Holidays with the Walker Brothers

Zane

Thanksgiving Day

“Are you serious right now?” Zane exclaimed as his eardrums were assaulted with tunes that didn’t quite fit the celebration.

“What?” Brendon asked defensively, a devilish grin on his face.

“Christmas music?” he prompted, although the question wasn’t necessary now that the room had erupted in a chorus about white Christmas.

“Yup, time to get in the spirit,” Braydon chimed in as he jogged down the stairs carrying a large cardboard box, that same exasperating smirk on his face as his twin.

“Spirit of what? We just finished Thanksgiving  dinner. Can’t we make it through one holiday before you move on to the next?”

​Zane waited for one of them to respond, but the twins were obviously enjoying his reaction. Note to self: keep your mouth shut.

His attention turned to Ethan as he sauntered into the room from the kitchen, a handful of cookies in one hand. With his ball cap turned backward on his head and a glum expression on his face, Ethan looked pretty much the same as he did every day. With the exception that he obviously decided to dress up for the occasion. Well, dressed up as far as Ethan’s standards went. A navy t-shirt and a pair of faded Levi’s seemed to be his version of holiday casual versus the usual grunge they were used to him being decked out in.

But that was about as good as it got for Ethan. The guy seriously needed to shave. Zane knew the whole scruffy thing was a fashion statement, but someone needed to tell Ethan that the mountain man look wasn’t all that popular. “Mom wants us to put up the tree.”

Tossing his hands in the air, Zane feigned aggravation. He knew this was the next part of the traditional Thanksgiving get-together, but what fun would it be if he couldn’t harass his brothers even just a little bit.

“What are you waiting for then?” he asked Ethan, watching his brother closely. If Zane wasn’t mistaken, Ethan didn’t sound at all enthused about the idea either. Then again, Ethan didn’t spend much time smiling these days, Zane noticed.

With a mouth full of cookie, Ethan glared at him. “When you start working, I will.”

Ethan always was the one who wouldn’t up with his antics. Didn’t stop Zane from making the effort to get his brothers riled up.

Glaring at three of his six brothers, Zane shook his head in mock exasperation before sneaking a peek through the wide opening that led to the kitchen. There she was, the most beautiful woman in the world, and she was looking right at him. Ever since they finished cleaning up the Thanksgiving meal about half an hour ago, V had been sitting with the other women, chatting it up over coffee. And Zane had been making faces at her from the living room, trying to make her laugh.

It seemed to be working.

Zane inconspicuously glanced down at his watch, checking to see if he had any chance of sneaking out early. Six-thirty. Ok, so maybe he was jumping the gun a little. They’d only been at his parents’ house for an hour and a half, and appropriate social etiquette had them visiting at least two hours, especially after the spectacular spread his mother had just spent the day preparing.

And it seemed as though V was having a fantastic time, so it wasn’t like he could just swoop in and pull her out of the conversation to take her home and ravish her. Although, he had to give himself credit because that was the best idea he’d come up with all day. Then again, if she happened to take a bathroom break  anytime  in the near future, he might just corner her then. Yep, unquestionably a better idea. 

Maybe he should get her some more coffee.

Remembering where he was, Zane tore his gaze off of V and looked around the room. He was stuck for the time being, so he had better make the best of it. Putting the tree up on Thanksgiving was a family tradition, but Zane just wanted to go home, get V naked and observe all that he was thankful for in an entirely different way. 

Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen. 

Travis, Gage, and Beau chose that moment to come banging down the stairs, boots thudding on  hardwood, boxes scraping down the wall as all three of them carried their weight in boxes labeled “Christmas”. 

Great. 

No getting out of it now. They were apparently going to be putting up the tree.

“Wanna give us a hand?” Travis barked from halfway down the stairs.

“No, not really,” Zane joked, purposely keeping his expression stern. “From the looks of it, you could use a little exercise. You gettin’ a little soft around the middle there?” 

His comment earned him a glare from his oldest brother and a chuckle from Gage who was just two steps behind Travis.

“Where’s Sawyer?” Zane asked when he realized his brother was missing. Actually, now that he thought about it, two of them were MIA. “And where’s Kaleb? Why don’t they have to help?”

“Oh, trust me, they’re already working,” Ethan said with a huge grin. “Sawyer grabbed Dad and Kaleb to help with decorations outside. Said he wanted to get this over with.”

Well, that made sense. Not that Zane actually cared where they were, but he was going to ensure they had to work if he did. After all, that’s what brothers were for.

Once the boxes were settled in the middle of the living room floor, Zane knew there was no getting out of this. If he didn’t contribute, his brothers would ensure he felt their pain, one way or another, so as he grabbed one of the boxes out of Travis’ hand, he smiled. The sooner he got to work, the sooner he could get his lovely fiancé home and naked.

Then again… If he had to guess, V was going to want to put up their Christmas tree when they got back home. Only they didn’t have one yet. Which meant she was going to want to go get one. And that would lead to more and more time spent doing something other than ravishing her sinfully delicious body.

Who came up with these holidays anyway?

There had to be an easier way to do this. Why hadn’t someone come up with Christmas in a box already? Complete with a pop-up tree and a turkey dinner. Seemed simple enough. 

As for Zane’s parents, they might not subscribe to the quick and easy version Zane was hoping for, but they had thankfully opted for an artificial tree years ago, and last year they had picked up a new one on clearance after the holidays. Or at least that’s what he assumed they had done considering the box the tree came in was brand new and had a clearance sticker plastered on the front. Didn’t take a rocket scientist…

“You feeling all right?” Beau asked Zane from across the room.

“Me? Sure. Why?”

“Then get your ass over here and help out,” Brendon instructed, never looking up from the box he was opening.

With an over-exaggerated huff, Zane resigned himself to helping out. Didn’t mean he had to stop pretending that he wasn’t actually enjoying himself.