Chapter 2
MARCUS
Warm air surrounded Marcus as he stepped outside the back of his bar. Ride ’em Hard wasn’t too busy tonight. Most customers tonight were locals, enjoying a pint or two before heading home to the Mrs.—or an empty house, depending on who you were.
It had been a long day, so Marcus decided to step outside for a bit and enjoy a cigar before heading home for the night.
He pulled a Cuban cigar out from his shirt pocket and used his clippers to snip off the end.
Memories of the first time he and the guys had tried to light a cigar came rushing back. They had been in their late teens and had no idea what the heck they were doing. They kept trying to light the cigar but couldn’t understand why the damn thing wouldn’t light.
It wasn’t until one of the older guys caught them that they discovered the secret to lighting a cigar was to snip the tip before trying to suck your brains out.
To add to Marcus’s embarrassment, he tried to be all tough and macho by taking in deep puffs of smoke. All that ended up doing was causing him to choke and practically cough up a lung.
The guys got a good laugh out of that one.
Taking a deep breath, Marcus let the sweet and savory taste of the Cuban roll around on his tongue before slowly letting the smoke slip from his mouth.
Marcus wasn’t a regular cigar smoker, but he liked to enjoy one from time to time.
Tonight, he’d run into an old buddy by the name of Eddy. They reminisced about old times and got caught up with what was new in each other’s lives.
Marcus didn’t really have much new going on in his life—not that he could really tell Eddy even if he did. Eddy, on the other hand, had gotten married a few years ago and now had two young daughters he was trying not to fuck up.
It was disturbing how quickly time flew by.
Marcus was no spring chicken. He was thirty-nine, going on sixty-two in gay years, as Ace liked to remind him… constantly. He was still single and didn’t see that changing anytime soon.
In fact, he doubted that would ever change.
He didn’t want a partner.
Spouses made you weak. They changed you. Made you vulnerable in all the wrong places. Plus, they demanded way too much. It was like voluntarily having a probation officer move into your home just to monitor you and be a pain in your ass.
No thanks.
He didn’t need someone questioning his whereabouts at all hours of the day. His business was his own, and no one else needed to know about it.
Sex? Well, he could get laid anytime he wanted. It’s not like he had any trouble in that department. He just needed to unzip his fly, and people fell to their knees to service his cock.
He was the leader of the Shadow Vipers, a biker gang that dealt in weapons, drugs, and hard-to-find items. Women were always willing to drop to their knees for an alpha male. Especially one who was the leader of a rough and tough biker gang.
He was expanding his business westward and needed that to be his focus for the next few years.
Yup, relationships made people weak. They were a distraction and a nuisance, and he didn’t have time for either.
Ace, his little brother—okay, stepbrother—had just gotten married to one of the other bikers in their crew.
Blade.
A pain in the ass, if there ever was one.
The douche was cocky, annoying, and a fucking horndog.
Every time Marcus saw his face, he wanted to bash it into the ground with his bare hand.
It had nothing to do with the fact that Blade was giving it to his little brother and everything to do with him being fucking annoying.
But thankfully, Ace and Blade had the good sense to move out of Marcus’s house immediately after the wedding and purchase a place of their own—which happened to be only a few short blocks from his.
And no matter how much Ace tried to deny it, the thought of moving very far from Marcus scared him. Of course, Marcus would never call out his little brother on that. Truthfully, he felt exactly the same.
He loved his little brother, even if sometimes his overbearing nature showed the opposite. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for the annoying little shit.
Taking another puff of his cigar, Marcus let the smoke drift from his lips as he let the peace around him calm his nerves.
Ahh, he loved a good cigar.
Now all he needed was a whiskey in one hand and a mouth wrapped around his cock.
That right there would be the perfect way to end an evening.
A ruffling in the bushes caught Marcus’s attention.
Marcus shook his head.
These fucking guys…
“Which one of you idiots is back there getting your dick sucked?” Marcus called out before sucking back another puff of his cigar and enjoying the flavor as it rolled around inside his mouth.
“Umm… me, boss?” Caden’s voice answered from somewhere inside the bushes.
Marcus waited for a second.
“Umm… and me?” Lucas followed.
And there it was. Ride ’em Hard’s horniest couple.
Marcus couldn’t blame them. They were perfect for each other. Both madly in love with each other, both extremely jealous of the other.
Caden was one of Marcus’s oldest friends, loyal to the end. When they were younger, he even did a few years behind bars in order to keep Marcus and Ace out of jail.
That was true friendship. That was true loyalty. Marcus could never repay that kind of debt. All he could do was spend his life showing Caden just how much he loved the guy.
Lucas, Caden’s main squeeze and the other half of his heart, had stumbled into their lives just over a year ago. He had been running from an abusive ex, and let’s just say that when Lucas’s ex ended up finding him, that was the end of… his ex.
Marcus loved the kid. He made Caden happy, and that made Marcus happy. Sure, the guy might be a little unhinged when it came to bullies or people who tried to hurt him or his friends, but Lucas was pure sunshine. A smiling face and loving heart.
Since he could no longer enjoy his cigar while having to listen to Lucas suck Caden’s cock, he decided to put the damn thing out and try again in about an hour. Hopefully, by then, no other members of his crew would be out here, trying to get their dicks sucked as well.
Whatever happened to fucking in the bathrooms?
“You boys can finish up. I’m heading back inside,” Marcus grumbled, dabbing his cigar on the wall and then blowing off the last of the embers.
“Umm… thanks, boss. I owe you. Ow!” Caden cried out, after what Marcus could only imagine was Lucas slapping Caden’s thigh. “What?”
“You owe him? What? Are you going to suck his dick too?”
More rustling from the bushes.
“Oh, don’t be an idiot. You know what I meant,” he heard Caden say as he signed his own death warrant.
Marcus chuckled as he went back inside.
He might not be in a relationship, but he knew it was never a good idea to call your partner an “idiot.” That was the equivalent of throwing gasoline on an open fire.
He’d see them inside in a few minutes.
Chuckling, Marcus opened the back door, then headed into his office to finish up some paperwork.
He’d barely gotten the office door closed when his cell phone began to ring.
It was Sheriff Burke calling.
“Hey, Sheriff. How’s the vacation?”
The sheriff and the Shadow Vipers had an unusual relationship.
The sheriff allowed Marcus and his crew certain liberties—mainly, he turned a blind eye to Marcus’s business—so long as it didn’t draw attention to the town, and the Vipers helped keep the town of Baton, New Mexico, safe and violence-free.
Marcus applauded the sheriff’s willingness to be accommodating and did what he could to respect his rules and keep the peace within the town. Baton was their home, after all, and they wanted nothing more than to be good, upstanding neighbors.
Currently, the sheriff was on vacation out in Colorado, helping a cousin of his who was also a sheriff and busy setting up his own task force to hunt a serial killer who had been active in the state for the past two years.
“Hey, Marcus, it’s going fine. That’s why I’m callin’ actually.”
The man sounded more stressed than he was before he left for his trip.
“What do you mean? What can I do for ya?” Marcus asked, not really sure how he could help the man relax.
“Look. I need a huge favor from you. I’ve got a kid down here who needs your protection.”
“My protection?” Marcus asked, his interest suddenly piqued.
“Ya. You, as in, the Shadow Vipers. Look, this kid was almost murdered tonight, and I got a feeling it might have been the Valentine Killer who tried to kill him.”
The Valentine murders were what the papers were calling the string of killings that had taken place over the past two years. The killer would leave a Valentine’s card in the pocket of every victim, professing his undying love for them and promising to find them in the next life.
The victims were sexually assaulted first, before they had their throats slit and bodies dumped in a spot with some sort of romantic significance. The spots were always different, so it was difficult to predict where the next body would be found.
“Serious? No shit.” Marcus couldn’t believe it.
He’d been reading about the murders for the past year and couldn’t believe that a potential victim actually escaped. He could only imagine how fucked up that person must be.
“Yeah, sure thing. What do you need us to do?”
“Thanks, Marcus. I owe you big time. Okay, I need you to drive down here and pick up the kid. Take him back to Baton and watch him. I think it’s safer to get this kid out of the state in case the killer comes looking for him.”
“And you don’t think the police can do a better job of keeping this kid safe?” Marcus could barely get that out while keeping a straight face.
“Don’t be a smart-ass. Who’s going to come after a kid when he’s got a whole goddamn biker gang protecting him?”
Burke was right. No man in his right mind would dare take on the Shadow Vipers. But a serial killer wasn’t exactly in his right mind, was he? Was he really willing to put all their lives in danger just to protect some kid he didn’t even know?
“Marcus, you still there?” Burke’s voice cut through his train of thought.
“Yeah, man. Pick up the kid. Protect the kid. Prove that cops can’t do shit.” Marcus gave a snort as he added that last part.
“I seem to remember saving your ass a few times over the years. If I’m not mistaken, I think the last one involved that boy Lucas, a bunch of snakes, and one dead ex. Am I right?”
Damn, motherfucker.
“So, it seems that I owe you… a few,” Marcus noted. “Send me the address, and I’ll head out tomorrow morning, boss.”
“Thanks, Marcus. I knew I could count on you and your boys for help.”
They ended their call. Marcus sat in silence, gripping his phone in his hand as he stared off into space.
The police had a witness now. He wondered how long it would take before this motherfucker was caught. The thought of someone preying on lovesick men, whose only crime was that they were hoping to find their forever partner, made him sick.
For now, he would take in this kid and provide him with the best fucking protection known to man.
No, Marcus was not cocky at all.