Page 42 of Screwged for Christmas

Gracie is pensive for several seconds and for a moment I think she’s going to brush off Pandora’s dare.

“I’m working two jobs. I love one and loathe the other. I mean, who wants to be a barista forever, right? But the girl I nanny for part-time is an angel. She makes me forget not having anyone at home waiting for me this time of year. And he—Logan Sterling—he makes me wish happily-ever-afters were meant for everyday folks like myself. So, my wish is for a white Christmas and to spend it with my boss. I want it to be sexy, too. Not just a working Christmas. I’ll take one night, even. I’m not picky. Not that it will happen. I mean it’s Christmas Eve already, right?”

She sighs heavily and I wrap an arm around my friend.

Pandora raises her glass and says, “Love! Isn’t that what it’s all about? May your wishes come true, sugahs! That’s something to drink to!”

In one long gulp we all finish our drinks. And just in time too. My phone goes off seconds before Gracie’s does and our realities barge in with the fierceness of a Nor’easter.

“So much for Christmas wishes.”

I feel the weight of my friend’s words.

For once I wish magic was real.

CHAPTER 2

ARON

People look at me and see the successful football player turned sports doctor. The multi-millionaire who has everything he wants. But what they fail to see is that I’m the poorest fucker on this planet right now and my chest is ready to explode with the confining bands constricting around me.

Without her, I’m nothing more than a shell of who I could be. I have been for a while now.

And I’m about to lose her to another man.

She’s my heart, my desire, my obsession.

Noella Montgomery.

The sweetest soul in the universe and with a heart made of the purest light. Beautiful as fresh snow and full of life.

I didn’t come from a poor family by any means, but not being of the Montgomery caliber I might as well have. Years of playing pro ball changed my social status to the next level and I’m now sitting comfortably, but honestly, take my riches, my degrees... take everything. They offer nothing but a hollow life anyway without her by my side. If this were a movie on the big screen there would be some deep story behind why I left home and never came back. Truth is, I was too busy chasing fame and fortune thinking it was the only way to have a chance at having Noella in my life.

Then a year ago my mother called me with the news that I’d waited too long.

At first, I denied the stirring of feelings inside me, but it came to the point where I couldn’t focus or think straight. Moving on turned out to be harder than it looked in all those sappy romance movies my sister likes to watch. But since this is real life and not some fucking rom-com where everything turns out peachy in the end, I’m taking matters into my own hands and rewriting the ending.

This isn’t a sweeping story of budding love and sweet whispered nothings over bouquets of flowers. Go somewhere else for that shit. What I’m about to do will rock some boats and leave a few mouths hitting the floor when the gossip hits the rounds and the tabloids get a hold of the news.

Maybe even tarnish the impeccable Montgomery name.

This is a story of doing what’s right even when everything about it is so fucked up and as wrong as it gets.

I look around me at all of Noella’s family and friends gathered to celebrate the joining of the Montgomery’s and the O’Malley’s. Glittering tinsel, wreaths with those tiny red berries and pine-scented everything is hanging from the pews. Lights and news crews are set up in the corner. It’s the event of the century—two powerful families uniting. It is beautiful and how I picture my own wedding one day. With her as mine.

But then, I notice the fidgety groom-to-be in his perfectly tailored tuxedo and all my muscles tighten. I grind my jaw at the sight of another man being the one to marry my woman.

Anger slices through me and I begin to move through the throng of people standing between me and the woman I’m meant to claim.

Perfect organ music starts up and I curse under my breath.

“Aron, where are you going? The wedding is starting.”

I’ve been through this a million times in my head since knotting off my bow tie an hour ago.

I pat my mother’s hand softly. “I know, mom. I won’t be long.” Which isn’t a lie. Now that I am moving, nothing can stop me.

I make it to the back of the church and burst through the first set of doors. In a few strides, I cross the hall and make a quick left to the bridal chambers perfectly positioned for making a dramatic entrance.

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