Knight
Aiden and I fell into a pattern of sharing dinner, then hooking up on the sofa or on the floor or at the dining room table. Anywhere but the bedroom, it seemed.
Friday, I lay over him, pressing kisses to his neck and relishing the shiver that moved through his body. “You know, we could take this to a bed for a change.”
He tilted his head, giving me more access. “But then you’d have to stop touching me.”
“Mm.” I rubbed my lips over his stubble, loving the prickly texture. “That would be a tragedy.”
We were all over each other, which was great, but I wanted to take my time. Wanted to lay Aiden out, devour every inch of his body, and make him come for me all night long.
A bit too intense? Most likely. It had only been a week since he stopped avoiding me.
Aiden slipped a hand between us, cupping my cock as he licked his kiss-bruised lips. “Do you want to—”
My phone’s ring cut across his words.
“Damn it,” I muttered, reaching out for it. “I’ll just turn it off.”
“You can take it.” Aiden slid out from under me, looking deliciously disheveled. “I’ve got to finish some laundry, thanks to some awkward stains on my favorite shirt.”
I smirked. “Next time, you should get naked. In fact, you can go without clothes all the time. I’ll find some way to cope.”
“Oh, I’m sure it’d be a burden,” he teased, dropping one last kiss to my lips before heading for the hallway.
I checked my phone screen.
Dalton Harvey. The sheriff.
He was dating Axel, which made him part of my circle of friends, but not really. We didn’t know each other that well. My connection to that group was always through Flynn.
My heart leapt into my throat, and I picked up the call. “Is Flynn okay?”
“He’s fine, as far as I know.” Dalton paused. “Sorry for the scare. I’m calling about another matter.”
“Okay.”
“Flynn told me you’re sort of the unofficial leader of the Redemption Road guys.”
“I guess. We don’t really have a leader, but I try to look out for everyone.”
“Well, I’d normally go to Matteo about legal situations, but I don’t want to put him in an awkward situation, and since the guy asked for you—”
“Is this about Tex?” I asked, instantly concerned.
“Tex? No. I’ve got a Joseph Whittaker here.” He sounded as if he were reading the name off a driver’s license. “He said that you’d vouch for him.”
Aw, shit. What had Joyride got himself into?
“Yeah, I know him,” I said. “What am I vouching for?”
“That he’ll stay out of trouble if I give him a chance to straighten up. Can you come by Griddle and take him off my hands?”
That was not the destination I’d expected. I figured Joyride must have landed in jail, or at the very least, cuffed on the side of the road.
I’d get the details later. Right now, I just needed to get to Joyride before he tested Dalton’s patience.
“I’m on my way.” I stood and pocketed my phone, sending a regretful glance down the hallway, where Aiden had disappeared. “I gotta go out, Angel!”
He emerged with a basketful of neatly folded clothes. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, just got a friend in need. Are you working tomorrow?”
“Just at the clinic. I’ll go in around noon and cover the afternoon shift.”
“Good. I might not be back until late, but I’m damn sure finishing what we started, even if I have to climb into your bed while you’re sleeping.”
His lips parted. “Oh. Um. Well, you know where I’ll be.”
I grinned. That was as good as giving me permission. It wasn’t how I’d planned to get into his bed, but I’d take it.
I walked over to give him a fast, hard kiss. “See you later, then.”
Riverton wasn’t a large town, so it took me only ten minutes to make it to Griddle, our only breakfast diner. It was on the far end of Main Street, past Sauced, Jerkers, and the Fieldhouse sports bar.
I didn’t see Dalton’s cruiser on Main Street, but when I circled to the parking lot on the side, it was there. I pulled into the nearest spot I could find and cut my engine.
No one was in the sheriff’s car—I checked as I passed—so I headed inside. The smell of coffee and syrup hit me instantly. A sign posted by the front lobby read, Seat Yourself.
I walked into the dining room and scanned the scattering of tables and booths. Only about a third of them were occupied. It was still too early for the bar crowd to pour in for greasy food and carbs to soak up the booze.
Dalton waved me over from a booth in the far back corner. Joyride slouched across from him, looking like a sulky little boy who’d been given a time-out.
I walked over to their table. “Sheriff. Joyride. You two breaking bread in peace?”
Dalton slid out of the booth. “I think I’ll let Joseph fill you in.”
Surprise flared in Joyride’s eyes. “You trust me to tell him? I could lie.”
“You could,” Dalton agreed with a nod. “But you know the deal. This was your one free pass. You get into trouble again, and I won’t be able to help you.”
“I know,” he muttered.
Dalton dropped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. Not hard as part of some macho posturing, but gently, like a friend. “You can’t go through the world alone, Joey. You need people like Knight. So, I hope you’ll tell him the truth. Not for me, but for you.”
With a final tip of his head, he strolled out. I slid into the booth across from Joyride. His plate was full of hardly touched pancakes.
I pulled it across the table and grabbed the spare set of silverware on the table.
Joyride gaped at me. “You’re stealing my food?”
I shrugged as I unrolled the fork and cut a bite. “You had your chance. You didn’t eat it.”
He huffed. “Still.”
“So, what’s it gonna be?” I asked between bites, sweet syrup coating my tongue. “You going to trust me or tell me to go to hell?”
He hesitated, and for a second, I thought he might run for the door. “It’s not a big deal,” he finally mumbled. “I drank too much.”
My eyes narrowed. “Did you drive drunk?”
Everyone knew Joyride had gone to prison for stealing his parents’ car and wrecking it. If he added driving under the influence, we were gonna have a big fucking problem.
“I wasn’t driving,” he said. “I was at the Fieldhouse with some old friends.”
“Where are they now?”
“The drunk tank, I guess. We got into it. Over my past. They kept asking all these questions about prison and implying…”
He trailed off, but his face reddened, so I could guess what they’d been implying.
“There’s nothing wrong with being gay.”
He flashed me a furious look. “Who says I’m gay?”
“Your face is telling me right now,” I said. “But it has nothing to do with prison. I’m gay too. Always have been.”
He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I got pissed and shoved Logan. He fell into these bro dudes and one of them punched him. So Heath rushed in, and then it was like all hell broke loose. Everyone was throwing fists. I had to fight. It was that or just stand there and get pummeled.”
“That’s how bar fights go.”
“So, it’s not really my fault then, is it?” he said defensively.
“Yes and no.” I tipped over a spare cup and poured coffee from the carafe. I preferred energy drinks, but I’d take what I could get. “You’re not Joey, the rich kid who gets his wrist slapped. Not anymore. You’re a felon now. You’re on parole.”
“So?”
“So, what if you’d gotten charged with battery or assault?”
“Everyone was fighting—”
“Even if you got booked on drunk and disorderly, it’d probably warrant a parole hearing,” I continued, talking over his protest. “Best case, they’d impose stricter rules on you. Worst case? Back to prison you go.”
Joyride shrank back, looking small. “I didn’t throw the first punch.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I leaned in over the table. “You’re the felon. All that privilege you had before to just move through the world and have things go your way? That’s gone. At least until you’re off parole. Then maybe, mostly, you can live like everyone else. But people will always judge you, doubt you, suspect you if a crime goes down near you.”
“What’s the fucking point then?” he groused. “We’re still not free.”
“Now, you’re getting it,” I said. “We’re not free to live as we did before—which, honestly, was too fucking reckless. But we’re not behind bars. We’re free to build a new life, a better life. Free to become better men.”
“Why bother if someone’s going to judge me anyway?”
“Because the judge that matters most is you. Can you look yourself in the mirror? Can you like what you see? Can you say you’re a good man? If you can, then the casual judgment of strangers won’t matter, and you’ll make friends—create a family, even—with people who accept you as you are.”
Joyride lowered his eyes to the table. “I don’t know how to do that.”
“Well, it starts here and now.” I clapped a hand over his forearm. “I’ve got your back. If you’re not sure about a situation, you come to me. If you need help, you’re frustrated, whatever it is, I’m here for you.”
His forehead furrowed. “But I keep blowing you off. Why do you even care?”
“Because you’re part of the family I’ve made for myself. And I look out for my family.”
He still looked baffled, but he nodded. “Okay.”
I slid out of the booth. Dalton had picked up the ticket when he left, so I tossed down a few ones on the table to cover a tip. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.”
He blew out a big breath and followed me outside. I unlocked the helmets from the mount on my bike and handed him one.
“Sweet ride,” he said. “I want one, but my parents won’t budge.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m probably stuck driving that embarrassing Hummer forever.”
“There are worse things.” I swung a leg over the bike and settled into the seat. “Bikes are cool, but less great when it comes to hauling people around.”
Joyride pulled on the helmet and mounted the bike behind me. “I hope me riding in the bitch seat doesn’t give you any ideas, old man.”
I laughed. “Oh, you brat. I’m only thirty!”
“Like I said.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got better options waiting for me at home.”
“So you’re fucking that hot roommate, huh?”
Damn. I’d walked right into that one.
I kickstarted the motor to end the conversation, and Joyride laughed. Oh, well, the kid needed a distraction. If laughing at my sex life did the trick, then no harm done.
Joyride didn’t know Flynn, and I was too far out of the closet to cram myself back in just because Aiden and I were casual. We’d never even spoken about secrecy. I wasn’t about to go blurting the news to his brother—not unless Aiden wanted me to—but I wasn’t hiding either. I’d done too much of that with Puck.
The thought of my ex made my stomach twist. I hoped to hell he kept his mouth shut about seeing me. All my lectures about staying out of trouble would mean fuck all if the other Serpents found out where I was.
I drove out of the parking lot slowly, Joyride talking shit about old men drivers, then cruised Main Street at 30 miles per hour. Once we hit a larger street with a higher speed limit, I let loose, and Joyride whooped behind me.
“This is more like it!”
I grinned and took the scenic route, giving him a little more time to enjoy the ride. There was nothing better to blow shitty thoughts out of your head.
When I finally pulled up in front of his parents’ big-ass house with the circle drive out front, he was more at ease. I could tell by the way he leaned against me, soft and relaxed.
He sat there for a minute, unmoving. I let him take his time. Finally, with a sigh, he dismounted and took off his helmet.
“Guess there’s nothing left to do but go in there.”
His attitude surprised me. “Do you not like staying with your parents?”
He grimaced. “Well, I wasn’t really given a choice. They picked me up from prison and brought me home. Treat me like a little kid who can’t be trusted with anything.”
I nodded slowly. “I guess they’re worried about you.”
“Or something.”
“You’re okay here, though?” I checked. “Safe?”
He rolled his eyes. “Pretty sure you guys would just call it spoiled. Yeah. Boo-hoo, my parents give me a nice fluffy bed and free food and wi-fi, and I complain because they hover and try to control my every movement and don’t trust me.”
I opened my mouth, and he shoved the helmet into my hands. “Yeah, don’t say it. I know I gave them reason not to trust me. Sometimes, I don’t even trust me.”
“I wasn’t going to say that.”
He huffed. “Sure.”
“I was just going to say that if you can take out the Hummer next week, I need a ride to Hayworth.”
“The college town?”
“Yeah, that’s where Tex went. He missed a parole meeting, and he’s avoiding our calls. I’m gonna go check on him. Take him to the meeting myself, even. It’d be a lot easier in a vehicle with a roof.”
“I barely knew him,” Joyride said.
“I know. You’d be doing me a favor. Besides, wouldn’t hurt for you to pay it forward, right? Dalton helped you out. Now you get to help someone else.”
He nodded. “Yeah, okay. I wouldn’t mind getting out of here for a while.” He grinned. “I’ll just tell my parents it’s for a parole meeting. That works every time.”
I waited until he was safely inside, then secured his helmet and revved the throttle. The bike shot forward, and I took the fastest route home. Now that Joyride was okay, I had more pressing priorities.
Like the sleepy Aiden I found when I crept into his room. I shucked my clothes, slipped between the sheets, and pressed up against his toasty skin.
Oh, this was going to be good.
I ran my hand down his stomach, gently waking his cock, until it rose full mast. I lowered my mouth to his nipple, licking, and he let out a soft breath.
“Knight?”
“Shh.” I ducked under the blankets, kissing my way down to my prize. “Just enjoy the sweet dream.”
I engulfed his cock in my mouth and he moaned softly and widened his legs. I lavished him with sweet licks and tight sucks, wringing out soft whimpers while I stroked my cock beneath me.
In the dark like this, I could be any fantasy he wanted. An intruder who couldn’t resist his naked body. A demon lover who’d seduced him while he was sleeping.
But when he moaned my name just before coming, it was even better. Because he didn’t need any fantasies at all.
Just me.