Page 158 of Santa Daddies

It’s a relief to get her away from Kace. But as they leave, I hear Jolene say, “Stepbrothers can be such dicks.”

What the hell did I do?

The red-shirted staff member says to Kace, “Will there be any more trouble?”

“We’re friends, he just gets a little too straight and narrow sometimes.”

It pisses me off that I can’t see his face to read his expression. Jolene had it wrong. Kace is the dick here. I’m just protecting my stepsister.

Both staff members turn to me, and the red-shirted one asks, “You good?”

The roar of the crowd voting on another Krampus gives me a second to force my fingers to unclench. “Yeah.” The terseness is less than convincing.

“Wishes are waiting,” a chipper voice calls from behind me, grabbing all of our attention. One of the elves forces a smile and points toward the line of kids.

I motion to the elf to give me a minute, then I take a breath and choose a tone that will get rid of the staff members. “It looked like Krampus was getting a little too… you know… notfamily- friendlywith my sister. I’m back in Santa mode now.”

The second they turn their backs, I glare at Kace and say under my breath, “I said to stay away from Bellamie.”

“You said no such thing.”

I think back to the airbnb when he asked about her. He’s right. I got cut off by the meeting. “I shouldn’t have to.”

Bellamie’s too innocent for Kace’s string of one-night relationships. All the girls fall for him, even when he's wearing a hairy horned mask. How does he do that?

“What's that supposed to mean?”

Making up for not saying my peace earlier, I spell out what he already knows. “She’s too young for you.”

“Too young to have fun in a parade?” His tone is convincing, but if I could see in his eyes…

But if I rip his mask off, the staff will come back. “So that’s all that was?”

“Like she said, that's not for you to decide.”

“Santa!” The elf is more insistent.

The red-shirted staff member comes back. Don’t they have something better to do?

“You’re Krampus number four, right?”

“Yeah.”

“They finished going through the tags on social media… You won. We need you and your naughty girl on stage.”

Dammit. I’m happy for his victory, but also for mine that Bellamie has moved on.

Now to figure out how to cancel the family evening our parents have planned, where they expect Kace to tag along with me. This might be exactly the reason I haven’t mentioned it to him yet.

Chapter Five

Kace

The beauty of a small town is that I was able to search for Bellamie Welton in Peach Bottom Valley and find a few newspaper articles about her–a paper trail teaching me that she’s big into helping kids and the community and that she’s a sales associate atPeaches and Jeans, which is exactly where I’m headed.

Recalling the photos of her surrounded by children, happiness radiating from her soul, I struggle to contain my excitement over the future I see for us. A future Loren would never approve of. A future that might not sound as great to her if I info-dump it without getting to know her first.

And since I haven’t thought this through, I’m not sure how getting to know her better is going to make life any easier. Shouldn’t I stay as far away as possible? Avoid the inevitable torture of–I can’t allow the thought of her being with another man to enter my mind.