The Ties That Bind Us: (The Ties Duet Part One) Danda K. (dark academia books to read TXT) 📖

“Hey there.” She looks me up and down in the towel.

“Hey there, Nyx.” I wink at her and open up my drawers to get my sweatpants.

Once I’m dressed, I head to the bed, hoping to fall asleep instantly. I sprawl out on the bed as her small body wraps around me, head resting on my chest.

“I more than love you, Charming.” She reaches up to kiss me before nuzzling her head in my chest.

“You more than love me?” I question her new phrase.

“I told you, I’m aiming higher.” She adjusts her head on my chest to get comfortable.

“Well, I more than love you, too, baby.” I close my eyes as we breathe in sync, waiting for sleep to come.

Forty-one

Cameron

I feel movement on the bed by my side, forcing me to open my eyes and make sure Magnet’s ass isn’t in my face. Instead of Magnet, I find Emersyn staring at me from the side of the bed. She’s pulling my blanket down, I assume to wake me up. The smell of bacon and coffee fills my nostrils, making my stomach rumble. Looking over to Jaxon’s side of the bed, I notice he’s missing.

Suddenly, his loud cheerful voice fills the room.

“Merry Christmas, baby.” He walks in, carrying a tray of breakfast food.

I look over to Emersyn again and notice she’s collecting something off the floor. I lean over the side to find six long-stemmed red roses scattered on the rug. Jaxon sets the food down and runs over to Emersyn, then helps her pick up the flowers, so she can hand them to me.

I can’t help the smile that pulls at the corner of my lips. “Thank you, beautiful.” I take the flowers from her before reaching up to Jaxon and kiss him.

“C’mon baby, eat fast. We got presents to open!” he shouts enthusiastically as he picks up Emersyn, spinning her in the air. Jaxon positions her in his arms, belly down, then runs into the living room with her making airplane noises.

I head to the closet to take out the gift I hid from Jaxon and place it next to me on the bed before eating my breakfast. As the cheesy eggs melt in my mouth, I’m more than impressed by how good they taste since Jaxon’s a terrible cook.

Feeling satisfied and full, I carry the tray into the kitchen, stopping when I notice the Styrofoam take out containers. I snicker underneath my breath and shake my head since I should’ve known he didn’t cook such a delicious meal.

I head into the living room and find them both by the tree.

There’s Christmas music quietly playing from Jaxon’s phone, along with A Charlie Brown Christmas playing on the TV. I sit on the couch and watch as he hands Emersyn a present, fifteen more waiting behind him.

It’s definitely overkill, especially given how young she is, but I don’t blame him.

He wants to make up for not being with her for her first Christmas. But what Jaxon doesn’t realize is that he’s the best gift he can give to either of us.

When Emersyn’s finally done opening all her presents, Jaxon opens a toy she can play with as I start to clean up all the wrapping paper mess.

“I have to run out to the car. I’ll be right back.” Jaxon drops the last of the box from Emersyn’s opened toy in the garbage bag, throws his coat and boots on, and heads out the front door.

A couple minutes later, he returns with a gift box, shaking off the cold.

While the baby’s busy playing, Jaxon comes over to me and hands me the rectangular box wrapped with shiny red paper and a white bow. He sits down next to me as I lay the gift in my lap.

Putting his hand over the box, Jaxon clarifies, “So before you open it, you should know I got you something else, too. Unfortunately, it’s not ready. So you’ll be getting it as a very early birthday present.”

I huff out a laugh. “My birthday isn’t until May.”

He chuckles and shrugs. “Okay, so a very, very early birthday present.”

I look to him for permission to open it. “May I?”

Jaxon nods eagerly, rubbing his hands together in excitement. I pull apart the wrapping paper to find a new Surface Pro inside. I practically jump off the couch from excitement but then freeze, realizing this version of the tablet is extremely expensive.

“Jaxon, I can’t take this. It’s way too much.” I try to hand it back to him.

“Cameron, don’t do that. I was really excited to give this to you.”

He pushes it back towards me, and I hold it on my lap. Standing up, Jaxon heads over to my stocking on the wall, removes it, then walks back to me before sitting back down.

“This is from Santa,” he winks as he hands me the oversized sock.

I look inside to find a pair of blue fuzzy socks, Stella D’oro cookies, and the newest book from a series I’m currently reading. I lean over to him and squeeze his face between my hands to kiss him hard before moving back to admire my pretty new tablet again.

Sliding his hand under my butt, he squeezes and asks, “Can this be my present?”

I pull away and swat at his hand, nodding my head towards the little human next to us. The little human who’s currently ripping apart whatever boxes she can to get to her new toys.

“My present definitely won’t top this one.” I reach down on the side of the couch to pick up his gift and hand it to him. He shakes it gently, as though he can tell what it is by what noise it makes.

He quirks an eyebrow at me. “It’s pretty heavy, Nyx.”

“Just open it. I guarantee you won’t figure it out by doing that.”

He unwraps the poorly wrapped Christmas paper, finally reaching the white box beneath it. Jaxon lifts the lid before he looks inside, pulling out the Styrofoam