1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Jordan

C ollier’s Creek’s tree lighting ceremony was the ideal event to get rip-roaring drunk.

Most folks with families assembled to watch the tree light up, and once the illustrious deed was done, a mass exodus of townspeople rampaged home.

Which left the perfect opportunity for a little mischief, a little chaos.

And I was proficient in both.

Back at the house, I’d started pregaming with Hal and Chad over the cans of Pbr we had left over from the last party we’d thrown. So by the time we’d reached the tree lighting ceremony, I was feeling warm, toasty even. We’d smuggled bottles of whisky with us and met up with Rogue and Andy, who’d brought their own handles of vodka.

Fuck knew I’d need to get loaded for the mayor’s speech. A whole bunch of schlock about togetherness and community values I wasn’t feeling at the moment. Not only had Leah broken up with me last month, but in all honesty, most of the residents of Collier’s Creek also viewed me as nothing more than a fuckup until they needed their car fixed .

Case in point. Geraldine trudged by, one of the old biddies in town. She held Barkasaurus Rex tight, the same dog she also claimed was “possessed” on a regular basis. The puffball growled like it might leap from her arms and attack one of us. She gave me the stink eye, and I offered an extra large grin instead of the middle finger she deserved. Fucking hell, I shouldn’t have to be in customer service mode after hours, but here we were. She’d told me a family of mice was living in the front of her car, and I needed to extricate them.

There were no mice.

Just a fucked-up transmission that would cost a pretty penny to fix.

Instead of taking my advice on the new transmission, she’d driven off the lot, only for the car to break down along the side of the road. Guess whose car was back in the shop with a towing charge?

“Pass me some whisky.” Rogue nudged me in the side. The rest of the town called him by his actual name, Nick, but he’d been Rogue to me since we were kids. His long blond locks were pulled back, tucked under his beanie, and this close, I could see the tendrils of one of his tattoos that spanned up the side of his neck. His crooked smile signaled he was well on his way to getting plastered, but if anyone was in for a good time, it was him. While I’d gotten fairly called as a shit-stirrer, he was more of a go-with-the-flow sort. More like Chad and less like Hal, who labeled fucking everything in our house.

I opened the bottle and passed it his way. We all hung in the back of the crowd by the town hall, far enough away from the center of events where officials might be in sight. Drinking at the tree lighting ceremony was a tradition we’d started in high school, and we showed no signs of stopping, even though we were in our midtwenties.

“Did you and Andy tap out on your vodka already?” I asked, arching a brow .

Rogue shook his head. “Nah, I’m just feeling whisky more tonight.” He stole a quick sip and slid the bottle back. I prickled with energy. The night was plenty young, and drinking had just begun. Normally, I’d be hunting for a hookup, but this time of year was the worst. Everyone pretty much octopussed onto whoever they were casually dating in the hopes of having a companion to family bullshit, and the girls in the dating pool searched for that too.

My family had enough bullshit I needed to go to. I didn’t want to add more obligations to the pile. With four siblings, I had a never-ending supply of birthdays, holidays, milestones, and what the fuck evers to attend. And I loved the assholes, every last one of them, but at the same time, I craved a little privacy. The chance to follow my own path.

Restlessness crawled through my veins, pushing me to trouble.

I took a swig from the bottle, loving the burn of the whisky. It detracted from the monotony of growing up in a tiny town like this Collier’s Creek. Some folks thrived in a place like this. My older brother, Coop, and his boyfriend, Logan, were seconds away from swapping wedding vows every time they looked at each other, and Daisy was popping out more kids than I could count. Okay, fine, two. However, around the holidays, Collier’s Creek just reminded me of the string of failed relationships I’d been stacking up over the years.

I had plenty of options to hook up—out-of-towners dropped in on the regular—but those girls also always left.

“Looks like it’s time.” Hal jabbed a finger at the tree. The monstrosity of a pine tree stood right in front of the town hall, in the center of the town. From here, I could see Gramps’s bookstore and CC’s, the local coffee shop.

“You think Mrs. Barnaby’s going to steal the mic again this year to make another conservation rant?” Rogue settled beside me. He reached out again in a silent gesture, and I passed him the whisky. My limbs were getting nice and loose, and my mind started to wander, which was the perfect way to watch the tree lighting.

“She did it twice, that’s all. Everyone makes too big a deal out of it,” Chad said.

“Twice is still two times too many,” I responded. “Whole world’s going to burn, so we might as well have a little fun along the way.”

Hal snorted. “You’re a font of optimism, man.”

Up ahead in the crowd, I caught a flash of Coop, who scowled away, and Logan following him closely. My brother would give me a lecture if he found us with booze, even though everyone smuggled something stiff to these sorts of things. More of the alcoholic variety, less of the erections.

Before I could duck out of view, Rogue jabbed me in the side. “Look, it’s starting.”

At once, the darkened tree blazed. The multicolored lights and the bright white star stood out against the pristine night sky in these parts, and a resounding cheer echoed throughout the whole town. For one moment, all of it filtered through me—the glow of the lights, the sheer volume of people around us, and the vibration in the air—and the energy elevated me higher.

Fucking beautiful.

I might stir up trouble out of boredom every once in a while around here, but deep down, I loved this town.

I was officially three sheets to the…something.

I stumbled on the grass, too many annoying dried blades and patches of snow to mess up my path. Hal was cackling up in the lead of our entourage over the fence we’d just scaled. We’d migrated out of Main Street and walked toward one of the nearby farms. Except it was dark as shit, and even with our phone flashlights, none of us could tell whose property we were on.

Hell, I didn’t even see any cows.

A giggle escaped me as I almost face-planted on the barren ground again. Fuck, it was cold as shit. I tugged my jacket a little tighter, the bottle long since gone. We’d polished those off while we’d watched the mass evacuation post tree lighting ceremony, and then we’d tottered around town until we found ourselves…well, here.

“It’s so cold I’m going to die,” Andy moaned.

“Stop being dramatic. This is like a fresh spring breeze,” Hal muttered. “I could skip through here naked, and it wouldn’t bother me.”

“So do it,” Rogue teased.

“You just want to see my ass naked,” Hal said.

Rogue snorted. “Yours is the last ass I’d like to see naked.”

My brain started chugging forward again, seizing hold of the idea at full steam. Holy fuck, that’d be funny. “No, we should totally do it.”

“Go streaking? Are you out of your mind?” Andy clutched at his jacket.

A laugh bubbled out of me. “I mean, a little.”

“I’m in.” Chad stumbled beside me. “I work in this weather all day long. Running naked won’t affect me much.”

“Ugh, count me out,” Andy said. “You’re all insane.”

“I’m only doing this because Rogue said I had the least fuckable ass.” Hal muttered, tugging off his shirt.

“Dude, you’re straight,” Rogue said. “What do you care if I think you’ve got a flat ass?”

“It’s flat?” Hal unbuttoned his pants.

Giddiness bubbled up inside me. Sure, it was cold enough for my balls to get frostbite, but fuck it .

Time for a little lighting of our own.

I yanked my jacket off first, then my shirt. My nipples tried to retreat into my body. My shoulders stiffened as I reached for my pants, but the warm buzz from the whisky swirled through me. I could do this. Hal was already buck ass naked and racing across the yard…whoever’s this was.

Andy raced after him, fully dressed but shouting something about hazards. Who the fuck knew?

I unzipped my pants and, with a quick pull, dropped them and my briefs in one go.

Rogue stood feet away from me, stripped down, all lean muscles and tattoos from head to toe. He cracked me a grin. “Want to go chase after Hal?”

“You’re on.”

Oh fuck, it was cold. Like pressing a tray full of ice cubes on my junk.

“See you later, losers,” Chad called, streaking ahead of us.

Cold. Cold. Cold. Oh god. I raced as fast as possible, but the ground was so cold and hard it was like stomping on marbles, stingy, stingy marbles. The wetness from the occasional patch of snow shocked me too. The visibility was shaky with the sweeping darkness, but I could hear Hal and Chad plain as day. Rogue zipped ahead of me, his ass flexing with his quick, loping strides.

“This is a bad idea, guys,” Andy called. “Hurry. Loop around and grab your clothes.”

A laugh exploded out of me, which was probably a bad plan because my lungs did not like that move. All pins and needles. I careened forward, following Hal and Chad.

“Tree and back, man.” Hal shouted out .

Some scraggly ass looking tree stood out, and one of the guys raced up and tagged it. The others followed.

This was such a dumbass plan, but damn, it was fun as fuck.

My cock and balls weren’t even dangling as I sprinted. They’d retreated into my body to try to preserve warmth.

Hal rushed by us, zooming toward his clothes at top speed. So much for the bravado. Chad reached the tree and rounded back. My teeth chattered, but my feet were still moving forward, so I was golden.

Could nipples cut sheet metal? Mine might be able to.

Rogue surged a few feet ahead of me, a shadowy blur.

Chad whizzed by. “It’s not that bad, losers.”

I flipped him off. “Fuck you too.”

The scraggly little tree approached fast. Thank fuck. I was pretty sure my feet would fall off. Maybe this hadn’t been my best idea.

Rogue slapped the tree first, and I collided with it a second later.

Before we could bolt, though, a light blindsided me.

“What the fuck?” Rogue said.

Headlights. Oh, fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Headlights were never good news. I started to kick off from the tree, ready to race back.

“Stay where you are,” a gruff, familiar voice shouted, one with enough authority that I actually fucking listened. “Hands up where I can see them.”

Rogue didn’t budge, and we slowly raised our hands.

Shadows shifted from where Andy, Hal, and Chad had run, but chances were, those fuckers were darting. Not like I could blame them. This whole stunt had been idiotic from start to finish. I just hoped they left our clothes here .

My knees were shaking as footsteps thumped toward us. Fuckity fuck, it was so damn cold out.

The all too familiar form of Sheriff Morgan stepped into view, and the look in his eyes was borderline murderous.

My insides plummeted.

“Mind telling me what you boys are doing?”

Based on his tone of voice, no answer was going to suffice.

We were definitely fucked.