Chapter 3: Naughty & Nice: Chapter 3

I finish filling up the car and wander over to an empty picnic bench on a little patch of grass to the side of the store.

It’s dark and cold, but I’m not ready to be enclosed in the car again quite yet.

I love driving, always have, and I was excited to embark on this road trip with Noelle. Hell, I am excited to be on this trip with her. But it’s not exactly what we had planned.

I love my brother. I do. But… as much as we might look the same, we’re very, very different people.

He’s… a player in every sense of the word. He’s always been the joker, the one who’s up for a laugh, who’s willing to do something wild just for kicks. He’s the one who’s always getting into trouble.

He used to skip class to hang out with his friends or hook up with girls, and I was in class soaking up everything I could.

He spends his weekends partying as hard as possible, and I’m at home studying.

We’re like chalk and cheese. And as much as I love him, I find his constant need to be busy exhausting.

I’m pretty sure if we went to a decent school, he’d have been diagnosed with ADHD a long time ago. But seeing as we went to arguably one of the shittest schools in the entire country, no one gave a crap. He was labelled as badly behaved, and because he was good at football, everyone gave him a free pass for everything else.

Thankfully, he’s also clever, so when it came to exams, despite not doing any work for them—unlike me, who worked my ass off—he passed with flying colors.

It really is a good job I love him.

I sit in the dark, lost in my thoughts and watching cars pass on the road before me as I wait for Wilder and Noelle to emerge from the store.

I’m hardly surprised he’s taking forever. He went for more food. I’ve more than enough experience to know how long that takes. And not just because he can’t decide what he wants, but because of the sheer amount of food he consumes. Sure, he’s a hell of a lot more active than me, but where the hell he puts it, I don’t know. But Noelle was only going to the bathroom; she should have emerged by now.

Wilder has probably collared her to help carry his goodies to the checkout.

Irritation rolls through me. It shouldn’t and I feel guilty as hell for it.

Yes, there is a part of me that’s thrilled about spending the holiday with family. When Lori first announced that she and Kian were going away this year, I was pretty disappointed. Lori has always been the best thing about Christmas. She’s the one who’s made it special for the two of us. Sure, we had a few years with Dad that were half decent, but no one ever cared like she did. It’s going to be weird celebrating without her this year.

That’s why Noelle and I decided to also take a trip. She didn’t want to go home, and I certainly have no desire to see if our mom is still alive or not. If I never return to our hometown ever again, it’ll be too soon.

I’m done with that place. I just wish the memories would disappear with it.

I’m considering going in search of them when finally, voices hit my ears and two dark figures move toward my car.

“Where the hell have you two been?”

They both pause halfway across the gas station and spin around.

“One of us got locked in the bathroom. Had to be rescued. Don’t worry, though, her knight in shining armor was there to save her,” Wilder states proudly.

“Of course you were,” I mutter, making a beeline for the driver’s door.

Noelle took the last leg as planned, so I’m up again for the final part of our road trip.

She pulls open the passenger door and drops in, and just before I get there, Wilder dives in front of me, shouting, “Shotgun,” and drops into the driver’s seat.

“That’s not how shotgun works,” I complain.

“Don’t care,” he says with a shrug before starting the engine and pulling his seatbelt on.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Just get in the back and relax. You’ve had plenty of opportunity to touch Noelle up so far; it’s not my fault you haven’t made the best of it.”

My chin drops as I glare daggers at him.

“You fucking touch her and I’ll—” My words are cut off when he throws his head back and barks out a laugh.

“You’ll what? Fight me?” My lips open and close, but no words escape. “Just get in the back, Rix, and stop being such a pussy. If anyone’s getting any action up here, it’ll be her sucking my⁠—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Noelle warns before I get a chance.

His suggestion alone makes my blood boil.

“You two are so fucking uptight. You know, getting laid once in a while would do good things for both of you.”

Choosing to ignore my jerk of a brother and his bullshit opinions about our lives, I rip the back door open and drop onto the seat.

“Go on then,” I mutter once I’m settled.

“I need a snack first. Noelle, can you grab the cookies?”

“I’m not your slave,” Noelle hisses.

“No, you’re my passenger princess, and you have duties to your prince.”

“Give me strength,” I mutter as Noelle digs into the bag.

“Thank you,” he says smugly as she shoves the bag with the rest of his snacks to the floor.

“Can we go now?” I ask tersely.

“Of course, little brother. Boring log cabin in the middle of nowhere, here we come.”

“Holy shit,” Noelle squeals when Wilder floors the gas and we fly out onto the road. Thankfully, we don’t hit anything. Or not yet at least.

“We’d like to arrive on our boring vacation in one piece,” I point out.

“Hey,” Noelle argues, “our vacation isn’t going to be boring. It’s relaxing.”

“Same fucking thing,” Wilder mutters.

We both ignore him, and Noelle turns the music up loudly enough to drown out his complaining.

The sound of the latest Taylor Swift song fills the car, and I can’t help but smirk. This really is Wilder’s version of hell.

Oh well, it was his bright idea to jump into the back of the car with us.

The next three hours of the journey seem to take longer than all the others.

Thankfully, at no point does Wilder even attempt to follow through with his plan of getting Noelle to suck on anything. Well, nothing more than some of the candy that was in his massive snack bag.

Even him suggesting she suck on that sent a shot of jealousy burning through me.

Noelle is… Noelle is my best friend. Always has been, always will be. But also… I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with her since long before I knew what the word meant.

She’s everything. Literally my perfect woman wrapped up in one tiny, hot package.

As much as I love that she is. I also hate it.

If I ever did anything to ruin our relationship, I would never, ever forgive myself.

It might sound pathetic—I’m sure Wilder would point out that it is—but I’m willing to forgo what I want to ensure our friendship continues. Even if that means one day she meets someone.

It’ll hurt. It’ll hurt so fucking bad. But a part of her would still be mine.

If I were to do something and lose her…

No.

Fear cuts through me like a knife.

I might have Wilder and Lori in my life. But Noelle…

Fuck. Noelle.

I watch her through the gap in the front seats as she pulls the sun visor down and flips the little mirror open.

She wipes the stray makeup from under her eyes and then coats her lips with her favorite strawberry lip balm.

I don’t need to be closer to her to know exactly how that smells. I have it committed to memory.

As if she can sense me watching, she looks up and her eyes catch mine in the small mirror.

I can’t see her mouth now, but her eyes tell me that she’s smiling.

‘You okay?’ I mouth.

She gives a simple nod before the GPS speaks up, letting us know that our destination is up ahead.

Despite our current situation and the guy sitting in the driver’s seat of my car who is no doubt going to spend the next five days complaining like a petulant toddler, excitement bubbles up.

I’ve been waiting for this trip for weeks, and nothing Wilder can do is going to ruin it.

“This place is so freaking cute,” Noelle says as Wilder pulls the car to a stop out the front of our cabin.

It looks just like the photograph online, which is a relief. Neither of us has a lot of experience with booking vacations, and while I know that I could have asked Lori to help, we wanted to do this ourselves. And I’ve got to say, I’m impressed with what we’ve achieved.

“It’s small,” Wilder complains.

“It’s perfect. I hope it’s decorated,” Noelle exclaims, her voice all light and whimsical. It makes my heart sing hearing her so happy.

We climb out of the car, shivering. While Noelle scrolls through her cell to find the instructions to get inside, I grab our bags from the trunk, leaving Wilder’s backpack for him to get himself.

“Ready?” Noelle asks once I join her at the front door.

“Ready,” I agree.

She pushes the door open, and the scent of Christmas immediately hits my nose.

“Oh my god,” Noelle gasps happily before rushing inside.

I follow her, unable to believe what I’m seeing. The entire place has been decorated like a winter wonderland. It’s incredible.

Lights twinkle everywhere. There’s even soft Christmas music playing.

We nailed it. Totally fucking nailed it.

“There’s mulled wine warming on the stove. Rix, this is incredible,” she says excitedly, turning to me with wide, glittering eyes.

Seeing her so happy melts my heart. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for her.

Heavy footsteps out on the front deck clue us into Wilder’s arrival—not that we need it.

“What the fuck?” he barks as he steps into the cabin. “It looks like a bunch of elves threw up in here.”

“I know. Isn’t it awesome,” Noelle says, clapping her hands together.

Despite having experienced shitty Christmases to rival ours in the past, somehow, Noelle hasn’t lost the excitement for the holidays. She believes in the magic, and I can’t lie, it’s pretty infectious.

“Err…” Wilder says, watching her as if she’s grown a second head. “Is that alcohol?” he asks, changing tack.

“Yep. Mulled wine,” Noelle says excitedly before opening and closing the cupboard until she’s located the glasses. She pulls three out and then pours a ladleful of wine into each. She passes them out before lowering her nose to hers, breathing it in and letting out a contented sigh.

“Smells gross,” Wilder whines before lifting it to his lips and hesitantly taking a sip. “Ew, it tastes it too.” Although despite his complaint, it doesn’t stop him from swallowing the lot down. “What?” he asks when we both just stare at him blankly. “I need something to get me through the next few days.”

“Lovely,” Noelle mutters before taking a sip of her wine. Her eyes close as she savors the taste. “Shall we go and check out the bedrooms?” she asks, ignoring Wilder’s presence.

She takes off and I can’t do anything but follow, and it soon becomes clear that Wilder is just as willing to explore when his footsteps follow behind me.

“Oh my god, look at the size of that bathtub,” Noelle says after discovering the bathroom first. “What if it snows? We could lie in that tub and look out over the snow-covered hills.”

“Could we?” Wilder asks.

“I,” she corrects. “I could. Alone.”

“Lame.”

She spins around and moves toward the next door.

Just like the rest of the cabin, the master bedroom is a replica of the photos we’ve seen, only with the addition of more decorations.

Noelle squeals in excitement and rushes inside.

Placing Noelle’s small case inside the door, I stand back as she checks it out and then continues to the final door.

But when she throws it open, it’s not the second bedroom.

It’s a closet.

“But… there aren’t any other doors,” Noelle exclaims with a frown marring her brow. “We booked a two-bed cabin.”