Söbriety • Mötley Crüe •

107. Ho Ho Ho

He's the perfect Santa with his big belly hiding underneath his cherry red shirt, a goofy smile plastered over his face as he sits on the couch.

Wylie impatiently waits cross-legged on the floor in front of her impressive pile of presents, and Nikki gives her the thumbs up to start ripping through them.

A maniacal laughter flows past her lips as she digs her nails into the wrapping paper, giving a few oo's and ah's before tossing it to the side and tearing into the next one.

"Merry Christmas, Tom." I plant a kiss on his cheek before plopping onto the couch in between them.

"Merry Christmas, baby." Nikki wraps his arm around me and pulls me into his side, kissing my temple. "Did you sleep well?"

"I really did. Thank y'all for letting me sleep in. Even if you did call me a lazy ass." I shoot Tom a wink and he squints his eyes at Wylie.

"Tattle-tale." He mutters under his breath.

She pays him no mind whatsoever as wrapping paper flies through the air, a permanent smile carved into her face as she continues to rip open her gifts.

"Where's her big gift?" I whisper to Nikki, and his face lights up with anticipation.

"Tommy should be here any minute."

"I feel bad making him do this when he should be with his family." I frown.

"Nah." Nikki shakes his head. "His family went to Greece and Pam didn't want to go so he stayed, and they got in some sort of fight last night and she took off. He'll be happy to be with us."

While I believe that Pam is one of the most sweet, gentle souls I've ever met, her and Tommy are like oil and fire; explosive.

"I'm so glad we don't fight like that anymore." I sigh, nestling my head into his chest.

"I love you way too much and fought way too hard to get you back to ever let you go." He smacks his lips against my forehead, squeezing my shoulder. "You're stuck with me for life."

"That's alright with me." I hum.

"Better be." He chuckles. "I made you some coffee. It's in the kitchen."

"Is it-"

"Yes, it's decaf." He cuts me off with a wave of his hand. "I'm not dumb, babe."

"That's debatable." I tease, sticking my tongue out as I get up to retrieve my cup of coffee.

"I thought we didn't fight anymore!" He calls after me and I heave out a laugh as I flip the kitchen light on.

My eyes catch on the thick newspaper sitting on the counter, my gut falling with guilt when I see the tertiary headline in small print at the bottom of the front page.

Packsaddle Preschool Dance Bugs Rock the House at their Annual Christmas Recital: Cont'd Page Four

Shit.

I flip through the thin pages and sure enough, there I am, squished in between Slash and Tommy in the biggest picture on the page.

I should've known they'd make the rockstars the heart of the story.

I thought I'd thrown away the copy of this we got last week, but Nikki must've found it in one of the stands outside the grocery store I made him run to last night for more wrapping paper.

I wonder if he's seen it.

The corner of the pages don't look crimped like they've been flipped through before, and I'm sure he would've bitten my head off already if he had.