POV: Rowan Collins
~~~
Christmas eve has been hectic, I'm pretty sure that I've been wrapping presents for the last three hours and I can no longer feel my back. Which is my fault for putting it all off, but it still sucks.
It's only three o'clock but everyone's been running around putting up last minuted decorations or baking shit, which Mira is not happy about because there interfering with her cooking. At this point, my only goal is to be done wrapping presents before Ben and Ruby get here.
Since Candy found out who attacked the house I've been more irritable and secluded. To try and improved my mood I called Ben and asked if they would like to spend Christmas here, he was hesitant at first but I told him I wanted them here and it would be fun.
He told me not to spoil Ruby too much, which of course I didn't listen to. I looked around and a majority of the wrapped presents were for Ruby, I also went a little overboard shopping for Ben too but what can I say, I like spoiling the people close to me.
After Candy showed me that security tape I rewatched it about a million times, wondering how we never found this before. Then it hit me, we did have it, and we have for the last eight years. My father just chose to bury it where he wouldn't be haunted by it.
But anyway, because of that I've spent a lot of time reflecting on shit and everything that I still have. Which is why I donated a shit ton more money than I usually do. I went around and gave presents to every child that was in the Lewison memorial hospital like I do every year, dropped off a two and a half-million-dollar check to the St. Jude cancer foundation, A million dollars in checks to local soup kitchens, and another million to the red cross foundation.
That decision, though it made me feel better, did not in fact make the board of directors of Collin's Industries happy. Which is how I've ended up on the phone with said unhappy directors for the last two hours.
I've been just letting them bitch while continuing to wrap and giving the occasional, "Yes, I understand your upset." But my patience is growing thin.
"You can not just start taking away our vacation budgets! We've had those since before you were born girly, and now you come in here and think you can do whatever you please. Well, I hate to break it to you but we are the board and we have a say!" I tied the last sparkly pink ribbon on Rudys present and grabbed my phone, done with this shit.
"You know what. I'm done with this, I know your old brains might not be able to comprehend this but I am in fact your boss now. And since I've taken this position profits have increased fifteen present on the industrial front and thirty present on the not so industrial side. By my account, I'm the best thing that's ever fucking happened to this company."
"And yes, I took away your vacation budget. Something that I believe you shouldn't even have had. So I took it away and now it's going to good use, instead of MY company paying you to go on a vacation when you're not even working for me! So get used to it because things are going to start changing around here because yes the board does have a vote, a forty-nine percent one."
I waited for that to really since in for them, "And now, me and my fifty-one percent vote are done talking to a group of old overpaid rich fucking white men. So if you have any more bitching to do, take it up with my father or my uncle because I no longer want to hear your voices. Merry Christmas, and a happy new year."
With that, I hung up the phone and called for Matty to come carry all these presents downstairs.
~~~
Christmas day was the happiest I've been in the last few weeks. Watching Ruby run down the stairs with Charlotte and Mal made my face light up. This is the first Christmas that I've really spent with Charlotte in like eight years
Ben and I had an agreement that all the presents from me would be labeled as so and he would handle the ones from 'Santa. We all opened our presents in pajamas and watched the home-alone movies.
I heard my phone start to ring and had to dig around in the disgraded wrapping paper that Andy was yelling at people to put into the garbage bag he was holding. Once I found it I looked at the caller id and saw that it was my Uncle.
"Hello?"
"Hey pumpkin, Merry Christmas. How's your day been so far?"
I smiled and gave him the whole story from the kids running downstairs, the present that people got, Andy giving my dad a book filled with old pictures from when they were teens. In return, he told me about how Christmas went with my cousins Levi, Isaac, and Luca.
"It was great, Luca loved it and I only had to muffle Levi a few times when he tried to tell Luca that Santa isn't real. We've been having a lot of issues with him recently, but he's a sixteen-year-old boy there's not much we can do but try and steer him on the right path."
We laughed, "Tell me about it. Malcolm hasn't exactly been reasonable either." We talked for a little while longer about everything from family to business.
"Rowan, darling, you know I love you to death but the next time you decide to piss off the board please leave my name out of it. Maggy threw my work phone out a third-story window last night because they wouldn't stop calling."
Ah yes, aunt Maggy. To be honest, when I basically told the board to fuck off and leave me alone I didn't stop to think that they would actually call uncle Elliot.
Oops
I gave my phone to my dad so he could have a chance to talk to his brother. I was entertaining Luke by balling up loose pieces of wrapping paper and shooting baskets into his garbage bag net. We had gotten almost all of it when the doorbell rang.
"Since when does anyone ever ring the doorbell?"
Luke looked at me and I shrugged walking over to the door, when I passed Jack he laughed, "I'm surprised that thing still works." I rolled my eyes at him.
When I opened the door I was surprised to see Cameron standing behind it, I was even more surprised when I felt someone grab my legs. I looked down and was met with the sight of Lilly hugging my legs. Both her and Cameron were actually dressed instead of in pajamas like I was.
Cameron looked me up and down then stifled a laugh. I rolled my eyes at him and bent down to give Lilly a hug. "So, what do I owe this little surprise to? I'm used to your brother just barging in through my front door."
Lilly laughed and gave her brother a look, "Mommy says that we're not supposed to do that and that it's rude to just walk in without knocking." Cameron looked annoyed but just ruffled Lilly's hair, to which she batted his hand away.
"Why don't the two of you come in, it's cold out here." They followed me inside and Cameron made himself right at home and head to the couch next to Jack, with Lilly following right behind him. When he sat down she crawled into his lap and leaned over to play with Jack's hair.
I laughed at the scene and watched as Jack gave in, picked her up, and sat her down in his own lap so she could continue to play with his hair. Seeing that my dad was done with my phone I walked over to him taking the phone when he handed it to me.
"I left a present on your bed for you, its something that used to belong to your mother so I thought you'd want to open it in private." He smiled at me as I nodded and made my way back to where everybody was sitting.
Cameron had gotten up and was now leaning in the archway of the Kitchen chatting to my dad's older sister Amanda who was helping Mira in the kitchen. He smiled at me as I walked up and pulled something out of his back pocket.
"This is for you. Lilly insisted that we get a Christmas present. She a very hard girl to say no to." He chuckled and handed me a velvet jewelry box.
When I opened it a white and blue bracelet laid in the center. The gems seemed to be sapphires set in a silver band. The gems alternated in color going all the way around the bracelet, it was beautiful.
"Thank you, it's beautiful. But how much did you spend on this?" When I looked up at him he was studying me. He shook his head slightly and smirked.
"Don't you worried about that, just know that I made sure to use my father's credit card." We both laughed and yet again I was hit in the legs but by two bodies this time.
"Look, Rowan, I made a friend!" Ruby and Lilly giggling at each other and then ran away together back towards the enormous tree that we had put up in the stairwell.
~~~
Party Rock Anthem was blasting from the speakers of my club as we all dance in the middle of the floor. The new year was about ten minutes away and we were living it up.
I personally have downed close to four shots, and a few cans of hard seltzer. Everyone else is pretty much on my level, well except for Maya who had half of a seltzer to prove a point to Matty, who had drunk a half bottle of vodka.
Lee came up behind me and we started dancing to the music, "So, what do you think your resolution is gonna be?" As we danced I look around seeing if I could think of anything, alcohol?
Yeah, no way in hell.
My eyes landed on Lincoln making out with some random girl in the VIP lounge, and it hit me. "I'm gonna make Linc less of a man whore."
Lee just laughed at me, "Okay then, well good luck to you because I don't think that's possible." We laughed and dance for the next nine minutes with Luke, Candy, Justin, Maya, and everyone else.
"Five!"
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Happy New Year!!!"
All around me people started to kiss, Justin and Maya, Candy and Luke, Jack and some girl with colorful hair, Linc and his random girl, then I pulled in Lee and gave him a kiss. From the corner of my eye, I could see Cameron staring at us, standing off to the side with Tino who whispered something into his ear and gave him a peck on the check.
The rest of the night was spent drinking, except for Mal and Charlotte, dancing, more drinking, and more dancing. By the end of the night, my feet felt like they were gonna fall off but it was the best feeling ever
~~~
"You need to tell him." Candy's voice was way too loud for ten in the morning when I'm hungover.
"The only person I need to tell something to is you, and it's shhhhhhh, too loud" I took the Advil and water that Justin offered me and downed the pills along with the bottle. He went down the line offering the same combination to everyone. Though when he got to Maya he offered her one of the apple juice boxes we keep behind the bar for Mal.
"Don't 'shhhhhhh' me you need to tell Luke about the Red Roses and everything that we've found. Because as much as I love you and know you can handle yourself I will not let you go after these people by yourself." I set my head down on the cool bar slab and ground.
"Okay, fine I promise that I will tell him later today when I can think without my head wanting to implode. Who let me take seven shots by the end of the night? Who thought that was a good idea?" She rolled her eye at me and reminded me that it was in fact my idea.
"I have returned bearing the gift of food! Come bow to your merciful overload and pray to the greatest god that is me for your breakfast!" Santino, in Santino fashion, made a grand entrance with the food that I made him go get. But he also had my other special request.
After being thoroughly ripped into by hungry hung-over teenagers Tino passed out the breakfast sandwiches quietly and come over to also give me the squirt bottle I requested.
"Can I be enlightened on why I was told to go out of my way to buy this?" I grabbed my sandwich and spray bottle out of his hand and walked behind the bar to the faucet.
"Nope."
I filled it up with water and screwed the top back on and tested it a few times to make sure it worked, which it did. After I finished my food I went out on my mission with Tino and Lee following behind want to see what I was gonna do.
With them following me I headed upstairs and unlocked the room that Linc went into last night with that girl. They were both still asleep, and with that, I started operation de-whorenize Lincoln McBride.
With the spray bottle, I squirted it at him while saying, "Bad Lincoln, bad Lincoln." Like I expected he jumped out of bed, thankfully with his boxers on, and whipped around to me.
"What the hell!?" He looked at me and then back at the girl in the bed.
With a straight face, which was hard to keep, I sprayed him again, "Bad Lincoln, bad Lincoln."
This continued through the day, whenever Linc would make an inappropriate comment, or a sexual comment, or look at someone in a certain way he got sprayed and told the same thing, "Bad Lincoln, bad Lincoln."
My goal is to train him, like a feral dog.
"So Cameron how do you feel about turning nineteen tomorrow?" Justin was sitting on a barstool next to Maya who was still siping an apple juice, juice box.
"Well, I get to be older than most of you fuckers so that's a win."
"You gonna be old as fuck." Alex chimed in from his place on the floor. He claimed that it was cooler down there.
"Oh, shut the fuck up Alex! Your almost twenty, your in no place to call me old." Cam accidentally, on purpose, spilled some of his water onto Alex's face. Everyone was laughing and joking around so I decided to pull Luke to the side.
We were over by the backdoor that lead to the outside rest area, "I need to tell you something and I need you to not be made for not telling you immediately."
He gave me a questionable look but agreed and waited for me to go on.
I took a deep breath to calm myself down and spit it out, "Me and Candy found the group that broke into the house and killed my mom, their name is the Red Roses and Candy found a lot of traces of them before the attack but after it was like they fell off the face of the earth and now I want to find them and I want to bring them down."
He stood there shocked for a good few minutes, "You found them?"
"Yes."
"And you want to go after them? A group that broke into one of the most highly-secured houses in Eaglesview, and killed a gang leader's wife. A group that then proceeded to drop off the face of the earth to the point where the best hacker that we know cant even find them. And you want to track them down and what, kill them?"
I thought for a moment, considering everything he just said, "Yeah."
"I'm in."
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