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“Alright, what’s the plan for today then?” Rome asks the table as a whole and all the individual conversations that were happening stop as everyone tunes in and starts to listen to the plan for today.
“Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but we,” Jensen gestures to Ezra and Ace, who grin, “are mixing up some holiday cocktails in honor of D, Alaric, and Ryan coming up later.”
“I volunteer to be a taste tester,” Lucien and Elijah exclaim at the same time, making us all chuckle.
“I’m in the kitchen for most of the day, cooking and preparing what I can for Christmas day now, and food for later too,” Rafe adds.
“I’ve got to go and check on the horses while the snow has let up a bit. It’s supposed to get bad again later.” Rage adds.
“I’ll come with you and check that Tank is okay,” I tell him.
“I’ve got to wrap some presents,” Luc winces. “I hate wrapping presents.”
“I have to wrap mine as well,” Cash replies, “we can do it together; at least it will be less painful that way.”
“I’ve got to go and make sure the houses that your parents and D, Alaric, and Ryan are staying in are ready for them, and Lyric and Jynx are coming with me so that they can leave welcome baskets or something along those lines,” Jonah says, making me smile as his eyebrows dip slightly when he says welcome baskets like he's not entirely sure what they have planned but has decided to go with it anyway.
“What about you, Pete?” I ask.
“I’m going to double-check that the program I’ve set up on my laptop to trace the last few locations that Rylie made contact in is working properly, and then I’m helping with the cocktail tasting,” he grins.
Ace tilts his head slightly and offers, “If you need a hand going over it, just give me a shout. I’m happy to help out.”
“Thanks, man, I might take you up on that. I want to make sure that it’s done right and I don’t miss anything,” Peter replies.
“No problem, we can take a look after breakfast,” Ace replies with a smile.
He’s so easygoing and laid back most of the time that I forget that, like Jensen, he has some hidden talents and is actually really smart. Ace is on the same level, if not better, than Peter, and that’s something that I’ve only just become aware of. I always knew he was good with all things computers, but he’s like crazy good. I swear he’s almost on a genius level, and I have no idea how he managed to downplay it for so long. Peter was the one to point out just how good Ace was when he offered advice for one of our other jobs.
“I guess the rest of us are just hanging out or helping out with the others,” Mason says, and we all nod in agreement.
Chapter Four
Once we’ve finished breakfast and everyone has helped to tidy the breakfast things away, Rage asks me, “Are you ready to get going?”
“Yep, just let me get my boots and jacket, and then we can get going,” I reply.
“Got it, I’ll meet you out back by the four-wheelers,” he smiles, pulling me close and kissing me, making butterflies take flight in my stomach and leaving me with a happy smile.
I love that I get to do this with him, that it's our thing and something that we both find equally enjoyable, and that most of the time, it’s something that we do, just the two of us. The others occasionally come out, but it doesn’t happen very often; they’re not as interested in the horses as we are, preferring wheels over hooves. When I’ve pulled on my boots and jacket, I make my way back through the house and yell a generalized goodbye to anyone who is in hearing distance since everyone has split up to do their own things now. I thought that maybe having so many people around me all the time would get overwhelming at some point, but so far, I just enjoy it.
I like that they all feel comfortable enough to just walk into our house and that we feel comfortable enough to do the same at theirs. It feels like a real family, something that I didn't have for a large portion of my life, and it makes me all warm and mushy.
As soon as I step outside, a shiver runs through me, and I start to worry about the horses even more than I was already. It’s really fucking cold, and judging by the darkening of the sky, the snow is about to start up again soon. We need to be quick to avoid getting stuck out at the barn in a snowstorm, and because we both know that, neither of us does what we usually do and challenges the other one to a race.
“Well, the doors are holding up nicely, at least,” Rage says, concern lacing his tone as we park up and head inside.
“And the generators are still working for the heating,” I reply with a relieved smile as we open the door, get smacked in the face with heat, and are greeted by happy whinnies from the horses.
“Thank fuck for that,” Rage replies, quickly slamming the door so we don’t let out any more heat.
Tank huffs out a greeting as I take my gloves off and start to stroke him before he gets really fucking loud and indignant because I haven’t done it quickly enough.
We work in silence as we make sure that the horses are okay fed, and we also check the barn to make sure that there are no weak spots or anything that we need to be concerned about. With the weather at this time of year, we need to be extra vigilant just in case we get a really bad snowstorm and can’t get up here safely. Peter did help to install cameras up here as part of our security system update a year or so ago, so if the weather does get really bad, we can still check on them, and if we need to, we will find a way to get up here.
“Everything looks good on your side?” Rage asks me.
I turn around to answer him and then grin when I see that he’s taken his hat off and his curls have become unruly and wild, resembling what they usually look like after I’ve run my hands through it a few times and pulled it too.
