Chapter 11 #2
Now Red was genuinely confused. “Of what?”
“Joseph and Davie.”
Red shook his head. “Why? One of them is in love with the scariest man I know, and believe me when I say, they are welcome to each other. And the other one dumped me for my best friend. It’s not like either of them are interested in me.”
“I know.” Kit stared down at their joined hands. “But I’m interested in you.”
Red let out a long breath at the whispered confession. It wasn’t like he didn’t know it. It wasn’t like Red didn’t feel the same way. He sighed. “I’ve got to keep you alive, kid.”
Kit looked up, his eyes narrowed. “What has that got to do with anything? All the other Daddies looked after their boys.”
“Your brother—”
“Is fuck knows where. He’s not gonna know if you’re playing hunt the sausage with me, is he?”
“So eloquent,” Red teased, even as his mind played an X-rated reel of the two of them hunting the sausage. He wanted to groan just at the thought.
“You told him I’m not a virgin,” Kit pointed out. “My brother has no idea what I get up to because I live most of the time away from the clubhouse.”
His breath caught in his throat, undoubtedly thinking of the fact that the clubhouse no longer existed.
Red ran a soothing hand over Kit’s head. “He employed me because he knows I won’t do anything to compromise you.”
“Not. A. Virgin,” Kit enunciated. “Quit treating me like I’m some blushing Regency heroine.”
“A what?” Red was so lost.
Kit waved a dismissive hand. “Never mind. All I’m saying is you need to think of me as I really am, not as Tony’s little brother.”
“You’ll always be his brat of a brother,” Red pointed out. “I remember you as a teenager. All elbows and attitude.”
“Damn, I’d forgotten that.”
“I didn’t. And you have an entire club of men who would hunt down anyone who hurts you and bury them somewhere no one will ever find their bodies.”
“True,” Kit agreed. “I moved out because they were so over-protective.”
“I think that’s a lost cause.”
The club would move mountains for Kit. It had to be smothering. He looked up to see Kit gazing at him, his expression hopeful.
“But maybe I could be something else too?”
Red studied him for a long time. “Maybe,” he acknowledged.
“I remember Davie,” Kit said.
“You do?”
“He was a member of the club before you.”
Red nodded. It was Davie who’d introduced him to Tony.
“I used to be so jealous of Davie,” Kit admitted.
Red furrowed his brows. “Him? Why?”
Kit huffed. “You really are oblivious, aren’t you? I fancied you.”
“Me? But you were a kid.”
“I knew how my dick worked just fine, and that I liked boys, not girls. Anyway, you didn’t even know I existed.”
Red thought about that for a long time. He knew Kit was around, but he’d been just a kid. “I was in love with my boy.”
“You thought he hung the moon and stars.” Kit’s voice was wistful. “I wanted someone to look at me the way you looked at Davie.”
Red was silent. He had looked at his boy like that, but in the end, it hadn’t made any difference. Davie had still left.
“You never mention your best friend’s name,” Kit said.
“Ex-best friend.”
“Yeah, him. Davie, yes, but not him.”
“He’s dead to me,” Red snapped.
Kit opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, then closed it. Finally, he said, “I asked Tony if he could deal with Davie for hurting you.”
Red let out a long sigh. “We just broke up, Kit.”
“He cheated on you.”
Red didn’t know whether to laugh or not, Kit looked so fierce. But no one else had ever offered to off his ex because he was hurt. He wouldn’t forget that.
“Give me time,” he said in the end. “There hasn’t been anyone else since he left.”
“No one?”
“I wasn’t ready,” Red said simply.
Kit leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “Okay. But I’m not going to give up trying.”
“Very trying,” Red agreed.
Kit scowled at him, then gave a wry chuckle. “One day you’ll stop thinking of me as Tony’s kid brother.”
“Maybe.”
Kit’s life was in danger, yet he was still pushing for a date? Although dating probably wasn’t what the boy had in mind.
“Have you ever had a Daddy?” Red asked.
Kit hesitated. Red waited, wondering what he was going to say.
“Once, kinda. I tried with an older guy. He gave me bad vibes, so I broke it off before we went too far.”
“Who was it?” Red asked curiously. It had been a long time since he was in the community, but a Daddy giving off bad vibes had to be known. He could pass the name onto Mo.
Kit furrowed his brow. “Eric something. As I say, it barely went beyond a couple of sessions. I was kinda put off trying again to be honest. I didn’t look for anyone else. I like the idea of a Daddy, but I’m not sure I’m a boy.”
Red didn’t know any Daddy called Eric, but that wasn’t surprising. He’d been out of the community for so long. However he’d pass the intel onto Mo or Craig as Quinn was out of town.
“Well done for listening to your instincts.”
Kit gave him a shy smile at the praise. “Maybe I do have some instinct for self-preservation.”
“Maybe you do.”
Then there was a loud belly rumble.
Kit looked down at his stomach. “Hey, you’re not meant to wake up until later.”
“Sit down,” Red ordered. “I’ll cook breakfast.”
“I don’t need anything,” Kit said. “I eat after clubbing, then I don’t normally eat until the afternoon.” His belly rumbled again. Kit glared at it. “Traitor.”
Red took charge and pushed Kit into a seat. Then he peered in the refrigerator. “Eggs? Bacon? Toast?”
“If I say no, will you listen?”
“No.”
Kit huffed. “Do you do this for all your clients?”
“Some,” Red said as he pulled out a carton of eggs and a pack of bacon. “I can cook. Not everyone can.”
“I don’t eat much.”
“You’ll be eating while I look after you,” Red said firmly.
“Why? It’s not like we’ll be busy here.”
Red counted to ten, and then another ten. The boy had a right to ask questions. “If something happens and we can’t use the panic room, then we have to get out of here, you won’t know when you’ll get your next meal.”
“Does that happen?”
Red turned at the fear in Kit’s voice. The kid fixed him with a wide-eyed stare.
“You’re not here for fun, Kit. Bad men, evil men, are after you to make Tony pay for double-crossing them.
Until that threat is neutralized, you must be sensible.
And that includes eating when I tell you to keep up your strength. ”
“What if it’s not neutralized? What if CDR can’t find the bad and evil men?” Kit’s voice shook.
“Then CDR will find you somewhere to live, far away from here. You’ll be safe, I promise.”
“With you?”
Red hesitated. “That’s not how it works, Kit. My job is here.”
It had worked like that in the Biker Daddy Bodyguards. Griff Carlton had moved to London with his client, but he was stupidly in love with Jem Peacock, the nightclub owner. Everyone knew that. But normally once clients were moved, that was the end of his involvement.
“Then I’m all alone. You just dump me somewhere and walk away?”
What did Red say to that?
“We’ll make sure you’re safe.”
And didn’t that sound lame?
Kit stared at him, his expression betrayed. “And now,” he said quietly, eyes lifting to Red’s, “I lose you too?”
Instead, Red answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”