Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kendrick
Kendrick’s mind wasn’t on what he was doing, and it was evident when he’d gotten orders mixed up twice.
Trey, who was busy up the other end of the packed bar where Paddy was, kept throwing looks of concern that said Kendrick was being obvious about the worry he was carting around like a packhorse.
Coming in right on time for work hadn’t prevented that.
It seemed he wasn’t as good at hiding his erratic emotions as he thought.
“Yo Kendrick, can you give me three fingers of Bourbon," Cranny called to him. The lion shifter looked how Kendrick felt, troubled.
He grabbed the bottle and poured liberally. “That bad?” Kendrick eyed the other man as he placed the glass down in front of him. “What did Zippy do now?”
Kendrick hazarded a guess with how often he had to separate the two of them over the last two years and the sour expression that came at the mention of Zippy’s name.
“Motherfucker is an asshole who needs a personality transplant…”—Cranny reached for the glass and downed the contents—“or another fucking job far from me. Another.” He pushed the empty glass at Kendrick.
It was band night, and the last thing Kendrick needed was Cranny on a tear with a full bar, so he checked over Cranny’s shoulder to see if his nemesis was in the bar. He poured another drink after seeing no sign of Zippy.
“Thanks.” Cranny nodded and placed cash on the bar before taking his glass and walking dejectedly towards the pool table.
“What’s up with Cranny?”
Kendrick glanced at Trey, picking up the cash. “Don’t you mean ‘who’ is up with Cranny?”
“What did Zippy do now?” Trey pulled a pint, chuckling. “Breathe?”
Kendrick shook his head. “Who fucking knows with that pair! As long as they keep the anger outside of the bar!”
Trey nodded, the smile disappearing. “What’s with you? You’ve hardly said a word all night? You’ve had a two weeks' vacation, shouldn’t you be happier?”
Trey was looking at the glass he was filling, so he missed Kendrick’s frown. Had he been quiet? Why should he feel happier? He’d left his men at home, and he was here! None of that was making him happy.
“Just got stuff on my mind and the band is rocking it loud enough to make talking hard,” he stated the half-truth, hoping his friend didn’t pick up how maudlin he was being.
“I call bullshit. You came in right on time, which means you were avoiding me. Whatsup, really?” Trey enquired, finishing serving the customer and moving to the next in a fluid move developed over years of practice.
Fuck it all. Like he could pull the wool over Trey’s eyes.
As Trey served drinks, it gave Kendrick a moment to consider his answer while they had an audience.
The music was loud, but it wouldn’t knock out all conversation if someone was paying attention.
Everything about the night before left him conflicted.
Rue’s discussion about the dreadfulness of his past was difficult to deal with when there was nothing he could do to change what happened.
If that wasn’t enough, there was the stress Rue hadn’t hidden about his parents coming to Bayfield.
Which they hadn’t discussed, so Kendrick had no idea if Rue was going to bring up the subject of who he was dating.
Then the big pile of shit got topped off with Monty’s declaration of love.
Monty hadn’t been in a throuple before, and that left Kendrick unsure of his footing to gauge what, if anything, Monty had in mind about continuing this relationship.
Because the raw honesty of his declaration meant Monty had held nothing back in that moment.
Kendrick respected Monty, who’d succinctly made his point to Rue about the past being beyond his control. A point that Rue couldn’t deny. No teenager could have defeated ten rhinos. Fuck, no adult could. Not when they’d done a surprise attack.
Rue had given them the full story after Monty had declared his love. The love was like a healing dressing that, after the purging, closed over the wound inside Rue. One he had allowed to abrade his heart. And, fuck, if Kendrick wasn’t proud of Monty for achieving it.
In all of that though, where did it leave him?
He wasn’t some insecure dude, he never had been.
Only right then, it was all he was feeling when he didn’t know what part he would play long term in a relationship where two people were so in love.
Rue might not have said the words back to Monty, but the love was evident to Kendrick when Rue looked at Monty when he thought no one was watching.
Paddy wandered towards them, his easy grin aimed at Kendrick. “Band’s killer.”
“Yep,” he replied, not in the mood for small talk.
Kendrick took the opportunity to move on when a woman waved a fifty in the air, and Trey got beckoned by a regular at the other end of the bar.
The busyness meant he could avoid Trey prying for the rest of the night.
As Kendrick worked, he kept his eye on the door.
Monty, having discovered there was going to be a band playing, had mentioned coming in when Kendrick had left them just after dinner.
Rue hadn’t said yes when Kendrick had asked.
Was he distancing himself? Regrouping to prepare for his parents coming? In Kendrick’s opinion, that was exactly what Rue was doing. It would be what he would do if the positions were reversed and he didn’t want to answer questions.
Normally he’d push for answers from Rue, just… insecurity was a bitch.
He smiled, chatted, and wished like hell the evening was over. It was a first for him. A first he didn’t like.
An hour later, when he locked up and shoved Trey out the door when his friend had checked his phone every two minutes for the past hour, Kendrick wiped down the bar, clearing away the last few glasses.
Paddy took the stacked dirty glasses to the dishwasher. “I can finish up if you wanna head.”
“You sure?” Kendrick asked, head tilting as he eyed Paddy picking up something, just not sure what.
“Yep, I ain’t got anyone waiting for me at home.” He winked cheekily. “And you got two someone’s waiting for you, lucky bastard.”
Did he sound annoyed?
Kendrick’s gaze narrowed on Paddy, who had swung around to the dishwasher, giving Kendrick his back. Was he just overthinking things because of all that was going on inside his head? “Cheers. I’ll owe you one.”
Paddy chuckled, glasses clinking as he filled the machine. “Sounds good to me.”
Kendrick shook off the odd feeling he was missing something and headed to grab his truck keys and jacket. Out the door seconds later, he sent the guys a message in their group chat.
Kendrick: On my way home… x
He stared at the message, thinking of adding more, then decided against it as he hit send. In the truck, he reminded himself to focus on what he wanted, not what he didn’t want. His phone remained silent, making the latter part harder.
He drove home listening to a local rock music station to keep his mind off his problems. The hard, pulsing rock was a total waste when his head wasn’t playing ball.
As he pulled into the drive, he noticed the downstairs lights were off, but his bedroom lights were still on.
His pulse leapt as he got out of the truck and headed into the house.
After removing his jacket and boots, Kendrick locked up, checking the windows and back door as usual, giving himself time to get his thoughts in order before heading upstairs.
His mind was on how he was gonna approach the elephant—rhino—in the room.
At the entrance to his bedroom, he halted, breath catching at the sight of the two naked men lounging on the bed. The covers were neatly folded at the bottom. Both men were resting against the head of the bed watching him… waiting. An invitation to play.
His blood hummed with desire, appreciating how different both men were.
Despite that, they fit perfectly—with him.
Would that always be the case? He searched Monty’s expression for clues.
Desire was there, but more than that Kendrick couldn’t determine.
He met Rue’s heated gaze, one full of need, and the ball of anxiety he’d not acknowledged since his confession loosened in his gut.
He didn’t want to head back down the path of what ifs, when both men had other plans, he could more than get on board with. So he shut down his thoughts before they could take hold and derail what was going to happen before it began.
Both men were off the weekend, so neither had to get up for work the following day. Kendrick wasn’t due to start his shift until five the next afternoon. That gave him time to give them what they wanted—him in charge.
He stepped into the bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him, never taking his eyes off his men, his hands going to his belt buckle. “So, we wanna play, do we?”
Rue’s semi hard cock thickened, his eyes glinting with lust. Monty grabbed his shaft and pumped it twice before Kendrick shook his head, lips curling into a wicked grin. “Who’s in charge, honey?”
Monty groaned in complaint and let go of his hard cock. It was all for show, his eyes revealing how much he wanted this. Kendrick whipped out his belt and sidestepped the end of the bed, walking to Monty. He looped the belt, his heated gaze pinning Monty in place. “Hold out your wrists.”
Rue inched closer to Monty, his gaze on the belt as Kendrick slipped the loops over Monty’s outstretched wrists. The sound of leather rubbing on metal made Monty groan and shift on the sheet. A blush of pink rose up his chest when his gaze drifted to his leather encased wrists.
“Whose idea was this?” His voice deepened as he tightened the loops, pulling Monty’s hands together.
“Mine,” offered Monty, “but we both wanted it.”
“We missed you,” Rue added, his chin quivering.
Kendrick heard the whoosh of his erratic pulse in his ears at the confession. He inhaled deeply, needing a moment to pull himself together with what they were doing to him.