Page 62 of The Christmas Accomplice

Chapter 17

Reece had stayed late at work, helping Nick at the desk when needed, but mainly reading through the binder and scribbling notes on a legal pad. He’d need to talk to a few of the other employees and see if they’d be interested in taking on the non-player character, or NPC, roles needed to interact with the guests who were players. After his shift ended, he dug through the tubs of decorations and selected what seemed appropriate for a Battle at Castle Claus role playing game.

And all the while, in the back of his mind, he kept reliving the moment he’d overheard Welton and Dean talking about how they’d been keeping their relationship a secret from him. That interspersed with snippets of the time he’d spent alone with Welton. The toboggan run, Welton laughing with delight as his tight, perfect ass pushed back against Reece’s crotch. Turning around and seeing the snowball Welton had rolled was bigger than Reece had expected. Slow dancing to Rex Garland’s song, and then Welton standing in front of people and singing that same song.

This isn’t helping you prepare for the activity tomorrow.

When memories of Welton moved to the front of his mind, Reece stubbornly pushed them to the back. Tucked away on a storage room shelf, he found a small plastic container which contained, from what he could tell, several different colored sets of D&D dice. He had no idea what to do with them, but hopefully the instructions in the binder would be clearer when he read through them again in the morning.

He carried tubs of decorations to the ballroom he’d been assigned by Edward and started to unpack them. On one of his trips, he noticed an easel with a large sign by the revolving door and went to check it out. It was a sign encouraging guests to sign up for his and Graham’s activities. Graham was hosting his Christmas obstacle course activity at one in the afternoon, and Reece’s activity was scheduled for three. Edward had timed them to happen before the six o’clock Christmas Eve dinner, followed by Christmas caroling down by the ski lifts, around the big tree drenched in lights and ornaments.

Nick had assisted him for a couple of hours, but had to leave for drinks with friends. Reece worked until well after midnight, and when he finally went home, he definitely didn’t think about how much better the evening would have been if Welton had been helping him. Nope. Nor did he think how much easier it would have been if he could have just walked to Welton’s cabin to shower and sleep rather than have to drive to his apartment.

Not just easier, but better, calmer. Definitely a lot sexier and exciting.

If Welton hadn’t lied, things would have been so much better. But Reece had to admit he was confused about Welton and Dean’s relationship. They really didn’t seem like they fit together.

Like you would have understood if he would have tried to explain it all to you.

Reece yawned as he stepped through his apartment door.

“Hey honey, I’m home.”

The automated scenario on his home network hub switched on the Christmas tree and lamps, and Christmas music started playing from the Bluetooth speaker. As he tugged off his boots, Reece paused when he recognized “Can I Pretend You’re Mine for Christmas?”

“Skip song.”

The song was replaced by “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” He grumbled curses under his breath as he hung up the rest of his outerwear. It was after two in the morning, and his eyes felt dry and crusty. He had a vague memory of eating half a corned beef sandwich as he sorted through decorations, and he debated looking for something to eat then decided against it. He’d be up again in a few hours anyway.

A hot shower helped him relax a bit. He considered jerking off to relax even more, but every soapy stroke conjured thoughts of Welton, so he stopped, telling himself he was too tired anyway. When he finally set the alarm on his phone and dropped into bed, his mind started clicking through details from the activity binder.

He’d already spoken with Jessica in banquet services and arranged to have tables, chairs, and festive holiday tablecloths arranged in a half circle with a head table at the front where the leader would sit. The leader which, apparently, would be him, though he’d only played D&D a couple times back in college, and even then he didn’t pay that much attention. He’d been too busy flirting with Ricky, the hot gay nerd who’d invited him to play. That hadn’t gone anywhere, either, because Ricky had been dating another hot gay nerd from across campus.

The story of his life continued to play out to this day with Welton, who was involved with Dean.

“Time to shut things down,” he muttered, squeezing his eyes shut. “Come on, brain, let it all go and close down for the night.”

Despite the order, things kept coming to mind that he needed to get done by three that day, such as snacks and beverages, name tents so the participants knew what to call each other, and maybe some kind of centerpieces for each table.

Eventually, he drifted into a light sleep and his alarm woke him what felt like moments later. He asked his home network hub for the daily news as he shuffled to the kitchen and was told it was Christmas Eve and there would be snow for Christmas.

“Whoop-de-fucking-doo,” he grumbled as he started a pot of strong coffee.

The coffee helped wake him up a bit, and he made a quick egg scramble with diced green pepper, mushroom, and ham then added a generous mound of shredded cheddar cheese.

He definitely did not wonder what Welton was having for his Christmas Eve breakfast. And he absolutely did not contemplate what it would have been like to have shared breakfast with Welton. There were other things going on that needed his attention, like this fucking activity he needed to ace so he could get this promotion and life would be good again.

Reece went through a mental checklist as he finished breakfast, making notes in an app on his phone. After leaving the apartment with a travel mug full of coffee and the activity binder, he continued thinking through the list of things he needed to do and nearly ran a couple of red lights in the process. He parked in the employee lot behind the resort’s main building, punched in, dropped his boots and outerwear off at his locker, then headed out to the lobby.

Nick was already behind the desk, and she frantically waved him over as he crossed the lobby.

“How are you? Are you ready? Did you sleep? I didn’t sleep, and I’ve had about fifty cups of coffee already. What can I do? Can I do anything? Should I dress like an elf for my role?”

Reece stopped in front of the desk and set his coffee and the binder aside. He reached across to grab hold of her hands, and he fixed her with a steady look.

“I need you to do one very important thing for me. Are you ready?”

Nick tried to tug her hands free, but Reece held her tight as she said, “Do I need a pen and paper? Should I write this down?”