Page 20 of Razor
Nick
Christmas sucked. Sure, that made him sound like Scrooge every time he said those two words out loud, but he just couldn’t help himself. Growing up in the foster care system left him with very little joy for a holiday that was supposed to be “Joyous.”
He tried to fly under the radar during the holidays, but that never seemed to work in his favor either. Starting the day after Thanksgiving, he lay low. He’d go to his day job as a forensic scientist, and at night, he’d go home instead of going into the Road Reapers to hang out with his club. He hated not seeing his friends, and when they started calling him, he had to come up with some pretty damn good excuses—especially when he missed church. Missing church meant breaking his club’s number one rule—which was that you didn’t miss church. His club’s Prez, Mace, had plenty to say about him missing church, and he knew that using the whole “I’m sick” excuse wasn’t going to work again.
So, when Mace showed up at his lab, while he was working on a case, he knew that avoiding his Prez, or Christmas, wasn’t going to happen. Mace cleared his throat, and Nick wanted togroan out loud but knew that wouldn’t end well for him. Neither would ignoring his Prez.
“You busy?” Mace asked.
“Yes,” Nick admitted, holding up his gloved hands and then pointing up at his safety glasses. “I’m working on a murder case, and I have to analyze this evidence by day's end.” Well, so far, so good because none of that was a lie.
Mace chuckled and crossed the lab to sit down at Nick’s desk, making himself comfortable. He knew that his Prez wasn’t one to give up easily. Nick sighed and pulled off his latex gloves, tossing them onto the metal table in front of him.
“So, we’re doing this then?” Nick asked. He knew that sooner or later, he’d have to admit to Mace and maybe even the guys that he wasn’t a fan of Christmas.
He was new to his club and really hadn’t shared much with the other guys. In fact, he mostly kept to himself because answering questions about his past made him uncomfortable. His past was his business, and only a few of his closest friends and family knew the truth about him, never knowing his parents and growing up in the foster care system.
When he was in his early twenties, he really tried to sell the whole tough biker persona and hid behind his mask to conceal the fact that he was so alone. After a while, he realized that the tough biker persona wasn’t a front anymore. Instead, it became who he was, and he had to admit, the science nerd inside of him kind of liked the way that people looked at him when he rode his bike. He felt like a badass, but telling his secrets to anyone wasn’t something that he was ready to do.
“I have time,” Mace said, “so you can make time.” He hated it when Mace pulled rank on him. As the club’s Treasurer, most of the guys could pull rank on him.
It wasn’t something that he planned on getting involved in—becoming the Treasurer. But when the guys found out thathe was a scientist, they put him up for the position and voted him in before he even knew what was happening. He tried to explain that being a scientist didn’t mean that he was also an accountant, but none of them seemed to care about that technicality. It was probably why Mace wanted him at church every week—to give his report to the guys, and from the look on his face, he wasn’t going to let Nick slide anymore.
“Okay,” Nick said, “what can I do for you?” He sat on the edge of his desk, already knowing what Mace was about to say.
“I need you back at church,” he said.
“I kind of had a feeling that you’d say that,” Nick admitted.
“Then why come up with all the stupid excuses? If you had just shown up for church, like you’re supposed to, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and I wouldn’t be interrupting your work.”
“It’s not that easy,” Nick insisted.
“Why not?” Mace asked. “And please don’t feed me some bullshit excuse about you not being well, and all that shit. I’m betting if I asked around your office, they’d tell me that you haven’t missed any work due to illness lately.” Mace wasn’t going to play fair, and the truth was all Nick had left.
“I hate Christmas,” he admitted. There, it was out there, and he had to admit, telling Mace the truth wasn’t so bad—until his Prez started laughing. He didn’t stop either, even throwing in a few pointing gestures that had Nick wanting to kick him out of his lab.
“Listen, Mace,” Nick growled, “I don’t have time for this shit, so can you please cut to the chase?”
Mace sobered some, still wearing a goofy grin. “Fine, I’m just not sure that I’ve ever met anyone who admittedly hated Christmas. And I’m not sure what your hatred for Christmas has to do with you not showing up at church.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Nick said. “The bar looks like Christmas exploded in there. You’re constantly having Christmas parties, and if I’m not mistaken, you’re about to have a party for the bikers’ kids, and that’s the last thing that I want to be a part of.”
“Dude, I understand that last part, but Brooke insisted on a party for the club’s kids. And the last thing that I want to do is go up against my wife, Nick. And that brings me to the reason why I’ve tracked you down at work,” he said. Nick didn’t like the sound of that, and he was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to like what Mace was about to say next.
“Here, I thought it was because you missed me,” Nick teased.
“That’s partially true,” Mace admitted. “I need you at church. You’ll have to ignore the Christmas decorations, since my wife put all that shit up too, but I expect to see you at church Wednesday night.” Nick was waiting for the other shoe to drop and Mace to tell him the real reason why he had tracked him down.
“And,” Nick said.
“And I need you to play Santa at the kids’ Christmas party. You’re perfect for the part, and well, you’re a single guy without a kid, so you won’t be attending the party.” He didn’t need Mace to remind him that he didn’t have a family. Hell, he never had a family, but in his wildest dreams, he could see himself with a wife and kids—maybe even a dog. But that was just a far-fetched fantasy.
“No,” Nick simply said.
“What the hell did you say?” Mace asked.
“No, I won’t do it,” Nick repeated.
