One Step Too Close - Coffin Nails MC Louisiana (Gay Biker Stepbrother Romance) (Sex & Mayhem Book 6) (29 page)

Ryder was considering
seeing her. Maybe getting back together with her. This was exactly what was
happening, and he wouldn’t say it. He didn’t know how to break it to Jed, and
it was now a question of time. Jed was sure of it.

His foot started tapping
the floor again on its own.

Ryder

Ryder looked up from his
place in the corner of the sofa when he heard the engines outside the
clubhouse. Each sound was a rift in his fucking heart. He couldn’t believe
those idiots would just go off to a strip club on a night such as this. Was
this what they considered discipline? The club president and sergant at arms
setting an example for everyone? If anything, they’d awarded themselves for a
complete fuckup of an evening.

Ryder exhaled, rubbing
his forehead. He looked at his phone again, not at all surprised to see no
reply from Jess. There was always a chance she was on a night shift, but he
knew she always found a moment to text him once in a while when they were still
together. Could it really be that the kid was his? Jo clearly seemed to think
so, but in Ryder’s mind it didn’t make any sense. Why leave the father of your
child because of three months in jail? It didn’t sound like Jess at all. And
now she chose to just ignore him. Even if it was four in the morning, the
constant beeping was bound to wake her up, and he knew for a fact that she
never switched off the sound. She just didn’t want to answer him. As much as he
hated the thought, it was the obvious answer. He would not be letting this go.

For now though, he
needed to shake up his brothers, and once he stood up, Jed did as well, just in
time before the door burst open after some fumbling about on the other side. Wolver
grinned as he walked in, and as he stretched, his swaying gait betrayed that he
was too drunk to drive. The guys poured inside in excellent moods, laughing and
joking, with Dark doing an impression of a voluptuous woman as he entered, much
to the delight of all the others.

Brain howled when he
spotted Jed and Ryder, and with even Tower’s face red as a lobster, Ryder fell
back to the couch, knowing his anger would only be an object of ridicule at
this point. The guys were simply too fucked-up to listen. It would most likely
only take moments for the conversation to escalate to discussions of Jet Skis and
mechanical armor.

Axe swayed Ryder’s way
with a silly grin. “Man, you missed out! There was this new chick at the Cat,
and she did not belong there. She was a
fox
.” He snorted, and started
cackling.

Ryder bit the inside of
his cheek. “Not really in the mood here. I’m trying to call Jess, but she’s not
answering her damn phone,” he said.

Axe sat down next to
Ryder with so much force the sofa creaked. Jed walked over to the other guys,
and Ryder was happy to see him hiding the alcohol. It felt good to be able to
trust him again.

Axe leaned closer, and
Ryder scowled when he smelled what seemed like fumes from a distillery. “Why
you wanna call that bitch? She fucked you over.”

Ryder looked at him,
wondering if it even made sense to tell his troubles to someone this drunk. “Jo
thinks her kid’s mine. That there’s no other guy, and she just left me. Can you
imagine? Who does that?”

Axe hissed. “Ouch.
Buuurn, man. That’s fucked-up.”

“You don’t say,” growled
Ryder, suddenly very interested in just punching Axe in his drunk face.

“I know what will cheer
you up.” Axe snorted and pulled out his phone after taking a sneaky look toward
the other guys. “Jed got burned too.” He swiped something on his phone, and
presented it to Ryder, cackling like a madman.

“Why do I need to see
this?” sighed Ryder, watching a fluffy head from the perspective of an erect
dick. But then he saw the face of the person on film. It was a guy. Ryder’s
head exploded with heat, and he sat there, frozen in one position as he watched
Jed’s hand fumble with the man. He hadn’t yet seen Jed’s face in it, but he
already knew what this was. That bitch Dana. That fucking bitch. She knew they’d
tried to fuck with her plans and took revenge.

“Wait, this is the best
part,” Axe laughed, but Ryder knew what was coming. The big reveal of who the
dick belonged to.

Ryder hardly suppressed
the shudder that was breaking out all over his body in a chain reaction. He
gritted his teeth and looked at Axe, all stiff. It made sense for Dana to send
the video to him of all people. They seemed quite friendly, and she knew that
if Axe knew something, it was almost guaranteed that everyone else would soon
be in on the secret. Ryder needed to talk to the drunk idiot in private. Now.

“What? You didn’t know
your brother’s messed up?” Axe raised his eyebrows. “Dana always seemed like
she had a pussy made out of popsicles. No wonder he was looking for his kick
elsewhere. But… wow. I just didn’t think he’d swing that way.”

“I think we should watch
it somewhere where I can hear it better,” lied Ryder, knowing he needed to lure
Axe out of here and fast. His gaze searched for Jed, and the moment their eyes
met, Ryder gestured for Jed to come over.

“Yeah, sure. I wanna do
that too. It’s crackin’ me up.” Axe got up on wobbly legs, as Jed came toward
them. “Yo, Jed, you missed the strippers. Or… were you waiting for me to come
back?”

Jed gave them a confused
look. “You?”

“‘Cause I’m a prime
specimen of
man
.” Axe crossed his beefy arms on his chest and grinned.
“And you like it when there’s a cock involved, right?”

Jed stilled, looking
between Ryder and Axe, and Ryder wished he could protect him from the blow that
was coming. He’d do what he had to.

“Let’s take this
somewhere else,” he said, pushing Axe’s giant body toward the exit that led
into the cellar, to the holding room.

“What? Is he gonna watch
with us?” Axe laughed but moved along backward, watching Jed with a carefree
grin.

“Don’t know what you’re
on about,” Jed hissed and pushed Axe’s chest.

“You wanna take it
there?” Axe spread his arms. “Bring it. Or do you just wanna feel me up?”

Ryder put his hand on
Jed’s shoulder and squeezed it in warning. He was tense as a string, but he knew
he couldn’t let this escalate. Not with everyone here. “Axe, nobody’s
interested,” he growled, opening the door and urging the man mountain down the
first step to the cellar.

Axe didn’t yet realize
how serious this was, and that worked to their advantage. “Ah, I get it. You
wanna make things more intimate.” He wouldn’t stop laughing as they descended.

Ryder was getting colder
with each step toward what felt like the pit of hell. He could not let Jed be
pulled into the whirlpool of self-loathing again. He couldn’t allow anyone else
to see this damn movie. He needed to get rid of it somehow and sew Axe’s big
mouth shut.

“It was a one-time
thing…” Jed said weakly in the semidarkness dispersed by a single light bulb,
and Ryder could smell his anxiety rising.

“Yeah, that’s what they
all say.
I only did golden showers once, officer
,” Axe said in a tiny
voice.

“Shut the fuck up, Axe,”
hissed Ryder, going lower just to force Axe farther down the stairs.

Axe spread his arms. “Or
what? Don’t you want to tell Jed what you think of this? I thought you were
gonna love this shit. Get to be all self-righteous to cheer yourself up.”

“What do I think of
this?” hissed Ryder with a sneer, happy that he was standing between Axe and
Jed, as if being a physical barrier between them could somehow protect his
lover.

Axe frowned and leaned
to the side to have a look at Jed. “That it’s messed up your brother got a male
hooker when he can have any hangaround with that pretty face.”

Ryder swallowed hard,
his throat burning with rage and fear as he stepped lower and lower, trying to
stream enough confidence to lead Axe all the way to the bottom of the stairs.
He couldn’t let Jed be hurt again. “So you think he’s pretty?”

Axe’s lips parted.
“What? Don’t turn this around on me!”

“I’m not doing
anything,” said Ryder pushing Axe through the open door at the bottom. “It’s
you who called him a pretty face. Do you want to tell me something?”

“You know what I mean! I
didn’t say he has dick-sucking lips. Just that girls like the sort of vibe he’s
got going on.”

Ryder switched on the
light, illuminating the box-like room of concrete with just a dirty mattress
for furniture. He was ready to do whatever was necessary, and Axe didn’t seem
to realize what position he was in just yet. “Is that what they tell you when
you fuck them?”

It was when Jed closed
the door behind them that Axe pushed on Ryder’s chest, looking around as
reality settled in his beer-soaked brain. “What’s your problem? Shouldn’t you
be talking to
him
? You always tell everyone what to do, but now you’re
gonna let him off the hook?”

Ryder’s heart was
thumping as if it were ready to launch itself straight out of his chest and
bash Axe’s head. “That’s my brother you’re talking about! You all just fucking
messed up a deal I worked so hard on, and you’re bothering him because of a
stupid video sent by his whore of a girlfriend?”

“And this is just some
bullshit I did when I was drunk way back, so fuck you,” Jed said, stepping
closer, but he didn’t sound as confident as he should.

“I’m bothering him,
because I don’t want no fag stuff happening in this club, and I thought you
didn’t either. Your brother needs some ass-whoopin’ for filming this shit!” Axe
eyed them both with a scowl.

Ryder balled his hands
into fists, struggling for breath. Those words stung him probably just as much
as Jed. Of course there would be no understanding from Axe. No one in the club
would be okay with what he and Jed had. “And I don’t want all of you acting
like fuckups! You didn’t even move a finger when the garage was on fire, you lazy-ass
bum! All you care about is cunt and your fucking tank!”

“I did! I was there with
Grease, when you had the fire extinguisher coming all over your face.” Axe
laughed.

“I didn’t see no
extinguisher in your fucking hands, so stop hiding behind a guy who was a
prospect a week ago.”

“And I’d rather take it
back to Jed,” Axe said, pinning Jed with his gaze. “Did the guy suck you in the
end? Was it any good?”

“No,” said Ryder before
Jed could open his lips.

“How do you know? Did he
blow you too?” Axe glared at them both.

Ryder gave a fake,
unamused laugh. “Unfunny as always. I know this, because he told me that he got
drunk and wanted his cock sucked. Big deal.”

That did the job and
threw Axe off his game. He opened his lips, but within the time of his
hesitation, they heard screams from upstairs that alarmed Ryder enough to open
the door. But it wasn’t coming from the top of the staircase. The echo came
from the ventilation shaft. Was it Jo’s voice he was hearing?

“Fuck,” he muttered and
looked back at Axe, who still hadn’t been properly put down about the film, but
yet another searing scream accompanied by low rambling pulled him into action,
and he sped up the stairs. “What’s going on?” he yelled, bursting into the
lounge, which was thumping with loud music that made it impossible to locate
the source of the screaming at first.

Some of the guys
standing close to the door looked back at him, others seemed too busy arguing,
but it was Jo frantically grabbing at the wall as someone pulled her into a
corridor behind the kitchenette that really struck Ryder. She managed to break
away and fell down to her knees, only to be groped by Dark, who pulled her up,
burying his face in her hair. It was as if no one else cared to notice she had
no top on and tried to hide her small breasts with her arm. Only when Ryder
shouted loud enough to break through the loud music, Mikey looked that way and
yelled at Dark, shaking his head.

“What the fuck are you
doing?” hissed Ryder, rushing past the counter, straight at Dark. His hands
were itching to break bones, his teeth ready to gnaw, and the sight of tears in
Jo’s eyes fueled the explosion of rage that was already waiting to happen
downstairs.

He punched Dark in the
stomach so hard the fucker folded in two and backed away, letting go of Jo, but
that was not the end of it from Dark. The guy pushed at Ryder’s chest with his
head, and a scream of anger tore out of his mouth.

Ryder grabbed him around
the neck and brought his knee up, sending it straight into the red, drunken
face. Sober, Dark would have been a serious opponent, but now he lacked the
attention and speed to rival Ryder’s.

Ryder sent him into the
wall, and as soon as the bastard looked up, Ryder crashed his fist into his
face, making sure to hit the teeth. The fuel of rage seemed to be bottomless in
his chest. “You fucking bitch!”

“What the fuck’s going
on?” Wolver yelled as the music suddenly died down. Ryder heard footsteps
approaching, the heat of alcohol-soaked bodies came closer. Jed appeared out of
nowhere and pulled off his T-shirt.

Mikey didn’t even wiggle
his finger to break up the fight, his eyes rushing between Ryder and Jo. Jed
quickly tucked her into his own T-shirt, and put his arm over her shoulders.

“Shit! There’s limits,
Dark!”

Dark groaned and tried
to punch Ryder back, but Ryder grabbed his arm, and twisted it, pushing Dark on
the counter of the kitchenette “I was just showing her how to be a stripper!”
he yelled, but despite all the alcohol that was coursing through their veins,
the guys eyed him with more sobriety than Ryder had seen in ages. It was as if
the attack on Jo finally knocked the truth in through their thick skulls.