EXCLUSIVE HOLIDAY BONUS SCENE

To celebrate the holiday season I have written a Christmas themed bonus scene that you can read here and now for FREE! This scene is featuring Trent & Drew from the Hashtag and GearShark Series

I wrote this scene as bonus, exclusive content for you readers and I hope it brings you a smile. This bonus scene has also been featured on Elena’s Book Blog!

 

I hope you enjoy this holiday bonus!

Happy Holidays!

 

The Prank

Featuring Trent & Drew

by Cambria Hebert

Trent

“Tell me again why we’re doing this,” I prompted as we stomped through the fallen leaves and a bitter wind brushed over my cheeks.

“It’s tradition,” Drew grumped from behind.

I couldn’t help but smile. Dude made me come out here every year to cut down a damn tree for our living room, demanding that it was absolutely necessary. But while we were doing it, he acted like a racoon with a butt rash.

On impulse, I spun around and stopped abruptly. Drew wasn’t paying attention and collided right into me.

Automatically, my arms came out to steady him. “Whoa.”

“What the hell?” he muttered, but then our eyes met.

I loved that we were about the same height and whenever we stood like this, our eyes were on the same level. It made it easy to look into him.

“Hi.”

A small smiled played at the corners of his mouth. “Why’d you stop walking?”

“Just wondering why you insist on this tradition every year when it makes you cranky as hell.”

“I’m not cranky,” he rebuked.

I grinned.

He made a sound. “It’s just balls cold out here is all.” His eyes shifted away, and a I knew he was lying.

But why?

“Your cheeks are red,” I told him, rubbing my gloved hands together and then cupping his face to offer some warmth.

His blue eyes came back to mine, and warmth sparked inside. “So are yours.”

I made a sound. “Don’t worry about me, Forrester. I’m good as long as you are.”

Drew leaned in and kissed me. My fingers tightened on his face, and I held him close. His arms went around my waist, and we kissed in the middle of the woods while the wind blew around us.

Eventually, he drew back, but I still held his face, rubbing my thumbs over his cheeks.

Reaching up between us, he tugged the beanie I was wearing down over my ears a little farther. “You’re going to get sick.”

I stepped back, reaching for his hand. “How about we just go to the mall and get a tree there like most of America?”

“Hells no.” Drew denied and tugged me deeper into the woods.

I went along with him because, honestly, I’d go anywhere Drew went. And clearly, cutting down our own tree was something that was important to him. I guess I would just have to resign myself to doing this for the rest of my life.

A little while later, I saw a tree and pointed it out. “How about that one?”

“Too small.”

We kept walking.

“That one?” I asked a bit later.

“It’s crooked.”

I balked. “Crooked?”

Drew made a sound, grabbed my shoulders, and moved me until I was in the correct position to see how “crooked” the tree was. With his chest against my back, he reached around me and pointed. “See?”

“How am I supposed to see anything when you’re pressed up against me?”

Drew grabbed my hand and spun me around. “Pervert.”

I smiled. “You made me that way.”

“Come on, then.” He tugged me along, and we kept searching.

“This one!” Drew finally declared twelve hundred years later.

I turned toward the one he was pointing to. “It looks like the first one I picked out.”

“This one is bigger.”

I smirked. “Size matters, does it?”

“You made me that way,” he quipped, echoing what I’d told him earlier.

“All right,” I said, feeling pretty proud of myself. “Let’s have the saw. I’ll cut it down.”

“I’ll do it,” he said, brandishing the tool.

I watched him basically crawl beneath the lower branches, firing a few low curse words as he went. Stifling a laugh, I went behind him to enjoy the view of his fine ass sticking out from under the branches.

“Are you staring at my ass?” he called out a few moments later.

“Of course I am.”

The sound of a saw working its way through the tree trunk filled the woods, and I gazed around our property, appreciating the fact that we had so many acres and the ability to cut down a tree like this in privacy.

Romeo had a damn fine idea to buy all this land and build our family a compound.

“Almost there,” Drew called out, his voice muffled from all the branches.

With a wicked thought, I moved around to the other side, watching the tree wobble and tilt as it was about to fall over.

“Timber!” he yelled like a professional lumberjack.

Dude was really getting into this crap.

When the tree was about to fall, I went with my impish idea. Catching the large tree wasn’t really a problem, so I did but then fell onto the ground with it, making sure it covered me.

“Ahhh!” I yelled as though I were crushed. “Shit, it hit me!”

The tree Drew insisted upon was definitely big, and it pretty much covered my entire body. It was actually kinda heavy.

“Trent!” Drew yelled, and I heard him scrambling around nearby. “Shit! Trent!”

“Ow,” I called out and made some pathetic sounds.

The sound of cursing drifted between the branches, and his booted feet came into view. “Oh, fuck, T,” Drew spat, worry taking over his voice.

The weight of the tree was suddenly gone, tossed aside. One of the branches caught my cheek and scraped as it was ripped away, and I sucked air through my teeth with the sting.

Drew dropped beside me on both knees, his hands hovering over me as I turned my face toward him.

He growled, frustrated. “You’re bleeding.”

Using his teeth, he ripped off the gloves covered in sap and pine needles, tossing them aside. His warm fingers laid against my cheek and pushed my face closer.

Leaning close, he studied the cut on my cheek and cursed low.

“Trent.” He worried. “You okay? Is anything broken?”

I made a sound, and he freaked out all over again.

“This is all my fault! I never should have made you come look for this damned tree. Fuck!” He sat back on his haunches and shoved a hand through his hair.

“You too worked up to give me mouth to mouth?” I asked.

Drew’s eyes flew to my face. The worry there shifted, and then his stare narrowed. “Are you fucking with me right now?” he demanded.

A low laugh built in the back of my throat. “No, I really need mouth to mouth.”

Drew burst up to his feet and paced. “What the hell, T? God, I thought that tree fell on you and crushed you! I was about to call 9-1-1!”

Okay, so maybe my little prank wasn’t so funny after all.

Pushing up off the ground, I stood and reached for him.

He shoved my arm away and stepped back.

“Forrester…” I began, reaching out again.

His chest heaved when he turned to glare. “There is no joke—never will be—that I will find funny if it implies you getting hurt.”

Holding both my hands up, palms out, I apologized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d get that upset.”

“What would you have done if a nine-foot tree fell on me?”

I cringed. “Point taken.”

He cursed again. “You’re bleeding.”

I used the back of my hand to dab at the blood on my cheek. “It’s just a scrape. I’m fine.”

He made an impatient sound and came forward as he pulled the sleeve of his hoodie out from under the sleeve of his coat. Gripping my chin with one hand, he used the other to dab the sleeve against the cut.

It stung, but I acted like it was nothing because clearly, I’d already upset him enough.

He was still dabbing at it when I grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand down.

“Hey,” I said, soft.

His eyes moved to mine.

“I’m sorry. For real. It was just a joke.”

“You getting hurt is not a joke.”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “You’re right.”

Cupping his face, I pivoted so I was standing directly in front of him. “Can you forgive me?”

He made an ugly face. “No.” He pulled away and reached for the tree, manhandling it into a standing position.

“Drew.”

“C’mon. Let’s get this back. It’s fucking cold.”

I stared at him incredulously. “Forrester.”

He grunted and tossed the tree back onto the ground, swinging around. “You think I want to be out here doing this shit? I do it for you, goddammit! And what the hell do you do? You take ten years off my life by making me think I crushed you with a tree!”

Okay, whoa.

I blinked, and silence fell between us. A strong gust of wind kicked up, ruffling all the trees around us, surrounding us with the scent of pine and snow. I glanced up at the sky, noting how gray it looked.

It was definitely going to snow tonight.

“You’re out here doing this for me?” I asked, low. “I thought you said it was tradition.”

“Our tradition!” He fumed.

Caught off guard, I drew up short. Blinking, I looked at his face, which was a mixture of hurt and anger.

Shit. I really fucked up this time.

I moved forward, stepping near so there was barely any distance between us. Drew started to move away, but I caught his arm and pulled him back. “Stay put.”

He practically snarled at me, but his feet stayed where they were.

“You don’t actually like coming out here to cut down a tree, do you?”

“Seriously, T. Who the fuck actually likes doing this?”

“Rimmel,” I deadpanned.

Drew snorted. “I should call Romeo to commiserate over beer.”

I grabbed his shoulder. “You ain’t commiserating. Especially not over anything to do with me.”

His eyes lifted to mine, and I pinned the blue irises with a stare. “You didn’t do this when you were growing up?”

Drew made a rude sound. “Hell no. My dad drove us to a tree lot and bought the first one my sister pointed to.”

I rocked back a little, my hand slipping off his shoulder. “So this is just something you and I have done?”

He gave me a no shit look.

Guilt slammed into me. Guilt for ever complaining about the cold, for all the times I said we should just get a fake tree at the mall. For pulling a prank when clearly the guy was trying to do something meaningful.

“You wanted to do this so we had a tradition of our own,” I murmured.

Drew turned away, but I caught his arm.

“Drew.”

Turning back, he answered, but didn’t look at me. “It appalls me that your mother only ever put up a tabletop fake-ass Charlie Brown tree when you were growing up,” he answered. “That you grew up in a house where you were mostly alone and holidays weren’t anything but a reminder that your mom never made anything special.”

It felt as if he’d just punched through my chest and grabbed my heart. It hurt. It physically ached in the center of my ribs, and subconsciously, I reached up and rubbed a palm over my chest.

“I want you to have better. I wanted to give you memories and traditions, shit that made you feel like you’re part of a family. Part of something special.” Drew scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “It’s stupid.”

The place below my ribcage felt hollow and tender. I didn’t have words. I didn’t have any way of expressing exactly just how much this confession moved me.

Stirring suddenly, I grabbed him, yanking him close. My arms clamped around him, and I hugged as tight as I could, squishing his big body against mine. Resting my chin on his shoulder, I felt my heart pound erratically, and I squeezed my eyes closed.

After a moment, his arms came around me to hug me back.

I clung to him, shifting even closer, wishing I could crawl inside his skin and live there.

“Trent,” he said after a while of me crushing him close.

I pulled back but dove into his mouth, kissing him fiercely, bulldozing his body back until he came up against a large tree. Drew planted his feet wide, and I stepped between his legs, tangling my tongue with his so thoroughly I wouldn’t have known which one was mine.

A low rumble vibrated my throat, and I tilted my head the opposite way and continued to kiss him deeply.

Eventually, I had to come up for air. Eventually, I had to pull away in hopes my heart might not burst. Even still, I stayed close, caging his body against the tree.

“I seriously thought there was no way I could love you more.” My voice was throaty. “But I just fell even harder.”

Drew reached around to shove his hands in the back pockets of my jeans. His palms molded against my ass, and I pressed even closer against him.

“The fact that you are willing to do all this…” I gazed around the woods and half smiled. “That you even have those thoughts…” I cupped his cheek. “Forrester, it erases every unpleasant or lonely memory I might have about Christmas.”

“I can’t get it outta my head, T. The mini version of you sitting alone at home.”

“Don’t,” I said, leaning in to kiss him softly. “Think of us putting up this monster tree and arguing over who’s going to untangle the lights. Think of us getting drunk on spiked eggnog and only getting half the tree decorated tonight because we fall into bed. Think of Christmas morning in bed together, those quiet moments before we go watch all the kids rip into their gifts.”

“Is that what you think of?” he asked, his stare penetrating mine.

I nodded. “It is. Every thought centers around you. The holidays are special because I have you.”

He glanced away, and I forced his stare back. “And because you do sentimental shit like this.”

He scoffed. “That you try and ruin with bad jokes.”

I kissed him again. “I’m sorry.” Another kiss. “For reals.”

Stepping back, I laid a hand over my heart. “From now on, I will be on my best behavior when we are cutting down a Christmas tree.”

“Fuck that. Next year, I’m getting one at the mall.”

“Hells no!” I declared. “This is our tradition.”

Drew’s eyes softened. “Neither of us like doing this.”

“I like doing it now. It’s my favorite thing for Christmas.”

He snorted.

“I love you, Forrester.”

I knew by the look on his face he wasn’t mad anymore.

With a sound, he dabbed at my cheek some more. “You’re bleeding again.”

Catching his wrist, I pulled it away from my face and threaded our fingers together. “C’mon. We gotta get this monster home so we can decorate it.”

As we carried it through the woods on the way back to our place, Drew glanced over his shoulder at me. “I was thinking of another tradition we could maybe start.”

“Lay it on me.”

“Sex under the tree.”

“Hells yeah!”

Drew’s laughter carried with the wind and wrapped around my heart.

It was going to be a very Merry Christmas.

 

*This is copyrighted material

 

 

 

 

READ GEARSHARK SERIES NOW

 

ABOUT #JUNKIE 

Drew Forrester is a total adrenaline junkie.
His high of choice?
Cars.
The faster, the better.
He’s been making waves in Maryland’s underground racing circuit since he crossed the state line, and after speaking with him, we know he’s not hitting the brakes anytime soon.
So what exactly does it take to burn rubber and make a name for yourself in a world where the only rule is there are no rules?
You gotta be hungry…
You gotta have balls…
And you can never back down.
What’ve we learned here at GearShark?
Drew is all of the above.
We also know he’s got some secrets buried under his hood.
Secrets we think are loaded with octane and just might set the world of cars on fire.