Christmas Criminal

23. Noelle

23

NOELLE

Wednesday, December 25th

W e get Nick set up on the couch with a bag of frozen peas over his eye and continue Christmas where we left off. With the commotion of the day, my mom didn't have time to prepare her usual dinner, so she puts out the easy dishes–anything that she can microwave or throw in the stove for half an hour–and we put in an order at our favorite Chinese takeout place and fill the coffee table with food and drinks and the presents that we still haven't gotten through.

I sit on the floor in front of the couch, where Nick has his head tipped back so he doesn't have to hold the peas on his face.

While Naomi and Cassidy fight over who gets the surprisingly obscene apple my mom originally wrapped for Christina, I stand and lean over him so I can talk to him without drawing attention.

"We don't have to stay if you're in pain. I think we have more than a good enough excuse to head out early if you want," I say, running my hand through his hair.

He shakes his head violently, holding onto the peas so they don't fly off his face. "No way. It's Christmas . I'm not leaving because of a black eye. You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to leave early."

I laugh, patting his knee and resuming my spot at his foot. "Well, at least we know that punch didn't break your Christmas spirit."

He pats along my arm until he can find my head, and runs his fingers through my hair. I rest my head on his leg, content to let him pet me until he's ready to go home.

Hank has offered to drive anyone and everyone home, if need be. Harriet has had more than her fair share of wine, and graciously accepted the offer so she could have another glass with my mom. Christina will be staying here for the night, though that plan didn't deter her from asking if Nick has a spare room because she'd rather hear us than Mom. I only raised an eyebrow at her and asked if she was sure about that, and she quickly swallowed her words, shaking her head.

We split our food family-style, filling up plates and passing containers and making the most of a holiday that turned out nothing like we expected but better than we could have imagined.

When our food is done and our presents have been distributed out somewhat evenly between all of us, Hank herds Harriet, Naomi, and Cassidy into his car to take them home, leaving the four of us sitting around a messy Christmas coffee table.

My mom brings over a trash bag that she hands to Christina to hold while we throw things in–wrapping paper, food containers, a few pieces of fruit that got squished in the Santa sack.

"How are you doing, Christina?" I ask her, knowing that while the rest of us roll with the punches, she's usually the one who ends up in tears over the holidays.

And she's been suspiciously level-headed.

She sighs, grabbing a piece of wrapping paper from the floor by her feet and shoving it in the trash bag. "I'm fine. I think I'm just a little disappointed, too."

"That's all?"

My mom gives me a look as if to tell me not to poke the bear.

She shrugs. "If I'm being honest, Thanksgiving kind of ruined any idea of what I thought this family could be. I mean, I'm willing to forgive and forget, but the other person has to try , you know? And I never felt like he was sorry about not being there for me."

I nod. "So why even try for Christmas?"

She lets out a long breath. "Well, to be honest, I was trying to train him like a dog."

Nick's head snaps up from where he had been resting it on the back of the couch, a laugh slipping from his throat. "Did I hear that right?"

"You were trying to train him like a dog?" my mom asks, her hand frozen in midair with a half-squished orange.

"Well, yeah. I mean, every year there's so much tension, you know? Even when we do see him, albeit accidentally, it doesn't exactly create this warm, welcoming environment. Thanksgiving taught me that he's not the person I wanted him to be. So, I guess I thought I could Pavlov him into thinking it's always a fun, happy time when he sees us. Like we're so thrilled to see him and he's doing such a good job. I thought maybe that might convince him to show up a little more, and showing up is the first building block to a good relationship." She sighs. "And he couldn't even do that."

My mom rests a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, honey."

Christina shrugs. "Honestly, I told myself that I would give it one more try. I'm okay with being the person in this family that holds out. That gives a little more than she should. I like that that's who I am. But I told myself after carting this fucking cast around for the past few weeks that it's not worth it unless he can give a little extra, too." She presses her lips together. "Honestly, I think I'm disappointed about not being disappointed. We're a small family, but a happy one. And I think that's what matters."

My mom leans down to kiss her cheek. "Amen, honey."

"How was it, talking to Harriet?" Christina asks her.

She shoves another balled up piece of wrapping paper into the trash bag. "To be honest, it was kind of validating. I hate that she's going through the same thing I went through–I mean, it's a little different because he left me for her –but the feelings of self-doubt are the same. The overwhelm of having two teenagers to take care of. The fear of being a sole provider and a mom but also a friend as her girls get older." She throws one of the food containers into the bag. "I feel for her. But I'm also kind of proud of myself. It was like a mirror straight back into the past, and you know what? I did it."

"Aw, Mom," I say. "You did it great ."

She rolls her eyes. "I wouldn't say I always did it great, but I now have two grown-up daughters who seem to be doing alright for themselves. I will take that as a win."

"And you have a Hank," Christina says.

My mom blushes. "And a Hank."

"Do you love him?" Christina asks, a grin spreading across her face.

She shoots my sister a look. "It's new, okay?"

"New and fucking ancient," I interject. "Hanky Panky."

She lets out a long breath, her eyes flitting up to the ceiling. "We're seeing how things go. Hank is a very nice man."

I stop my cleanup to give her a quick hug. "Happy for you, Mom."

She throws an arm around my shoulders, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Happy for you too, sweetie. Even though yours is broken."

We snicker as Nick lifts his head, his visible eyebrow raised. "Not broken. Just wanted a reason for Noelle to baby me for a few weeks."

I snort. "Um, have you met me?"

He gives me a big grin. "Yes. And I happen to know that underneath that prickly exterior, you've got quite a big heart."

And now it's my turn to blush.

"Aw, Noelle!" Christina shouts.

I crinkle my nose. "Stop. I hate Christmas. I hate joy. Take it all back."

My mom and sister cackle as Nick grabs my hand, tugging me down into the couch next to him and throwing his arm around my shoulders. He lowers the bag of peas from his eye for only a moment as he leans forward to kiss my cheek, and I get an unobstructed view of the puffy, bruised eye underneath.

I must visibly grimace because Nick's mouth tugs to one side in a frown. "It's that bad?"

I nod, grabbing his hand to place the peas back where they were. "Just keep that there, okay?"

He groans. "Fuck. What am I going to tell my kids?"

"Tell them you got in a fight with a goose. Good precautionary tale–I've heard they're psycho."

He shakes his head, letting out a long breath. "I'll have to think of something before school starts up again. Although I don’t know, maybe it'll even be gone by then?"

I accidentally catch the gaze of my mom, whose eyebrows are raised as if to say, Yeah, you wish .

"Maybe it'll be gone by then," I repeat, even if it only gives him a few days of relief.

If it's not, I guess we'll be matching him with some drugstore cover up.

He nods, relaxing further into the couch as a car door shuts somewhere outside.

"Must be Hank," my mom says, dropping the wrapping paper in her hand and rushing off to greet him.

I catch Christina's eye, and she wiggles her eyebrows at me.

"You make that face now, but might I remind you you're sharing a wall with them tonight."

"Oh, Noelle!" She grabs the closest bit of wrapping paper and chucks it at me, but instead it brushes over Nick's chest and lands on the other side of us.

"Hey! I'm broken!"

I snort. "Two minutes ago, you insisted you weren't ."

"Well, I'm broken now. Take pity on me. I think a kiss will make it better."

Christina rolls her eyes as she reaches for more of the containers on the coffee table. "Definitely not broken."

Hank and my mom enter the living room a minute later. He's abandoned the hat and the beard, but he still has his red velvet jacket and matching pants on. He smiles when he sees us. "Got the girls back home in one piece. I'll pick up Harriet tomorrow and bring her back for her car." He turns to Nick and me. "You kids ready to go? Want me to take you to pick up your car, or you want to go straight home?"

I look at Nick for an answer. "Home," he says, and turns to me. "If you don't mind driving me over tomorrow to pick it up?"

"Fine by me," I say, as we gather up the bags my mom separated for us. We leave with a round of hugs and kisses and well wishes for Nick, and when we fall into Hank's cruiser, I get two matching grins in the rearview mirror.

"In your rightful place, huh?" Nick asks, as I shoot him a glare.

"I've done my time," I tell him. "You, sir, have not."

He glances sideways at Hank. "Yeah, don't tell him that."

Hank only shakes his head as he pulls out of the driveway and heads toward Nick's. "It's Christmas, and I'm not about to come between two good people who happen to make bad decisions on occasion." He turns onto the main street. "But if I catch either of you throwing eggs again, it won't be the same story, you hear?"

I nod. "I hear."

"I hear," Nick repeats.

"Good."

When we get inside, we leave our bags of presents by the Christmas tree and head upstairs. He peels off his shirt and his pants and sits down in bed, still holding the somewhat soggy peas over his eye. I run downstairs and grab an ice pack from the freezer and a headband from my duffel bag so he doesn't have to hold it against his head the whole time, and when I get upstairs, I crawl into his lap and place it right over his eye.

"There. Is that better?" I ask.

He nods, his hands running along my thighs. When I go to get up, he groans. "Wait, now it hurts."

I sit again, adjusting it slightly on his face. "Good?"

He nods. "Better."

But when I go to get up again, the same thing happens.

"You just want me to straddle you, don't you?"

He shrugs. "Pain is pain, Noelle. It hurts when you're not sitting on me. I don't know what to tell you."

I run my thumbs along the underside of his jaw, and he hums in response.

"I would like to get changed for bed if you can deal with the pain for a few more minutes. And maybe we can watch a Christmas movie or something? It's still early."

He grins, his fingers digging into my hips. "You want to watch a Christmas movie with me?"

I roll my eyes. "Well, only if you want to. Since you're broken and all."

"My little Christmas elf strikes again," he says, his thumbs digging into my hips in a way that has a heat building in my core. I jump off his lap before my hips start moving on their own.

"I'll be right back," I tell him.

I bound down the stairs to grab the I heart math shirt he gave me, and I quickly strip down once I get back upstairs, throwing my dirty clothes into a pile by the door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he says, as I tug my sweater over my head. "Slower! For Christ's sake, I'm working with one half-functioning eye here."

"I'm not stripping for you ," I tell him.

"Damn straight you are," he counters, and the confidence in his words makes me immediately change my position. Yeah alright, I'll strip for you.

I take a step toward him and turn so he gets a full view of my ass as I push my leggings down over my hips. He reaches out and grabs me, palming me as I slowly stand again. "Mm, I like that," he says, his voice low as his thumb trails along my underwear.

I kick my pants off and throw one leg over his lap, seating myself right on top of his dick.

"I like the sexy stripper Christmas elf," he says, holding onto my hips as he says it because he knows I'm going to try to remove myself.

"I am none of those things!"

He grins. "Maybe for me? I'm so broken. Give me something to live for.”

I roll my eyes. "Fine. Considering my dad punched you in the eye, it's probably the least I can do, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm sure that's not the outcome he was intending."

I laugh, and as his hands squeeze at my hips and run along my sides, I reach behind me and pinch the clasp of my bra, shrugging it off and tossing it to the ground. "Is this what you had in mind?" I ask, as I lean forward and press a light kiss to his jaw. My nipples brush against his chest with the movement, and we both shiver.

He takes a strangled breath. "Fuck, Noelle."

I swirl my hips, feeling him growing hard underneath me, and he grabs them, pressing down.

His hands run up my back, wrapping around me and tugging me against his chest. Careful to avoid the ice, I wrap my arms around his neck. I sigh, my breasts pressing against him as he rubs my back.

"Thank you, Noelle," he whispers.

"Tips are appreciated," I joke, and he lets out a breathy laugh into my shoulder before pulling away from me.

I sit up straight, and he runs his fingers through my hair, brushing a strand behind my ear. "Thank you for today. It was the Christmas I never thought I could have."

I can't help but snort. "I really thought I could show you a fun Christmas, at least. And instead I showed you a shit show from beginning to end. So, sorry. But I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it."

He shakes his head. "It's not what you do or what happens that matters. It's the people. It's coming together and taking part in silly traditions even if it means the criminal of the family decides to decorate all of your cookies with genitalia."

I grin, proud of my artwork. "And I even passed off the balls as Christmas ornaments and the vagina as a rose when Naomi and Cassidy asked."

He rolls his eyes. "Very impressive."

I lean forward and kiss him. "I'm really happy you came."

He takes a deep breath, his free eye skirting over my body as his hands brush over my skin. He takes in a breath like he's going to speak, but decides against it.

I raise my eyebrows, my hands running across his chest. "What?"

He shakes his head. "It's dumb."

"Tell me."

He purses his lips. "Did you mean what you said? That thing about your love for me outweighing your hatred for your dad?"

My breath catches. I said it in a moment of emotion, but it wasn't untrue. As much as I want to say it's too soon, I know that what I feel for Nick is stronger than infatuation. I'm not about to move in and stop taking birth control, but with feelings like this, I need to give this thing between us space to grow into what I know it can be.

I nod, momentarily forgetting how to speak. My words come out breathy and unsure as I say them. "I love you, Nick. And I'm going to make some moves so that I can be here in this stupid town, and love you as hard as I can."

"You're not saying that because it's Christmas and I took a punch from your dad?"

I laugh, shaking my head. "I don't know what the future looks like, but I know I want to do it with you."

He looks me in the eye when he speaks, no hint of a doubt in his words. "I love you, Noelle. I love your family. I love the prickly girl you show the world on the outside and the one that loves so fully on the inside. I love your brain and your snark, and there's nothing I want more than to have you in my house, in my bed, in my heart."

He lets out a long breath when he's done, and smiles at me as if to tell me that's the last of his monologue.

I can't help the grin that comes to my face, and he mirrors it right back to me.

"So why don't you stand up and put on a little show for the one you love."

I raise my eyebrows. "I literally only have my underwear to take off."

"Then I guess you better put some extra sexy into it."

I roll my eyes and slowly extricate myself from his lap. I stand, looping my thumbs in my thong, and shake my ass a little bit in his face. He slaps it, giving me a quick squeeze, and I slowly– so slowly –drag my underwear down my thighs, bending as I take them all the way to the ground.

"Fuck, Noelle," he says, palming one cheek. He runs his thumb along my center and I shiver at the touch. He groans as he presses his thumb into his mouth, tasting me. "Look how wet you are for me." He slaps my ass and runs his hand over the area, soothing the sting. "Now come sit in my lap and tell me what you want."

"Oh god," I say, rolling my eyes as I stand. "You did not just say that."

He shrugs. "Are you going to be naughty, or nice?"

I can't help but grin at him as I throw one leg over him. I reach below me–aware of the way his eyes are glued to my tits as they squeeze between my arms–and tug his underwear down, exposing him. I take him in my hand and pump him a few times as he groans, tipping his head back against the headboard.

"Oh, she's been a good girl this year," he murmurs, his hand drifting up my side and squeezing my breast.

"So you're going to give me what I want, then?"

He nods quickly, his breathing going ragged the longer I pump him. " Anything you want."

I lean forward, leaving a delicate kiss and a quick nip to the underside of his jaw. "I want you, Saint Nick."

I lift up, running his dick along my entrance and coating it with me before sinking down onto him, taking him fully. I moan as he thumbs my nipple, as he grabs the back of my neck and tugs me in for a rough kiss, his tongue winding into my mouth and tangling with mine.

I move my hips slowly, adjusting to the width of him inside me. He urges me faster, and I build us up to an indulgent rhythm that has his muscles fluttering underneath my touch, his hips bucking up into mine.

"Fuck, Noelle," he murmurs, his face tipping up to the ceiling as the tension pools in my abdomen.

My nails dig into the skin of his shoulders as my orgasm builds.

And as my movements become jerky, my orgasm reaching its tipping point and sending me over the edge, he pinches my nipple lightly, his groan reverberating throughout his entire body.

"Yes," he says, his voice a low grumble. I cry out as the pressure releases, and he holds me tight, pressing my cheek against his chest and brushing his lips across my ear. "I love the way your pussy flutters around my cock when you come."

"Oh god," I mumble, the last wave flowing through me and leaving me breathless.

"Mm," he says, slapping my ass. "You good, Noelle?"

I nod into his shoulder.

His hips move against me, anxious for his release. "Are you ready to hang onto the headboard for your damn life?" I nod exuberantly as he slaps my ass again. "Get up. Turn around."

With shaky legs, I do as he says, gripping the headboard with white knuckles and sticking my ass out for him.

He groans, running a thumb through my center and sending a quick shiver down my spine. It trails along the crease of my ass and pulls at my skin, spreading me for him. "Most beautiful pussy I've seen in my life," he says with another sharp slap to my ass that has me crying out.

He removes his ice pack, dropping it onto the bed next to us.

"Is that a good idea?" I ask, taking a quick look behind me. His hands move to my head, spinning my gaze forward again.

"That's not for you to worry about right now," he says. "You think about a second orgasm, okay?"

He presses into me again, as deep as he can, and lets out a string of expletives as his hips rock easily into mine. His fingers run along my spine, coming down to cup my ass and running up to tug on my hair.

"How's that feel, good girl?" he asks.

"Real. Ly. Fuck. Ing. Good," I say, as he tugs my head back and pounds into me hard enough that I can barely get words out.

"Mm. You tell me if you want something different, okay?"

I nod. "Keep. Fuck. Ing. Me. Please."

He groans. "Your wish is my command."

He pounds into me harder, and my second orgasm builds like lightning in my abdomen, sharp and powerful and overwhelming.

I cry out as I lose control, my body clenching in his arms as he thrusts into me repeatedly, his rhythm pushing me right over the edge.

"Nick," I pant.

"I know. I'm coming right after you," he says, as the dam breaks and I turn to complete mush underneath him. His breathing heavy, he jerks into me hard, his grunts filling my ears as he layers himself on top of me, one arm clenched around my stomach and holding me in place.

"Fuck," he murmurs, his lips leaving rough little kisses along my shoulder blade as his thrusts become choppy and strained. And as I feel the warmth inside me, I reach behind me, resting one hand on his neck and keeping him close.

He holds me tight as our movements slow, his breath loud in my ear. He leaves a kiss there and slowly straightens, his hands running up and down my back so gently. He pulls out of me slowly, shaking his head as he struggles to catch his breath.

"Goddamn, Noelle." He sits back on his heels, one hand trailing up and down my thigh.

I can't move. I'm somewhere between numb and nerve damage.

And then I feel a trickle of warmth run down my thigh.

"Fuck me, that's hot," he says, running his thumb through it and following the trail back up. He presses his thumb briefly inside me as if to put it back where it came from, and it sends a little shiver down my spine. He slaps my ass again. "Naughty Noelle looks so fucking good with my come dripping out of her."

I groan as I straighten and another drop descends. "I have to go clean myself up."

"Let me do it," he says, and I only look at the surely sensitive skin of his face and raise my eyebrows.

"You're going to clean me up?"

He nods. "Come shower with me. I can soap you up, soap you down. Maybe give you a little massage."

I raise my eyebrows. "Yeah?"

"I love you, Noelle. Of course."

I don't know why his words hit my chest in the violent way that they do, but I feel them viscerally. He wants to take care of me . And it gives me this warm feeling like whatever I have to do to make us work will be worth it.

He follows me into the bathroom and starts the water, leaving little kisses along every bare inch of skin he can find. And once we're inside, he lathers me up with shampoo and gives me a scalp massage. Rubs body wash all over me and makes good on his promise to massage me. He gives me wet kisses whenever his hands aren't on my body, and afterward he rubs a towel all over me and pulls the pink I heart math T-shirt over my head.

And I take that ice pack and affix it to his head again because his eye looks absolutely terrible.

We settle in bed, and he picks the Christmas movie, me warm and cozy in the nook of his arm. I grow sleepy almost immediately, and with every minute that passes, curl tighter into him.

He leaves a kiss on my forehead, and before I finally drift off to sleep, he whispers softly, "I love you, Noelle."