Page 29 of Another Christmas from Hell

“What the hell is your problem? I’m your brother, damn it!”

“Why are you being so mean to me?”

And finally…

“I’m telling!” Sean snapped as Cayley placed the last snowball in Bryce’s hand as she found herself really glad that she wore her good mittens today.

* * *

“I’m telling!”Sean snapped as he got to his feet while Bryce shifted his attention to Cayley, hoping that she’d finally had enough for one day only to feel his lips twitch when she pulled her arm back and sent a snowball flying, hitting Sean between his shoulders and-

“We should probably go get a cup of hot cocoa,” Cayley said, licking her lips nervously as she blindly reached over and took his hand in hers, her panicked gaze never leaving his brother as she dragged him back towards the venders set up on the other side of the park.

“Or we could go home?” Bryce murmured absently, unable to help but notice how perfectly her hand fit in his.

“I still need to make a snowman,” Cayley said, but she looked torn, really fucking torn, which, of course, worked for him.

“You could always do that later after you’ve warmed up,” Bryce suggested, watching the way that she worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she thought it over and-

“No, I have to see this through,” Cayley said, and with that, she let go of his hand and walked ahead, looking more determined with every step while he stood there, wondering why he never realized just how selfish the little brat was until now.

It was barely thirty degrees out and she just pulled her hand away without a second thought for his safety, taking away a much-needed source of warmth and left him standing there, helpless against hypothermia. That was the reason why he was pissed, Bryce told himself as he followed after her and not because he liked holding her hand.

He didn’t.

Not one fucking bit, Bryce thought as he shoved his hands in his coat pockets and went after her, deciding that he’d had enough for one day. He caught up to her just as she found her way to the boxes filled with snowman accessories. He opened his mouth to tell her that he was going home when two little girls sporting matching braids stepped in front of him, blocking him from getting to Cayley.

“You’re too old to do this,” the little blonde girl said with a look of disgust that had his eyes narrowing.

“Yeah, like, you’rereallyold,” the little brunette said, backing up her friend as they folded their arms over their chests and glared up at him.

“Besides, your snowman will probably suck anyway,” the little blonde demon said with a snort as Bryce stood there, glaring down at the little bullies.

“Right? That’s what I was gonna say,” the little brunette said, sending him another look of disgust. “I bet he doesn’t even know how to build a snowman.”

“Besides, you’re just wasting your time anyway. We win every year,” the little blonde girl said with a pitying look that had him grinding his jaw.

“Every. Year,” the brunette said with a glare that dared him to get in her way.

“Not this year,” Bryce bit out, more determined than ever to build a fucking snowman.

* * *

“Maybe we should-”Cayley started to suggest, only to quickly close her mouth when the man that had clearly lost his damn mind leveled another glare on her that had her swallowing hard even as she discreetly took a step back to get out of the crazed man’s way.

Bryce glared at her for another minute before he nodded to himself, something that he’d been doing a lot over the past hour, and started pushing the insanely large snowball towards the snowman that had once been hers. Without a word, he nodded to Sean, who looked just as determined as he was to win this thing, and the two of them picked up the huge snowball that had to weigh more than she did and placed it on the first ball, only to follow that with the large snowball that Sean made for the head.

That was followed by both brothers glaring at the two adorable little girls wearing matching snowsuits. Cayley still wasn’t sure what happened, one minute, she was debating between a blue scarf and a black scarf, and the next…

“You call this a carrot?” Sean demanded, snorting in disgust as he rummaged through the accessories she’d picked out for her snowman.

“Well, I-”

“Must I do everything myself?” Sean demanded, shaking his head in disgust as he tossed her carrot aside and made his way back to the boxes of carrots someone donated, leaving her standing there, deciding that she’d definitely had enough for one day.

Decision made, Cayley moved to turn around when she suddenly found her scarf pulled free. “This will work,” Bryce murmured absently with a firm nod as he turned around and made his way back to the freakishly large snowman.

That was followed by Sean plucking the pieces of coal that she’d picked out for the eyes out of her pocket, tossing them aside with another snort of disgust, and gesturing for her to get out of his way. More than happy to do just that, Cayley turned around and-

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