Page 36 of Apricity

I wonder if people ever lost their boobs to frost bite…

I gasp at my inner thought.“Not the titties!”I yell as my hands lift of their own accord, forming a protective barrier over them in my feeble attempt to prevent frosty-titty-bite.

Jax, obviously sensing my fear of de-booby-fication, presses closer to me, lending me his heat and I’m more than happy to take it from him. He’s huge and has plenty of warmth to spare for little ol’ me. I feel his steamy breath on my neck and crane my head back just as he whispers. “It’ll be worth it. I promise. We’ve all been working on this for weeks without you knowing about it and we’re not about to let you see it before everything’s absolutely perfect for the unveiling.”

How in the hell have they been working on something for weeks without my knowledge of it? Have they been hiding in the bathroom pretending they’re pooping while they’re actually concocting crazy schemes? We’re always together!Always!The impossibility of suchundercover-ops makes my imagination run wild with what they have planned. Thankfully, I hear the door to the cabin open.

“Alright, beautiful. It’s time.”

Jax keeps his hands over my eyes as all three of them lead me back into the bug-out-bungalow. I smell something sweet on the air but can’t sense anything else as they position me somewhere in the middle of the room. Hawk and Cole each take one of my hands just before Jax lowers his to my shoulders.

“Open your eyes, baby doll.”

Slowly, I open them and both my heart and breath stop instantly at what I see.

Sadie sits in front of me, cute as a button wearing a Santa hat with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, and against the wall, in between the wood burning stove and the kitchenette area, is a Christmas tree just about a foot taller than me. It’s not huge but it doesn’t need to be. It’s absolutely perfect for our simple home. The tallest part holds a star made of sticks that seem to be glued together, forming the shape. More of these woodland stars cover the tree’s entirety, along with popcorn garland and pine cones that have been painted white. Vintage glass bells and large glow sticks scattered amongst the branches project multi-colored lights throughout the room, completing the overall look.

Unable to keep still, I spin around, slowly taking in the rest of the room. The woodburning stove is lit and full, the flames adding the perfect ambiance to the small space. There’s natural pine garland draped over every flat surfaceavailable and my jaw drops at what’s been carefully laid out on the counter.

“Is that… did you guys make sugar cookies? And gingerbread men?” I turn back to the guys, awestruck that they were able to do all of this with what little we have.

“Yes ma’am. And actually, those are gingerbreadus,” Hawk corrects, pointing between the three of them before they all come to stand next to me. “See this big burly one with the angry eyebrow frosting? That’s Jax. Obviously.” Jax grunts out a cough next to me as he looks sheepishly at the ground. I know he took the time to lead the creation of these delicacies and deserves to know my appreciation. Lifting up on my toes, I pull his hulking frame down to me and kiss his cheek, smiling when his own lips perk up at the gesture.

Hawk points to another one. “And this one? With the big ass third appendage between his legs. Totally me.” He smirks but loses his swagger as Cole steps up.

“Um, actually that one’s a replica of me. You’re this one over here.” Cole points to the gingerbread man whose arms are raised above its head, his hip cocked out to the side and who, instead of eyes, has two pink hearts and a comically large smile. Hawk purses his lips to the side before pointing back to the rather well-endowed cookie.

“You sure I’m not this one?” he asks while wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

“Each of you is delicious in your own appetizing ways.” I wink and smile, unable to contain my joy at everything they managed to do to bring this all together. I liftup onto my toes and plant a kiss on Hawk’s lips. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, sweetness.”

I turn and get lifted into Cole’s arms, giving him a kiss as well. After a few seconds, he sets me back down, allowing me to enjoy all of their hard work. It’s amazing, unbelievable really, but absolutely perfect. I stop myself, however, when I realize one horrific detail. “I don’t have anything for you guys. Nothing. I didn’t realize. I didn’t know. I could ha—”

Jax stops me mid-ramble, shaking his head as the three of them surrounding me with a collective embrace. “Don’t think like that. You’ve given us everything we could have ever wanted, baby.”

“You complete us. In every way imaginable. There’s no greater gift, pretty girl,” Cole adds.

Hawk brackets my face in his gentle hands, pulling my gaze to his. “You’ve given us back our lives, sweetheart. Given us meaning. Purpose. Love. An overwhelming amount of love. Who are we but three knuckleheads that just so happened to survive the end of the world and win the lottery when you rolled into town? You’ve made us the luckiest guys in the world. Best gift ever, if I do say so myself.”

I smile as they each kiss me again, even as tears cascade down my cheeks, my emotions overfilling with an abundance of love and affection. Hawk wipes them away with his thumbs as he smiles back. Then, he leans in, kisses my temple and whispers, “Merry Christmas, sweets.”

Chapter 24

Jax

We had a perfect night. I cooked dinner. We enjoyed the cookies me and the guys worked so hard on. Well, Aly enjoyed the cookies. Hawk, Cole and I sat back and enjoyed watching her eat them, moaning around all the sugary bits. We danced with Aly, one-on-one, while listening to no music whatsoever, just the rhythm we each had in our hearts as we whisked our girl all over the cabin floor. We told stories of past holidays. We remembered. We honored our loved ones. And dreamed of future memories yet to come. We made love to Aly, together and each in our own ways, and are now in our perfect little dogpile on the bed.

Aly's in my arms, her back to mine, while Hawk's on the other side, holding her close to his chest. Cole is behind him, his arm draped over Hawk’s side so his handrests on Aly’s hip. Together we surround our girl with love and adoration. She’s our everything. And she deserves everything we could ever think to try and give her. That’s why we went above and beyond to make sure she was able to celebrate the holiday as normal as possible. If it brings her happiness, any one of us would bend over backwards to make it happen. We’ve fallen that far for her. But, unfortunately, just when you think you’ve found Heaven on earth, paradise can be fickle.

Upon looking in the cupboard for ingredients to create the cookies that didn’t stand a chance once Aly caught sight of them, it became more apparent to me that our situation here is of a limited capacity.

For now, it’s shelter. It’s safe. It’s home. But supplies are running short. The dry storage underneath the cabin is almost empty. Much of the stores have been used up apart from some canned goods and jarred items. We’re also out of any and all meat that I previously had stashed down there.

We can still hunt and trap game, but it’ll have to be a daily chore in order to feed the four of us on a regular basis. Even more so than we needed to at the estate. Back there, at least we had the chickens gifting us eggs every morning. It was reliable. Not to mention we had multiple ways to bag some kind of meat every day- fishing, hunting, trapping- in addition to the eggs. Here… not so much.

Unbeknownst to Aly, I let out a sigh of relief when we stumbled upon the flock of turkeys and managed to shoot one on the fly. The squirrels would have kept us satisfied for a meal but the turkey will get us through the weekend, thankfully.

There aren’t nearly as many residences down in this part of the lake as there were up north. Many of the surrounding houses are part of the agricultural district and as such are few and far between. There are suburban areas, but we’ll have to travel a good half a day to get to those.

Without a vehicle. Without the resources we had at the estate. Without a town within a reasonable distance from the cabin, I’m not sure we are going to have much of a choice in the near future.

Soon enough… we’re going to have to leave.

Soon enough, our story is going to have to continue.

Soon enough, we’ll have to start all over again,

and begin a new journey in desiderium…