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

Max grinned and reached
up to his bed, wiggling his ass when he turned around. “Rubbers and lube. Full
service for you, babe.”

Ryder chuckled and
rubbed his forehead. “So I’m the babe now? Never had a guy call me that,” he
said and clenched his hand over the mohawk on Max’s head. He needed to assert
his dominance here. So what that he’d never done this? He’d fucked girls up the
ass countless times, he knew what he was doing. It couldn’t be that much
different.

“Means you haven’t met
the right guy.” Max grinned over his shoulder and waved a condom at him.

Ryder snorted and pushed
Max’s face into the bedding of his own bunk. He wasn’t sure what to do with
that body under him. Was he to just get himself ready and push it in? His hands
didn’t listen to his questions and went on an exploration of their own, slowly
raising Max’s shirt and exposing his back. Ryder leaned forward and closed his
eyes, taking in the faint aroma of sweat.

Max’s breathing sped up,
and as Ryder let his hands explore all the way up to the shoulder blades, his
mind trailed back to that naked night with Jed. It had been when Dad went away
for a short sentence. Just two months, and they were left to their own devices.
Each of them refused to do laundry, all the way until they ran out of clothes.
Jed was the one to give in, and put the washing on, but it was still wet, so
they both went to bed naked. It was all a dare. They played chicken. Dad’s bed
was the best one, so Jed tried to coax Ryder out of it by lying there naked
next to him. Who would first chicken out. They watched TV, ate fried chicken,
peed into a bottle so they wouldn’t have to leave the bed. Neither of them left
the bed that night, but Ryder didn’t sleep for a blink of an eye. When in the
morning he woke up with a boner all too close to Jed’s ass, he was the first
one to leave the bed under the pretense of having to hang the laundry.

Max’s skin was salty,
with a hint of sour as Ryder lapped at the hollow of his shoulder blade before
moving his lips to the spine and kissing his way all the way to the small of
Max’s back. If it were Jed here with him, and they weren’t brothers, Ryder
wouldn’t just want to use his tight hole and go to sleep afterward. He’d enjoy
every minute of the closeness. He’d touch, explore the hairy thighs that
probably felt a bit like Max’s, he’d squeeze his ass, and Jed would groan in
pleasure. Ryder always imagined the sound to be similar to when Jed groaned and
grunted at the gym during a particularly hard workout.

Imagining Jed to be a
prison bitch was so wrong he cringed, but his dick was rock-hard, so he
indulged. There was no fucking thought police. If Jed were trapped in jail, Ryder
would make damn sure no one else touched him.

He pushed his hips
against Max’s still-covered ass and groaned at the pleasure it gave him. In the
darkness of the cell, it didn’t really matter that it was a man he was
touching. He’d do it the way that felt right for him, and if he wanted to touch
before the fuck, it was his prerogative. Pulling Max’s ear with his teeth, he
molded their bodies together and ground into the warmth in front of him. He
dreamt of smelling coarse blond hair that would tickle his face, but this would
have to do.

Max moaned, and arched
his ass up, only pushing it more against Ryder’s cock. He pulled down his pants
eagerly. “Give it to me big guy,” he whispered breathlessly, and just hearing
that had Ryder hyperalert.

Fumbling with his own
buttons, he grabbed Max’s nape and pushed his head into the mattress. “That’s
what you want? My cock in your ass?” he rasped, already tearing the condom
packet. There was a sudden urgency to his lust that he did not want to tame. He
deserved his pleasure. After all, Jess hadn’t kept her legs crossed either.

“Yes, yes… fuck, you’re
hot.” Max passed him a small packet of lube. “Fucking drill me with that
beast.” He only rubbed his ass more against Ryder, like a bitch in heat. Ryder
had only watched a bit of gay porn, so he could hardly contain his curiosity.
He’d never seen a guy act this way. The last time he was in jail, he’d shared
his cell with a skinhead Nazi. He almost wanted to turn Max around and look at
his face during the fuck, but there would be other opportunities. Would Jed
have been this eager? If he were into that sort of thing...

Ryder’s breath was quick
and shallow now, but he contained his lust just enough to put on the condom and
oil it up. He’d been with women this way, so it wasn’t entirely unknown
territory but still, it was a clean slate for him. The moment he pushed on
Max’s sphincter and it swallowed him with ease, the edges of Ryder’s vision
blurred, making him completely focus on the living, breathing, hot man who was
taking his dick like a porn star.

“Oh, yeah…” Max mumbled
into the pillow, moving against Ryder, as if already asking to have more cock.
“I knew it would be this fucking thick. Do me harder.”

Ryder grabbed Max’s
hands and pulled them back, holding on to them as he thrust in as hard as he
could, inhaling thick lust that evaporated from their bodies as they moved
together in the strange silence of being surrounded by people. Ryder kept his
groans to himself as he closed his eyes and let loose with the fantasies of
Jed’s ass spread out and taking his dick. In his mind, Jed was moaning
wantonly, grabbing pillows and arching on the mattress with each thrust. He’d
probably be less experienced than Max, need more coaxing but eventually he’d give
in to lust and curiosity. He was always the daredevil after all.

Ryder gasped and came
hard, imagining looking into the bluest eyes he’d ever seen.

Jed

“What do you want?” Jed
yelled back to Dana. “I told you I’m busy today!” He was about to go see Ryder
for the first time in two weeks, and he was not missing the visiting hours
because of some bullshit his crazy fake girlfriend came up with. Her footsteps
trailed down the corridor. Even that she was able to change in public, because
in private, she walked with purpose, her gait almost like a man’s. A plastic
box with a set of cables fell to the sofa next to Jed.

“I’m done waiting,” she
said. “I want it connected in the office of the club.”

It took Jed a long while
to realize what she was saying. She wanted him to install a bug in the club. He
froze and licked his lips. “I… don’t think I can do that…” he treaded
carefully.

Her clear eyes remained
as cool and determined as they always were, which looked completely ridiculous
since she was wearing a tiny pink dress. “You will do it. In fact, you will do
it now.”

Cold sweat ran down
Jed’s back. “I’m busy, Dana. This is serious. I’ll tell you if I know
something.”

“Do it.” She stepped
closer, dangerous like a viper and just as certain of her own ability to strike
him down. He’d never actually seen her in action, but he’d seen her do the
whole GI Jane training routine.

Jed picked up the
device, only now realizing his fingers trembled slightly. If anyone found out
about this, he’d be a dead man.

“Good boy.” Was that
appreciation in Dana’s voice? “I really don’t want to expose you, believe me.
It’s all in your hands.”

“How about tomorrow?”
Jed tried, but Dana’s pupils widened slightly, and he knew it was a lost cause.

“What are you waiting
for? If you’re busy, do it right away. Then you’ll be free to go and see your
brother.” She slowly sank to the other side of the sofa and took some cashew
nuts from the bowl of healthy snacks she’d installed on the coffee table. Jed
hated cashew nuts.

There was no use talking
to the cold bitch. She was a cat, and he would be trapped to be toyed with
until she left. There was a deadline her boss had set for her stay, and it
would be up in a few months. He would be able to then go back to his usual
miserable existence without actually having to betray his family and all that
he believed in.

He glared at her and
rushed out the door with a heart as heavy as lead.

Ten minutes later, he
gave Grease the fakest possible smile upon entry. And the prospect, not knowing
what Jed came here for, even offered him some newly fried chicken. Homemade. It
felt like yet another blow to Jed’s bruised ego. He felt dirtier than Grease’s
old fryer in the kitchenette. If anyone found him out, he’d be dead meat. Maybe
the club would even lock him up in the basement and keep him there until Ryder came
out so he could put a bullet through his back-stabbing brother’s head.

Jed took a deep breath
and looked around the messy lounge. Sure, it wasn’t pretty, but it was home in
some way. From the grimy tiles on the floor to the old photos on the walls, it
was the place that felt safest and most familiar. Wolver had taken Jed in after
just two years of marriage to Jed’s mom. He could have let the authorities have
Jed, but he didn’t, and treated Jed as his own son for better and for worse. A
dark part of Jed sometimes wondered if his mother had sensed that something was
off about him. Even at an early age. Mothers on TV always knew their kid was
queer. Why wouldn’t she?

There was a pair of
boots sticking out from the side of the sofa. Clearly, one of the guys was
sleeping there, oblivious of Jed’s presence. Jed swallowed hard and slid
inside, closing the door as silently as he could. Guilt was eating at his
heart, but if he were to arrive at the jail on time, he needed this to be
quick. If he weren’t a patch, it wouldn’t be this easy to just come in here.
There were cameras outside, Grease was at the gate, and a stranger would be a
goner if someone found him inside, but none of this was an issue for a patched
member. And once a man became a Nail, the only way he could leave the club was
in a coffin. It was one of the many drunken interpretations of their name and
patch that he’d heard. One of the more accurate ones.

He walked through the
‘member’s only’ door like on any other day, even though his heart raced in his
chest faster than his Honda at full speed.

The office was empty. An
ugly screensaver painted lines on Ripper’s old school computer, and the tiny
fish Wolver kept by the window for amusement was as mute as it always was.
Light streamed inside softly through the blinds, and yet what Jed was about to
do was the equivalent of spraying blood all over the carpet. Defiling the heart
of the operation.

He’d already decided
that he would try to install the bug somewhere where it could get damaged, or
where the voice would come out shit. He couldn’t just leave it somewhere to be
found, or the club would go ballistic to find the rat or a spy. All parties
would be over, all camaraderie suspended.

Jed’s eyes went to the
corner where mold was thriving due to excessive moisture from the ventilation
shaft. That was it. Maybe the electronics would soon get damaged? Plus, he
hoped the sound would be muffled from so far away.

Without waiting a moment
longer, he pulled on the nearest chair and put it under the graying wall. With
the help of his swiss army knife, Jed opened the ventilation lid and looked
inside, hit with a pungent smell of mold. Fortunately, the shaft wasn’t
someone’s drug storage either, so no one would look inside and discover the
contraption. The air conditioning in this room hadn’t been fixed in ages. With
sweat running down Jed’s neck like it were summer not February, he installed
the bug inside the vent, and screwed the lid back on as if chased by rabid
wolves. He needed a fucking drink after this.

Jed almost fell down at
the sound of footsteps in the corridor, and he quickly backed away from the
shaft, just in time for the door to open. His heart worked so fast it felt like
he couldn’t breathe anymore, but it was only Jo’s gentle face that popped in.

“Oh, I was looking for
your dad,” she said. Jed couldn’t believe it was her of all people who almost
gave him a heart attack.

“Nope, I was looking for
him too actually. Let me know if you see him.” Jed smiled and winked at her as
he passed into the corridor. All he could think of was vodka, and sure enough,
the universe seemed to approve of his thoughts. When he finally entered the
lounge, his favorite drinking buddy looked up at him.

Tom grinned, nodding at
the sofa. Now that Jed was seeing more than the backrest, he recognized Dark,
who lay there with his mouth open, cheek twisted against the pillow as he
snored softly. “Someone had a rough night, huh?”

Jed’s legs felt heavy,
and the few minutes in the office left him so exhausted he wanted to just be a
kid again and cry in his bedroom. Ryder was in jail doing time in his name,
because he believed Jed deserved better. And yet here he was, installing a bug
in the office, possibly endangering the future of the club. The definition of
the word ‘scum’ should have his picture next to it.

“Looks like it,” was all
he could muster as he rushed to the kitchenette for the nearest bottle that
even remotely resembled liquor. It was a cheap vodka, but he couldn’t care less
at this point and poured shots for himself and Tom.

“What’s up with you? Did
you party with him?” asked Tom, winking good-naturedly.

“I don’t know.” Jed
shrugged and downed his shot before instantly pouring another one. The burn on
his tongue was a promise of a numb brain, and that was exactly what he needed
right now. “Some days, everything’s shit.” How was he to look into Ryder’s eyes
after this stunt? He was a complete lowlife. As a member of the Coffin Nails,
he was seen by many people as scum already, but he found pride in who he was.
Now even that had been lost. Forget Ryder, he wasn’t even sure he could look
into his own reflection without breaking down, and as seconds passed, the
weight on his shoulder was growing heavier.

At least drinking with
Tom didn’t carry judgement. He could get lost in it. Just an hour ago, he’d
been giddy to go see Ryder, tell him about the new rims for his bike, and the
stunt he pulled to leech Wi-Fi off his neighbor. Now? Who was he kidding? He’d
be better off gone from Ryder’s life. He didn’t want to smile at Ryder and
pretend everything was fine. The club had given Jed everything he had, and he
didn’t even have the decency to accept the consequences of his actions.

“Vodka won’t make you
any happier,” said Tom after some time, half lying on top of Dark, who was
sleeping so soundly he’d seem dead if it weren’t for the movement of his chest.

“It’s my best bet right
now,” Jed said, enjoying the sting trailing down his throat. He smiled at the
memory of binge drinking with Ryder when they were teens. They used to have a
secret spot under an old bridge a few miles out of town. But as time passed and
Jed realized it was also a place where Ryder would take girls for quickies, he
lost interest in it long before the bridge was closed for renovations and never
opened to automotive traffic again. He refused to go there, but sometimes
during the lonely rides Jed needed to clear his head, he’d drive by the narrow
road in the woods that led to the disused bridge. There were chunks of cement
blocking the way, and he could technically drive past them on a motorbike, but
he couldn’t make himself do it and just watched the asphalt become covered by a
thicker layer of grime every year.

Tom’s mouth curved, and
he leaned in, squeezing Jed’s forearm. His hand was so warm. “I might have
something better at home. You free?”

“You wanna jam in the
garage? Guitar always makes me feel good. Like,
tunes
my body, you
know?”

Tom nodded without ever
looking away from Jed. “Yeah. I know. Just me and my guitar,” he said, pulling
Jed up. He grinned and slipped his arm over Jed’s shoulders. Or at least he
tried, because he was too short for that. He ended up awkwardly having to drop
his arm to Jed’s waist.

It was good to have a
friend at his side. Tom wasn’t even a patch, so maybe he wouldn’t be as
judgmental about the bug were the truth to come out into the open. Though it
also meant he would never understand the life Jed was leading. With alcohol
swaying Jed’s footsteps, they walked outside to the roar of two engines.

The mere sight of Wolver
had Jed cringing. He gave him a short nod, wondering if maybe he should just
take the passenger seat in Tom’s car, since Tom had drunk less. Yet another
thing Ryder wouldn’t have been impressed with.

“Jed, where the fuck are
you going?” called out Wolver, and the harsh rhythm of his footsteps in heavy
leather boots felt like impending doom. With one abrupt pull, Jed was out of
Tom’s arms and leaning against his dad, their faces close enough for the fluffy
beard to tickle.

“Was gonna go jam with
Tom.” Jed took a deep breath, suddenly paralyzed by fear. Wolver couldn’t
know
about the bug, could he? Dad wouldn’t have hidden cameras inside the
building, that would have compromised security.

Wolver sniffed the air,
and his hold on Jed grew even stronger. “You’re drunk.”

Jed shrugged. “So I had
a few shots...”

Wolver’s face twisted
into a sneer, and he pushed Jed back so hard he tumbled into the dirt. “Ryder
called. You missed the visitation hours.”

Jed swallowed, but Tom
was there to help him up. “He actually called about it?” Jed frowned and backed
away with frost taking over his chest. He wasn’t worth Ryder’s time, yet his
heart still broke over letting down the best person in his life. He constantly
failed Ryder, yet his brother never once deserted him. Ryder always had Jed’s
back.

Wolver shook his head.
“Yes, really. Get yourself together, or I’m gonna fucking explode,” he growled,
kicking some pebbles.

“Jesus, fuck! Why is
everyone so uptight around here? It’s not like it will help him that I visit. I
didn’t
ask
him to do time for me. I would have gone myself!” Jed didn’t
exactly mean it, but what was he supposed to say? That he missed Ryder every
day and slept in the spare T-shirt Ryder left at his place? How fucked-up would
that be?

Wolver’s fist connected with
his jaw with a force Jed didn’t expect from someone his age. He spun around
like a broken marionette, and fell head-first to the ground. Only his hands
saved him from wrecking his face.

Tom cleared his throat.
“I think you two should talk about this without me,” he said and jumped into
the car. The wheels kicked sand into Jed’s face, and he coughed violently,
shielding his eyes from harm.

“Yes, go! What is that
lowlife even doing here in the middle of the week?” hissed Wolver, pacing
around Jed like a hyena ready to take another bite out of its victim’s juicy
flesh.

Jed took a moment before
getting up. He deserved the smack. “He came ‘round.” Jed held the pulsing side
of his face, only to discover that the fall had rubbed off some of the skin off
his palms, and they now stung at every touch. He squeezed his hands into fists
to feel it more. At least the pain helped him focus on something else than the
betrayal he’d committed.