AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sigh. "Why don't we just let them get caught? This is their choice."
"Because they're our responsibility." Blue has always taken her responsibilities very seriously. Maybe too seriously.
She has a point, plus I want to build a life here. I don't want to be the woman whose mother wrecked the Christmas tree unveiling ceremony. "Fine. But they're leaving town day after Christmas."
"Agreed." The steely determination in Blue's eyes matches her words, but her chin wobbles the tiniest bit. She's tough as hell, but she's not unaffected by our mothers letting us down once again.
"You and Marcus go left to look for a way in, and I'll go right."
Blue gives me the thumbs up and she and Marcus make their way through the crowd.
I start off to the right, my heart already pounding. This is going to go badly. I just know it. It'll be a scandal with me at the center and no one will want to hire me to do their branding. Josephine will fire me. I'll have to move back to Vegas.
And it's all my fault, because I gave in and let my mother into my life when I should have stood firm and sent her back to Arizona.
"Cherry?"
I turn and come face-to-face with the last man I want to see tonight. I turn right back around and continue on my mission.
"Cherry. Wait. Can we talk?"
I keep walking. It's for his own good that he stays far away from me tonight. The mayor of Yuletide doesn't need to get caught up in one of my mother's train wrecks.
"Cherry. Please. Just give me five minutes."
He's following me. I turn around and say the only thing I can think of that will get him to leave me alone. "My mother and aunt are likely stealing ornaments off that Christmas Tree right now. Unless you want to help me find a way in there to stop them, you should walk away."
His handsome brow creases and he frowns. "They're going to lower the drapes in about two minutes."
"Which is why I'm in a hurry."
"How the hell did they even get in there?"
I huff out a breath. "I don't have time for this. Please go."
Instead of running in the other direction, the idiot grabs my elbow and pushes me behind him. "Follow me."
"I need to get to my mother, Xavier."
He looks down at me over his shoulder. "And I might know how they got in there. Follow me."
I want to argue, but I'm still kind of pissed about the way he dumped me, so I figure it's not my place to save him.
His stature and his fame in the town make it easy for him to move through the crowd. I follow, holding onto the back of his shirt.
Instead of walking around the tree, though, he heads toward town, to the East of the tree.
"Where the hell are you taking me?" I yank back against his shirt to stop him.
He keeps moving. "I'm taking you to your mother. Trust me, sweetheart."
His use of an endearment makes my heart soar, which makes me want to punch him. "If you're tricking me, I'm going to… I'm going to… I'm going to eat all your candy."
He grins at me over his shoulder and keeps moving.
He doesn't stop until we hit a ditch. It's darker here and the people milling around are all focused on the tree. I let go of Xavier's shirt and he walks down the ditch to a metal tunnel that's almost as big as I'm tall. It's for run-off, I assume.
He ducks down and gestures at the tunnel. "Come on."
