Page 29 of Tinsel & Chrome

“You are the only one to call me Hols other than my sister,” I smile and follow him across the room to a setup that could compete with any restaurant or bar I’ve been to. “I have water. I’m not an alcohol drinker. And I’ve had enough caffeine today to kickstart a dead person’s heart.”

He snorts and hands me a bottled water. “They won’t be back there long.”

“How do you know that?”

“You caused the same effect on me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Yeah, I get that. So did they.”

What age do women have to get to understand men? And why can’t they say what they mean?

As I open my water and take a drink, footsteps from the back can be heard. I look toward the doorway as the six return.

Hardware’s eyes fall on me. “Not sure how we are going to do it. But we’ll help.”

My eyes fill as an imaginary weight is lifted off my shoulders. I had carried the weight for over a month from the moment I heard my sister’s name spoken.

“Whoa, whoa. No crying in the goddamn clubhouse,” Hardware shouts, and I can’t stop the laugh bubbling up and eventually out.

Good grief, these men are something else.

“I knew it. Same effect.”

I glance at Alaric. “Still don’t understand what that means.”

“I know, babe. I know.” I follow him with my eyes as he walks across the room shaking his head.

Yep, never going to understand men.

I sit and listen as the men talk and joke with each other. It doesn’t take long to figure out why they use the term brother. They are closer than if they shared the same blood.

As Alaric leads me to the door to leave, Hardware tells him to bring me to the Christmas party next weekend.

“Hey, Holiday. What would a woman consider the ultimate present?” asks one of the men whose name I can’t recall.

“For me, it’d be a man standing by the tree wrapped in nothing but tinsel.” I slap my hand over my mouth and look up at Alaric.

“Yeah, you said it out loud.”

I exit the clubhouse with laughter following behind and my face on fire from embarrassment.

Alaric insists on walking me to my door, and when I open it and turn to tell him thank you for everything, he places my face in his hands and leans down and kisses my forehead.

Stunned into silence, I just stand there until I feel his hand on my shoulder. He turns me around, gives a tiny shove and then shuts the door.

“Lock up, babe. See you next week,” comes from the other side of the door, and then I listen to his footsteps fade.

What the hell just happened?

Chapter Five

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Deal

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