Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12: SURPRISE

JACE POV

I don’t know what’s going on with Ella, but since school has let out for break, she has been MIA. She

won’t answer my texts, her bedroom window is locked, and the blinds are closed, and I haven’t even

seen her leave the house. We are a week into break, and I was hoping to see her since tomorrow is

Christmas. I know we don’t have a name to our relationship, well, at least not until she accepts that she

is mine, but I still have a present for her. The last gift I gave her was for her sixteenth birthday when I

bought her the diamond studs. I still have the one that Mason gave me; I wonder if she’s held on to the

other one.

Not giving me any other option, I walk up to the front door of the Baxter’s and press the doorbell. It

doesn’t take long before the door swings open and I’m greeted by Eli, Ella’s nine-year-old brother.

*Hey little man, how have you been?” I stick my fist out to him and he doesn’t leave me hanging; fist

bumping with me before he lets his excitement out over seeing me.

Jace! It’s been so long since you’ve come over!” He steps aside, letting me in out of the cold winter air.

“I know buddy, I’ve been really busy, but I’m hoping to start coming over more often. Is Ella here?”

Before he can answer me, Mrs. Baxter comes over to see who is at the door, “Oh, Jace! It’s so lovely to

have you in our home again. I’ve missed that handsome smile of yours! How’s your mom doing, I haven’t

seen her all week?”

That’s Elaine for you, always the motherly type and always with questions. I grin because I’ve missed

this, missed coming here, where the Baxter’s were a second family to me once upon a time. Once again,

it’s all my fault that I missed out on all this time with this family, and the girl I love.

“It’s nice to see you, Elaine. Mom’s been busy with last minute Christmas orders at the store, but I’m sure

you’ve been busy yourself. Don’t you head up the Christmas Pageant?”

“Oh, dear no, not anymore. I had to give up a couple of things because I was running myself ragged, and

I wanted to spend more time at home with my family during the holiday.” Her hand goes to my back as

she urges me in further, “So what brings you by, Jace?”

“Well, I was hoping to get a chance to talk to Ella. I haven’t seen her since school broke for break.” |

glance around, hoping that Ella will come walking into the room at any moment, but her mother’s words

only end up irritating me.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Jace, but Ella and Elise are already up at the cabin. They went up earlier than the rest of

us to get it ready for the holiday,” she glances at the suitcases that I hadn’t noticed, “We were actually

getting ready to head out soon ourselves.”

Thad forgotten all about their cabin in the mountains, and that they spend Christmas there. I can’t believe

Ella left without letting me know that she was leaving for the cabin. She obviously isn’t taking me

seriously. Well, just wait until she gets back. I’m already planning her punishment in my head when Mrs.

Baxter’s question draws me back to the present.

“Sorry, what was that?” I ask her.

“I said it would be wonderful if you would join us and asked if you wanted to spend Christmas with us.

That is, if it’s okay with your parents.”

“Oh, I would love to join you! As far as I know we aren’t going anywhere this year.”

“Well, maybe I should invite your parents as well? They can head up once your mom’s done at the

store.” She already has her phone in her hands, typing away, “There, I just texted her! Now, how about

you run home and pack, and meet us back here in about, thirty minutes?”

“I can wait and ride up with my parents if they go; I don’t want to intrude any more than I am.” I turn to

leave.

“Nonsense, Jace! You’re part of this family too, even if we haven’t seen you around for a while. Besides, I

want to see the surprise on Ella’s face when you walk in the door with us.”

Grinning, I have to agree with Elaine, I can’t wait to see Ella’s reaction either. The question is, will it be a

good surprise or a bad one? For her sake she better be very welcoming once I arrive, because if I

remember right, her room is the only one in the

Surprise

basement of the cabin, off of the family room, so there is enough privacy to redden that pretty little ass of

hers.

Turns out that we are having a Baxter/Palmer Christmas this year. My parents accepted the Baxter’s

invite and will follow us up to the cabin in a few hours. It’s a two hour drive, and with only Eli for company

in the back seat, I listen to my air pods for most of the drive while he plays video games. It feels weird

being around all the Baxter’s again, but I will get used to it because I don’t plan on going anywhere

anytime too soon. Whether Ella likes it or not, I’m here to stay.

We only have about thirty minutes left of the drive when I get a notification on one of my apps. Tapping

on it, I see that it’s a video labeled ‘Sluts-R-Us’, that one of Kaylee’s friends posted, so I click on it. My

hackles rise right away when I see Ella’s face on the screen. Her and Brandon are having a

conversation, and you can tell that whatever Ella is saying has been prerecorded and put over her own

words making her sound like a slut.

“Of course they’re going to fuck me real good, they’re friends with Jace, and you all know how he feels

about me.” The recording doesn’t even sound like Ella until the last part, so you know that it’s been

spliced.

“Oh, we know exactly how he feels, especially when he spanks that ass of yours for punishment,”

Brandon laughs before continuing on, “Tell me, Ella, will you fuck me if I promise to redden your ass too?

I mean, that’s what sluts like, right?”

Then the words, “You know it!”, are added in just before Ella grabs her stuff and rushes out.

Why haven’t I heard about this until now, and why the hell didn’t Ella tell me herself? I need answers, and

Ella best be giving them to me as soon as I get her alone. In the meantime, I start to read the comments

under the video, and the amount of students laughing and calling my Ella degrading names, has me

raging inside. It’s time to put an end to all of this, as soon as we get back to school, I’m going to come

clean, even if it means I’m no longer one of the popular guys. I’d rather Ella have the respect that she

deserves over me being friends with a bunch of fake-ass people.

I leave the comment section and go back to my music, needing to calm down before I see Ella. I wish I

had known about this before coming up to the cabin, because I would have made sure that I took care of

everyone involved in it. Instead I’m too far away to do anything. An idea comes to me, though. One of the

instructors from the dominate classes is one of those high tech guys, so I send him a quick text with the

link to the video, asking if he can make it disappear from the internet.

A few minutes pass when I get a reply, telling me that he will take care of it. He will also make sure that it

isn’t able to get put back up after it’s taken down, as well as getting me the person that uploaded it. I

already know the person, but I thank him anyway and tell him that I owe him big time. He tells me to

bring my girl by the club sometime so he can watch me scene with her, and that will be thanks enough.

My dick gets hard just thinking about taking Ella to the club and doing a scene with her, but I don’t think

that will ever be Ella’s thing, and I’m okay with that. That is one thing that I will never force her to do. The

lifestyle has to be a chosen one, even though I’ m pressuring her into submitting to me, I’m only doing it

to keep her safe, and because I know deep down that it turns her on. Doing the whole club thing and

being in scenes isn’t what is important to me and I know it isn’t her. I’ll figure out another way to return

the favor to him.

Before I know it, we are pulling up to the cabin, and I’m becoming excited. I am the last thing that she is

expecting during her holiday, which makes this so much sweeter. I tell Elaine and Ethan that I’m going to

stay in the car until they get inside, so they don’t see me getting out, and they both agree with smiles

lighting their faces. If they only knew what kind of hell I have put their daughter through for the past two

years; they wouldn’t be this welcoming, hell, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.

Watching the three Baxter’s walk into the cabin, I smile when I see my girl greet them at the door. Her

smile lights up her face, and I can’t help but wonder if she will greet me with the same one; I highly doubt

it. I wait about five minutes before grabbing my own bag and trudge through the snow as I make my way

to the front door. I lift my hand and knock loudly. Hoping that my Ella answers, I’m a bit annoyed when I

hear Elise call out that she’s got the door. When it swings open, nobody but Elise is in my line of sight, so

I lift my finger to my mouth, silencing her. She smiles and nods, stepping back so I can come in.

The cabin smells like cinnamon and pine, and it’s got a cozy warmth to it that only the lit fireplace can

give. I remember this place well, but I’m not here to go down memory lane; I’m here because my naughty

girl left and never told me. I relieve myself of my coat and boots, preparing myself to face the girl that is

my whole world and yet I know my presence will irk her. I snicker to myself over the latter; she will learn

to love me back eventually. After all, I know I have a long way to go before earning her forgiveness over

the past two years, but that’s all I need forgiving for.

Elise steps into the living room area a head of me, “Look what the cat drug in!”

I step around the corner and find Ella right away. There’s a smile on her face until she realizing who

she’s looking at, and it falters, “What are you doing here?” Her voice is laced with annoyance but I’m

pretty sure that I’m the only one that notices.

Before I can answer, her mom pipes in, “Well, he stopped by looking for you and I thought that it would

be the perfect surprise if

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Surprise

we brought him. His parents will be joining us in a few hours. It’ll be just like old time, huh?”

My eyes haven’t left the woman in front of me who is dressed in white leggings and an oversized, off-the-

shoulder sweatshirt. She looks hot as fuck, especially since I can tell that she isn’t wearing a bra

underneath the sweatshirt, “Merry Christmas, Ella.” I say with a smirk.

She takes a deep breath and put on a fake smile, “I’m so happy that you could join us this year, it’s been

too long.”.

I can tell how uncomfortable she is, and so what I do next is just out of spite. Stepping closer, I pull her

into me for a nice bear hug, “I’m glad we can be together this year, Ella, just like old times!” I lift her up

and spin her around.

Thear her as she curses me under her breath, and when I see that nobody is paying attention, I give a

quick slap to her ass and whisper, “Be good, Ella.” I set her back down and step away, clapping my

hands, “What can I help with?” I notice that we got here just in time to decorate the tree. Admiring all the

new ornament that they have, I come across a few of the old ones that I remember well. Aside from the

one with my name on it, my favorite one lays right beside it. It’s a picture of me on a sled with Ella in front

of me as we fly down the hill not far from here. The camera captured our expressions so well that Elaine

had put it on a glass ball ornament with the year it was taken. It was the Christmas of our freshman year

when we didn’t have a care in the world, and all was well.

Ella comes to stand beside me, offering me a mug of hot chocolate, even remembering to add the little

marshmallows and candy cane, when she looks down at the glass ornament that I’m holding. A sad

smile crosses her face, she takes the ornament from my hands and studies it. I can see her thinking

back to that day, and I’m glad that she can still smile about it.

“Those were good times.” She says softly.

“There will be more good times for us, Ella.” I’m staring down at her, taking in her sweet scent, watching

the emotions dance across her face. She doesn’t believe me, so I take her chin and lift her face towards

me, “Believe me, Ella. I’m not going anywhere, and I will do what it takes to make you believe that I lower

my voice just a little more, “and for you to understand that you belong to me, and I will never let you go.”

Placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, I leave her standing there as I go and join her family by the

tree.

Together For The Holiday