Chapter 15 #2
Red blinked and tried to clear the fog in his brain. He felt like hammered shit. “Are you here?”
“No, I’m at CDR. Mo asked me to call as Joseph sprung a surprise visit.”
“I thought he was staying away.”
“So did we all,” Jace said wryly. “His boy had other ideas. His protection detail is threatening to go on strike. Don’t worry, Doug and I are on delivery and extraction duty early tomorrow morning.”
Red was confused, until he remembered the new arrival for the other cabin.
“Is it safe?”
“The chatter is focused on the other brother,” Jace said, his voice neutral.
Red felt as if he were missing something. It was that odd note in Jace’s voice. But he was too tired to process it. Tomorrow, when his brain started working again, he would pin them down for information. “Gotcha. What time is it?”
“Nearly ten.”
Red stared up at the ceiling. Ten o’clock? “We’ve slept for hours.”
“It’ll do you good.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Red muttered.
Jace snorted. “Never in a million years,” he said, “my wife is in charge,” then disconnected the call.
Red grinned. Not everyone was cut out to be a Daddy.
“Who are you calling Daddy?” Kit raised his head and scowled down at him, pouting like a stroppy child.
“Jace. He declined the role.”
“Is he a boy?”
“Happily married hetero whose wife makes amazing chicken noodle soup. We’ve got some in the freezer.”
Kit’s scowl eased a fraction. “Someone’s gotta like ‘em, I suppose.”
Red was confused. “Soup?”
“Women.”
“Never experimented?” Red burst out laughing at Kit’s disgusted expression. “That’s a no, then.”
“I knew I liked guys from an early age.”
Red caught the pointed look Kit sent him. “Me?”
Kit did an awkward shrug. “Among others. The fact my dick got hard every time you walked into the clubhouse was kind of a clue. If you hadn’t had a boyfriend, I might have jumped you.”
“I’m mighty glad you didn’t or I’d be buried six feet under at the back of the club house.”
“Tony isn’t that protective,” Kit scoffed.
Red raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t we had this discussion?
If I’d laid one finger on you, all the seconds would have used me for target practice.
And my boy would have eviscerated what was left of me.
He was kinda possessive of me then.” Red tried hard to hold back the wistfulness.
It wasn’t that he still had feelings for Davie, but their early days together had been wonderful.
Kit smoothed out Red’s brow with his fingertip. “I’m sorry he hurt you.” His tone was gentle, almost tender.
Red smiled at him. “We weren’t meant to be.” He gently tugged Kit’s bottom lip from his teeth. “You’ll make it sore,” he scolded.
“Do you think we’re supposed to be together?”
Red hesitated. “I don’t think your brother will be happy.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Kit stared at him and Red felt as if he were a bug under a microscope. What did he say? What he wanted and what he could have were two different things.
He’d taken too long to answer, he could see that by the way Kit’s expression closed down, and he went to scramble away from Red.
Red caught him by the hand. “Hey, Kit, listen to me.”
“What’s the point. You don’t want to be with me.”
He reeled Kit into his embrace. “You know I do. I’m struggling to keep my hands off you, to make you my boy.”
Red watched so many emotions cross Kit’s face, his lips twisting as he struggled to get out what he wanted to say.
“Then why won’t you touch me?” Kit finally demanded, his fingers twisting in Red’s hoodie.
“Because your brother ordered me to keep my hands off you.”
Kit stared pointedly at the way Red held him.
“Uh-huh. And that’s why you cleaned up my cum after I jerked off, and you’ve cuddled me all afternoon.
Following my brother’s rules. The brother who put a target on my back because he wants to be a big-time criminal, instead of the low-level one he is now.
The brother who put all Evergreen Wolves club members in danger.
” Kit’s voice rose and he looked ready to explode.
“Is that the brother you mean? You want to follow his rules and not mine?”
Put it like that…
Red heaved in a breath. “Yeah, I know, I know.” He traced a gentle finger over Kit’s eyebrows. “You’re not the only one with feelings, boy. Trying to do the right thing ain’t easy.”
“What’s the point of the Biker Daddy Bodyguards?”
“To take care of men who are in danger.”
“Who are also?” Kit raised an eyebrow.
Red growled because seriously? Did he have to go down this path? “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Not a chance,” Kit agreed.
“Men who are boys without a Daddy. Men who need something ordinary security can’t give them.”
“Daddy Bodyguards like you to protect them,” Kit said, his voice soft.
“But—”
“I don’t know why Tony employed you if he didn’t want that. It’s counterintuitive.”
“Because I’m a member of the club, a professional bodyguard, and he thought he could trust me.”
“Eh.” Kit waggled his hand. “Not so much a member of the club now.”
That stung a little, but it was true. He’d barely been at the club since Davie left. And he noticed Kit ignored the rest of his comment.
But Kit continued. “Tony thinks he can order you around like he used to, but that’s not what I need. I’m a boy, I’m foundering, my life has been ripped from me because of Tony. I need an anchor. I need you, Red.”
Red placed his hands either side of Kit’s head and drew their foreheads together. “I need you too, boy, but my priority is to keep you alive and breathing. Remember that.”
“I knew that from the time you threw me on the ground in the club and covered me and Ti with your body. You’re a born protector, Red. You always have been.”
He was right. Red only wanted to keep people safe. But Kit meant more than that. Red wanted to nurture him, to give him the love and protection he clearly needed.
Red sighed. “We need to go to sleep.” He’d love the idea of going flat for several hours and putting his brain on hold.
Kit raised his head, looking hopeful. “I’ve got the munchies, Daddy.”
Red closed his eyes. He should put a stop to that, he really should, but it sounded so good coming from his boy.
“Get off me,” Red grumbled, “and we can find something for you to eat.”
Scrambling off him, Kit stood and stretched, his hoodie raising up to expose a toned, inked, flat belly. Red couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward and kissed the smooth skin. It deserved some love. And that sensual moan from above him, Red’s dick responded to that.
“We’ll talk to Tony,” Kit said. “He always says I should take what I want. Well, that’s you.”
Red thought Kit was remarkably innocent when it came to his big brother despite his previous speech, but he didn’t want to put a wedge between them. “I’m honored that you want me, Kit.”
“I want more than that from you,” Kit said.
Okay, that wasn’t what he expected. “What do you want from me?” he asked warily.
“I want you to take me body and soul and heart.” Kit put a hand over his heart.
Red wanted that so much, but he wasn’t ready to give his heart yet. He couldn’t it take being broken again. There were still cracks from before. “Let’s take it one step at a time, my boy.”
“If you say so…Daddy.”
He held out his hand and tugged Red to his feet. Red groaned as he stretched his tired muscles. He rolled his shoulders. “I’m getting too old for this.”
Kit waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe I need to find myself a younger Daddy.”
Red hauled Kit into his arms. “I’m your Daddy…end of.”
“Yes, Daddy,” Kit said demurely.
Oh, his wicked, wicked boy.
Red stared at the table. “You said you had the munchies.”
“I do.”
“I thought you wanted chips, maybe some chopped up veggies and dip. Not a full meal.”
Kit furrowed his brow. “There’s chips and veggies.”
“And eggs and steak and bacon.”
It was nearly midnight and a small snack before bedtime had turned into a full-on meal. Not that he was going to complain. His stomach started to rumble, the more food Kit shoved in his hands.
“You’ll get indigestion,” Red pointed out. “Some of us eat early as we go to bed at ten pm.”
Kit rolled his eyes. “I go clubbing. I’m always eating at three in the morning.”
When he was working, Red’s bedtime was whenever the client retired for the night, but the rest of the time he liked an early night. “I ain’t going clubbing,” he growled, “but if you want to eat like this at midnight, I’ll cope.”
But he’d ask Mo for antacids tomorrow. Kit didn’t need to know that.
Kit beamed at him and shimmied his butt. His boy had a very nice butt and Red openly ogled it.
He said he wasn’t hungry, but they cleared the table between them and Red sat back, belching happily, Kit joining in.
“Dancing next?” Kit asked.
Red snorted. “We’re clearing up and going to bed. Dancing can wait until morning.”
“Killjoy.” Kit pouted. “It’s not good to go to bed on a full stomach. We should dance it off.”
“Bed,” Red insisted.
And that’s how he found himself shaking his booty around the kitchen for the second time in twenty-four hours.