Chapter 1 #2
“You’re my family too, Roni,” he whispered, swiping his spoon through his melting ice cream. He knew she knew, but he wanted to say it back. It felt only fair.
She grinned. “I know. Now—”
His eyes widened, realization of what she was going to make him do now that they’d agreed they were family hitting him right before her gaze brightened with mischief.
“Guess what we’re going to do tomorrow?”
Emmett stared up at the large, blocky clubhouse building through the windshield of Roni’s car and felt panic licking at the edges of his brain. What was he doing there? How had she talked him into this?
“Roni, I don’t know—oh, shoot. I should call you Viper here, shouldn’t I?” He scrubbed at his face, wishing he’d been able to bring his dragon. Snowball always made him feel braver than he really was.
“You can still call me Roni, babes.” She sounded like she was laughing at him, and it made him peer through his fingers to glare at her.
“You’re enjoying how nervous I am, aren’t you? You’re some kind of secret sadist, and this has all been a long con of gaining my trust so you could put me into a situation that was excruciating so you could be entertained. That’s it, isn’t it?”
She stared at him, deadpan. “Yes, that’s exactly what happened.”
“I knew it.” He slumped back in his seat and turned to look at the box in the back seat, wondering if he had everything he needed at home to make cookies since decorating them with the club was obviously going to be a bust. Why had he ever believed that a bunch of bikers would want to frost Christmas cookies? He was so na?ve.
“Oh my god, calm down. You know real sexual sadists only like torturing people who like it, right?” She poked him in the ribs when he ignored her, so he rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her.
“Yes, of course I know that. How do you know that?” He straightened in his seat. “Wait. Are you kinky too? Why didn’t you tell me?” he whined.
Shrugging, she turned away like she was just casually looking around them at the other vehicles in the parking lot, but he thought he detected the faintest hint of pink in her cheeks.
“I’m… let’s just say, hanging out with Ollie and CJ has broadened my horizons even before I met you or learned you were a little. ”
The implications of that statement had him reaching over and grabbing her arm. “Ollie and CJ are kinky! Why didn’t you tell me about that in all your attempts to get me to spend time here?”
She turned a sly smile on him, reaching forward and turning off the car. “It’s not my place to share other people’s business. Just like I didn’t tell them about you.”
Oh. Right. Yeah, that made sense. Roni was the best; there was no way she’d go around blabbing about other people’s lifestyles. “Oh.”
“Come on. Let’s get inside before one of them comes out and drags you in.” She opened her door and stepped out, the cold November air rushing in around her. She leaned down to smile at him. “To say they’re excited that you agreed to come today would be an understatement.”
Shivering, he hurried to unbuckle and follow, only pausing to grab his box from the back seat before hustling up to the building and standing next to her. She gave him a look as she reached for the doorknob, but he just nodded, letting her know he was as ready as he would ever be.
With a grin that didn’t reassure him at all, she pulled open the door and led him inside the club’s inner sanctum.
The loud Christmas music and laughter were the first things he noticed as he blinked at the bright lights.
There were tables and booths set up in what was obviously an area the club used to eat meals, but then there was another large space off to the side with a couple of huge TVs and enormous furniture that looked so comfortable he had the urge to go and take a nap.
Along the back wall, there was a fully decked-out bar with stools and TVs hanging on the wall above all the bottles, and a door off to the side that probably led to a kitchen.
The best part, though, was all the Christmas lights and decorations throughout the place. It was like an elf had thrown up all over in the best way possible.
His head was turning around as he tried to take in everything at once when he heard a squeal and then hurried footsteps and…
tinkling bells? Confused, he faced forward and stared in wonder at the young man rushing toward them.
Ollie had always been beautiful in Emmett’s eyes, but he was radiant as he practically sprinted across the hardwood floor.
His silver boots had three-inch heels and red and green bells on the sides that went perfectly with his skintight Christmas sweater and silver shorts that showed off his ridiculously tanned legs.
How was he so tan in winter? And wasn’t he cold?
His shorts looked like they probably didn’t even cover all of his butt.
When he got closer, Emmett realized he was wearing tights, and that was why his legs looked so dark.
There was also something black high up on the inside of one of Ollie’s thighs, probably a tattoo, but he couldn’t make it out in the small flashes he was getting before Ollie was on him.
“Emmett! You made it!” He enveloped Emmett in his arms, squeezing him tight and crushing his box between them, surrounding him in a vanilla-and-citrus scent that made him relax automatically.
“Is your hair the same color as Roni’s?” he blurted out as they parted a second later.
“Who? Oh, Viper. Yeah! Doesn’t it look great?” Ollie struck a pose, and Emmett’s eyes caught on the large, dark hickey on Ollie’s neck. The bruise looked like it was painful, but Emmett still squirmed at the sight of it, an achy want blooming in his chest.
“Give him some space,” Roni said, coming back and grabbing Emmett’s arm.
She pulled him deeper into the building, Ollie trailing behind them with a dazzling smile and skip in his step, until they reached a long table at the very back near the bar that was covered in hundreds of sugar cookies cut out into different shapes.
“Whoa. Who baked all of these?” He glanced at Ollie, but he raised his hands.
“Don’t look at me. CJ and Knuckles did most of it, but Daddy helped some too.”
Daddy.
Emmett’s eyes locked on the love bite again, mouth dry. “D-Daddy is Six, right?”
He remembered hearing about the man who’d swept Ollie off his feet in a matter of weeks back at the beginning of the year.
Ollie had been… beside himself with happiness, and every time Emmett had seen him at the salon or the assisted-living place when Ollie came in to volunteer, he’d be practically glowing.
And Emmett had tried to be happy for him instead of incredibly jealous.
Ollie nodded, grin turning mischievous. “Yeah. He’ll be here later, and you can meet him. Don’t let his stern face scare you. He’s really a big softie.”
A slender guy around his and Ollie’s age stepped up to the table carrying a large stand mixer awkwardly.
Emmett knew from experience that those things were heavy.
The guy—who had to be CJ—snorted at Ollie’s words as he set the machine on a clear space.
“No, he isn’t. But he isn’t mean. He’s just… serious. And kind of quiet.”
“He speaks just fine with his body,” Ollie said, giving an exaggerated shiver and fanning himself. “His dick is fluent in—”
“Okay, that’s enough,” a large Latino man said, startling Emmett into nearly dropping his box.
He hadn’t seen the man come in behind them.
The silver in his beard and hair, along with his darker skin, let Emmett peg him as the club’s President, Tomas, even though his vest wasn’t visible under his coat.
“How many times do I need to walk in on you talking about Six’s fucking cock, Ol? ”
Emmett’s face flamed at the crude words, but he was also utterly captivated by these people and their easy and obvious affection for one another.
Smiling in a way that made him look way more innocent than he was, Ollie shrugged. “CJ asked.”
CJ laughed loudly. “Um, no, I didn’t. Don’t try and get me into trouble.”
“Well, Emmett needed to know—”
“He really doesn’t,” Roni interrupted.
“I really don’t,” Emmett chipped in, smiling shyly when Tomas turned and grinned at him.
“You’re Viper’s roommate, right?” Tomas asked as he held out a hand.
Emmett shook it and nodded, shivering at the rough texture of the man’s large palm and the way he looked right at him, face stern in a way that had Emmett’s Dom radar pinging.
“I’m glad you were finally able to come by.
I wish I could stay, but I have some business to attend to. Viper.”
She nodded but waited until he walked away before saying, “I’ll be in the back in his office if you need me, okay?”
Emmett’s eyes widened. She was leaving him?
Sure, he knew Ollie—and CJ seemed nice, and there was a ridiculously handsome man coming out of the kitchen who he recognized as Knuckles from Rebel Yell’s Instagram—but they weren’t his family, were they?
He didn’t know how to tell her he wasn’t okay with her leaving without coming across as needy.
He could stand on his own two feet and frost some cookies… couldn’t he?
“Um, okay.”
Her smile said he wasn’t fooling her one bit, but she just ruffled his hair before turning and following Tomas. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Hey,” Knuckles said, standing on the other side of the table and extending his closed fist. The word HOLD was tattooed on the flat space of his fingers.
Feeling awkward, Emmett bumped it with his own. “Hi.”
“Don’t mind Ollie,” CJ said, holding the plug for the mixer in one hand and turning around in a circle like an outlet would magically appear within reach of the cord. “He just doesn’t have boundaries. He’s harmless though.”
“I have boundaries! They’re just different than yours,” Ollie said, planting one hand on his hip and jutting it out in a pose that shouldn’t be as sexy as it was. “Emmett knows that.”
Did he? Emmett set his box on the ground and pulled his superhero apron out of it, putting it on. He was wearing another one of his Christmas sweaters, though it was thick and warm and not thin and formfitting like Ollie’s. It also had Snoopy on it wearing a Santa hat.
“Wait. What the hell?” Ollie was suddenly right in front of him, grabbing the edge of his apron. Emmett’s stomach began to sink. He wished he’d had a plain one to bring instead, but he didn’t own plain things. But then Ollie continued. “I want one of these!”
Realizing he needed to relax and stop assuming the worst, he smiled and nodded as he bit his lip in thought. “Um, I think I brought another one. You can use it if you want.”
Ollie clapped and nodded fast, face lighting up with excitement. “Yes! Is it superhero too?”
“No, but we can trade if you like.” He bent over and dug through his box.
Cold air swept in as someone else came through the door, but he focused on finding his outer space apron.
Once he found it, he stood and held it out to Ollie with a triumphant grin, but Ollie didn’t notice, too busy laughing at something behind Emmett.
When he looked over his shoulder, the floor shifted beneath his feet as he met the stunned eyes of the last person he’d ever expected to see in the Devil’s Hands clubhouse.
A man he’d known most of his life, though he hadn’t seen him in years.
And the man who’d made him realize at sixteen that he’d never be satisfied in a relationship unless he had someone like him taking care of him.
His oldest brother’s best friend, Grayson Bloom.
“Gray?”