Chapter Four
Emmett
EMMA AND Travis left him with Kaz, Miles, and Ezra under the pretense of Emma showing Travis around. He was pretty sure the only thing they were going to see was the inside of a storage room or bathroom. Whichever was closest.
He shook his head and turned his attention back on Kaz, who was telling him about the gym, switching between signing and speaking when there were words he didn’t know how to sign.
He’d been a little worried about Kaz and his intentions toward Miles, but after learning the truth, he was happy for them.
There was no denying how much Kaz loved Miles.
Not with the way he was looking at his man.
It almost made him jealous because he was supposed to have had that.
Instead, all he got was endless insecurities and nightmares.
“What do you need to get started?” Miles asked him, thankfully stopping his descent into a headspace he didn’t want to be in.
“I need something to go off of,” he said, tapping the screen of his tablet with his pen. He looked up, meeting Kaz’s gaze. “What made you open this place? What’s the vision?”
“They needed a place for whitewashing their money,” Ezra said with a shrug.
Emmett squeezed his eyes closed while saying a silent prayer. Ezra was clearly peak Ezra-ing today. He had a feeling the next few weeks were going to be… interesting.
He opened his eyes and wasn’t surprised to find the others looking like they were trying hard not to throttle Ezra.
Miles breathed out loudly, then grabbed Ezra by the wrist and dragged him toward the front door, Ezra’s voice a steady hum as they crossed the room.
“Ignore him,” Kaz signed, his lips pulling into a wry smile.
“Oh, I fully intend to. Why did you ever let Ez near the club? How is he still breathing?”
“There have been a few close calls. Mostly Em, but Ezra and Talon get into it more often than not.”
He had no idea which of the guys Talon was, and Kaz must’ve realized as much when he glanced around at the men and women surrounding them in the gym.
“Brown hair. Frowning,” Kaz signed, then pointed toward a small group of men standing by the doorway into the part of the gym that housed the workout machines.
There were two men with brown hair, and they were both big, muscular guys. One more so than the other. They also both looked like they were annoyed with life. One had a good scruffy beard and was staring down a man waving a crutch at him.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Kaz muttered. “Maddox is supposed to be resting. Emma’s gonna kick his ass if she sees him here.”
Emmett blinked, trying to remember anything about Maddox.
“This is what I get for not wearing my receivers last time,” he mumbled, looking helplessly at Kaz for an explanation.
He’d been hungover, miserable, and a little too focused on Miles and Kaz last time.
No one he didn’t already know had bothered speaking to him, though he wasn’t sure he could blame them, considering they probably didn’t know any ASL and most of them had already been drinking for a while by the time they arrived at the clubhouse.
“The one with crutches is Maddox. The one flipping him off is Talon, and the other guy is Wilder. I have no idea how to say all that in sign,” Kaz said, a frown marring his forehead.
Emmett put a hand on Kaz’s arm and said, “No worries. I’ll keep my receivers on while I’m here. I appreciate the effort, though.”
It was always nice to know people cared enough to at least try to communicate in his first language. He wasn’t surprised that Miles had fallen in love with a man who put in that extra effort because Miles always did.
Kaz shook his head, not looking so happy with his perceived shortcomings. He was about to ensure Kaz it was alright when Kaz waved him along and said, “Let me show you where you’ll be working.”
He followed Kaz to the doorway Maddox, Talon, and Wilder were still blocking.
Kaz stopped to tell Maddox to get his ass home, but Emmett barely listened, his gaze caught on the biggest of the men.
Wilder, Kaz had said his name was. The man’s jawline was to die for, and he was easily twice his size.
He was pretty sure Wilder’s arms were thicker than his head.
He was wearing a T-shirt under his leather cut, the tattoo covering his left arm peeking out of his sleeve and catching Emmett’s full attention.
It was a gorgeous piece of art. It was clearly inspired by Greek architecture, with stark lines through the piece to break up the darkness. He wanted a closer look at the details―
“Emmett?”
A hand on his shoulder made him jerk, and he snapped his gaze away from Wilder’s tattoo to find Kaz watching him with a raised brow and a slight curve to his lips.
Fuck. He’d been staring.
Nothing new for him, but he knew it could be seen as disrespectful by the bikers.
“It’s this way,” Kaz said, gently pushing him toward the doorway.
He swallowed hard and clutched his tablet to his chest. He risked a glance at Wilder, his pulse jumping when he found the man watching him with a smug grin on his face.
Oh, there was no doubt that Wilder knew he was hot, or that he’d noticed Emmett staring at him.
Heat rose to his cheeks, and he hurried to look away.
Kaz led him through the door and past rows of different machines.
They reached a set of open double doors, and a smile instantly found his lips when they stepped into a room with a high ceiling and countless windows that bathed the space in a soft light.
A couch was placed along the back wall under a row of windows, and there were punching bags lined up against the wall to his left, ready to be hung up in the smaller space where the ceiling was lower.
There was only one other door, and as it was propped open, he could just spot a sink inside.
A toilet, then. He turned his gaze to the empty middle of the room. He suspected it wouldn’t be for long.
“You’re putting up a boxing ring?”
“We are,” Kaz said, a smile spreading on his lips. “We’re still missing some components of the ring, but it should all be here in a week’s time.”
“It’s gonna be great,” he said, grinning at Kaz.
“I hope so. This is all yours,” Kaz said, motioning at the only windowless wall. It spanned a good hundred square feet. They had left him quite the blank canvas.
“I’m gonna need a ladder.”
Kaz’s soft huff of laughter had him smiling back at him.
“We’ll get you something,” Kaz said. “I had the guys put the couch in here for you. Miles told me you like to sit and look at the thing you’re going to paint, and I don’t want you on the floor.”
“Thank you,” he mumbled.
Kaz nodded. “I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be around if you need anything, though.”
“There is one thing I need. You never got to answer my questions.”
“Your… Ah. Ezra,” Kaz said, shaking his head. “Well, we did need a legit business here, but mostly we chose the gym to provide a safe place for anyone who needs it. Everyone’s welcome here. Who you are, your past, it doesn’t matter here, as long as you don’t come in here intending to harm anyone.”
“I like that.”
He’d been lucky. He had family who loved and protected him. A lot of people didn’t have that safety net.
“On that note,” Kaz said, stepping closer, his expression turning serious. “You’re safe here. With us.”
A painful lump formed in his throat.
“You know?”
“I do. The others don’t. Emma had to tell me, but it’s no one’s business, Emmett. I just want you to know, the Kings have your back. We won’t let anything happen to you.”
He nodded, unable to form words.
“If there’s anything, come to me, yeah?”
“I will,” he croaked out.
With a nod, Kaz turned and walked out, closing the double doors behind him, and Emmett was grateful for it.
He knew Kaz’s intentions had been good. He certainly hadn’t intended to shove him back into that murky headspace, but he’d already been teetering on the edge after Emma and Travis’s conversation earlier.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He didn’t want to think about Heath because thinking about him gave him power over him, and he was done being controlled by that asshole.
He turned his gaze on the wall, repeating Kaz’s words in his head over and over and breathing deeply until he felt his body begin to relax.
He knew it would take time before he felt normal again, or whatever ended up being his new normal.
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was changed.
He wasn’t the man he’d been a year ago, and maybe that was for the best. That man had let someone control him, and he was done being controlled.
No matter how long it took, he would learn to stand up for himself.