Chapter 1 #2
He hadn’t told anyone he’d turned down the blowjob at the end of the date, not wanting to explain he’d been worried he wouldn’t be able to stay hard. He could just imagine how his brother and their friends would tease him.
Of course, all that hard work of trying to put Malcolm—and Bull’s attraction to him—behind him went up in smoke one Saturday night in May.
Bull was covering the bar at Bo’s by himself because the regular bartender was out sick.
He didn’t mind, normally. Knotting Pine was a small town, and most of the regulars knew him and knew not to expect Mona’s usual speed and wit.
As the night had progressed though, more and more people had streamed in from outside or from the doorway that led to the restaurant’s dining room.
Before he knew it, the place was packed, and people were starting to get impatient.
He was filling drink orders as fast as he could, but the ice was getting low, and he was about to run out of clean glasses. He’d texted his mom twenty minutes ago, letting her know he needed some help, but he hadn’t gotten any yet.
And the guy right in front of him was about to get thrown out if he didn’t wipe the sneer off his face.
“Seriously? How fucking hard is it to make a rum and Coke?” the guy said to the two women next to him, not even bothering to lower his voice.
Bull stopped what he was doing and raised his head to stare the guy down, more than a little pleased when he visibly paled.
He was opening his mouth to tell the asshole to kick rocks when a firm hand landed on his forearm, jolting him and saving the guy.
Dark blue eyes and the sexiest smattering of freckles known to man grinned up at him and winked.
Malcolm winked at him.
“I got it, big guy. Why don’t you start refilling things?”
Throwing one more glare at the dick, he grunted in agreement and got to work.
Despite rarely working back in the bar area, Malcolm quickly showed he had more skills than Bull, throwing together drinks quickly and efficiently while smiling and chatting with folks.
The part that surprised him the most, though, was that they worked effortlessly together .
Without seeming to even realize it, Malcolm would instinctively move out of Bull’s way as he worked on replenishing the ice and taking loads of glasses into the kitchen to run through the dishwasher.
The one time they bumped into each other, it was Bull’s fault. He’d realized he’d forgotten to grab a knife to slice up more fruit and turned around abruptly, intent on running back into the kitchen, and collided with Malcolm instead.
“Ope!” Malcolm laughed, glancing up and smiling at Bull while still pressed all down his front. “You zigged instead of zagged.”
His tongue felt three times too big for his mouth as he tried not to react to feeling Malcolm’s heat against him. He only came up to Bull’s pecs, and he couldn’t help but picture Malcolm’s sweet, angular face relaxed, eyes closed, as he sucked on Bull’s?—
Stepping back, he said gruffly, “Sorry. Forgot something.”
Malcolm waved him off and moved around him like it was nothing and not like Bull’s cock was half-hard in his pants.
Thank fuck he hadn’t realized Bull’s cock was half-hard in his pants.
About an hour before closing, things had slowed down enough that he felt okay leaving Malcolm for a few minutes, sneaking out of the bar and down the hallway to his mom’s tiny office.
He didn’t knock before entering, just slipped inside and lowered himself onto the smallest couch in the world, tucked against the wall.
“Hey, you.”
He grunted a hello to his mom, Sally, not bothering to open his eyes as he concentrated on taking a few deep breaths, head leaning back against the wall behind him. He needed to get his shit together before he got sued for sexual harassment or something.
“You okay, baby?” his mom finally asked when he didn’t say anything. “I was going to come check on you guys when I finally finished sorting out this payroll mess, but when I didn’t hear from you again, I assumed you and Malcolm were fine.”
“We are. I just… needed a second.” To get his body under control, but he wasn’t about to tell his mom that.
She hummed in response and clicked her mouse a few times, then stood and came around her desk to perch on the arm of the couch, her feet on the seat next to him. “You still lusting after that boy?”
“Mom…” He groaned, rubbing at his face.
She just snickered, enjoying embarrassing him. “Why don’t you just ask him out? I heard him tell Dahlia that the woman he was dating started haunting him about a week ago.”
He cocked his head, trying to decipher what the hell she was talking about. “Do you mean he got ghosted?”
“I don’t know what you kids call it these days.”
Bull hadn’t even known Malcolm had been seeing someone. And even though the idea of him being happy with someone else made his chest tight, knowing how much it had to have hurt him to be left hanging again made him want to put his fist through a wall.
What was his fucking deal?
“He’s not gay.” When his mom opened her mouth, he quickly added, “Or bi or anything else other than straight.”
She rolled her eyes and poked his thigh with her sock-covered toes. “Says you.”
“No, says him,” Bull said firmly, refusing to even let the idea of Malcolm being anything less than one hundred percent straight enter his brain. “Dahlia asked him like two weeks after he started here if he was queer.”
“I didn’t know I was until your mother,” his mom pointed out. “What could it hurt to ask him?”
“A lot. For one thing, he could quit because it made him uncomfortable. Or sue us for sexual harassment. Or just make things really awkward?—”
“Oh my god, okay.” She threw her hands up in defeat. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’d do any of those things. He’s a sweet, kindhearted young man.”
Bull knew he was, but he wouldn’t risk making Malcolm feel uncomfortable in a place where he should feel safe.
His mom had always made a point to hire inclusively and make sure people felt like they could be themselves while there—whether as an employee or a customer. Bull wouldn’t take that from Malcolm.
“How your mom and I raised two men afraid of taking any risks is beyond me,” his mom muttered as she stood and moved back to her desk.
He rolled his eyes. “Marv is a member of a motorcycle club. I don’t think he’s that risk averse.”
“He wears a tie to work every day,” she countered, shuddering. Plopping back down into her chair, she shook her head in mock disapproval.
Bull snorted. It was true. Marv was an accountant and a bit of a clothes snob, liking to dress to impress even for his regular day-to-day work. Bull had even seen him in a vest and bow tie recently—he’d made sure to tell Mom immediately so she could be properly horrified and tease him.
“Speaking of, are you going to the party in a couple weeks?” she asked, once again focused on her computer screen.
“What party?” He should have just said no since it didn’t matter, but he had no idea what she was talking about.
She hummed, clicking on something and then lifting her lip in annoyance. “God, I may need to have Marv come fix this. I don’t even know what I did.”
He pulled out his phone, shooting a text to his brother to let him know he’d need to stop by Bo’s to fix the payroll.
Again. She said she needed Marv to help her, but she wouldn’t actually call him, not wanting to be a burden, even though Marv had said more than once he’d be fine taking over keeping the books straight and making sure the payroll went out smoothly.
“He says he’ll be here in the morning.”
Bull tucked his phone back in his pocket, smiling when Mom muttered a heartfelt “Thank fuck .”
“I should get back out there.” He started to stand as she began shutting things down, hoping he could get through the last hour of being open and clean up without popping wood again. Or blurting out something inappropriate like how beautiful he thought Malcolm’s eyes were.
“Wait, you didn’t answer my question.”
He turned toward her, frowning. “About the party? I don’t know what party you’re talking about.”
She sighed, like he was the most tiresome person she knew, and he couldn’t help but grin.
His moms were the best and total opposites.
Sally liked to sass her boys and act like they were disappointments when the reality was she’d fight literally anyone who even looked at them wrong.
Whereas Bo was the epitome of sunshine and sweetness, always at home baking something wonderful in between programing gigs now that she was ‘all done raising babies.’ And she always had a hug at the ready when you had a bad day.
They even looked like opposites. Despite her long blond hair—always pulled back in a claw clip—Sally was rail-thin and decked out in work boots and baggy jeans every day. Bull didn’t understand how his butch mom hadn’t known she was gay before meeting Bo, who was all curves and daring makeup.
He and Marv both had Sally’s white skin since she’d carried them, even though Bo always said she wished she could have.
They’d found out when they’d started planning for kids that Bo would have a difficult time getting pregnant, if she was able to at all.
When he was around ten, he’d asked her if she was disappointed he and Marv weren’t Black like her, and she’d smiled, kissed him all over his face, and then given him a cookie, reassuring him she loved them both just the way they were.
“At the clubhouse,” Sally said, rolling her eyes. “I think it’s someone’s birthday? Or maybe that wild child Ollie just wants to have a party.”
Bull chuckled. “He isn’t a child.”
He was wild though. Bull had only met the spitfire a couple of times at events his brother’s motorcycle club—the Devil’s Hands—had held in the last year or so, but he could tell the club’s Enforcer, Six, had his hands full.
Ollie always had bright, colorful hair and shorts or skirts that showed so much skin they made Bull blush sometimes.
Well, that and how… free Ollie and Six were with their affection.
He couldn’t help but be a little jealous too, especially after he’d heard they’d gotten engaged a couple of months ago.
His mom waved her hand as she stood and pulled her boots on. “Either way, families are invited, so I’m guessing it won’t be a sex party.”
“Jesus, Mom.”
“Marv thinks we don’t know what’s going on over there, but Demarcus’s mom told me she heard Cynthia talking to Tay about these new private sex parties the club is hosting?—”
Bull groaned, wishing he could bleach the sound of his mom saying the words sex party from his brain. “You two shouldn’t be gossiping about your kids.”
She scoffed, walking over to him and reaching up to pat the side of his face. Hard. “Please. That’s the only way I’ve known what’s going on with you two since you became teenagers. Once you learned what your dicks were for?—”
“Mom!”
“—you stopped talking to your mothers.” She grinned up at him, brushing her thumb over his flaming cheek. “So we had to get creative to make sure you weren’t getting into too much trouble.”
Shaking his head, he pulled open her office door and strode out. He should never have thought he could get some peace and quiet in her space while she was also occupying it.
“Bo and I have bowling league that night, but you should go and support your brother,” she called after him.
He grunted, waving his hand in acknowledgment.
Then he spent the rest of the night alternating between trying to forget the horror of his mom talking about sex parties and wondering why the hell he hadn’t been invited to one.