were covered in snow.

“And why is that?” Bryce asked as they approached the table set up at the entrance.

“Because your brother is a big jerk face,” Cayley said, nodding solemnly as she pulled her money out of her pocket and approached the woman, who looked bored out of her mind and bought her ticket.

“Fair enough,” Bryce said, shrugging it off as he paid for his ticket.

As soon as he had his ticket, Bryce was making his way inside and throwing, “Have fun,” over his shoulder and leaving her standing there, wondering why he was suddenly acting weird. Knowing that she would probably never find out, Cayley forced herself to focus as she glanced down at her watch and realized that she had some time to kill before the snowball fight.

For a moment, Cayley debated her options as she took in all the venders lined up on either side of the field, the gingerbread table, the Christmas carolers singingJingle Bellsby the back corner. After a moment, she decided to treat herself to a hot cocoa and go see what the venders had to offer, making mental notes of all the adorable things that she was going to have to come back for before she left and slowly made her way to the field sectioned off for the snowball fight.

Determined to kick some ass, Cayley waited in line to find out which team she was on and once she found out that she was on Team Rudolph, she was determined to kick Team Frosty’s ass. Switching out her gloves for her good mittens, she found a spot in the long line bordering one side of the field, absently noting that Bryce was on her team before she looked up and took in Team Frosty standing on the other side of the field and saw who was standing directly across from her.

“Oh, God, no…” Cayley mumbled weakly as she spotted the last person that she wanted to see with a snowball in his hand.

Sean.

Swallowing hard, Cayley moved to step back, deciding that perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea after all when Sean met her panicked gaze and winked, and God help her, but she saw her life flash before her eyes as panic took over and she remembered all those times when they were kids and-

She couldn’t do this.

She really couldn’t.

“I-I changed my mind,” Cayley whispered to nobody in particular as she moved to flee, only to have someone blow a whistle. Before she could blink, the first snowball hit her, slamming into her shoulder and making her grunt, which was quickly followed by another one as Sean slowly made his way across the field, his determined gaze, which she found deeply disturbing, focused solely only her.

“Maybe we could talk about this?” Cayley asked even as she dropped to her knees and-

“Damn it.”

-was hit with another snowball as she scrambled to make a snowball, knowing that it was her only hope and-

“Oh, come on!” Cayley snapped when the jerk hit the snowball that she was making out of her hand with another snowball.

God, she hated him, Cayley thought, licking her lips nervously as she rushed to make another snowball while she watched as Sean leaned down with a bored sigh, scooped up snow in his hands and made a snowball as he walked towards her with a smile on his face that told her that this wasn’t going to end well. Granted, she figured that out for herself when she spotted him a few minutes ago, but now, she knew that she wasn’t leaving this park the same.

Cayley opened her mouth, but no sound came out as she watched in terror as Sean locked his eyes on her as he raised his hand and-

“Shit!”

-was slammed in the chest with a snowball the same time that a large man stepped in front of her. It took her a moment to realize who it was, but as soon as he held his hand back in silent demand, Cayley moved her ass. She quickly made a snowball and placed it in Bryce’s hand. Seconds later, she heard a pained grunt and quickly made another one when his hand returned for more.

For several minutes, Cayley knelt on the ground making snowballs to take down her best friend and just as quickly handed them to the man that she’d spent most of her life avoiding. As she did her best to keep up with the demand, she peeked around Bryce’s legs just as the screams for mercy started.

“Stop!”

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