The Easton's

12

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VEGAS

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Alexi sat at the table beside Riley. Lorenzo sat beside Riley with Joseph who was looking around the room bored. Hayden walked in and sat across from them shooting his brother a nasty glare before four people were brought in and sat beside him.

"Riley, lovely seeing you again." Hayden said before looking over at Alexi. He stared at him for a moment before turning back to Riley. "So you want to write up a contract? Our two families have no alliance; writing a contract would technically form one." Hayden informed them, causing Riley to tense up.

"Not with the clause I'm putting in, if I ever catch your brother in my sight again I'm gonna shoot him on the spot." Riley said through clenched teeth. He couldn't even believe he was sitting in the same room as Joseph and the man was still breathing. He was ready to get the meeting over with.

"Fine." Hayden said, snapping his fingers for someone to bring him a knife. He made a cut down his palm and held his hand and the knife out for Riley. Riley followed suit making an incision down his palm before connecting it with Hayden's.

"Take him to the basement and keep him there." Hayden said to his guards. The men pulled Joseph out of his seat and dragged him along. Riley had his guards collect the two men and women to take them to his vehicles.

"For your brother's sake and yours I hope we never meet again." Riley said as he stood to leave. Lorenzo followed him nodding at Hayden as he left the room. Alexi stayed behind looking at Hayden.

Hayden stared back at him before signaling for all of his guards to leave the room. "Alexander." Hayden called out as they stared at each other. "Don't call me that." Alexi said as he stood up. Hayden grabbed his arm before the man could leave. "I know what he did, but you'll always be my best and only friend Alexi." Hayden said as he stared up at Alexi.

Alexi shook his grip from Hayden's hand. "We were so much more than friends Hayden, I loved you like a brother, and you let him take me." Alexi said before he left the room. Hayden watched him leave and it felt like they were both fourteen again.

"It was the biggest mistake I ever made." Hayden called out after Alexi as the man left his sight.

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OREGON

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Elias stared at the tree with a frown. Something was off about it. He gasped and then searched through the bags for the tree topper. Jestion came down holding June who was listening to some video on Jestion's phone.

"The tree topper, should we let June put it on?" Elias asked as he saw June completely immersed in the sounds of the video. "Yeah we'll let Riley help him, he's tall enough to get him up there and guide him." Jestion said, sitting June down on the couch. They smiled at June who was trying to copy the words he was hearing, he was also signing them slowly.

"His teacher is doing a great job!" Elias said as they watched him sign a couple of words. "I know they haven't even been working together for that long but he's so good at putting words together." Jestion said, patting June's head.

"Okay what else needs to be done?" Jestion asked as he looked around the fully decorated house. "Not much we need to decorate the outside, and Caleb is in the dining room writing his letter to Santa. If you wanna help, I'll look after June." Elias said as he looked at his list then back at Jestion.

Jestion smiled and left the room to check on Caleb. He walked in and saw the boy concentrating. He went to sit beside the boy to see what he had written. "Can I help you with anything?" Jestion asked as he tried to read the list. Caleb's handwriting was messy and some of the words were misspelled but he mostly got everything right.