be pushed back. Everyone that thought they were going to fix their lives before Christmas would find out differently, and I had to then, somehow, figure out how the hell to buy Christmas presents, get them wrapped, and hide them from my brothers.
My brothers who, though I loved with all my heart, were fairly awful in the trying to keep secrets department.
I would have to come up with a solution that didn’t have them over at my house unwrapping and rewrapping all the gifts.
They were adults, and I knew that they’d still do it.
Hell, just last week Connor ate my sandwich while I was in the bathroom. Like an unattended hungry dog.
“Are you going to open that?”
The dark, very non-sensual words that purred off his tongue sent a shiver of desire down my spine.
“Yes,” I replied, hoping that it didn’t sound as husky as it felt.
I didn’t bother to look at him, though, to find out.
Instead, I opened the box that was folded in on itself and blinked.
“This was the one that I assumed was just cords and stuff,” I found myself saying.
Except, inside it was a brand new Xbox, a PlayStation, two new iPads, cords to go to all, and two MacBook Pros on the very bottom.
“What the hell?” I asked as I showed him the box.
He sighed and took the box, setting it down on the bed next to him.
I opened up the next box, this one with clothes. And they sure as hell weren’t Walmart clothes like I’d been expecting. They were clothes from the mall. Dillard’s. American Eagle. Buckle.
“I’m not sure where they think you and I are going for the next three weeks,” I said as I showed him a dress. “But if you dress up for the day, I’ll dress up.” Then I showed him the button-down Oxford shirt.
He just shook his head, confused, I was thinking, just like I was.
The next box held toiletries and stuff for me. And, let me tell you, I knew with just one glance that all the shit inside that box, the one that looked like Sephora exploded in it, cost more than my last month’s paycheck.
Even the tampons looked fancy.
“This one must be the food box,” Saint said as he ripped open the box.
And he was right.
Luckily, nothing in the box looked like it cost an arm and a leg. There were all the good, perfect essentials.
Lucky Charms, Pop-Tarts, Little Debbie snack cakes.
Everything that was good that didn’t require me to actually have to cook.
“We’re going to have to get something in here that’ll help us cook and eat healthy,” Saint said. “There’s no way in fucking hell I’m eating all this processed food for long.”
“I’m sure all that will come,” I hedged, kind of hoping that it wouldn’t.
With three weeks of people bringing food to me, it would be kind of nice that they brought me stuff that wasn’t good. That way I could say that I literally had no choice.
“Hopefully their food selection off the room service menu is better,” he grumbled, actually looking kind of pissed.
I snatched up the snack cakes, Little Debbie Christmas Trees, my absolute favorite, and walked toward where he had his arms crossed over his chest while looking out over the lake.
A lake that I still had no idea where it’d come from.
“Do you think that the lake has always been there?” I asked curiously. “Because seriously, I’ve never seen it before. And I think that I would notice a lake in the middle of my town.”
I turned and studied the lake.
• • •
SAINT
“Looks new,” I said. “Do you see all that red dirt around the edges? They added the grass and all, but the red dirt around the edges of the water indicates that it’s new and not an established pond.”
“Hmmm,” she said. “I guess I didn’t notice that. Red dirt is just so normal here that it makes sense for it to be there.”
I leaned my shoulder up against the doorframe, then reached forward to open the balcony door.
As the door opened, I looked left and right to see what was on either side of me out of habit before stepping fully out.
“That’s such a cop thing to do,” she teased as she came out onto the balcony with me.
“Maybe,” I admitted. “But I’ve been doing it for much longer than that.”
She frowned and looked up at me.
“You have?” she asked. “Were you in the military?”
“I was,” I admitted. “But even before that.”
I then cursed myself inwardly for