Page 16 of Razor (Road Reapers MC #4)

C hristmas sucked. Sure, that made him sound like Scrooge every time he said those two words out loud, but he just couldn’t help himself. Growing up in the foster care system left him with very little joy for a holiday that was supposed to be “Joyous.”

He tried to fly under the radar during the holidays, but that never seemed to work in his favor either.

Starting the day after Thanksgiving, he lay low.

He’d go to his day job as a forensic scientist, and at night, he’d go home instead of going into the Road Reapers to hang out with his club.

He hated not seeing his friends, and when they started calling him, he had to come up with some pretty damn good excuses—especially when he missed church.

Missing church meant breaking his club’s number one rule—which was that you didn’t miss church.

His club’s Prez, Mace, had plenty to say about him missing church, and he knew that using the whole “I’m sick” excuse wasn’t going to work again.

“You busy?” Mace asked.

He was new to his club and really hadn’t shared much with the other guys.

In fact, he mostly kept to himself because answering questions about his past made him uncomfortable.

His past was his business, and only a few of his closest friends and family knew the truth about him, never knowing his parents and growing up in the foster care system.

When he was in his early twenties, he really tried to sell the whole tough biker persona and hid behind his mask to conceal the fact that he was so alone.

After a while, he realized that the tough biker persona wasn’t a front anymore.

Instead, it became who he was, and he had to admit, the science nerd inside of him kind of liked the way that people looked at him when he rode his bike.

He felt like a badass, but telling his secrets to anyone wasn’t something that he was ready to do.

“I have time,” Mace said, “so you can make time.” He hated it when Mace pulled rank on him. As the club’s Treasurer, most of the guys could pull rank on him.

It wasn’t something that he planned on getting involved in—becoming the Treasurer.

But when the guys found out that he was a scientist, they put him up for the position and voted him in before he even knew what was happening.

He tried to explain that being a scientist didn’t mean that he was also an accountant, but none of them seemed to care about that technicality.

It was probably why Mace wanted him at church every week—to give his report to the guys, and from the look on his face, he wasn’t going to let Nick slide anymore.

“Okay,” Nick said, “what can I do for you?” He sat on the edge of his desk, already knowing what Mace was about to say.

“I need you back at church,” he said.

“I kind of had a feeling that you’d say that,” Nick admitted.

“Then why come up with all the stupid excuses? If you had just shown up for church, like you’re supposed to, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and I wouldn’t be interrupting your work.”

“It’s not that easy,” Nick insisted.

“Why not?” Mace asked. “And please don’t feed me some bullshit excuse about you not being well, and all that shit. I’m betting if I asked around your office, they’d tell me that you haven’t missed any work due to illness lately.” Mace wasn’t going to play fair, and the truth was all Nick had left.

“I hate Christmas,” he admitted. There, it was out there, and he had to admit, telling Mace the truth wasn’t so bad—until his Prez started laughing. He didn’t stop either, even throwing in a few pointing gestures that had Nick wanting to kick him out of his lab.

“Listen, Mace,” Nick growled, “I don’t have time for this shit, so can you please cut to the chase?”

Mace sobered some, still wearing a goofy grin. “Fine, I’m just not sure that I’ve ever met anyone who admittedly hated Christmas. And I’m not sure what your hatred for Christmas has to do with you not showing up at church.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Nick said. “The bar looks like Christmas exploded in there. You’re constantly having Christmas parties, and if I’m not mistaken, you’re about to have a party for the bikers’ kids, and that’s the last thing that I want to be a part of.”

“Dude, I understand that last part, but Brooke insisted on a party for the club’s kids.

And the last thing that I want to do is go up against my wife, Nick.

And that brings me to the reason why I’ve tracked you down at work,” he said.

Nick didn’t like the sound of that, and he was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to like what Mace was about to say next.

“Here, I thought it was because you missed me,” Nick teased.

“That’s partially true,” Mace admitted. “I need you at church. You’ll have to ignore the Christmas decorations, since my wife put all that shit up too, but I expect to see you at church Wednesday night.

” Nick was waiting for the other shoe to drop and Mace to tell him the real reason why he had tracked him down.

“And,” Nick said.

“And I need you to play Santa at the kids’ Christmas party.

You’re perfect for the part, and well, you’re a single guy without a kid, so you won’t be attending the party.

” He didn’t need Mace to remind him that he didn’t have a family.

Hell, he never had a family, but in his wildest dreams, he could see himself with a wife and kids—maybe even a dog.

But that was just a far-fetched fantasy.

“No,” Nick simply said.

“What the hell did you say?” Mace asked.

“No, I won’t do it,” Nick repeated.

“This isn’t really something that I’m asking, Nick.

I need you to do it, and as your club’s Prez, I’ll order you to do it if I have to.

” Mace stood from the office chair and rounded the desk to stand in front of Nick.

“Listen, I don’t want to be a dick, but my wife is forcing my hand.

We only have a handful of single, childless guys, and you are one of them.

Most of them are heading out of town for the holiday to visit family and friends.

It’s down to you or Cyclops, and wearing an eye patch with a Santa suit will give him away,” Mace joked.

Cyclops had been with the Road Reapers for almost ten years now—since before Mace was even Prez.

He had lost his eye in a biking accident in his early twenties and wore an eyepatch to cover up his missing eye.

Nick wanted to feel bad for the guy, but that was impossible.

Cyclops was in his early forties, and he still seemed to have more female attention than Nick had had in years.

“If you do this for me, I’ll owe you,” Mace almost whispered. A favor from Mace was like winning the golden ticket, and that was something that Nick couldn’t pass up on, no matter how much he hated Christmas.

“Fine, I’ll do it, but I’m asking for a huge favor in return,” he promised.

Mace smiled and nodded, holding his hand out to Nick to shake. “Deal,” he said. “Honestly, man, you saved my balls from Brooke. She told me not to come home without a Santa, and you were my last hope.”

“Yeah, well, if I don’t work out, you can always tell the kids that Cyclops is a Santa pirate. I’m betting they’ll eat that shit up.” Unfortunately, Mace didn’t find his joke as funny as Nick did.

“Just be at church on Wednesday, and I’ll give you all the details and the suit. The party is next Saturday, so mark it on your calendar.” Now it was Nick’s turn to chuckle at Mace.

“Shit, I don’t have a calendar for my social outings, man,” he said.

“But I’ll be there on Wednesday, and Saturday—rest assured.

” He wasn’t sure how he’d ever get any rest before he had to play the jolly fat man himself, but he’d find a way to get through it because that favor was a huge prize and one that he knew he’d someday need to cash in on.