1
SHADE
“Welcome back, Mr. Shade. Mr. Jackal,” Babyface says as he lifts the barrier at the gate house to allow us access to drive the van up to the clubhouse. The prospect has an instinct for driving fast cars and even faster bikes and calls everyone by formal titles because that’s what his momma taught him.
He also looks like he’s fifteen. Or maybe it’s just turning forty and getting older that makes everyone look like a teenager.
I nod.
“You have a good week?” Kai asks him.
Though he’s Jackal to the world, when it comes to me, he’s Kai. Just like I’m Garrett to him behind closed doors. We keep our names private, only using them for each other when we’re alone.
“Week was fine. From what I can remember of the weekend, sir, it was a blinder. Went through seven condoms and only remember using two.”
The sound of Kai’s laughter fills the van. It’s one of my favorite sounds. “Isn’t that the best kind of party? Catch you later, kid.”
I shut the window to keep out some of the cold. “I can’t imagine anything worse,” I say.
“Fucking seven times in a weekend. You used to do that on any given Tuesday.”
I shake my head. “I meant the partying.”
Kai squeezes my thigh, and I glance down at what will be the last sign of affection from the man I’ve loved for four years for the rest of the day. “That’s because while your birth certificate says you’re forty, inside, you’re actually eighty.”
I glance over at him. “Still young enough to pin you down and spank your ass.”
“As Babyface would say, I look forward to it, sir.”
Shaking my head, I pull the van into a parking spot outside the clubhouse. “You know, it was nice to see your mom and enjoy some sunshine, but I swear to God, being in Tucson dehydrates my bones.”
Kai’s mom is the only thing I have that resembles family. Still got the scars across my back from the day my old man found me making out with a guy in the garage during my final year of high school. Apparently, good men don’t love one another and fuck each other’s asses, according to my sanctimonious father.
My life experience is that plenty of good Christians fuck assesandtake great pleasure in fucking other people over in general.
The scars across my back where he tried to switch the gayness out of me stretch and tug when I lift weights. Can’t escape them.
That was the last day I saw either of my parents. I took myself off to the army office and enlisted. Couch surfed until I went to basic training. But even there, I couldn’t be myself. Don’t ask, don’t tell was the name of the game I had to play.
Kai’s mom was a revelation. But I can’t tell him that sometimes her effusive love for both Kaiandme freaks me out.Like I’m waiting for the moment she decides to tell me I’m too old or not good enough for her nearly thirty-year-old son.
Kai removes his sunglasses. “Think it says something about you that you like the cold and damp better.”
I glance up at the clear and bright sky, which suggests we can get back to doing most of our travel on our bikes. The sun is warm through the windshield. “Spring might be my favorite time of year.” The temperatures are staying above freezing and the sun gets a little higher every day.
Kai sighs. “Wraith says it’s been unseasonably warm, which is why everything is thawing out faster than usual. Kinda makes me wish we could have taken the bikes to Arizona. Got out more.”
“Wouldn’t have been able to collect all our furniture if we had.” Kai likes beautiful things. I like them well-constructed and built to last. Over the years, we’ve collected items and had them sent to his mom’s place, where we stored them in an outbuilding.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what that mid-century dresser looks like in the dining room. And I’d forgotten we bought those dark green glazed lamps in New Mexico last year. You think they’d look good in the bedroom?”
“You’re the one with the eye for this shit. I’m just the hired muscle. Tell me where you want them, and I’ll put them there.”
I know he could move them himself. So does he. But he lets me because I need to be useful.
He turns to face me before we get out. “Thank you. For driving. For making it work to see Mom. For buying the house with me. This life.”
“My pleasure, Wild.”
