Page 23 of His Secret Santa
Jamie jabbed his thumbs at himself. “Not this guy.” He grinned. “Too much drama and stress. I like to surf smoothly through life.”
“Me, too,” Abby admitted with a light smile.
“And you?” Jamie cocked an eyebrow at Holden.
“I wish,” Holden whispered. “I don’t get that luxury. There will always be someone in my life causing me stress.”
“And always someone there to help relieve it.” Jamie smiled. “Me.” He sighed and grinned, folding his arms under his head. “And perhaps the occasional stripper.”
Holden ducked his head.
“Stripper?” Abby perked up. “What am I missing?”
“Don’t…” Holden started but Jamie was off, diving eagerly into the story of Holden’s sixteenth birthday. Holden groaned and buried his head in his arms.
“Oh, my God,” Abby breathed with excitement when Jamie concluded his tale. “That is so awesome. Are you going back? Say you are.”
Jamie laughed. “A girl after my own heart.”
“I don’t know,” Holden mumbled. “He probably isn’t there anymore.”
“One way to find out,” Jamie quipped.
“So, what if he is?” Holden asked. “It’s not like he wants to be my boyfriend. He’s probably just hoping I’ll come back with some money.” Holden didn’t really believe that. The invite to return to the club hadn’t felt business related at all.
“Then bring money,” Jamie said and eyed Holden. “Something tells me you would pay plenty for another experience like that.” He knew Holden wasn’t telling him everything, and he had a very active imagination about what went on in that private booth. For the most part, Holden suspected he was imagining it right.
As easy as it was for Holden to get distracted with memories of the stripper, his thoughts refused to pull away from the quarterback and the image of him out on the field… in tears.
“You okay?” Jamie asked. “I was just messing with you about the stripper.”
“I know.” Holden sighed. “It’s not that. It’s just… it was strange seeing Lincoln so… vulnerable. I’ve never seen him like that before. Except back in sophomore year when…” He looked at Jamie.
“When what?” Abby asked quietly.
“When his older brother died,” Jamie murmured. “He was in the military, stationed overseas. He died in combat.” He glanced at Holden. “Wasn’t it around Christmas when it happened?”
“Yeah,” Holden whispered, his heart aching.
Was today the anniversary of his brother’s death?
Chapter 6
Friday was the last school day before winter break and Holden waited until then to give McKenna her gift. This way, he had two weeks of vacation away from her before having to face her again.
It took all day to summon his courage and it wasn’t until the end of the last class of the day that he finally got up the nerve. He’d brought the wrapped gift to school with him and put it in his locker. He took it out now and tucked it into his jacket pocket.
“We’ll come with you,” Jamie said. “In case you need backup.” He smiled, but his eyes were deadly serious. They were both familiar with the cheerleader’s viciousness.
Abby nodded in agreement with Jamie. A notable tension gripped the girl, but she didn’t back out.
“Thanks,” Holden murmured and closed his locker. His feet didn’t want to move.
“Look,” Jamie told him. “It doesn’t matter what she says, you’re doing this out of the kindness of your heart. That’s what matters—not whether she appreciates it. If she doesn’t, that’s karma points against her, not you.”
“Yeah,” Holden whispered. He believed that, too. It just didn’t make it any easier to approach the mean-spirited cheerleader when Holden seemed to be her main target. He exhaled. “Let’s go and get this over with.”
They located McKenna with a couple of her fellow cheerleaders lingering in their hallway before heading home. Lincoln wasn’t with them, nor any of the other football players. For that, Holden was thankful. Convinced McKenna would humiliate him, he didn’t want Lincoln there to witness the spectacle.