Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Telling
Despite Rico’s third-place win, they weren’t throwing another party at The Ranch.
Instead, they had a few people over for dinner, which included Dillon.
They were seeing each other but hadn’t made it official.
Hadn’t told Davey, though he knew something was up.
They sure as hell wouldn’t be able to hide it at dinner with so few people gathered around.
Officially telling Davey had Rico a bit nervous. He paced across his room. The dinner was informal. It was family. It was heart-stopping.
A knock on the door thankfully interrupted his thoughts that were spiraling out of control. “Yeah, come in.”
Tyler opened the door and leaned against the jamb. “Where you been?” His muscles were starting to get huge and round. Some of the others had been teasing him about it, but Rico thought he looked damn good. He bet Tyler could toss Davey around in bed like a beast.
Rico blushed at the thought. “Here.” He swallowed back all the other comments that threatened to escape his smart-ass mouth. He didn’t need to bring on more trouble.
“Angel and Stewart are here, and Jess is stopping to pick up Dillon. They’ll be here soon.”
“And?”
Tyler raised his eyebrows. “Thought you’d want to know.”
Rico pursed his lips together and nodded.
“It’s okay, you know.”
“What is?”
“Dillon and you. Davey’s not going to, like, kill you or anything.” Tyler let out a low chuckle. “Not yet, anyway.”
“Man!”
“Seriously, stop fretting. Come on out and say hello. We’re family now.”
Family. That word meant so many different things to him.
He’d been doing the racing thing on his own for a long time.
Being under Apex’s wing had changed everything.
It meant having a bike and parts, and the ability to be at every race, but it meant having people as well.
He was grateful for those people more than anything.
He’d made a pact with himself to treat them better.
No more tantrums. And in return, he hoped Dillon would be a part of the package.
He rubbed his hands over his hair and followed Tyler to the living room. “Let’s do this!”
Angel and Stewart were in the kitchen, helping Davey set things up.
As usual, they were grilling on the back porch, but they’d be eating at the table since it was still a bit cold out.
Davey’s driver, Tony, and his girlfriend were also there.
He’d been with Davey since before his father died.
That made him family, and he was over often.
Tim and Orlando came in through the back door. They had both been crashing in the dorm-style housing Davey had built in the back of the property. Tim patted Rico on the back. “Nice job, kid. Next week, let’s skip LCQ.”
“You got it, man.” Rico had made the best of the situation, but he could have easily have missed out on that round of racing. Lesson learned.
“I’m helping with dinner,” Orlando said, heading toward the kitchen. He was also going to be watching every single thing Rico put in his mouth. Well, almost.
The second Rico’s thoughts turned to anticipating a dirty night with Dillon, the man showed up.
Their cousin Jessie pushed his chair inside.
When Dillon’s gaze met Rico’s, he grabbed the wheels and jerked away from Jessie with a lurch.
Jessie called out, “Hey!” Then saw where Dillon was headed. “Oh!”
“Rico!” Dillon called, almost ramming into Rico’s shins.
“Hey.” Rico couldn’t resist bending down to kiss Dillon’s sweet lips.
A rough, fake-cough sounded behind him, and he turned to a stern-faced Davey. His arms were crossed over his chest, lips pursed together, and one eyebrow raised in question.
“Hey, Davey,” Dillon said. “I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Rico Dominichi.”
“Boyfriend?” Davey asked, glaring daggers at Rico.
Rico gave a little half shrug. “We really like each other.”
Davey exhaled loudly. “Thank God. Now I can stop worrying about you hitting on Tyler.”
The entire room burst out laughing. “Hey!” sounded from the kitchen. “I’m worth hitting on.” Tyler laughed.
“Of course you are, but I don’t want all my racers doing it.” Davey stalked off to pacify Tyler in the kitchen.
“I guess that means we’re good to go.” Rico turned back to Dillon, who was smiling brightly.
“If you’re good, I’m good.”
“For now.” Rico squatted down in front of Dillon and ran his hand up Dillon’s thigh. “We have one more thing to work out later. Something about winning the LCQ?”
Dillon laughed. “Mm...hmm...wouldn’t miss that.”