Elf Against the Wall: A Holiday Romantic Comedy (The Wynter Brothers Book 2)

“Evie, your hair!” her mother yelled, rushing over with a towel.

“Crap.” Evie blew on the singed ends of her hair, which she was drying in front of the fire.

“Can you please…” I blew out a breath. “Try not to get yourself killed for the rest of the day?”

“I’m going to have to tell Brooke you can’t be on her talk show,” Melissa tutted. “Where is Sawyer? You burnt off half your hair. Sawyer!”

Evie sat down on the loveseat closest to the fire, and I handed her the mug of tea I was carrying.

“Drink,” I ordered. “You’re still cold.”

She took a long drink then leaned against me. “It’s not that bad, is it?” Evie asked, worry in her eyes as she ran her fingers through her tangled hair.

I tugged at the singed curls. “I think you’d look cute with a short haircut, Gingersnap.”

I sat in front of the fire, wearing in a loaner pair of pants, the chill of the icy water finally starting to fade.

I’d never forget the pure terror, the need to save that had been a gun at my neck forcing me into action.

I pulled her closer to me. “Don’t do that again.”

“Ride shotgun while Granny Doyle is driving? I think my dad’s going to shred her license.”

“No.” I squeezed my eyes shut, seeing only the murky icy water. I breathed in the holiday scent of her. “Don’t leave me. Don’t almost die. I can’t—”

She grabbed my hand. “If you want to stay with me, then buckle up, asshole.” She smiled up at me. “I have a pretty bad track record.”

I rested my forehead against hers, stared into her eyes.

“I can’t lose you. And I could have.” What if I hadn’t been there? What if she’d just drowned while her useless family watched on the shore? I’d have shown up to her house wondering, waiting, only to have my heart ripped out, leaving an Evie-sized hole.

One of Granny Doyle’s sons shoved a plate with a huge square of lasagna in front of me.

“Uncle Hugh, he doesn’t eat carbs.” Evie sighed beside me on the couch, the warm mug of tea cradled in her hands.

“My bad, Anderson,” he said jovially. “You want a burger? You want Chinese? We can get you anything you want.”

“We owe you,” his brother said, muscling in. He draped a blanket around my shoulders like I was a prizefighter.

“I’m grilling steak because I actually care that we’re not burying Mom and Evie, unlike you,” Todd shot at him as two of his sons traipsed through the house with a bag of charcoal.

Evie had a freaked-out look in her eyes at the mention of Christmas burials.

I’d been expecting it. I drew her close to me.

This was why I had to stay.

“What are you doing?” Jennifer chased her brothers away from me. “Someone get this man a drink.”

“Get him a medal. He saved Christmas!” Her sister ruffled my hair.

“Evie, you are disaster prone. Get that hot water away from that man’s balls,” Jennifer scolded her.

“Eat,” I urged Evie, taking the mug from her.

“I’m actually not that hungry. Funny. A near-death experience was all I needed to kick-start that New Year’s weight loss resolution.” She fidgeted with the plate, running her thumb over the holly pattern on the edge.

I cut off a piece of the lasagna and held it up to her mouth.

She leaned in and took the bite. She still had that freaked out, wide-eyed look as she chewed.

The front door burst open to the sound of Granny Doyle giving an impassioned interview to several reporters then slammed shut.

I fed Evie another bite of lasagna as more aunts piled into the living room.

“My husband said you wanted Chinese food.” A piping-hot bag was sat next to me.

“I—”

“He doesn’t want that,” her sister-in-law argued. “I made you potato-and-bacon soup. You need something warm.”

“He needs a drink.”

“Just give him the bottle.”

“Not that swill Brian has.” One of her aunts pulled a bottle out of her purse and handed it to me.

“If Evie shits the bed,” her aunt assured me, “I have several daughters. You can give them a try. You are a part of this family now.”

“I think I’ll stick with the one I have.” I squeezed Evie.

“As you can see, the hero of Maplewood Falls is shirtless and recovering,” Nat announced, phone out. “Yes, we are taking donations, Sparkledolphin32.”

“Are you live streaming this?” Evie cried as she licked the lasagna plate.

“Ooh, is that CNN I see in the comments?” Nat asked. “The rescue video is copywritten, by the way. Call me for licensing fees!”

Evie’s small, soft body was warm against me. I fished in the takeout sack and handed her an egg roll.

Snowball jumped up on my lap, licking her small black nose.

“You made a difficult situation even worse,” I reminded the dog.

She set one small paw on my hand.

I opened the top container and selected a piece of beef.

“She saved my phone.” Evie scratched the little dog behind the ears as she scarfed down the snack.

“My phone. Shit.” I patted my pockets.

My wallet and keys had been in my jacket, but my phone? At the bottom of the river.

“I have to run.” I kissed Evie’s warm mouth.

“You’re leaving? But you didn’t get steak.”

“Save it for me.”

My brothers were grim faced when I raced into the garage, leaving the truck parked askew out front in the gravel lot.

“No jokes about the daring rescue? I didn’t think you’d be that worried about me. You know I can handle a river.” I set my keys on the table.

Jake crossed his arms. He didn’t smile. “We found something on the Bianca files.”

“Fuck yeah.” I pumped a fist. “So that’s it. It’s done. Give me your phone. I need to call Aaron.”

“I wouldn’t do that.” Talbot held out a hand.

Lawrence pointed at the screen behind him. “She’s keeping secrets.”

“Yeah, a secret affair. That’s the reason she and Braeden were hiding messages,” Jake explained.

“Fuck.” I slumped down onto the threadbare couch.

“They’ve been hooking up on the down-low for months. She’s got tons of evidence—homemade pornos, sexy text messages, chat logs between them, talking about how she’s going to meet him at the tropical resort where he and Felicity are having their honeymoon so they can hook up.”

“Damn.”

“Nothing, however, on the insurance fraud,” Jake added.

“I’m fucked.”

My mouth was dry. Suddenly, I was glad I hadn’t eaten much of the offered food. I was going to puke.

“This can’t be happening. The files were supposed to be there.” I pushed Lawrence away from the computer. “There has to be something there. Aaron’s going to kill me.”

“Unless Santa wants to bring you an early Christmas miracle, you’re totally fucked, dude.”

I sat there in the chilly garage, drinking, after my brothers had packed up and left, finishing up Braeden’s destruction. Jake had cleaned up the audio file.

I shouldn’t be wasting my time on this.

I needed to run. Should already have packed my shit and set off to get as far away from Aaron as possible.

I closed my eyes.

Then I’d have to leave Evie, the only good thing I had left in my life.

I hauled myself up.

“Leave,” I urged myself.

The little train that I’d finally fixed so that it would run again sat on a piece of track. I picked it up. It needed one more coat of paint.

“Leave her. Leave this.”

I took out the paint, not sure if I could leave a piece of my heart behind or if I’d even survive.