Chapter 12 Gavin
GAVIN
“Honey, I’m home!” Gavin called as he entered the house and closed the front door behind him. He walked into the living room and found Marcus sitting on the sofa, flipping through the channels on the television.
“One of these days, that smart mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble,” Marcus said, tossing the remote onto the coffee table, then picking up his beer and taking a swig.
“It depends on what you mean by trouble. It’s been very naughty since I turned eighteen, but I can’t say that anyone has ever complained when it comes to my mouth,” Gavin answered, dropping down onto the sofa next to Marcus.
Marcus was once again sitting, shirtless, in nothing but his joggers. Gavin was quickly discovering that this was Marcus’s lounging-around-the-house wear.
“Did everything work out today?” Gavin asked, grabbing Marcus’s beer and taking a sip.
Then he spotted Marcus’s knuckles.
“Holy shit! Are you okay?” Gavin asked, placing the bottle down on the table and reaching for Marcus’s battered hands.
His knuckles were all cut and already scabbing over, clear signs that he had been in a fight earlier in the day. Gavin turned Marcus’s big hands over in his, examining both sides, looking for more injuries.
“What happened?” he asked, looking up and seeing the scratches on Marcus’s cheek as well. He reached out and softly traced the cuts with his thumb.
Marcus grunted, then pulled his face away from Gavin’s fingers.
What the hell had happened to him?
“I’m fine. Just had to take care of some business.”
Turning his attention back to Marcus’s hands—which still hadn’t been pulled away—Gavin ran his fingers over the injuries and grimaced at the pain he must be in.
Typical, hypermacho man, trying to put on a tough face.
While Gavin found the thought of a guy getting into a fight kind of hot, seeing the results of that brawl now made him feel nothing but worry and concern.
“Are you sure? Did you even clean these cuts?” Gavin asked, suddenly standing and wondering where the man kept his first aid kit.
Marcus let out a chuckle.
“I’m the leader of a motorcycle gang. I don’t need my knuckles cleaned every time I get into a scrap.”
Gavin looked down at the scruffy man lounging on the sofa as if this were no big deal and nothing to worry about.
What world did this man live in?
When you got into fights, you washed out your wounds, then spent the rest of the night being pampered and waited on.
That was just the way that things were supposed to go.
Marcus was just sitting there, as if nothing had happened.
Shaking his head, Gavin was at a loss for words.
“Don’t be stupid. Where’s your first aid kit?”
Marcus chuckled. “First aid kit. As if.”
Scoffing, Gavin hopped off the sofa and headed to the common bathroom. He searched through the medicine cabinet until he found some hydrogen peroxide. He grabbed the bottle and some paper towels from the kitchen before returning to where the big macho man was resting on the couch, smirking.
Jumping into Nurse Gavin mode, he quickly dabbed some fluid onto the paper towel, then gently pressed it over the man’s wounds.
There was a slight hiss from his patient, as the big, bad biker tried to ignore the sting of the peroxide against the open wound.
The cuts mainly looked clean, so Gavin guessed that Marcus probably washed his hands when he first got home.
That was good. Hopefully, the peroxide would kill any lingering bacteria that might be present.
He wasn’t a nurse, so he wasn’t exactly sure how to handle a cut or wound, but this was what people did on television all the time.
Plus, he kind of liked taking care of the big lug. Seeing the tough guy fight his hardest to not move a muscle was just the cherry on top.
Their eyes locked together, and for the first time, Gavin swore he saw what looked like appreciation in Marcus’s gaze.
Hadn’t anyone ever taken care of him before? His mother must have cleaned up his scraped knees and twisted ankles when he was a young hellion running around with his friends.
Gavin didn’t know much about Marcus’s past, but he felt all warm and tingly staring back into his eyes.
Placing the cap back on the bottle, Gavin quickly tidied up his workspace.
“So? How was your day?” Marcus asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
Shrugging his shoulders, Gavin flopped back down, sitting on one of his legs.
“It was fine, I guess. Played pool with Ace, listened to Damian go on about his three-day trip to Vegas, where he discovered the joys of getting pegged. Apparently, Nikolai turned him on to it? Are they a couple or something?”
Marcus chuckled.
“No. Nikolai is the badass Russian who works security at the bar. He’s engaged to his long-time love, Reid. Nikolai is just… sexually adventurous, let’s say.”
That made sense. Gavin got the feeling that being a member of the Shadow Vipers opened the door to a pretty adventurous sex life.
Was Marcus the same way? Did he normally spend his nights and weekends balls deep in some floozy or whore?
Suddenly, Gavin wanted to murder every last one of Marcus’s sexual conquests.
What was he doing? He barely knew the man and was already getting jealous of the man’s sexual past? Grow up.
Looking back up at Marcus, he continued.
“Tried to get embarrassing stories about you out of Blade, but the man is surprisingly loyal to you. If he weren’t married to your bro, I would have thought he had a hard-on for you.”
“Did you ask him about the time I beat his face in when I found out he and my brother were screwing? Tossed him out of his motel room in his underwear. Even then, the guy didn’t fight back.”
“Yeah, it’s a nice little cult you got going on at that bar of yours.” Gavin chuckled, leaning back into the plush sofa while he tried not to mentally undress Marcus with his mind.
“You hungry? I can barbecue us up some steaks,” Marcus offered.
Gavin gave him an unimpressed look.
“Oh yeah. You’re not a carnivore.” Gavin nodded in agreement. “Fine, I’ll fire up a steak for me and grill some nice carrots and zucchini for you.” Marcus stood and hiked up his joggers, which were slung low on his hips.
He made his way around the sofa before he leaned down just inches from Gavin’s face and whispered, “Go check inside your room.”
Gavin turned and looked up at him, confused and a tad suspicious. What was the man going on about?
Slowly, he got up from the sofa and walked down the hallway toward his room. Once he reached the door, he turned the knob and slowly peeked inside.
Sitting in the center of his bed was a brown wicker basket.
What the fuck?
Gavin stepped into the room and made his way over to the bed.
And then, his heart stopped.
Swaddled in a dark-blue fuzzy blanket was the cutest little black-and-white border collie he had ever seen. The puppy’s eyes slowly opened, and his nose began to twitch as he sniffed the air around him.
Gavin let out a squeal, then carefully reached into the basket and pulled out the puppy and the blanket at the same time.
“Oh my god! You are so cute!” Gavin squealed, hugging and squishing the little creature into himself.
Rushing from the bedroom, Gavin quickly ran into the kitchen, where Marcus was seasoning a steak at the counter, and slapped a kiss on his cheek.
“Whoa!” Marcus chuckled, appearing caught off guard by the sudden gesture.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Gavin screeched, jumping up and down next to the sweetest man he had ever met. “He is just so adorable! And I love him!”
Smiling, Marcus turned toward him, his cheeks a slight shade of pink. “Well, I’m glad you like him. ’Cause he’s yours now. So you need to feed him, walk him, train him, and make sure he doesn’t piss all over my house.”
Gavin nodded, barely hearing a word he said. The four-legged little dude was just too cute to handle.
Then a thought occurred to Gavin, and he froze.
“Wait. You didn’t beat up and steal this puppy from that lady by the tree, did you?”
Marcus’s mouth dropped open. He appeared shocked and offended by the question at the same time.
“No, of course not. But I’m pretty sure that the blood on my knuckles may have been the reason why the woman practically gave me the puppy for free.”
Gavin hugged the puppy close as the little guy licked at his nose and whimpered.
Okay, so the story seemed to check out. He could live with that, even if the woman did give him a discounted puppy out of fear of the crazy man with bloodstains on his hands.
“I love you so much, little guy.” The puppy was causing major endorphin overload, and Gavin was finding it hard to concentrate. Then another question occurred to him.
“But… why did you buy me a puppy?” he asked, still confused and overjoyed by the gesture.
“’Cause you seemed like you could use a bit of comfort. Perhaps this little guy will help you through some of the trauma you’ve faced these past few days.”
Marcus was looking at him with what one could only assume was concern when it came to tough biker dudes.
He placed his hand on Gavin’s cheek and locked eyes with him once more.
“You know I won’t let anything happen to you while you’re under my protection, right? The sheriff is going to find that motherfucker, and if he can’t, me and the guys will hunt him down ourselves.”
Marcus’s gaze was so intense that Gavin had no doubt in his mind that Marcus would keep his promise.
He nodded as he tightened his grip on his new puppy. The little furball was actually helping him feel better.
“I know you don’t know me, and don’t have any reason to trust me just yet, but I hope that in time, you’ll feel safe here, behind these doors, and trust that I will never let anything bad happen to you.”
But Gavin already had that feeling. That was one of the reasons he had been falling asleep behind Marcus’s bedroom door these past few nights.
Being close to Marcus made him feel safe and protected.
Knowing that his big, growly protector was just steps away calmed his nerves enough for him to relax and let his guard down, eventually giving in to the pull of sleep.
Now he had his own little guard dog to protect him and help him feel safe.
He smiled up at Marcus. Who would have guessed that under all that muscle and rough exterior lived a sweet man with a generous heart?
“Now, can you please move so I can grill up our supper?” Marcus growled, covering up the steaks with some foil before reaching for the pile of vegetables laid out on the counter.
Smiling, Gavin turned and walked into the living room to begin some much-needed puppy time.
He still couldn’t believe that the big, growly biker man had bought him a puppy! His very own furry, four-legged bundle of love.
Glancing over his shoulder, he felt his heart expand as he watched the six-foot-four beast of a man chop veggies as he prepared dinner for both him and Gavin.