Naughty & Nice (Merry Elf-Mas 2)

Chapter 5

Damon

“ M aster? What are you doing here?” I was so lost as I watched Master Rolly fumble through the snowy yard of our neighbor’s house. We hadn’t met this neighbor, but it seemed we already knew him.

He reached us, looking just as surprised as he pointed at the house. “I live there. So it looks like you’re my new neighbors.”

The smile that turned up his whiskered lips was so big I worried he’d hurt his face. At the same time, I was beyond thrilled. If Master lived next door, that would make play dates so easy to set up. We had nearly identical schedules, so finding a day would be no big deal. This was amazing.

I believed in fate and this, to me, was proof that we were meant to be together. One glance at Angel, though, told me I was going to have my work cut out for me. I knew he wanted to have a master, and we’d had a good time at the club with Master Rolly. That one night wasn’t enough to erase the history of hurt Angel carried.

Many of the Doms we’d played with in the past had only been interested in me. They wanted just a pup and had no interest in a kitten. Since we came as a package deal, they’d either pass us over or bullshit us. There had been one guy we’d seen regularly and had hoped he might be our forever Master.

One night, Angel overheard him tell another Dom about how he was stringing him along until he could force us apart. Then he’d drop Angel like a bad habit. When we confronted him, he said a lot of ugly things about Angel’s personality and appearance. He’d said there was no way there would ever be willing to take on the two of us together with how much of a pain in the ass Angel was.

It still filled me with satisfaction when I thought of how my little kitten had put that son of a bitch on his ass. He didn’t have a triple black belt in jujitsu for nothing. After that, Angel had been more skittish and didn’t like feeling forced into things. Our being neighbors and working together was definitely rubbing him the wrong way.

Good thing problem solving was one of my specialties. “Isn’t it crazy how tiny the world is sometimes?” I caught Rolly’s arm as he slid on a slick patch of the drive. No way was I letting our future Master get hurt on my watch.

“It’s too small, if you ask me.” Grumpy cat just had to make his wariness known. I had to bite back a sigh. This brat.

Master Rolly seemed unfazed by Angel’s snark. “I think it’s perfect. Now I won’t have to wait to see you both at work. We could even carpool.”

His words were simple and kind, but in his eyes, I could see a world of underlying meaning. He’d said earlier that we didn’t need to feed the rumor monster, but if we arrived at work together, it would stoke the flames higher.

None of that mattered to me. Let people talk. If we aren’t hurting anyone and things didn’t interfere with work, then it was no one’s business but ours.

An icy wind blew through, and Angel gave a full body shudder. “You two maybe okay standing out here to freeze to death, but I’m not. I’m going inside.”

He stomped off to the house, and all I could do was shake my head. A deep rumbling chuckle drew my attention back to Rolly. “He’s going to be a handful.”

My heart did a somersault. The way Rolly wasn’t put off by Angel’s gruff behavior had my hopes way up. “He’s like most cats. They act all aloof and cranky, but really just want to be pampered and pet.”

“I can see that.” Rolly reached up and stroked my head. “You head inside, too, pup. Can’t have you catching a cold.”

I wanted to stay there under his touch, but another chilly breeze came through. “Okay. See you tomorrow, Master.”

“Sweet dreams, good boy.” Rolly strolled off toward his house with a backward wave.

As I watched him go, my chest swirled with emotion. I didn’t want him to go but was excited to see what the future had in store.

Hunching my shoulders against the cold, I made my way to Billy’s door. We’d made plans to hang out while he got fitted for his new drag outfit for this year’s Christmas performance. I was excited to see what Benny had put together for him. Billy’s best friend, Holli, was going to be there with his stepdaughter, Flora, and so was Vic from work.

When Angel and I had left Frostdale, we’d lost touch with many of our friends from high school, like Benny. I was excited about reconnecting and making some new friends. I raised my hand to knock and was surprised when the door flew open. Noel stood in the doorway, looking haggard.

“Oh, thank goodness. Reinforcements.” Noel grabbed my arm and hauled me inside. “If I get asked one more time about fabric shades, I may just gouge my own eyes out.”

As we walked into the living room, I was struck dumb by the chaos I found. Fabric, sewing supplies, and clothes were strewn everywhere. One pile of material moved and an adorable little girl appeared with a cry of boo.

“Um, did a bomb go off in here?” I looked at Noel with concern.

He gave a tired sigh. “No, this is just hurricane Billy at his finest.”

Said hurricane turned to face us from where he stood on a step stool with his arms spread wide. “Oh, good. Damon is here. We can put him to work.” He looked past me with wariness in his eyes. “You didn’t bring the devil cat, did you?”

“No, he was still sleeping when I left.” I took off my coat and other outerwear. Noel took it all and scurried off to hide from all the madness.

“That’s a relief. Ow.” Billy flinched and sent a half-hearted glare at Benny.

Benny gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry, but you’re the one who won’t stay still long enough for me to finish pinning this damn skirt.”

“Papa, Billy is so pretty.” Flora bounded over to where Holli and Vic were working on some other project. “Flora wants to be pretty, too.”

“But, Flora, you’re already the prettiest one here.” Vic righted the crooked tiara the little girl was wearing with a gentle smile. They were so amazing with kids. I’d witnessed it dozens of times at work. They were even better than me at calming the kiddos down.

I strode over and took a seat in the one open space on the floor that I could find. “So, is there something I can help with, or am I just here for opinions?”

Benny finished with Billy and turned his gaze on me. “Vic, you’re up, and as for you, Damon, I want to hear about what’s going on with you, Angel, and Santa.”

I shot an accusatory look at Billy as he shimmied out of his outfit. Standing in just his underwear with his hand over his heart, he fluttered his lashes at me in mock innocence. “Why are you looking at me like that? I haven’t breathed a word about your secret, kinky love affair.”

“Uh-huh.” Yeah, I didn’t believe him for a second.

Holli shot Billy a dirty look as he held his hands over Flora’s ears. “Hey, gang, let’s remember we have little ears here.”

“If we keep it PG, can we get Damon to spill the tea about his threesome?” Benny had Vic on the stool with a tape measure wrapped around their hips but shot me a pointed look.

I rolled my eyes. What did they want to hear? Nothing had happened. We worked all the time, and this was the first day off since the season started. When did the three of us have time to talk to each other, let alone get up to anything sexy? “There’s nothing to tell. We met at a Halloween party, lost touch, and reconnected. I’m not even sure if Rolly wants there to be more between us.”

“Oh, he definitely wants more. Tell them, Holli.” Billy had put on another outfit and was looking himself over in a full-length mirror. His reflection sent Holli an expectant look.

I was curious now. What did Holli have to do with Rolly? “Yes, please enlighten us.”

Benny and Vic joined in on the needling. Holli glared at all of us before heaving a defeated sigh. “Uncle Rolly may have inquired about the two of you as Jack and I run in similar circles.”

“Oh, my gosh. Why did you make it sound so boring?” Billy spun around with a dramatic flourish. “He had the entire club buzzing about this Cinderella story. I think he showed those toys to everyone at least twice.”

Now that definitely had my attention. “What toys?”

Holli made a thoughtful face as he fixed the sash of Flora’s dress. “It was a plush bone and a laser pointer. He just went on and on about the pets they belonged to and how he had to find them. He said it was fate.”

My chest felt like a dozen acrobats were putting on a performance. I’d hoped that Rolly had been thinking of us while we were separated. To hear he’d been searching that hard and thought we were destined to be together. It just made my heart sing.

“Aw…Look at that dopey grin.” Vic made a sappy face with his head cocked to the side. “It’s got to be love.”

I shook my head with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t go quite that far, but I wouldn’t mind us getting closer.”

A sudden pounding sound came from the front door, startling everyone. “Damon! You forgot your damn phone. Open this fucking door. I’m freezing my nuts off.”

Looks like my cranky kitty had woken up and wasn’t happy. I got to my feet and made for the door. It was better if I handled this. Otherwise, there might be a cat fight.

I opened the door to find a shivering Angel on the porch. If looks could kill, I’d have been vaporized. He shoved my phone at me with a huff. “Why are you so bad at remembering things?”

“Thanks for bringing it, Grumpy Cat.” I pocketed my phone and pecked his lips.

He tugged his hood tighter around his head, but I didn’t miss the little smile that curled his lips. “Yeah, yeah. I just can’t have you where I can’t reach you.” He shot a dirty look over my shoulder. “Especially when you’re hanging out with that overly flirtatious fucker.”

A mild sigh of exasperation escaped me. “You need to lay off Billy. He’s a nice guy.”

“You keep telling me that, but I trust him about as far as I can throw him.” He scrunched up his cold, reddened nose in distaste.

“That’s actually pretty far since you’re a martial arts master.” I couldn’t hold back a snicker at his adorable antics.

He stamped his feet and wrapped his arms around himself for warmth. “Not really, since his ass is so big.” He raised his voice in the last half of his sentence, and I narrowed my eyes in irritation.

Billy appeared at my side, looking affronted. “My ass is a perfect work of art. Do you know how many squats I do to keep it this nice?”

Looks like that cat fight was inevitable. I put aside all thoughts of romance for another day since I had to deal with these two.