Beautiful Beast(42)

‘Right.’

She cups her hand over my ear and whispers, ‘Don’t tell anyone, Uncle Shane, but I woke up early and sneaked downstairs when everybody was still sleeping, and opened all my presents.’ She claps her hands. ‘And then I closed them all back.’

‘So you know exactly what you’ve got for Christmas?’ I ask, amazed that she actually did that. Even I never did something like that at her age.

She nods happily.

‘So what will you do when you open your presents later and everybody looks at you?’

‘Pretend to be surprised and happy,’ she says coolly.

I have to laugh. ‘Show me your surprised and happy face,’ I ask.

She opens up her eyes, drops her jaw, and smacks her cheeks with her palms while managing to look like she is grinning. ‘Yeah, that’ll work.’

She makes her face normal again. ‘Did Santa leave you presents?’

‘He gave me mine early this year.’

She crosses her little arms over her chest. ‘What did he give you?’

‘He gave me a wife.’

She frowns and looks at me as if I am stupid. ‘Auntie Snow is not a present. A present is like a real thing. Like a toy or a doll.’

‘That’s true. Maybe he’s left one under the tree for me.’

She slips off my lap. ‘I’ll go and look for you, OK?’

‘OK, but don’t peek.’

She shakes her head solemnly. ‘No, I only peek at my own presents.’

At the front door, I hear Layla, BJ’s and Tommy’s voices wishing my mother a merry Christmas. Liliana forgets about looking for a present for me, and rushes off to the front door. Jake returns from the garage where my mother keeps her fridge, carrying two bottles of whiskey. It has started snowing and there are snowflakes on his hair and shoulders. He sets the bottles on the table.

‘What time will Dom be here?’ he asks.

I look at my watch. ‘Anytime now.’

At that moment BJ and Layla come through the door. BJ is holding a baby carrier. The room fills with the sound of us wishing each other a merry Christmas. A pink-nosed Layla kisses both Jake and I and then disappears off to the kitchen to see what the women are up to.

BJ leaves the baby carrier on the floor by the chair next to me and collapses into the chair. ‘Where’s the fucking alcohol?’ he asks.

I laugh and Jake pours out whiskey for us all. Before we can take a sip, Dom and Ella arrive. Ella is carrying their little boy, Noah. Jake pours another glass. Again the room fills with sounds of Christmas greetings.

‘You guys started without me,’ Dom complains, as Ella goes out with Noah.

‘Nope,’ Jake says and pushes a glass into his hand.

We raise our glasses. ‘May it always be this good,’ Jake says.

And we drink. Life is good.



Just before lunch, Snow comes up to me. ‘I’ve got a surprise present for you,’ she says, her eyes shining.

‘I thought I got mine last night?’ I tease.

‘This is better.’

I raise my eyebrows. ‘Better than the one I got last night?’

‘Much,’ she says, her eyes sparkling.

She puts her hand out, I take it, and let her lead me. She pulls me upstairs to my mother’s guest bedroom.

‘Are you ready?’

I guide her hand to my crotch. ‘Is that ready enough for you?’

She gasps and says sternly, ‘It’s not that kind of present.’

‘Well, then it can’t be better than last night’s.’

‘Shane?’ she whispers.

‘Yes’

‘Don’t spoil it.’

I put my hands up in surrender.

She opens the door and we enter … and a male German shepherd puppy is sitting inside a large metal cage.’

‘Merry Christmas,’ she shouts.

I turn my head to look at her. ‘This is my present?’

‘Yes, isn’t he wonderful?’ she enthuses ignoring my unenthusiastic tone.

‘So my present is a dog from your favorite breed?’ I ask.

‘Yes,’ she says blithely, and goes to open the cage door. The dog immediately jumps all over her excitedly. And I can see that she is dying to pick him up, but she doesn’t.

‘Have you any suggestions for a name for him?’ she asks instead.

I shrug.

‘You could call him Ghengis … if you want to,’ she suggests.

I turn away from her and say, ‘Ghengis.’

The dog immediately looks at me with its bright, intelligent eyes.

I turn to her. ‘How strange. He seems to answer to that name.’

She bites her lip. ‘I might have called him by that name once or twice,’ she admits.

‘So, how long have you had him?’

‘I’ve been keeping him here secretly for the last two weeks. I wanted to house train him before I gave him to you. I know the apartment is too small for him, but we’ll be moving to our new house in two months, right? And Chitra will be coming to stay with us so she can help take care of him too.’

‘Right.’

‘See how perfect it is?’

I smile. ‘How old is he?’

‘They’re not sure because he was abandoned, but he’s about four months. Look what he can do, though,’ she says scooping the bundle of excited fur up in her arms. She takes a treat out of her pants pocket and holds it in front of his nose.

‘Off,’ she says and the puppy stills.

‘Look in my eyes,’ she says firmly, and the puppy immediately ignores the treat and looks into her eyes.

‘Take,’ she orders, and the puppy immediately gobbles down the treat.

‘Good boy,’ she approves. She brushes her chin against his head and looks at me. ‘You can teach him so many other things.’

I grin. God I love this woman so much I could eat her. She just solved my biggest problem. Here is the bodyguard that I was looking for. I will train him myself. This dog will go everywhere she goes and be her protector when I am not around.

SHANE

Christmas Night

I get back from the toilet and there is a dark shadow on my side of the bed. I go closer and it raises its head and gives a low growl.

‘What the fuck?’ I swear.

I hear a giggle from Snow’s side of the bed.

I switch on the light and Snow has her head buried under the cover, trying to stop herself from laughing, but her shoulders are shaking silently. On my side of the bed, Genghis has his teeth bared and his eyes are downright frosty. It looks quite comical. Then Snow pops her head out of the blanket and she is laughing behind her hands.

Suddenly I freeze with the realization of how precious this moment is. I wish that I could hold it for a hundred years. My four-month-old, usurper puppy trying to claim my woman for himself, and my woman giggling like the most beautiful, carefree child.

But I know the puppy will become a loyal dog, the giggling beauty will become a woman who will have my children, the dog will die, and the woman will become old, wrinkled and frail.

And then we’ll all become a fistful of dust.

But today … my cock is throbbing with hot blood and I am king of my empire of dirt.

I chase the dog away, rip open my dressing gown, and claim the woman. A big cock wrapped up in a ribbon and a bow is extremely difficult to resist.

The dog is too young to know: the second mouse always gets the cheese.

The End.





Dear Reader,

Thank you for purchasing/borrowing this book. It is an honor that I very much appreciate. The Edens, BJ Pilkingon, and Zane wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

If you are interested in reading Zane’s story, it will be coming after Gold Digger.

Merry Christmas Everybody. :-)

xxGeorgia





CRYSTAL JAKE: BOOK 1





Ha, ha, ha, bless your soul.

You really think you’re in control.

Well…

—Crazy, Gnarls Barkey





PROLOGUE


Crazy

‘NOOOOOOO,’ I HOWL, but there is gravel or grave soil in my throat, and nothing other than an ugly, dried-up rasp travels out of my mouth. My head shakes back and forth like a mindless wind-up toy. Even my body is denying the horror before my eyes. Without warning my knees buckle under me, and I find myself in a heap at the doorway of his flat. Frantically, I begin to crawl toward him, screaming, babbling.

I can’t lose him! Not him! Oh God, not him. Please. Not him.

Two feet away from his body and it occurs to me: this is just a nightmare. Of course it is. It has to be. Any moment now I’ll wake up. And the first thing I’ll do? Call him and tell him how much I have missed him, how much I love him.

I feel the floor scrape against my bare knees. It isn’t a nightmare. It is real.

We haven’t spoken for two weeks. I had exams and when I called his mobile, it went straight to voicemail… Shit excuse. I should have called again, I should have emailed. Why hadn’t I? I should have known.

I hunker down over his body, my pose ungainly, heavy, that of a suffering beast. My buttocks hit the floor and my legs fold up and cross under me. I press my fingers against my open mouth and stare at him. His lips and fingers are blue and the rest of him is ashen and still. He can’t be dead.

It can’t be real!

The stillness of a dead body is impossible to describe. And yet when you see it you refuse to believe it. You always think it is a trick. A mistake. A ploy…. But a needle is embedded in his arm, which is blackened with the skin stretched and unreal. It looks as if it belongs elsewhere. That is not my brother’s arm. I know my brother’s arm as intimately as I know my own.