Blame It On The Carols (Sugarplum Falls #6)

Twenty-Four | Makayla

Twenty-Four

Makayla

B etween the beer and all of the food everyone had contributed to the party, I was beyond full. Sugar Faced Bar filled up faster than expected, so Aiden made sure to have Tony inside with a few other guys from my security detail while Patrick watched the outside with his team. There were also complete teams monitoring Aiden and my mom’s house. It felt like the population in Sugarplum Falls had doubled in the past few days, and that was just from the added security that had been sent in to protect me.

I hadn’t heard from Kevin since his call the other day. Curtis tried tracking his phone, but Tony ended up finding it in a trashcan inside the mall, which meant we had no way of knowing where he was anymore. Not only that, it had been registered to a bogus name, which made them doubt it was even his phone, to begin with. The Sugarplum Falls sheriff’s department had joined forces with my security team to try to find him, but everyone was coming up empty. I wasn’t going to let any of that bother me tonight because I was still riding the high of helping the Sugarplum Sweethearts win the caroling competition.

“Do you want another beer?” Sam asked, nodding to the empty mug in my hand.

“No, thank you. I’ve had enough for tonight.”

He nodded and made his way up to the bar where Aiden was currently talking to Jackie. They scanned the room, and she nodded before I felt his eyes land on me. I gave a nervous smile and finger wave, already knowing they were talking about me.

Aiden had set up karaoke again, so I grabbed one of the papers that were sitting out by the basket and wrote down a song before tossing it in with the others. So far, it had been a fun night of laughing and dancing with people who had quickly gone from acquaintances I barely remembered to friends I couldn’t get enough of.

I sat on one of the barstools off in the corner of the room, swinging my feet and dancing as my mom and Brock did a duet of You’re The One That I Want from Grease. I had met him a few times since I’d been in town and could see why my mom loved him so much. He was one of the nicest guys I had ever met, and it warmed my heart to see how happy he made her.

“Are you having a good time?” Aiden asked, startling me as he snuck up beside me.

I turned and grinned at him, the beer making me a little more buzzed than I thought.

“The best.”

The DJ waited for my mom to hand over her microphone before reaching into the basket and tossing the papers around before pulling one out.

“Alright folks, up next, we have Makayla and Aiden singing Hakuna Matata.”

I looked up in time to see his eyebrows shoot up to his forehead as he shook his head no.

“Makayla,” he warned as I hopped off my barstool and grabbed his hand to drag him with me.

The only problem was that he didn’t budge.

Damn, he’s really strong. Strong enough to do some man-handling with me later tonight if I was lucky.

“No way, Mak.”

“Come on,” I whined, still pulling with all of my might.

“That song?”

“What?” I shrugged, playing innocent. “It means no worries.”

“You know I don’t sing.”

“But you used to.”

“That was a long time ago,” he countered, finally showing me some mercy as his feet moved.

“Yeah, and it was fun. You know how much we loved doing this song.”

“When we were like ten.” His eyebrow continued to arch at me, sending shivers across my skin.

I stopped and sighed heavily.

“Fine.”

“Fine, as in you won’t make me sing?” he asked with a hint of a smile.

I grinned at the DJ and accepted the two cordless mics he handed me.

“No, fine as in you can sing Timon’s part this time, and I’ll do Pumba.”

He let his head fall as he shook his head.

“I don’t know why I let you talk me into this shit,” he said with a genuine smile this time.

“Because you love me,” I replied, feeling the weight of my words the second I said them.

“That I do.” His words were quiet but still loud enough for me to hear.

We took the stage and I grinned like a fool as everyone cheered and went wild that Aiden was going to sing.

Once the music started, I felt him nudge me with his elbow as he gave me a nod. His way of saying we could sing the song the way we always did.

I began singing Timon’s part, trying not to laugh as Aiden immediately sank into Pumba’s part. The crowd went wild again, celebrating this song more than anything anyone else had sung tonight.

It wasn’t until we got to the part when Pumba sings about when he was a young warthog that I burst out laughing as Aiden did his best opera impression that matched that of the song. We played into the enthusiasm of the crowd, bringing a full performance with theatrics and everything.

Once the song was over, we bowed and smiled as everyone continued to applaud. We moved out of the way after giving the microphones back, and I felt Aiden’s hand guide me to the side.

“Thanks for singing that with me,” I said, already feeling out of breath from the way he was looking at me.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Mak.”

Then he wrapped an arm around my waist as he slightly dipped me, his mouth crashing down over mine.

This time, everyone was cheering again, but not because someone was on stage singing. They were literally cheering for us making out in a crowded bar packed full of some of the best people I’d ever met.