Free Shafting the Halls by Cat Mason Page B

singing, get him naked.”
    “Yeah, take it off!”
    I can’t help smiling at that because, yeah, I got it, but I also know I gotta get the hell out of here if I want to come out in one piece. Scanning the front of the store, I see Mack waving me over.
    Thinking on the fly is what I am known for, so why would this be any different? Crowds of overly excited women on the verge of riot are my specialty, right? Okay, so maybe not the rioting part.
    Putting the receiver up to my lips again, my eyes widen as I look at the far corner of the store. “Oh my God, would you look, ladies, it’s Aiden Chesterfield and Grayson Cole!” I shout pointing behind them. “Tell them to get up here and help me out.”
    “They’re all here!” a woman shouts, pointing in the same direction getting a lot of them to look. Leaping to the other side of the counter, I dive down an aisle and haul ass toward the door like I am running from zombies in one of Aiden’s video games.
    The crowd surrounds me like an angry swarm of bees. My hair is pulled, my hoodie and shirt being ripped at from every direction. Fingernails dig into my skin making me wince in pain and I swear I think someone bit my ass through my pants. If I weren’t in a totally committed relationship with a woman I love and who would kick my fucking ass, I might enjoy this a little; especially if I knew these women wouldn’t kill me. 
    Brings new meaning to the term "love you to death", doesn’t it?
    By the time I make it to the door, only pieces of fabric remain hanging from the top half of my body. “You look a little battered.” Mack laughs as we run out the door just as Henry pulls up to the curb with the ‘Burban.
    “Dude, at least I didn’t give my ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ speech,” I say as he shields me from the crowd and climb into the back seat. Following me inside, he barely gets the door shut before Henry tears through the parking lot. “Gray, you good, man?”
    “I may have left a couple ribs and a lung on that floor, but yeah, I’ll live,” he groans from the front seat.
    “That shit was poorly executed,” Henry says, gripping the wheel tightly. “That store was nowhere near prepared for a crowd of that size. It’s rule one, people. You always scope out your crowd and have backup ready. That’s how you end up losing people,” he explains, shaking his head. Turning onto the highway, he slams the gas pedal to the floor causing the engine to roar loudly.
    A bit overdramatic there, Big Man. Damn.
    Settling back in the seat, I send a text message to Chase letting her know that we are on our way back. 
    Mission seize and conquer is complete. All men accounted for. Now en route to base.
    Her reply is instant. 
    Good, but why the hell are you talking like you went to war?
    Shaking my head, I take in the grown ass men in the truck. Mack nursing his bleeding, possibly broken nose, while Grayson is curled in the fetal position in the reclined front seat and type my reply.
    Because we did.
    Shoving my phone into my pants pocket, I grin victoriously knowing that my little girl will wake up on Christmas morning with the toy she wants most under the tree. Having only had her a year and last Christmas being so crazy with Daisy having just given birth to Brannon, I am determined to make this year special. Hell, it’s my goal to make every day special for Jasmine and Chase. Nothing means more to me than seeing them smile. The life I live now shows me how far I have come and how much I have to lose if I don’t appreciate it for the gift that it is.
     
    *** 
     
    Pulling through the gates, the red and white blinking lights decorating the house come into view. Daisy, Cam, and even Chase weren’t shutting up until the entire house was done up in lights, claiming the kids would "just love it". Of course they got their way, not because the kids love it, but because they have the pussies and we, as men, like to have access to those. Brannon doesn’t give a shit, the