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THE ENTIRE CREW
~ CHRISTMAS DAY—CHAPTER 2 ~
LIL’S POV
“Heeeey, cool shirts, brothers!” Neek chuckled in his man-giggle way and pointed to Gage and Trav. “The girls stitched us up, eh?”
All going well, Mace and Mickey would turn up wearing matching shirts too.
“You sneaky little she-devils. I see what’s going on here!” Trav exclaimed, rolling from the floor and smirking at me. “Your idea, I presume?”
I feigned innocence and finished hugging Brooklyn. “Absolutely not. It was a collective agreement amongst the girls, and don’t you dare give Mickey or Mace a heads up. Any of you,” I warned with a finger point around the three guys.
Gage shook his head and ran a hand down his smile. “I knew you were up to something, Sunshine.”
“You’re welcome.” I grinned and twisted from side-to-side, making my red sundress brush against my thighs.
Nico’s man-giggle had us all smiling wider. “Won’t breathe a word, sweetness,” he promised while embracing me tight. “Merry Christmas, Lil.”
“Merry Christmas too. Good day so far?”
His green eyes sparkled as he grinned down at me. “The best; ask Bee about it.”
I turned my attention to Brooklyn to see her grinning and bouncing on the spot.
“Oh my god, guess what?” she blurted.
My energy immediately matched hers. “Oh my god, tell me!”
“Eeeeep,” she shrieked and held up her left hand, wriggling her fingers to show off a gorgeous new engagement ring.
Ainsley and I gasped and rushed towards her. “Shut up! Oh my god, guys!”
A gorgeous solitaire diamond sat proudly between two tear-drop shaped pounamu (greenstone) gemstones, and the dark gold band shone in the afternoon summer sunlight.
“It’s absolutely stunning,” Ainsley gushed. “Congratulations!”
“Thank you. Neek designed it himself,” Brooklyn beamed.
Neek, looking pretty damn pleased with himself, added, “The pounamu is from my ancestral lands. The kaumatua [a Maori tribal elder] at the marae [a Maori meeting ground] blessed it then gifted it to us.”
“Aww guys!” I cooed, blinking the tears from my eyes. I gathered Brooklyn, then Neek, in for another tight hug. “Best Christmas ever!”
“Thanks, Lil. It’s about damn time, right?” Brooklyn laughed with a sassy flick of her long, black-and-deep-green hair.
Brooklyn was definitely the prissy one of the crew, but hot damn she was fierce. While being a little younger than the rest of us, she’d shown incredible loyalty to Neek when he returned from Afghanistan broken and unhappy.
She giggled. “I feel like I’ve finally joined the grown-ups club.”
“Ha,” I burst out. “Trust me when I say that none of us ‘grown ups’,” I air-quoted, “have any idea about what we’re doing. We’re all totally winging this. Besides, you and Neek have businesses—that’s totally grown up.”
“Yeah but, you know… Marriage and babies is a whole other ball game.”
“Marriage no, babies yes,” I admitted, casting a look toward El where she sat playing with a freshly unwrapped gift.
“Elodie! Where did you get that?”
Her eyes snapped from theWonder Womanfigurine to Trav. “Uncie Trav said I could open one now.”
