One Step Too Close - Coffin Nails MC Louisiana (Gay Biker Stepbrother Romance) (Sex & Mayhem Book 6) (39 page)

Axe was the first to
make his way to the balcony this time, and the gap between this one and Dana’s
was small enough for them to pass, but they listened to the sounds from the
room next door first. Dark and Axe exchanged silly grins when they all heard
the sounds of a shower being started. Jed just rolled his eyes.

Dark climbed across the
gap first, seemingly eager to see Dana’s evil tits. Jed couldn’t possibly be
less up for it, but he still wanted to get justice done and followed Dark and
Axe’s lead. She would hopefully be less of a threat naked. Ryder crossed the
void between the balconies last, and he peeked through the window, into the
beautiful bedroom with Indian-style decorations. Only two big lamps over the
bed were lit. Looking like ancient lanterns, they gave equally low light. As
they all entered, their attention focused on the sounds of water from the
bathroom.

Jed raised his gun,
ready to use it if necessary. Dana was a bitch from hell, and Axe and Dark
should not be as easy-going as they seemed to be while approaching the
bathroom. Even the potential proximity to Dana made Jed’s breath hitch. He
hated her so much his guts ached.

There was a grin on
Dark’s face when he looked their way, gesturing for them to stand back as he
drew his gun, but before he could open the door to the bathroom, the closet
behind him burst open, and Dana stepped out, holding her firearm against the
nape of Dark’s head.

Time froze.

Dark gasped, and for the
briefest moment, the weapon in his hand trembled.

“To the ground. All of
you if you don’t want your little friend here dead,” she said in a voice devoid
of any emotion other than menace.

Jed looked at Ryder in
panic and took the safety off his gun. “Drop your weapon, bitch,” he hissed.

“No,” she said as if the
sight of a barrel aimed at her head couldn’t faze her. There was a ghost of as
smile dancing across her lips, and Jed’s mouth went dry when he understood what
she was trying to communicate to him without words. She didn’t think he had the
balls to shoot her.

Ryder exhaled next to
Jed. “Dana, we just wanted to talk...”

She laughed, and before
any of them could do a thing, she kicked Dark in the back of the knees and
forced him to the ground like a special-ops soldier would a captured target.
Grabbing Dark’s hair, she held his head just the right way for a clean shot
through his brain. He was pale, and he slowly, very slowly put the safety back
on his gun and dropped it.

“Yeah, just work out the
misunderstanding. Get your help with the deal that fell through,” Axe said,
raising his hands, and as much as Jed wanted to just blow her brains out, he
couldn’t risk Dark’s life. Even if the fucker was an annoying cunt at times, he
was still a brother, a Nail. Jed put the safety on his gun, but the moment he
was disarmed, there was a loud knocking on the door, and Jed’s stomach sank.

Dana smiled and reached
back with one hand. “Sure you did,” she said opening the door. A man rushed in
with an assault rifle, followed by two others, who immediately approached with
absolute focus on their faces.

At this point, none of
them wanted to risk injury, and so they followed orders and lay down, letting
Toro’s men cuff them. Jed’s heart was trembling with fury, even more so when he
noticed the look on Ryder’s face. It was shame. And it twisted even further
when one of the guards spoke.

“Good girl. I’m happy we
caught the rest of the vermin.”

Ryder

Ryder’s nostrils flared
as he paced by the door like an agitated lion, his bright eyes scanning the
tangle of pipes high over their heads, but none of them were big enough for a
person to climb through. This wasn’t the movies, and Toro’s men knew very well
how to keep prisoners where they were meant to be. There would be no secret
getaways, no labyrinths of ventilation shafts, no guards who turned out to be
complete fuckups. They were fucked.

Ryder hissed and kicked
the wall. A piece of plaster crumbled to the concrete floor, revealing brick
underneath.

Axe frowned and shook
his head. “We won’t fit through here.”

Ryder clenched his teeth
and barked at him, “Now that’s a surprise. We’re underground. They don’t have
thin walls here.”

Dark shoved Grease with
his elbow. “Maybe if some dumbass wasn’t carrying chicken in his pocket, we
wouldn’t even be here in the first place.”

Grease looked around
with guilt painted all over his face. “How was I supposed to know how long all
of this would take? I thought taking a snack was a good idea.”

Jed shook his head with
a groan. “Just shut up, Dark. We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t let a woman
take you down.”

Dark’s jaw set, and Jed
knew something bad was coming his way before Dark even opened his mouth. The
others saw it too, and just before the verbal punch, everyone seemed to go
tense. “No. We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t let a woman hold you by the
balls!” hissed Dark, stepping into Jed’s face. “Did she even let you put it in,
or was it all cuddles and handjobs?” asked Dark, demonstrating it by shaking
his fist vigorously.

Axe gave an awkward
laugh that had Jed’s skin crawling. “At least he wasn’t like that guy who
paints his nails to pretend he has a girlfriend for selfies. That would be so
gay.”

Jed sneered at them
both, as angry red ants traveled under his skin. “Do you see any nail polish?”
he hissed and put his hand up.

“Maybe?” asked Grease
with a stupid smile on his face.

“Don’t you have any food
to stuff into your face?” hissed Ryder.

Dark crossed his arms on
his chest, staring right into Jed’s eyes. “Didn’t answer my question. Did you
even fuck her…” he raised his eyebrows, “or did she fuck you? You know, with a
big black strap-on.”

Jed shoved Dark at the
wall. “No, she didn’t fuck me, you bastard. And as a matter of fact, no, I
didn’t fuck her either, because when I think about her slimy, evil cunt, I
wanna gag!”

Grease raised his hands,
looking as if he just swallowed a giant jellyfish. “Whoa! No pussy’s
that
evil.”

Jed scowled when Dark
pushed him back without much force. “Hers is. And if you wanna know, I didn’t
wanna fuck her in the first place! I’m sick of this shit!” All of his insides
twisted as coming out to them and putting an end to the stupid questions
reached the edge of his tongue.

A hand closed on Jed’s
shoulder, and he instantly knew it was Ryder’s, carrying both his support and
warning.

Axe cleared his throat.
“You won’t see any with just us here, so calm the fuck down!”

“We’re supposed to be
brothers, and all I get is shit from all of you!” Jed shrugged Ryder’s hand
off. He knew Ryder meant well, but he didn’t know what it was like to be
trapped this way. Their relationship could never go public, but Jed’s sexual
orientation? Why wasn’t he to be allowed the same privileges all of his Coffin
Nails brothers had? Why was he supposed to always be on the outside?

“Maybe because you got
us into a mess, kept a traitor at home, and all that because you needed to be a
fag,” hissed Dark.

Jed pushed him again,
stabbed by the slur much more painfully than ever. As if for once, not only did
a brother just sink the blade into Jed’s chest but also moved it around for more
damage. “Maybe I wouldn’t have to hide it if you guys weren’t such
motherfuckers about it? What do you all care where I stick my dick?”

Dark cocked his head to
the side with a frown, but as the silence continued, it was up to Grease to
voice the question in the air.

“Wait… what?”

It was as if the air
around Jed suddenly filled with jolts of electricity. Ryder stepped forward,
his shoulders so tight it hurt Jed to look at them. “Leave him be.”

Dark squinted at Jed.
“Are you saying you
are
a faggot?”

Jed’s blood boiled, and
he didn’t care anymore. Once the crack in his walls had been made, there was no
way to hold back the need to finally speak the truth about what hid in his
heart “I’m gay, yeah. And if you fuckers don’t like it, you can all fuck off!
I’ll go Nomad if I need to. I’m a Coffin Nail, and I will live however the fuck
I want!” His heart was thudding so hard he was afraid he was about to have a
heart attack. He didn’t want to desert Ryder, he didn’t want to leave his
family, he didn’t want to disappoint Dad, but who would he be if he kept lying
to everyone all his life? When he was old and wrinkled, would he be able to
look at his own reflection and not see a fraud in the mirror? He could feel
Ryder’s heat next to him but didn’t dare look his way.

Dark snarled. “Do that.
I don’t wanna deal with this shit because you don’t know where to stick your
dick.”

“Shut the fuck up!”
growled Ryder, stepping forward, only to push Dark so hard the guy stumbled and
hit the wall, staring at him, wide-eyed.

It was only after
several seconds that Dark scowled, and some of his long hair fell over his
face. "You knew about this? And you covered for him at church!”

Ryder gritted his teeth
so hard they creaked. “He’s my brother. Of course I know, and it doesn’t
matter, so fuck off!”

Axe’s face was flushed,
and he licked his lips, looking between Ryder and Jed. “I mean… as long as he
doesn’t fuck a brother—”

Ryder charged straight
at him and hit Axe in the gut so hard, the giant bent down low enough for Ryder
to pack a fist into his face, too.

Grease just stared, as
if it were his own life that was spinning out of control.

As Jed took a step
closer to Ryder and Axe, Dark eyed him from head to toe. “You don’t look like a
faggot. Is this some fucked-up prank?”

“We could all be dead in
a matter of hours, and you’re asking me if my coming out is a prank?” Jed
gasped for air and helplessly shoved at Dark’s chest again.

Ryder let go of Axe and
pushed him to the floor. His eyes were dark and wide as he looked Jed up and
down in what seemed like disbelief. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“I’m gonna be fucking
sick,” hissed Dark, scowling as he backed away to help Axe up. “All that pussy.
Wasted on you.”

One look into Ryder’s
eyes, and a part of Jed instantly regretted the spontaneous revelation, but
despite the slurs, he was relieved. It felt like setting out on the open road
for the first time in his life. No speed limits, no red lights.

But as Ryder’s gaze
started burning the edges of his earlobes, he turned toward Dark. “Well, now you
can have it. If any of the girls who went for me would ever even sit next to
you.”

Dark snorted and stepped
away from Jed, as if there was nothing to talk about now. “I know a place for
guys like you, and it’s not at my side.”

Axe shook his head and
sat down on the floor while holding his side. “Shoulda kept your mouth shut,
and your dick in your pants. We didn’t need to know this.”

Jed dared look up at
Ryder. “I’m sorry…” No matter how much he loved Ryder, he couldn’t just live to
please him. As a lover, as a partner, Ryder needed to understand that Jed
wasn’t just an extension of Ryder’s needs, but his own person, with views
sometimes different than Ryder’s.

The muscles at Ryder’s
jaw danced, and he shook his head, slowly walking up to the wall and sliding
down with a painfully neutral face as he watched the other guys.

Grease took a deep
breath and for once chose not to say anything dumb.

Jed leaned against the
wall in the corner, all too aware of everyone’s eyes following him. It would be
fine. The novelty would wear off, and they would be fighting and joking around
again. If they survived this.

Ryder

The air seemed so thick
Ryder could barely breathe as he watched his brothers taken out of the cell one
by one. His mind was a stack of burning coals, unable to produce anything but
heat, whether he looked at a very quiet Grease or an even quieter Jed. What
were they to do now? Even if they survived Toro, Jed’s coming out wouldn’t
magically turn into a non-issue. Ryder’s skin crawled at the thought of Wolver
finding out. Out of all of them, Dad was the most homophobic man,
uncompromising when it came to it too. In fact, he once boasted about giving
some random gay guy “a lesson”. There was no way he’d be fine with Jed turning
out to be what he hated so much. Did Jed just not care anymore?

One of Toro’s henchmen
cuffed Grease and took him out without a word, leaving Jed and Ryder with
uncomfortable silence. Even water dripping somewhere in a ventilation shaft was
louder than the two of them.

Ryder swallowed hard and
got up, wishing he could claw his fingers into the wall to at least ground some
of the tension in something solid. “Why? You promised not to tell them.”

Jed pulled up his knees
and hid his face between them. “I’m sorry, Ryder… I’m just so sick of them
throwing slurs around like it doesn’t matter…”

“It starts mattering
when they’re throwing them at us!” hissed Ryder, massaging his aching throat.
He paced around the small room, not sure whether he felt furious or just
betrayed. “Dad’s not gonna be okay with this. You know he won’t.”

“Well, maybe he can’t
always have everything his way. I’m not fifteen anymore. He can’t smack me
around for bullshit.” Jed’s voice was defiant, but he wouldn’t even look up at
Ryder.

“I don’t want you to go,
and you’re gonna have to. You know that’s what’s gonna happen, so don’t play
dumb!” Ryder leaned against the wall and rubbed his face, fighting against the
lungs that refused to give him enough air and the rush in his brain. Did Jed
come out to finally push the Nomad issue? It was getting Ryder beyond pissed
off that he wouldn’t at least discuss it first.

“I can make it work,”
Jed looked up at Ryder. “You can’t control everything I do. It’s not how a
relationship works.”

Like Jed had any
experience with relationships!

Ryder walked up to him
and punched the wall, scowling at the pain spreading up his arm. “This is not
just about you! Why are you always so fucking selfish?”

“I always tried to
please Dad, always tried to be the kind of brother you want, but clearly I
can’t. I don’t know! Maybe I’m just rotten inside. And don’t fucking hit
yourself! Hit me if that’s what you actually want.” Jed got up, never looking
away from Ryder.

Ryder shook his head,
afraid to speak because he could already feel it wouldn’t come out right.

Jed continued, slowly
grabbing Ryder’s hand. “Just because we want slightly different things, doesn’t
mean we can’t be together…”

“The club is our
responsibility. I’ve only started establishing myself,” whispered Ryder,
breathing hard. He couldn’t help but feel betrayed. This was happening all-too
fast, and he couldn’t breathe anymore. The club was both a safe haven and a
cage at this point.

Jed slipped his arms
around Ryder, and despite the anger simmering beneath Ryder’s skin, the hug was
a relief. There was nothing that made him feel better than being in Jed’s arms.
Ryder didn’t want to part. He wanted to get a hug like this every single day.
“I know. Maybe if I only leave for a while, it’ll all blow over.”

“No. It would have blown
over if you stayed quiet. Everything would have been fine. We
agreed
on
this, remember? When you wanted to stay quiet about the video, that was what I
did!”

Jed squeezed him tighter
and pushed his face against Ryder’s neck. “I know, I’m sorry…”

“You apologize now, and
then you’ll do something like this again. I never know if I can trust you!”
spat out Ryder, grabbing the front of Jed’s shirt.

“I don’t know how to
make up for it now.” Jed’s breath was getting quicker. “I’m such a shit to you.
I’m not like you, I don’t always think things through. If I could take it back
I would. I’ll just make sure they don’t force me away, okay?”

Ryder pressed his face
against Jed’s shoulder and twisted his hands in his shirt, trying to calm down.
He couldn’t stay angry if they didn’t even know if they’d come out of this
alive. “I just want this to be over.”

“No one will suspect
you. I promise, babe. It’ll be okay.” Jed kissed the side of Ryder’s neck, and
his steady hold was soothing. It was the feeling of ground slipping from under
Ryder’s feet that was the problem.

Ryder exhaled and slowly
moved his nose up Jed’s throat, all the way to his cheek, and when their mouths
met, it was like a cool balm on his heart. “It’s all slipping out of my grasp.
I never know what you’re gonna do.”

Jed met his gaze with a
deep exhale. “I wanna say I’ll change, but sometimes I just make a decision on
the spot. I— I will never become as predictable as you want. I love you, but
you gotta take me the way I am.”

Ryder chewed on his lip,
staring into the brilliant blue eyes and savoring the warmth streaming from
Jed’s arms. Jed’s words were honest, and deep down Ryder knew that some things
would never change about Jed. But what he also knew was that he loved Jed
anyway, with all his flaws, the brash decisions, and mistakes made out of
haste. Ryder had never met anyone more
alive
than Jed.

“I’m gonna die because
of you one day, you know that?”

Jed nuzzled Ryder’s
nose, and Ryder couldn’t help but melt a little on the inside over the gesture.
“You won’t. I’ll keep you safe.”

“I wouldn’t mind that
much. I just... I don’t handle lack of stability well.”

Jed rested his forehead
on Ryder’s shoulder. “I try. I really do. You make sense when you reason me out
of shit, but then when it’s crunch time, all those feelings over why I wanted
to do something come back to bite me. I’ll keep my word from now on, I promise.
Even if right now you think my promises are worth shit, I’ll make you trust
me.”

Ryder smirked and pulled
Jed into a kiss. “I’d die for you anyway.”

Jed’s answer was hungry,
but bitter with guilt. But since it was too late to take back what Jed had
done, all that was left was to indulge in his pretty lips, and help him mop up
the mess he’d made. The heat of Jed’s tongue was so well known to Ryder by now,
yet he’d never be bored with it. Every time they kissed was an echo of that
first time their lips met on the bridge. No matter what it took, Ryder would
not let Jed go.

At least metaphorically,
because the moment they heard something knock against the steel door, Ryder
stepped back and looked straight into the barrel of the gun that appeared in
front of them.

“New bracelets for you
two,” said the guard, and Jed gave him the side-eye despite letting the man
cuff him. No wonder. The man had said a variation of that joke three times
already.

With a rifle pointed at
the back of Jed’s head, Ryder had no choice but to calmly turn back and present
his wrists, which were quickly squeezed by handcuffs. He looked at Jed before
the guards pushed them into the foul-smelling corridor outside, and then up the
stairs. Being out of the cell, with Jed’s taste still on his lips, was quickly
getting his blood to cool as he was led into a marble-floored hall that looked
like the storehouse of an art thief.

They were walked all the
way to a large living room where their brothers kneeled in front of Toro and
his men, or rather, their guns. Ryder wanted to focus on taking charge of the
situation, but seeing Jed in immediate danger, with an assault rifle against
the back of his head, had his senses at such high alert, it was hard for him to
think.

Toro leaned back on the
modern-looking couch, surrounded by animal trophies on the walls like a villain
in a music video. His other trophy sat right beside him, dressed in a long blue
dress, with her hair in a classy updo. Dana looked nothing like her trailer-loving
persona. How the hell did she just effortlessly transition into someone Ryder
would expect to see at an opera house if he ever chose to go to one? All she
was missing were elbow-length gloves to go with her high heels.

The goon kicked Ryder’s
feet from underneath him, and he fell to his knees, flinching at the sound they
made banging into the stone floor and the numb pain spreading over his legs.

He didn’t say anything,
knowing it wasn’t his call now. With Jed safe beside him, Ryder calmly looked
into Toro’s eyes.

“Do you want to explain
your visit to me? Because your friends weren’t making much sense.” And the
bruises starting to form on Dark’s and Axe’s faces told Ryder all about the
‘chats’ that had been going on here before he got brought in.

Ryder swallowed hard,
knowing that bullshitting their way out of this wasn’t an option. Not with so
many barrels pointed straight at them. At Jed. His heart was drumming furiously
as he assessed whether he had anything to offer Toro. If anyone died here, it
would be only his fault, and he’d have to live with it to the end of his life.

Axe cleared his throat.
“You should be grateful that we helped you discover a crack in your defense.”

The man standing behind
him, Ryder recognized him as Manolo, raised his eyes at Toro, who lightly shook
his head, possibly saving Axe’s stupid head from exploding with brain matter.

“We did catch you,” Toro
said calmly, stroking his hand over Dana’s thigh.

Ryder stopped himself
from scowling. “Maybe we should have announced ourselves.”

“Not really. I wouldn’t
have let you in, but now you actually have my attention. It’s quite amusing
that you believed you could just get through to me.”

“Not all your goons are
as loyal as you might think. Let us go, and we’ll tell you who just turned a
blind eye when he saw us inside. You wanna surround yourself with cowards?” Jed
asked. The guard standing behind him nudged his head with the barrel, as if
taking offense for the man who hadn’t even been identified yet.

Ryder’s stomach
clenched, but he kept his voice level. “He’s not lying. That white guy with
blond hair, he just let us pass.”

The sudden silence
weighed heavily on Ryder’s heart, making him unsure whether it wouldn’t be him
who lost his head now, but when Toro leaned forward, amusement gone from his
face, Ryder knew it was something else.

“Alfredo, call up the
surveillance,” hissed Toro, and one of his men quickly stalked toward the door,
speaking into his intercom.

Jed gave Ryder a quick
look. They couldn’t communicate verbally in front of Toro, but there was no
denying the atmosphere thickened.

“You boys really do seem
to think you’re men. That you can just push your way in here?” Toro stood up
and Dana smirked behind him.

“We’ve gotten quite far,
considering how many of us there are, and how many men you have,” said Ryder
calmly, even though his skin was itching with stress. There needed to be a way
to resolve this without being sent home in coffins or with their tails between
their legs.

“We didn’t mean no harm.
We just wanted her back.” Jed pointed at Dana with his chin.

Dana raised her
eyebrows. “What could you possibly still want from me?”

Axe hissed out a laugh
and spat some blood on the marble floor. “Yeah, right, bitch. You think you can
just use us to get what you want? We’re not a step for you to suck on a cock
that’s dangling out of your reach.”

Toro made a small
gesture to one of the guards, and the man hit Axe on the side of the head so
hard he fell down. Ryder shuddered. They were like peasants kneeling in front
of the king, to be executed at his whim.

“She betrayed us,” Jed
hissed, “a man like you should understand that you can’t just let a bitch do
that and walk away.”

“She was ours just
because she wanted to meet you, and then she just disappears. What kind of
loyalty can she possibly offer you?” asked Ryder, eager to take Toro’s
attention off Jed. “Don’t you think we deserve something from her?”

One of Toro’s goons
laughed, but the sound was cut as if by a sharp knife when Toro looked at him.
As he was about to answer, a mumbling sound came from the corridor, and two of
Toro’s men, dragged in the blond man they’d talked about before. The boy got
gagged and cuffed, yet still had a determined look on his face, despite barely
looking old enough to vote. So he was an intruder, one that let them go because
he believed the chaos would make his job easier.

Ryder sighed with
relief, knowing that they weren’t the worst threat to Toro that night. Luck was
in their favor despite being caught in such a pathetic fashion.

Toro sighed, squeezing
Dana’s thigh through the dress, and Ryder was happy to see a shadow of tension
on her face. “What do we have here?” whispered Toro, staring at the intruder,
whom the two goons unceremoniously threw on the floor. Grease winced when the
poor bastard hit the tiles.

“We found explosives on
him,” one of Toro’s bodyguards reported.