Naughty & Nice (Merry Elf-Mas 2)

Chapter 3

Angel

I ’d known today was going to suck balls from the second I’d opened my eyes. Not that every day of my life didn’t suck at the moment, but that day was going to be just that little bit worse. It had fucking snowed, which meant it was going to be colder than fuck, and I couldn’t fucking stand being cold. It was also the first day of my part-time job as a damn mall elf.

I should have been grateful for the work. Damon had been providing for us since Halloween, when my world came crashing around my ears. When the cops had called to tell me the flower shop had gone up in flames, I’d been devastated. I’d sunk everything I had into that place and BOOM! It was gone. All thanks to a fuckwad trying to scam his insurance company. As the topping to that shit sundae, we’d planned to live in the apartment above the shop, so we were homeless as well.

With no other options, we’d been forced to move back to our hometown of Frostdale. I wasn’t happy to be there, relying on my boyfriend like some damn kept man. I might look like the twinkiest twink that had ever twinked, but I was still a man with pride. The fact I had to work shitty part-time jobs to help make ends meet only served to further wound my pride.

Still, I’d dragged my ass out of our nice warm bed to work for Damon’s sake. Although, when he’d told me that queen with the big ass was going to be there, I’d been ready to throw the whole day away. Had you ever met someone who just instantly rubbed you the wrong way? That was Billy to me. If that goofy lummox hadn’t hauled me to the car like a sack of potatoes, I’d have stormed right back to bed just to avoid him.

Now, with Damon having just outed himself and our kinky ways to our new coworkers, I really wished I’d fought hard to go back to bed. I recognized the older man Damon was trying to climb on as Master Rolly from the night at the club.

I’d hoped, once things had settled down, we’d go back to the club to find him again, but after this? Yeah, pretty sure he would never talk to either of us after this. With my day ruined, I walked up and grabbed the neck of Damon’s coat. “That’s enough out of you.” I gave Master Rolly an apologetic look. “Sorry about him. I think he has confused you with someone else.”

I moved to drag Damon off so I could tear him a new asshole but was stopped by Rolly’s hand landing on my arm. My eyes darted up to look at the older man in confusion. Was he about to pick a fight or something? I wasn’t excited about this job, but I still didn’t want us getting fired on our first day.

Ready for a fight, I was shocked when I found Rolly beaming at the two of us. The smile that split his face looked painful. How could someone’s face stretch that far? “No, I think he definitely has the right person.” He leaned in so only I could hear him. “Good to see you again, Pineapple.”

Hearing that name from his lips sent a shiver down my spine. That night in the club came to mind, and my heart rate quickened. My stupid dick kicked in my pants, and I had to remind it this was not the place for it to misbehave.

Rolly leaned back with that shit-eating grin on his face. There was a look in his blue eyes that told me we’d all be talking later. That was fine by me because right now I had to figure out how to save face in front of these other elves and Damon’s boss.

The door to the locker room burst open and our friend Benny came stumbling in. “Sorry I’m late. This place isn’t even open, and I still couldn’t find parking.”

Saved by the bunny. I nodded at Rolly and dragged Damon over to help Benny with the massive amount of garment bags clutched in his arms. I could feel all the eyes in the room on us and it made my skin crawl. Being the center of attention was not my thing, and I was ready to claw out anyone’s eyes who gave me trouble.

Several loud claps rang out, and all attention shifted to Billy. “All right, people. Time is money, and we are running low on time to train.” He pointed a well-manicured nail at Benny. “Pick up your costume and get your fine asses changed ASAP.”

I forced down the irritation I felt just being in the same room as Billy as I helped hand out the bags. When Benny gave me my bag, I glanced over at Rolly, and my hackles rose. What the hell was that flirty drag queen doing with his hand on my Master’s arm?

Okay, he wasn’t officially my Master. Yet. Still, Billy had his man, so what was he doing touching one of mine? I felt a yowl rumbling in the back of my throat. I was two seconds away from storming over there when a hand landed on my shoulder.

“Retract the claws, Grumpy Cat.” Damon squeezed my arm, and I turned a glare on him.

“But that asshole is touching.” A finger was laid across my lips, and I was tempted to bite it.

I got a warning look from Damon that I’d better not even think about it. He put up with most of my shit, but he had limits. If I actually bit him, I’d be the one in the doghouse. Letting my irritation with him go, I went back to scowling at Billy.

“Let it go, Angel. We don’t need to cause a scene.” Damon’s chiding only made me more aggravated.

“Oh, like you outing us and Master as kinksters wasn’t bad enough?” There, I’d said it and wasn’t sorry for doing so. As much as Damon had to put up with my shitty attitude, sometimes he was the one who cleaned up the trouble he made.

Damon had the good sense to look sheepish as he scratched at his mop of brown curls. “Ha, yeah. Kind of stuck my foot in that one, didn’t I?”

I scoffed as I set my bag down to change. It had been a shock to learn that there weren’t standard tacky elf costumes for the village employees. Instead, the big boss paid for each elf to have their own custom outfit.

Until this year, the guy who’d run the show had made all the costumes and organized everything. Talk about dedication. When he’d chosen to retire from being an elf to jet set around the world with his boyfriend, it had left an enormous hole.

Jack Winters had hired Damon to be the event organizer, but he couldn’t sew to save his life. Enter their old buddy, Benny. He was a literal wizard with fabric and thread. I opened my bag and was not disappointed by what I found.

I would never be caught dead wearing one of those ridiculous elf costumes like you’d find in a costume shop. No, I’d wanted to look like my favorite elf from the Tim Allen movies. I’d loved Bernard as a kid, right down to his beret and snarky attitude.

Caressing the soft fabric, I pulled out my costume and felt my lips tip up. While the outfit in the movie had been red, I’d chosen to go with a deep evergreen with silver embellishments. Benny had made me a matching beret, too. I might not be excited about this job, but at least I’d look amazing doing it.

Shucking my clothes, I changed in record time and moved to admire myself in the mirror. Oh, yeah. This I could handle. No idiotic Buddy elf look for me.

A low whistle drew my attention, and I frowned at the person I found. “Looking good there, Demon Boy.”

Of course, right when I’d gotten the tiniest bit excited about this dumb job, the one person I couldn’t stand had to ruin my mood. I turned around and put as much venom in my glare as I could. “Yeah, Fat Ass? Cause you’re looking as tacky as ever.”

A feeling of satisfaction filled me when Billy’s eyebrow twitched with irritation. I could see him getting ready to pull out his claws, and I was all for it. I’d been itching for a catfight.

“Okay, you two. Break it up.” Damon stepped between us and held his arms out. “We need to get to work before this place opens.”

He was doing his best to look like a boss, but being dressed just like Buddy elf only made him look ridiculous. I had to hold back a snicker, which wasn’t that hard since he’d kept me from messing up Billy’s face. Pity. It would have been an improvement.

Speak of the devil. That son of a bitch shot me an evil look as he leaned into Damon. Billy cocked his hip and trailed a finger along Damon’s fur collar. “You’re right, sweetie. We’ve got work to do.”

I knew he was baiting me and the adult thing to do would be to ignore him. Too bad I wasn’t feeling much like an adult. I swiped at him with a hiss but missed him by a hair. Fucker had better be glad that Damon caught my hand.

“Enough you two. Like dealing with a pair of toddlers. I swear.” Damon shifted his grip to hold my hand as if I were a troublemaking kid the teacher had to look after. I would have been insulted if he hadn’t shot me a no nonsense look. My boyfriend didn’t anger easily, but he had a limit just like everyone else for my bullshit.

I lowered my head and pressed into his side, letting him know I’d behave. He gave my hand a squeeze, and I knew we were good. Now that he didn’t have to deal with Billy and me, Damon put on his manager hat to rally the troops.

We made our way out to the main part of the mall to where Santa’s village had been set up. The whole thing had gotten a major upgrade. With encouragement from his fiance, Holli, Jack had enlarged the area that the village took up. The kids would now walk through a winter wonderland dotted with presents and oversized candy. There were even fake animals decorating the trees.

It blew my mind when I took in the three large buildings of Santa’s village. There was a barn that had two fake reindeer standing in front of it. Rumor was Jack had wanted a real reindeer but was convinced that would be too hard on the animal. I was thankful, since I didn’t want to be the elf assigned to clean deer shit.

The largest building was Santa’s workshop. The place was enormous. I guess it had to be since it doubled as our break room and damn; the room was nice. It came with a nice kitchen table with cushioned seats and a futon for quick power naps. The kitchenette was awesome with a full size fridge, microwave, coffeemaker, and a fucking panini press. This place was better than some apartments I’d seen. The last building was a modest little gift shop where the customers got their photos, frames, and other knickknacks.

I was massively impressed with the setup and that throne Santa sat on. Holy shit, that thing was huge. Five grown men could sit on that thing with ease. I might have had some impure thoughts about the naughty things Master Rolly, Damon, and I could get up to on that thing. Maybe this job wouldn’t be as bad as I thought it would be.