I took extra care cleaning around his hole, knowing it would be swollen and tender in the morning. Once everything was cleaned up, I fell into bed beside him, trying to block out the noise from across the parking lot. I couldn’t believe I’d actually come out to my brother tonight.
* * *
The rumbleof bikes woke me at the ass crack of dawn, as members who’d indulged a bit too much the night before headed home to get ready for work. I wrapped my arms tighter around Mav, trying to come to grips with what had happened last night.
Not the hot as hell scene with a friend I’d avoided for years or the surprise news that Ryan Schmidt, the new partner at Club DeSires, was a long-time acquaintance of the boy sleeping next to me. No, all of that was tame compared to the realization that I’d actually come out to Stephen.
Whether I was ready or not, I had to be a man and face whatever fallout came. I’d meant it when I said I couldn’t walk away from Mav, so now it was a matter of finding out if I needed to move the trailer.
Mav stirred as I pried his arm from over my chest. I bent down to kiss his cheek. “Go back to sleep, sweetheart. I’m going to find us something to eat.”
“Okay.” He sighed, burying his head in my pillow. “Love you, John.”
“I love you, too, Maverick.” I wondered if he realized how much it meant to hear him say those words along with my name. When I’d told him how I felt last night, I’d worried if he loved me as a man as much as he did when I was his Daddy. Now I knew.
The walk across the parking lot felt like a death march; all that was missing was the ominous soundtrack. The back door swung open before I rounded the corner, and Stephen came out with two cups of coffee. He handed one to me, and I followed him to the smoldering fire pit.
Neither of us spoke for a long time. We both stared into the woods, taking in the sights and sounds of nature surrounding us. It felt like an olive branch, his way of telling me we’d find our way through this shit. Back when he’d first built the house, before the club or anything else complicated our lives, we used to spend just about every morning this way. We’d never been best friends, but there was something about coming together at the start of each day.
“I haven’t said anything to the guys,” Stephen reassured me. “If you’re going to be around more, I’ll have a talk with them.”
“I told you my biggest reservation, Stevie. I don’t want to pick between you and him, and I can’t keep trying to live one life where I have him and one out here with you.” Until I said the words, I hadn’t realized how mentally exhausted I was from trying to keep both of them from finding out too much about the other. “And there’s still a chance he won’t want any part of the club. If that’s how he feels, I’ll respect his decision.”
“He means that much to you, huh?” Stephen stared into the woods, his brow furrowed. After a few agonizing seconds, he shook his head. “I don’t get it, man. I know you didn’t want to be part of the club, but I never would have thought you’d turn your back on me.”
“And I don’t want to,” I insisted. “But if you’re not going to accept him, or if you have a problem with me being with him, I’ll start looking for a new place to park.”
“Let’s not be hasty,” he chided me. “Fuck, you just love to assume the worst, don’t you?”
Oh, that was rich coming from him.Hewas the one who’d told me I needed to be careful about how much time I was spending with my coworkers because people were starting to talk. “You’ve never given me any reason to assume otherwise. I hear the shit you guys talk when you think I’m out of earshot. I know how you feel about me working at the club. It doesn’t fucking matter to you that I happen to enjoy working there, or that I’ve finally found a crew of my own who accept me as I am. They don’t try to judge or change me. They don’t ask for more than I’m willing to give.”
The trailer door slammed. I couldn’t help the smile that nearly split my face when I saw Mav wandering towards us wearing one of my flannel shirts, and likely not much else. I held my breath, waiting for Stephen to make a crack. Again, he had no room to talk, because I’d lost count of how many times he’d had half-naked women wandering around the morning after. “Hey, sweetheart. We didn’t wake you, did we?”
“Yeah, but it’s okay.” Without giving a single fuck about who was around, he crawled into my lap.
I waited for the panic to set in, but all I felt was peace like I hadn’t experienced in possibly ever. This was the first morning I didn’t have to sneak him out of my house, like I was a teen trying to keep his parents from finding out he’d had someone spend the night. Stephen might not like it, but he knew everything now. And the fact that Mav wasn’t willing to hide out until I got back made me proud as hell.
“You have anything on under there?” I asked, sliding my hand up his thigh.
“Don’t worry, Daddy. I put my underwear back on,” he whispered, curling his hand around the back of my neck. The kiss he pressed to my lips was quick and sweet. I knew he was holding back because he loved his morning make out sessions. “The bed was cold without you next to me.”
And then, my boy shocked the ever-living shit out of me. He twisted around on my lap so that he faced Stephen. He bent forward, holding out a hand to him. “Hi. We haven’t officially met. I’m Mav, also known as the tight piece of ass. Too bad for you, you’ll never get to see if I’m as tight as you imagined when you were gawking last night.”
I pressed my lips tightly together to keep from barking out a laugh. He woke up full of piss and vinegar, and I liked it. Stephen needed to see that Mav wasn’t a pushover. Just because he was gay, didn’t mean he was going to take any shit off anyone.
“I didn’t mean—”
Mav held up a hand to silence him. I wrapped my arms around his waist, partly because I wanted to be close to him but also because I could feel him vibrating with pent up frustration. Although we’d both gotten off last night, I regretted how many disruptions we had. He hadn’t been allowed to come down from the scene, and by the time I got done dealing with my brother and taking care of him, he was spent. That had to be taking a toll on him.
“Don’t bullshit me,” he spat out. Even though he was still leaning forward, his back was perfectly straight. And tense. Fuck, I needed to figure out how to spend today pampering him, so he’d relax before we went back to work tonight. “I may not know you personally, but I’ve known more guys like you than I can count. You absofuckinglutely meant what you said when you thought I couldn’t hear you last night. And I didn’t fucking appreciate it. Besides the fact I’m your brother’s boyfriend and deserve your respect for making him happy, I’m a human fucking being. Being crude might work on the bimbos who hang around here late at night, but it’s a bullshit tactic. Have a little fucking class, man.”
Stephen’s mouth fell open. My older brother was literally speechless.No onetalked to him that way and got away with it.Hewas the one who demanded respect, not the other way around. Except, apparently, there was a new sheriff in town and he wasn’t taking shit off anybody.
Good.
Seeing the way he stood up to my brother, not giving a damn what he thought about Mav, turned me the hell on. He was strength and determination in a cute little package.
He wasnotquite so cute when he grabbed the coffee mug I’d place on a tree stump next to me and cradled it in his hands. “Sorry if that was too forward for this early, but you’re not going to scare me off. If John needs to be out here, you can be damn sure I’ll be here too, unless I’m working. And I have no problem calling out bullshit when I hear it, so don’t even try.”
