RufflingThePeacocksFeathers (3 page)

Sucking in a deep breath, Lamar let it out slowly, his shoulders sagging.

Vail slouched into one of the chairs at the small round table and cocked his head. “Come on, Lamar. You didn’t really think you’d get away without saying something, did you? None of us have seen you openly make out before.”

Lamar glanced around at his friends, his cheeks warming. Then, he realized, if he couldn’t tell his pack-mates, who could he tell? “Rueben is my mate,” he admitted.

“I knew it!” Vail crowed, grinning. “Congratulations!”

The other two men added their best wishes, Sam leaning across the gap between beds and slapping him on the shoulder.

Grimacing, Lamar groaned. “Come on, guys. Look at him. What was Fate thinking?”

Yuma’s brows creased. “What do you mean? He’s a good looking guy, and obviously attracted to you, too.”

Lamar rolled his eyes. “Sure, but he’s loud, brash, brazen—” Frowning, he added, “Ricky’s brother.”

“Ah, surely you’re not judging the man before you really get to know him,” Sam cut in. “Are you, Lamar?”

“Sure, on the surface, you’re complete opposites,” Yuma agreed. “That doesn’t mean you don’t have other things you might have in common.”

“Like what?” Lamar griped. “Think he’ll suddenly turn into the biggest fucking peacock ever?”

Sam snorted before giving him a hard look. “You know better than to second guess Fate.”

“You guys are right.” Lamar sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I… This is the last thing I expected,” he admitted.

Vail shrugged, then winked. “You never know when you’re going to meet that special someone.” He rose and held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s go for a run. It’ll help clear your head.”

Lamar nodded. That really did sound like a good idea.

Chapter Three

Rueben wanted to growl at the loss of the little man in his arms, barely resisting the impulse to grab the dude and keep him by his side. That didn’t stop him from watching the guy’s sweet little bubble butt as he disappeared—all right, practically sprinted—out the door.

Several of the other men rushed out after him as Kontra cleared his throat, drawing Rueben’s attention. “Lamar is a rather…private fellow. That was quite a demonstration for him.”

“Oh,” Rueben mumbled.
Damn, did I embarrass the guy?
He’d seemed so into it. “He, uh, he is single, though, right?” He might be a player and enjoyer of men, but he didn’t poach. It was about the only rule he lived by in life. Maybe it had something to do with his cheating father, who’d fucked anything with tits. Damn, he was glad he was gay.

Draven chuckled. “Yes.”

“You don’t want to date him, though,” Ricky said.

His brother’s comment returned Rueben’s focus to why he was there in the first place. Sort of. His dick—hard as a railroad spike—really wanted to track that guy down to play.
Lamar.
Mentally, Rueben rolled the name around his tongue.

“Rueben,” Ricky snapped.

Pulling his head out of the gutter, at least for now, Rueben frowned at his brother, then hobbled forward and dropped into the seat Sam had vacated. Setting the crutches aside, he stretched out his legs. He looked between the men quickly, then settled his gaze on Draven. For some reason, he figured the ex-detective would probably be the straight shooter.

“Okay, fire away. What the hell is going on around here?” Rueben asked.

“We can’t tell you that,” Kontra stated.

At the same time, Ricky pointed at the two men and accused, “They’re not human.”

“Oookay.” Rueben drew the word out slowly, glancing between them.

Draven rolled his eyes, then looked at Kontra. “Ricky’s not gonna keep his mouth shut. I’ve known him for a couple years and he’s a bit of a conspiracy theory nut.”

Rueben frowned. That much was more than true. His brother loved delving into conspiracies. Growing up, he’d been a geek, formulating his own hypothesis to any number of conspiracies, from Area Fifty-One and aliens to the real uses of the KGB. It was one of the reasons he’d become a detective in the first place, so he could delve into confidential files.

Kontra grumbled. “Damn it all. I hate being backed into a corner.” He pinned a chilling gaze on Ricky. “If I prove to you the danger in allowing our existence to become public knowledge, will you keep your damn mouth shut?” he snarled.

The big biker’s tone sent a shiver down Rueben’s spine.
Damn, I’m glad he’s not mad at me.
Rueben couldn’t give a shit about conspiracies, and would happily keep his mouth shut.
Better yet…
He lifted his hand and glanced between the men. “Look. Obviously I’ve stumbled into the middle of something that doesn’t concern me, so just tell me this.” He glanced between them. “Am I and my brother safe? You don’t plan on killing us in the night, right?”

“No,” Kontra immediately stated, actually looking offended.

Rueben heaved to his feet. “Good enough for me. I’m going back to my room to shower.”
And maybe jerk off.

“What? You’re just leaving me here?” Ricky squeaked, finally getting to his feet.

Shrugging, Rueben nodded. “Yup. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. You are, so that’s good enough for me.” He paused halfway to the door and looked at Draven. “You really ought to contact Ricky’s chief and let her know he’s fine. There’s a missing person’s report out on Ricky. That’s why I was contacted,” he admitted.

Draven nodded. “Thank you, Rueben. I’ll take care of that. And it was good to see you again.” He grinned for just a couple seconds, then closed his lips over his teeth in a smirk. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of you.”

Rueben blinked. For some reason, Draven’s canines had seemed a little long and a little pointed. Dismissing it as a trick of the crappy hotel lighting, he nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be around for a few days, yet.” He shrugged. “Don’t have anywhere else to go.” For some reason, the thought of leaving town without getting the chance to connect with Lamar was just…wrong. Completely out of the question, he decided.

As he let himself out, Rueben heard Kontra say, “I’m going to call a buddy of mine in Colorado.”

Rueben really didn’t want to know, and quickly pulled the door closed behind him. He glanced up and down the hall, wondering which room was the hot blond’s. He mentally kicked himself for not getting the cutie’s phone number. He grinned, realizing it’d be easy to remedy.

Leaning against the wall, he knocked on the door of the room he’d just exited. Draven appeared almost instantly. He chuckled. “Need something?”

Grinning, Rueben replied, “Yup. Lamar’s phone number.”

Draven’s smirk turned into a smile. “Sure. Is
your
number the same?”

Rueben nodded.

“Good. I’ll text it to you.” He winked. “Be good to him.”

Unable to help it, Rueben chuckled. “Oh, I plan to be very, very good to him.”

Laughing, Draven shut the door, and Rueben returned to his room. As promised, by the time he made it down the hall, around the corner, and into his room, Draven had texted him a phone number.

Not willing to second-guess himself, Rueben quickly programmed it into his phone, then dialed. A pang of disappointment hit him when it went to voicemail. “Hi, Lamar,” he said into the recording. “This is Rueben Malone. I’d like the opportunity to get to know you. Will you join me for dinner? I’d love to take you out.” He rattled off his number and disconnected the call.

As he struggled with wrapping his boot in a bag to protect it from water, Rueben wondered at his desires. He didn’t normally date…anyone. He played hockey on the AHL—the American Hockey League—trying to work his way up. He normally kept his sexuality on the down low. He didn’t deny it, and didn’t try to hide it by dating women, but nor did he rub it in his teammates’ faces by flaunting it.

His brother’s accusation of him being a horn ball was true enough. He did enjoy sex. He just didn’t have it nearly as often as Ricky seemed to think he did. It wasn’t his fault that the two times the man had dropped by unannounced happened to be the morning after he’d been out to a club and brought home a playmate. That’s what the man got for going to his house at nine AM on a Saturday morning.

Rueben pushed the thoughts away. It took all his concentration to maneuver safely in the shower. Too bad his dick had other ideas. He felt damn tempted to jack off as he roved the warm, sudsy washcloth over his cock and balls. Only thinking he heard his phone ringing in the other room—which could have been his hopeful imagination, it’d happened before—kept him from doing it.

Hustling through the rest of cleaning, Rueben promised his bobbing shaft he’d take care of it soon if that hadn’t been Lamar calling him back. His cock jerked at the thought of seeing the little man again. At about five foot eleven and one hundred forty pounds, all lean muscle and smooth planes, Rueben thought Lamar had fit perfectly against his six foot three body and hard mass.

He realized those thoughts weren’t giving him any relief and shook his head. Quickly finishing up, Rueben sat down on the side of the tub and swung his legs over. As he went to stand, his good foot lost purchase and slipped out from under him. He grabbed wildly for the towel hanger, but missed.

Rueben went down hard, hitting his walking boot against the toilet seat. He roared as pain shot up his leg, making spots dance behind his eyes. Snapping his jaws shut, a groan rolled through Rueben’s chest as he struggled to control the searing agony coursing through him.

Why the fuck does this hurt more than when I fucking broke it?
A beeping filtered into his pain-induced haze. He recognized it as his phone, which he’d left on the bathroom counter. It really had been his imagination that had him hearing his phone going off while in the shower.

Levering on one elbow, Rueben reached up with the other arm. That seemed to pull his leg even more, although why, he didn’t know. Spots danced across his eyes, making it hard to see. He felt the vibrating phone with his fingers, hit send, and hissed, “Yes?”

“Rueben? This is Lamar.”

Fuck, what horrible timing.
“H-hey,” he gritted out.

Evidently, his attempt to sound normal fell flat.

“Are you all right? Is something wrong?” Lamar quickly asked.

Sucking in a breath as he rolled onto his back, Rueben tried to ignore the throbs that rolled steadily through his foot and up his leg with every beat of his heart. “God damn it,” he growled. “I’m sorry, Lamar. I—shit!” His head swam. He had to pull the phone away and focus on breathing for several seconds. Spots once more danced across his vision. He wished the fucking marionettes would stop using his brain as a stage.

“Rueben? Rueben!”

Lamar’s voice sounded louder than it should. Suddenly, his door banged open. He craned his neck to see who was entering—
How the hell?
—but even that small movement caused his head to spin.

Instead, Rueben rolled onto his side and curled into a fetal position, careful to keep his bad ankle off the ground. He knew if he just stayed still for a few minutes, the spikes would stop stabbing into his leg.

“Hey,” Lamar crooned.

Rueben didn’t know how the man had gotten inside, but he sure liked the way Lamar slid his hands over his shoulder, chest, neck, and back. The man’s touch soothed Rueben unlike anything he’d experienced in a long, long time.

His breathing slowed.

Turning his head, Rueben smiled up at him. “Hey,” he murmured. “Not that I’m not grateful, but…how’d you get in here?”

Lamar shrugged. “Motel doors aren’t really made to withstand brute force. Sam, uh, well, he’s a big guy. Come on. Let’s get you off this cold, wet floor,” Lamar urged, changing the subject.

Rueben let him, too surprised with how easily Lamar handled his weight. “Damn,” he grunted. “For such a slender guy, you’re strong.” He’d cringe at how inane that comment sounded, later, even though what he said was true. Rueben had no idea how this slender whip-of-a-man could handle his two hundred fifty pound bulk.

“Smaller men are often under estimated,” Lamar stated, his fingers digging into Rueben’s side as he helped him out of the bathroom, into the bedroom, and onto the bed.

Unable to resist, Rueben wrapped his arms around the hot blond’s torso, then tugged and rolled the man. Lamar squeaked indignantly, but didn’t fight him, which Rueben really, really liked. Within seconds, he laid half on top of Lamar. His hands swept under the man’s shirt, rubbing the smooth firm skin with calloused fingers. He pressed his face against Lamar’s neck, licking and nipping the prominent tendon running up its length.

Lamar shivered under his ministrations and tilted his head, giving Rueben more access.

“Yeah,” Rueben growled. “So fucking sexy.” His shaft thickened, pressing insistently against Lamar’s jean-clad hip. The soft, well-worn fabric felt amazing to his sensitive erection. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d become this aroused this fast. Something about this man seemed to flip all his switches.

“Wait,” Lamar gasped.