INFINITE (Eminem Fan Fiction)

Chapter 44: Just Lose It

“Oh! It smells amazing in here!” She exclaimed.

“We made cookies!” Hailie squealed. “Come see!” She skipped off, back to the kitchen.

Riley leant in and kissed him, gently. “Thanks for letting me stay here tonight.”

Marshall shrugged, “Nobody should be alone on Christmas.” He cracked open the Tupperware container. “What’s in-?”

“Christmas pies,” Riley clarified.

 He shoved his hand in and grasped the small pastries. Yanking one out, he sighed. “I love these.” She smirked and stole back the container as he bit into the pie. A cross of sweet and savory danced across his mouth. “These are great! What’s your secret?”

Riley bit her bottom lip and dug into her overnight bag, “Oh nothing much…” She pulled out something from her bag and held it up. “Just a recipe from Marie Claire’s Christmas Edition.”

He spotted the magazine and saw her on the front page. She was wearing knee black boots with monster heels, a tight red and white dress and a fluffy Santa’s hat. He raised a brow and reached out, grasping the magazine. At a closer look he noticed she looked incredibly sexy, her legs long leading up to her flawless curves and that sneaky smile he saw on a regular basis.

“Hey! Look at you!” He said, as they wandered through the living room and into the kitchen. “You look great! This is really big for you.”

“Thanks,” Riley blushed. As she looked up she spotted Kim and offered her a soft smile, “Hi. You look like you’ve been busy.”

Kim brushed some flour out of her hair, and offered the smile back and helped Alaina fill up her piping bag with icing. “Yeah, we have been.”

“Riley! Look!” Hailie grabbed her attention and began showing her all the gingerbread men she’d made. Marshall couldn’t believe how much Hailie idolized her. It was cute seeing them together. He placed Riley’s Christmas Pies in the fridge. As Hailie motioned him over, “You have to help too daddy!”

He noticed that Riley had a piping bag in her hand, tracing the outline of a star. “Okay, baby.”

They spent the next hour decorating the rest of the cookies. He surprisingly had a lot of fun. Cooking wasn’t really his thing but his daughters loved having him around, especially after he’d been gone for so long. And they soaked up Riley’s attention like a sponge. The highlight was definitely making some rather explicit gingerbread men and women that he hid in the fridge.

By the time the evening came around, everyone started to wind down. They piled around the lounge room, watching The Grinch. He had Hailie in his lap, cradling a mug of Hot Chocolate around her as she sipped at her own mug. Riley was leaning against him, focused on the television and Kim was on the other sofa with Alaina. It was impossibly warm and with the lights off, it was hard not to fall asleep, especially as he held his two favorite girls.

About half way through the film, he realized Hailie was asleep. Smiling, he carefully placed his mug on the coffee table and lifted her up. He carried her up to her room and tucked her in. He knew how excited she was about her birthday and Christmas and it would only come faster if she was asleep. Kissing her on the forehead, he made sure he kept her door open a crack because he knew she didn’t like the dark very much.

As he trailed back downstairs, he found the lounge to be empty, aside from Riley. She took the last sip out of her mug and placed it back on the table. “Kim and Alaina went to bed, too.”

Smiling, he flicked off the television and turned on the lamp, before sitting back down. He finally breathed out a sigh. Christmas time was always chaotic, especially with Hailie’s birthday. It was nice to relax. Riley cuddled straight into him, lead on his chest.

“Do you remember the last time we were on this sofa alone?” Her voice was full of suggestion.

He smirked, “Yeah. I was about to rock your world and Kim knocked at the door.”

Riley started chuckling, “You should have seen your face. You were so gutted.”

He pulled her closer so she fit comfortably against him. “That’s not funny…”

“Oh what? Like you running backstage naked wasn’t funny, either?”

 She started laughing more and he just rolled his eyes. “What about you? I thought it was funny when you ran straight into a locked door in Milwaukee. Or when Proof threw you into a crowd surf in Greenville!”

She smiled and smirked, “Yeah that was pretty funny.”

Marshall reached over and grabbed Riley’s magazine off the coffee table and flicked it open to her interview. “Oh look at this!” He let out a laugh. On the left page was a few pictures of Riley in three different Christmas outfits. In one she was an elf, the other was the same as the cover but with a different pose. The third was an amazing felt green dress. Around the hem was a line of patterned wrapped presents. She had silver tinsel around her waist and a gold star headband.

She snatched the magazine, “Oh shut up.”

He stole it back, “Nah, I like them. They’re very festive. But you’re still hot enough to pull them off.” He scrolled through the text, trying to pick up what was said but couldn’t really read it in the dim light. “Did they ask much?”

Riley shrugged, “Just asked about how I started out my career. I talked about my parents… sort of set the record straight. It felt good to get the truth out.”

“Did they ask about us?”

“Of course.”

“What did you say?”

Riley took a minute to gather her thoughts. “They asked about how we met. I told them it was in LA, for the music video.” He nodded, thinking it was a good idea not to unravel the whole ‘we dated in the past’ story. “They asked how our relationship was going. A lot of stuff about you and your relationship with Kim. I was pretty vague, so I wouldn’t worry if I were you. I promised you I’d be careful.”

“I’m really happy for you,” He insisted. “Hopefully you’ll get more work out of this. But hopefully­-” He started laughing but managed to squeeze out “-you won’t be in costumes.”

She giggled along with him. “Hopefully not.” With a sly smile, she slid onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. “What do you say we make this a not-so-silent night?”

As corny as her line was, he couldn’t resist but return it with another, “I checked twice. And I’m sure you’re on my naughty list.”

Giving a laugh, she leant down and kissed him softly. He could taste the gingerbread and chocolate on her lips. With a season to be thankful, he knew he was. He had everything he needed her. Riley was the best gift he’d ever gotten.