Page 44 of Santa's Wish
"I brought you down here to chill while the rest of the crowd clears," Greed said. "You don't have to try out the coffin with your choir boy if you don't want, but we'd like you to stay."
"You were trying to distract me with the coffin?" Santa's laugh sounded bitter.
"Look, I've known you for years, and all I really know about you is that you enjoy sex. Lots and lots of sex." Greed gave a slight shrug and stuck out her bottom lip in an exaggerated pout.
"Maybe the reason I invent all these cool props is that I'm bored to death with it." Santa looked assurprised as his friends at his revelation. He glanced at me and then drained the rest of his cup. "We should go."
"No," Greed said. "You don't get to drop that bomb on us and leave. Sit down." She led us over to the couch.
Santa sank onto the cushions and pulled me down on his lap. He kissed my temple, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, too afraid that he would disappear on me if I let him go.
"Let the blood work for fifteen minutes," Greed said. "I'll have Dr. Bredlow check on you then. If you're still feeling out of sorts, they'll know what to do."
"This isn't me feeling out of sorts," Santa insisted.
"You're coming up on a big birthday," Harley said. "I remember how it was. You start to question everything in your life. That's perfectly normal."
"That's not what I'm doing!" Santa's voice was loud enough to make my ears ring. He kissed my ear, and then my cheek. "I'm sorry."
"What is it, then?" Key kneeled by the arm of the couch. "You can tell us."
"I don't know."
"Do you want me to give you time to think it through?" I asked.
He tugged me closer on his lap and settled me against his chest. "No. Please. I don't want you to go."
"There's your answer," Harley said to Key. "He's going to be fine."
They sat around the sectional and Ithande pulled out a board game we could all play. The conversation went on around us for a few minutes, and then Santa shifted me to sit beside him. Ithande read the rules aloud to us, but we still clarified at every turn. Soon, it was after midnight and Santa was smiling and laughing along with his friends.
"You cheated!" Ithande shouted as two cards fell from between Greed's breasts onto the table.
"It's not my fault you weren't looking," Greed said. "All I wanted was for you to look at the girls."
Ithande barked a laugh, and we all laughed with her. "You are absolutely ridiculous." She wiped her eyes. "Redraw all five cards from the deck, and you lose a turn."
"Harsh!" Greed did as she was told and left the couch to sit on the floor beside Ithande. They cuddled closer and closer as the game progressed until Ithande was sitting in Greed's lap with her head on Greed's shoulder.
I rested my head on Santa's shoulder between rounds, but the game held my interest. It was fast and fun but hard to win. After several returns to the beginning of the map for each of us, Harley and Key declared Santa the winner, since he was closest to the end.
"You let him win so he could leave," Greed pouted.
"Look at them," Key whispered as Santa gazed into my eyes. "They're perfect for each other."
"You don't even know me," I said, not bothering to look at them. Santa's face filled my vision, so near he was a little blurry, even with my glasses.
"You're unlike anyone we've ever met," Greed said. "That's enough to know you're not like the rest of the jerks who can't see past Santa's walls to the softie behind them."
"I'm no softie." Santa nipped at my lip. "I think I like you, though." He kissed the tip of my nose.
"I like you, too."
"Time to get the doc, and then you two can get a room." Greed clapped her hands and everyone moved at once. Ithande tucked the board game away while Key and Harley led us back to the stairway. Greed zipped ahead at vampire speed, and she and the doctor met us on the stairs. They let us walk up to the landing before Dr. Bredlow examined Santa's eyes again and took a sip of his blood from his punctured index finger.
"Have you fed from Boz?" they asked.
"No." I couldn't tell whether Santa was more disgusted or offended by the question.
