NERTHUS
“And you are sure that we are allowed to do that?” Danny whispers as he follows me to the elevators.
I wave at the security guards standing behind the reception, making them wave back at us with huge smiles on their faces. They look like the usual security workers in their boring little uniforms, but after all the time I spent walking through these halls, I am quite sure that those are just mockups and that they are like former special forces, who want to have a chill job after their service.
“I have a key, haven’t I?!” I ask back with a chuckle.
As the elevator doors close, he starts fidgeting nervously. “Relax. You will drop the decorations.”
We are currently on the way to Arawn’s penthouse with two boxes filled with decorations for our Christmas tree. Danny was nearly losing it as I went to pick him up at home with Dario. But now, he must be thinking that we are breaking into Arawn’s apartment and getting cold feet.
I chuckle to myself as I obviously got Arawn’s permission. He even announced that the tree arrived and that he asked the interior designer not to decorate it so that we could work our magic.
Sighing as I think of how sweet this grumpy man actually is, I get Danny to turn to me with a shocked expression. “What? Did we get busted?”
“Danny,” I laugh, lifting the box in my arms. “Do you think I was able to look at my phone right now? Also, we passed security guards, and every corner is covered by security cameras. We are loooooong way in into being busted, sweetie.”
He groans, hitting the metallic wall with his head, making me chuckle. “I will never get high in his ranks if I keep doing things like this. He will say that I’m not loyal enough.”
“How many soldiers get to spend Christmas with him, huh? Don’t be so negative. I’m sure that you have a bright future waiting for you.” I say encouragingly, and he beams at me.
“See, this is better.” Freeing one hand, I balance my box on my other arm to caress a few strands of hair out of his face. Since Arawn told me that they share the same father, I have started to see a lot of resemblances in his appearance. Even if I know that it will make him happy to hear that Arawn is his brother, I know that it will make him incredibly sad as well, and the thought is dragging me down a lot.
As the doors open and we step into the apartment, I secure it with the new alarm system that Arawn had installed. It was something unsettling as he showed me how to use it, insisting on keeping it armed while I was in the penthouse.
As if all the security and men in black walking around weren’t already enough.
We step into the living room, and my breath hitches in my throat as Danny whistles.
“Oh, wooow!” he shouts as he walks through the large room to stand in front of a huge Christmas tree.
Looking down at the box in my hands, I murmur. “These won’t be enough. I guess.”
I set the box down, checking my phone for the text that just came in.
Mr. Entitled Asshole: The office.
“Danny?” I call him, making him turn around with his still-beaming expression. Setting down my box, I walk back out of the room, reaching the office with Danny in my tracks.
As I open the doors, we gasp in unison before we break out in laughter. “He must have bumped his head again.”
The entire room is full of designer boxes with Christmas charms, tinsels, and awfully expensive-looking ornaments.
“Oh my God,” I breathe out as I pull out a star-formed ornament made out of shiny diamonds. “This is gorgeous.”
I smile happily as I see Danny going through the bags and boxes like the happy boy he is. “Come on, Danny. Let’s get to work.”
We start carrying the bags and boxes into the room with the Christmas tree and start decorating it.
“God, we will need a leader to do this properly,” I giggle while playing with the tinsel in my hands.
Danny laughs from behind the tree. “I’ll call the reception to have them bring us one.”
“Rich people are just crazy. Having interior designers decorating a tree this big for no celebration,” I chuckle, throwing tinsel up the tree. “But at least you always had a very nice tree here.”
Danny hums as he walks to the exit to call the reception from the phone in the foyer. “What do you mean? Arawn never had a tree when I crashed in for the night on Christmas.”
“What?” I ask, but he seems to be already too far away to hear me. Sliding my fingers over the tinsel in my hand, I lose myself in my own thoughts.
I jump as he startles me by pinching my sides, and I hit him with the tinsel. He laughs as he moves back behind the tree. “They will bring it up right away.”
“Thank you, Danny,” I say as I stop laughing myself.
With the ladder, we manage to decorate the tree pretty nicely. After finishing our hard work, we get us something to drink from the kitchen and sit on the couch to admire our work proudly.
“It’s so chaotic,” I chuckle, and he shakes his head with a big smile.
“He will absolutely love it,” he says proudly, still beaming up at the tree. “But the tree topper is missing.”
“It’s in the bag over there, but it was too high to reach even with the ladder. Maybe you could try,” I sigh and bend forward to take the star-formed tree topper out of the box that is sitting at my feet.
Danny shakes his head repeatedly, “Oh, I could never! This is your first Christmas with us, so it should be you putting it up.”
“Well,” I say pensively, swaying my glass. “I’ll ask Arawn to put it up then.”
I grin at him as he frowns at me playfully. “He won’t put it up in your place either. I’ll make sure of it!”
“Oh, you are going to make sure of it?” I exclaim, theatrically offended, making him laugh.
***
We are still hanging out on the couch, as I hear the door opening and closing again.
“God, is it already that late?” I groan, not wanting to move yet, and Danny looks over the backrest of the couch.
The alarm goes off shortly, and Arawn disarms and arms it again with a few curses. Danny and I giggle while he walks into the living room. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” we say in unison, grinning at each other.
Arawn leans over the couch, and I must be blushing like a little girl as he kisses my cheek as a greeting before he ruffles Danny’s hair. Danny groans, starting to comb his hair back into place with his fingers. “Amber couldn’t reach the treetop to put up the tree topper.”
“And you couldn’t reach it either?” Arawn asks dryly.
I grin at Danny, making him sulk, “No! The tree topper has to be set up by Amber. It’s a special decoration and it cannot be put up by everybody.”
“Oh, come on!” I giggle, tapping his leg, but it seems like Arawn is on his side.
Danny gets to take my drink out of my hand before Arawn takes it to pull me up. “I can’t reach it, Arawn. Please put it up for me.” I’m still looking around lost as he ignores me and crouches down.
“No can do, beautiful,” he chuckles, making me squeal as he gets between my legs to lift me on his shoulders. “Danny, the tree topper.”
I’m still trying to get my heart to slow down as Danny hurries to get the tree topper out of the box and hands it to Arawn.
“Here,” Arawn says, handing me the decorative item and I take it with a smile.
He positions himself directly in front of the tree and I reach out to the crown of it while my heart keeps beating wildly in my chest. “You two are something else.”
I giggle to cover up my excitement and my heart hurts at how happy I feel.
“How do you like it, Arawn?” Danny asks while jumping on the couch.
Arawn lets me down carefully and wraps his hands around me as he stands behind me. “It looks great!”
Danny celebrates, and Arawn puts his chin on my head. “Are you happy?” he asks in a whisper.
I bite my bottom lip pensively as I nod, and he chuckles. “Good, would have been cringe being the only one.”