Selfless: Book Two (bxb) ✔️

Chapter Six: Elf On The Damn Ceiling Fan

Ace Villan

I had no idea why I started this stupid elf on the shelf thing. At first, it was for purely entertainment purposes. But whether Cade wanted to admit it or not, I knew he was intrigued with the damn elf. It was a Christmas tradition idea that many parents did with their children. I wasn't one of them, and neither was Ethan. I saw it on the internet, and it piqued my interest. Now, I was dedicated to doing this every single night until Christmas.

Except, I made the mistake of enlisting my friends to help me. Cade was dead asleep only a couple of feet away, and they were helping me string this asshole up on the ceiling fan. I wasn't too morbid...to Cade. I tied the rope around his waist. But he was holding a sign, and Alastair taped a Reeses to his other hand. The triplets shared qualities, and that came in the form of Reeses being both of their favorite candy.

Currently, I was carefully standing on the bed as Alastair silently laughed so as not to wake Cade. I wanted to punch him. He found my effort hilarious, and Liam was no different. Remind me why I could stand to be around them. Because I simply forgot. This entire charade wasn't supposed to go on longer than a day, but if Cade wanted an amazing Christmas this year, then I was going to give it to him.

Plus, he had a rather long day, and if he looked forward to seeing this morbid elf every morning, then I would do it. I wasn't sure how he felt about it, not completely, so I would continue until he voiced whether it freaked him out or not. Though, there hadn't been a single thing about me that scared him off, so I figured I was stuck with this damn elf until Christmas now.

I carefully stepped off the bed, and Cade didn't even move. I hurried my friends out of the room, closing the door quietly behind me. When we reached the end of the hall—Liam squeaked with a laugh.

"The Grinch who hates Christmas is setting up an elf for his fiancé. I think it's precious." Liam said with a smile. "Are you sure Cade likes it?"

"Well, this morning, he didn't explicitly say he hated it. He seemed entertained." I wished them toward Alastair's room to get them out of earshot of Cade and my parents. Liam was staying with Tate—along with Asher. Still weird. I closed the door. Luckily Carter was downstairs with Ethan. "Cade told me the triplets used to host their own little Christmas together. It makes him happy. He has Carter, at least. I'm not going to fuck with his Christmas spirit. It started as a joke, but maybe I want him to have something to look forward to when he wakes up."

Alastair fell onto his assigned bed during the duration of our stay. He mimicked a starfish right about now. "Carter told me about that. It was something he really looked forward to with his brothers. Now, one of them is M.I.A and I wish there was some way for them to be close with each other again."

Liam frowned as he leaned against the wall. "It's not impossible. Wasn't it suggested that Cameron clearly went through something?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty much solidified after all those videos were released. Cough. Liam." He grinned at me in return. "But he won't talk to his brothers about it."

Alastair sat up. "I'm no stranger to trauma. There can be things bad enough that when they silence you from being able to speak about them—they turn you into something you never thought you'd be."

"A monster, essentially." I said. "Cameron turned into a monster and from what Cade told me about him—how he used to act—he definitely has some really dark skeletons in his closet."