Her Christmas Miracles (Dunam Prep Boys #1) Read online

  Two more weeks until Christmas. I stuffed my things into my locker and shut the door. Two more weeks of endless strange faces. Two more weeks of discomfort after I told the guys I wasn’t interested in what they were offering.

  I was about to leave when I heard the door open. “Gwendolyn?” It was nasty Santa. My cheeks flushed and without thinking, I hid between a bank of lockers and the wall. I didn’t want to be alone with him. Santa went to the office door and knocked. It opened a peep and then he stepped in. He shut it behind him. The blinds were pulled down tight. I tiptoed slowly from the room and was almost to the door, when I heard male moaning and nasty Santa’s voice.

  “Gwendolyn, you’re such a good girl. You know Santa loves it when you use that mouth!”

  I was going to be sick to my stomach. I rushed out of the locker room and ran right into Parker.

  Chapter 16

  SKYLAR

  Parker’s hands came down upon my shoulders and he held me tight, lowering until he met my eyes. “Hey there. Where’s the fire?”

  I laughed nervously and ducked from his touch. “No fire here. Just … eager to get to work.”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “No. Remember I can see through your lies.” He held his cupped palm to the side of his lips and lowered his voice. “Because you’re terrible at lying.”

  I felt my cheeks flame. Was I? Was I terrible at lying? If that was the case, then I would be terrible at dating all three of these guys at once. I swallowed back my horrible instinct to lie, and nodded for him to join me a few feet from the door. “I kind of heard Gwendolyn and Santa …”

  Parker’s eyebrows drew down in confusion. “Heard them what? Stealing presents?” My eyebrows raised and I saw it click on his face. “Ohhhh. Oh! Ew. Wow.” He stepped back and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’m sorry I asked. God. Are you okay?” He stepped closer, his eyes looking me over.

  “I um … I don’t know. My ears might be bleeding?” I turned my head to the side and Parker went right along with me and inspected them.

  He leaned back and tapped his fingers on his chin. “This is not good. Definitely blood. I know how to fix this …” He stepped forward, putting a hand on my hip as he gazed down into my eyes. My heart was beating rapidly. He was going to kiss me again! Oh, how I wanted it but … Max and Devin came to mind. I put my hand on his chest and turned my face away.

  “Your friends might see us.”

  He chuckled, not dropping his hand, but not approaching my lips either. “So? I don’t mind if they see how into you I am.”

  Tell him! Tell him now!

  “Parker, you don’t understand …”

  He moved in and pressed his lips to my neck, catching me off guard. My eyes fluttered closed and I gasped, my hands holding onto his shoulders for support as my knees weakened.

  “What don’t I understand, Skylar?”

  My name on his lips … and the way he whispered it … I was frozen as his lips accosted me again, and all thought left my brain. I just wanted him to do it again. And again. And again!

  His teeth found my ear and I clutched his hard triceps tighter. I wanted to melt into the floor. The door opened and it solidified me. I stepped away from Parker though I was sure Gwendolyn had a very good idea of what we’d been up to. My cheeks gave us away.

  “Skylar, glad you’re already dressed, come with me. I need you to hurry and set up the camera.”

  I avoided Gwendolyn’s gaze. I couldn’t look at her now that I knew what kind of extracurricular activities she was into, and who she was into them with.

  Parker grinned and winked at me before disappearing into the locker room. Great. I was going to have to face him the whole evening with Max and maybe Devin around. I wanted to crawl into a little hole and hide until spring.

  “Good Evening, mall patrons. The National Weather Service has issued a warning for our area. Snow accumulation is expected to reach three feet by midnight. Due to the weather forecast, we will be closing early. Please complete your purchases and head home. Drive safely, and we’ll see you again as soon as it’s safe.”

  Gwendolyn shook her head as we made our way towards the Santa stage. “Santa will be able to see a few good little boys and girls,” she said to parents who were already filing out of the ropes.

  He would? Did she not just hear what they’d said over the PA? Three feet by midnight! That was a lot of snow. “Um, Gwendolyn?”

  She turned around, a less-than-sincere smile on her lips. “Yes, Elf Skylar?”

  “Um … how long are we going to stay here?”

  She stepped forward so the patrons couldn’t hear. “As long as there are people in line. We’re not going to be able to meet our goals if we don’t get some people up there tonight.”

  I nodded slowly, as if I understood, but I didn’t. So what if we didn’t meet sales goals? Wasn’t our safety more important? My back was stiff as I went to the camera and began unpacking it. Of course it wasn’t. She was only worried about one thing: Gwendolyn.

  Gwendolyn was down by the ropes, trying to entice parents to get into line as Santa came on stage. I was alone up there with him. I glanced down at where his costume askew.

  “Pst. Your jacket is tucked in the back,” I said in a loud whisper.

  “Is it?” He tried to turn around to get a look but couldn’t see it. His hand tried to untuck it, and I stomped over towards him and pushed him behind the set.

  “You missed it, just—”

  I hadn’t been thinking clearly. Obviously. I was alone with him, and no one could see us. His hands went to my butt and he pulled me tight against him, twisting me so my back was against his stomach and chest. His hands traced the lines of my hips and waist, quickly moving upwards until they grabbed my breasts. He groaned with pleasure as he gave them a squeeze. I gasped and the instructions for Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality came back to me. I lifted my black boot and stomped down on his instep.

  He let out a curse, and just as quickly as he’d snatched me, he let me go. He limped past me and easily untucked his uniform. I shook my head as I stared at the place where he’d just been standing. Why had he thought that would be okay? There was a niggling in my head, a voice that told me he probably thought it was okay because I’d let three guys kiss me. Was ‘slut’ tattooed on me? Was it something guys could smell?

  I wrapped my arms around myself and stood there for a moment, attempting to regain my composure. Tears burned my eyes. I needed this job. I needed to stay so I could bring Bella joy this Christmas. I blinked rapidly, trying to clear them away. I would make the babies cry if I was crying. They sensed those things.

  “Skylar?”

  Some tears slid down my cheeks and I turned away, jolted into action at the sound of Devin’s voice.

  “Skylar?” His voice was closer. I heard his feet stop behind me. “Oh! There you are. Gwendolyn needs you to finish setting up the camera.”

  I sniffled and quickly swiped at my tears.

  “Hey, you okay?” He put his hand on my shoulder and I jumped, turning around to face him. He frowned, holding his hands up in surrender. His eyes scanned my body and I wrapped my arms tighter around myself. “Skylar, what’s up? You’re freaking me out. Are you alright?”

  Did I tell him? Did I confess to this guy I like that Santa groped me? What would he think of me? I nodded. “I’m fine. I’m just a little upset that Gwendolyn won’t let us go home yet.”

  Devin’s green eyes narrowed. He knew I was lying. But he didn’t call me out on it. Not like Parker would have. “Well, come on, the sooner we snap some pictures, the sooner she’ll let us go. And just in case you were thinking about trying to walk home, that’s definitely not happening.”

  I walked with him back to the stage. After setting up the camera, Devin showed the first parent to the stage. As they were walking up, I glanced at Santa. He had a smug grin on his face. Something jerked my stomach and I turned away. Max was beside me almost instantly.

  “Sk
ylar, what’s wrong?”

  “I just need a minute. My stomach is upset …”

  I fled the scene as quickly as my legs would carry me.

  PARKER

  Devin, Max, and I glanced at each other, none of us knowing what was going on with Skylar.

  “Premenstrual syndrome?” Max suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

  “Maybe,” I said as I watched her whip open the break room door and rush in.

  “She was crying when I got her from behind the stage,” Devin said after he’d come back from handing the baby to Santa.

  Devin smiled at the baby and shook some jingle bells as I quickly snapped a picture. Was Skylar the kind of girl who cried? She hadn’t struck me as particularly sensitive. Although there was that incident when she’d thought we were discussing her and freaked out. But she didn’t cry about it, she’d gotten angry. Something wasn’t right. And I was determined to find out what it was.

  Chapter 17

  PARKER

  An hour later and Gwendolyn was ushering the last of the parents through the line while the four of us elves did as we were told—snapping pictures, handing out candy canes, and generally keeping the peace. Finally, she told us we were done. Almost.

  “I’m going to need you guys to pack up the camera and clean up before you leave, okay? I want to head out soon. It’s getting bad out there. Where’s Skylar?” Gwendolyn seemed impatient and irritable, but it wasn’t our fault she’d held us for so long after we’d been warned about three feet of snow accumulation.

  “Um, I think she’s still in the stock room.”

  Gwendolyn nodded and marched that way. Skylar reappeared several minutes later to do her usual duty of putting the camera away. She was unusually quiet.

  “Skylar?” I asked, touching her shoulder lightly. She yanked away from me as if she’d been burned. That had never happened before. “Hey, what’s wrong? Please, tell me. You know I can tell when something’s wrong. You can trust me, remember?”

  When she turned to me, her hazel eyes were dark, fierce. “You can’t tell anyone.”

  I nodded, but glanced behind me to make sure we were alone. “Not even the guys?”

  When I turned back around, she narrowed her eyes. “Not even them.”

  “Okay. Yeah, I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

  She looked at her feet, and her voice was quiet when she finally spoke. “Santa grabbed me. Tried to touch me. That pervert.”

  I balled my hands into fists, and the broom I’d been holding dropped to the ground. When she looked at me, I knew she was reading the rage on my face. I wanted to kill Santa.

  “Parker, don’t—”

  “Don’t, what?”

  “Don’t do anything. Or even say anything. Just let it go, okay? It’s my fault anyway.”

  I squinted at her, not understanding. “Your fault?”

  She shook her head, the faint scent of her shampoo catching on the breeze she created. “Forget about it. Look, let’s just get home, okay? It’s going to be really bad tonight, and I don’t want to get stuck on the road somewhere.”

  I nodded. I had to. What else was I going to do? Force her to talk about it? “Yeah, okay. Your secret’s safe with me. Did you walk tonight?” As I spoke, the lights in the store cut off, and we were plunged into darkness. There were only the emergency lights, and the glow from the stockroom, where Devin and Max were still working.

  “I, uh, no. I got a ride with Max. Where’s Gwendolyn?” Skylar looked around, concern on her face, eyebrows drawn together.

  Max? My chest thrummed quickly and a bead of sweat popped out on my brow. That wasn’t what I’d expected to hear. “She said she was looking for you, and that’s the last time I saw her.” I shrugged. “You wanna see if we can find her?” Skylar grabbed the camera, I picked up my broom, and we headed back to the stockroom. No trace of Devin and Max until we heard them laughing, and found them hanging out in the break room.

  “There you two are. It’s about time, I thought you’d never finish. Everything clean out there, broom boy?” Devin smirked. He loved it when I had to clean, for some reason.

  “Sure, box boy. You move those boxes to everyone’s satisfaction?” I asked, trying unsuccessfully to come up with some witty reply.

  “You know it,” he retorted. We both shook our heads at the lame exchange.

  “Have either of you guys seen Gwendolyn?” Skylar asked. Her voice wavered.

  Max nodded. “She said very clearly that she was leaving. She left a key so you could lock the store, Skylar. It is in your locker, she said.”

  Skylar sighed. “Fine. Max, can you still take me home?” Devin’s eyebrows shot up, and he cocked his head, looking at Max.

  “Certainly.”

  “Great. We should go. They said three feet of snow by midnight, and it’s eight already.” She went to her locker and pulled the keys off of the top shelf. “I’m going to change.” Skylar grabbed her clothes and hurried to the women’s bathroom.

  My stomach churned. Should I tell them what Skylar told me about Santa? No, definitely not. I’d promised to keep a secret for her, and it wouldn’t be fair of me to break that confidence, especially not at the first possible opportunity. I took my clothes out of my locker and went to the men’s room to change. When I returned, the three of them were ready.

  “Man, I can’t believe it’s going to blizzard and we don’t even get any school days out of it,” Devin groaned as we walked to the exit.

  “Speak for yourself,” Skylar said. “I still have a few days of school before winter break, but I don’t want to be out of school if it means the mall will be closed, too. I need to work.”

  Before anyone had a chance to ask anything stupid about why she needed the money, we reached the exit. We all stopped in our tracks at the same moment.

  “Holy …” Devin said.

  “Well,” Max said, in his usual matter-of-fact way. “I don’t believe we’ll be going anywhere tonight.” The snow was deep already, at least a foot of accumulation, and there was no way Max’s Tesla was getting on the road. It wasn’t even going to be get out of the parking lot.

  “It’s fine. We’ve got this. We can all pile into the Jeep.” I turned to Devin with a smirk, crossing my arms over my chest. “It might be less aerodynamic than a cow, but at least it has four wheel drive and freshly installed tires.” I didn’t get the chance to defend my baby often and I was going to revel in it now.

  Devin rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just get out of here before we get stuck on the road all night in your stupid banana.”

  I frowned at Devin’s insult. “It looks good in yellow!”

  “I like it,” Skylar said, jumping into the conversation. She pulled her coat tighter around herself as we all trudged into the parking lot. “It’s perky.”

  Devin and Max snickered.

  I glared at them and tried to move in closer to Skylar to put my arm around her, but she stepped away, keeping the distance between us. Santa. Right. My fists clenched as he came back to mind. Santa had it coming.

  Once we were all buckled in, I turned my key in the ignition. A smile overcame my lips as the engine purred to life. As I put the Jeep into reverse the radio came to life and the opening notes of Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas / Sarajevo 12/24 came tinkling from the speakers.

  I glanced at Skylar who was sitting about as bunched up as she could be. Devin and I had been caught listening to Christmas tunes on the way to work.

  “Change it,” I whispered to Devin, and I flicked my eyes to the mirror to catch sight of Skylar again. She put her hands in front of her mouth and dropped her eyes to her lap. After a moment, her shoulders began to shake. My eyes widened. Was she crying??

  “Hurry up!” I said, smacking Devin who was busily fumbling with the stereo.

  “I’m trying but it’s stuck!”

  Max was looking at Skylar too, his head tilted a little. “Are you laughing or crying, Skylar?”

  She pulle
d her hands away and her smile was revealed.

  I felt the sag of relief in my whole being and I couldn’t help but smile at her. “What’s so funny?” I asked.

  She met my eyes and for a moment, my heart froze with anticipation. “You’re a bunch of nerds deep down.”

  I grinned, shaking my head as I turned my attention behind us and backed up the Jeep. “A bunch of nerds who happen to like our Christmas music hardcore with electric guitars. There’s nothing wrong with that, right guys?”

  Devin and Max looked at each other, gave a nod, and then Devin turned up the stereo. The beat and guitars filled the Jeep as I drove out of the mall’s parking lot. They both strapped on their air guitars and began to put on a show that could easily rival Trans in concert. Skylar was laughing, the sound drowned out by the music.

  After their mini performance, I had to crawl to a stop. There were cops and flashing lights just before the bridge that would take us across town to Skylar’s house. I rolled down the window and turned down the music as the cop approached.

  “You kids shouldn’t be out in this snow,” the cop said after he’d shone his light on us.

  I nodded. “Yes, officer. We just got off of our shift at the mall and I was taking everyone home.”

  The officer gave everyone a once over again and then nodded sadly. “The bridge is out, so you’ll have to make other arrangements. If you need a place to stay the mall is opening up tonight as an emergency shelter.”

  My gut tightened down low. I couldn’t get Skylar home. There was no way I was taking her back to the mall. “Okay, officer. Thank you.” After he nodded and walked back to his co-workers, I made a three point turn and headed towards our neighborhood.