Page 2 of A Beginner's Guide to Christmas Miracles
Nach’s mouth might have fallen open.
“I’m Adam. We’re, like, soulmates or whatever. And you are…” he trailed off, staring expectantly at Nach.
“Nachielus,” Nach admitted.
“Nicholas!” Adam blurted, leaning forward and grinning ear to ear.
Nach just sighed. “Nah-kee-el-us,” he pronounced slowly.
“Well,” Adam said, leaning back. “I can certainly see how people thought it sounded like Nicholas. Your totally sexy, gruff daddy voice probably didn’t help. I never really had a thing for Santa, but you could totally make me change my mind on that.”
Adam actually fanned himself then, at which point Minos growled, at which point Adam leaned over and started kissing the demon. Quite thoroughly.
Nach turned away, embarrassed. (Also maybe a wee bit turned on, because really, it was like watching live porn seeing how the two of them were devouring each other. And yes, Nach knew what porn was. He’d spent enough time topside, although he hadn’t actuallyreallywatched it. Of course.)
When the soft little moans and kissing sounds died down, Adam piped in again. “Santa, you look a little bummed out. Isn’t this, like, your time of year?”
Nach sighed again, reaching out toward the whiskey. “I’ve been banned from going topside,” he admitted. “The whole… Saint Nick thing wasn’t approved or sanctioned, and I got into a bit of trouble over it. Not that I ever claimed to be a saint or even an angel,” he grumbled.
“Management threatened him over it,” Minos scowled.
Adam gasped. “Aw hell no!” he cried out. “The world needs Santa! You’re like… magical and shit. And that’s totally an angelic thing. You go right ahead and go topside and do what you do, Santa, and fuck the management team. We’ll take care of them. We’re restructuring, you know. We got approval from the head honchos—god and the devil both gave us permission to make some changes in how things are run. We got your back.”
Nach looked at Minos, who just nodded his head.
The last time Nach had listened to a demon’s advice, it hadn’t ended well for him. But if he had to go back upstairs and do more paperwork, or listen to one more mocking whisper when theyknewhe could hear them, or sit through one more meeting that went over how to mitigate the “unfortunate solstice incidenta certain angelhad created,” he was going to lose his mind.
CHAPTER2
Beckett
Beck pulleda tray of cookies out of the oven, loudly singing along with the Christmas carols blasting. He had on his fuzzy snowman socks, his Santa pajama pants, and a bright red t-shirt that said “Believe” with a Santa hat over the script B.
He was so excited that it wasfinallytime for Christmas. Not that he hadn’t been listening to Christmas carols and pulling out his Christmas gear since before Halloween. Some grumpy Scrooges, however, thought that was too early (as if it was ever too early for Christmas).
He placed the tray on the center kitchen island, inhaling deeply at the smell of the sugary, vanilla sweetness wafting from the cookies. He danced his way around the kitchen island to grab the bowl of icing he had pre-made on the kitchen table.
“For fuck’s sake, shut that shit off. It is way to fucking early for that,” he heard his roommate grumble.
He looked over to see Alan wearing plain black pajama pants and a gray t-shirt. Boring. He looked up at the clock then, squinting.
“It’s almost nine in the morning, Alan. You’re always up by now,” Beck answered.
“Echo, shut off,” Alan said, but the carols just kept playing. “ECHO, SHUT OFF,” he said even louder.
Beck couldn’t help it; he giggled. Alan shot him a dirty look.
“Santa, volume three,” Beck said, and the music volume lowered to a manageable level.
“For fuck’s sake, tell me you didn’t rename the devices,” Alan grumbled.
“Yup!” Beck replied, carrying the icing over to the cookies. “And it isofficiallyChristmas, so I no longer need to listen to my carols on my earbuds.”
“You think it’s officially Christmas in July, too. And the outdoor decorations have been up for weeks. It’s a little too much Christmas,” Alan grumbled, walking over toward the cookies.
Beck gasped, hand to his heart. “There isnevertoo much Christmas,” he defended. “Christmas in July is totally a thing! And it was only smart to hang the lights when we had warm weather! Most of the decorations aren’t even out yet!”
Alan reached his hand out to grab a cookie, and Beck slapped it away, adding, “Besides, you told me I had to wait until after Thanksgiving to go full Christmas mode. Itisafter Thanksgiving.”
