SE Jakes Bound By Honor (18 page)

than…wel , anything.

When he woke, he didn’t want to analyze why. He just wanted to enjoy it, and so he brewed coffee and made

breakfast and brought it to the bedroom.

Tanner was just waking up, stretching the covers half off his body…a hard-on, tousled hair and a smile. Damon put

the tray down on the side table and knelt between Tanner’s legs, heard the surprised gasp, the pleased moan as he

suckled the velvet-skinned erection hard.

“Damon…” Tanner’s voice was hoarse already from yel ing last night…and Damon loved hearing that, knowing he

was the one making this sweet boy crazy. “No one’s ever done shit like this for me before.”

“You deserve it.” Damon ruffled his hair. “Let’s cal it my part of the war effort.”

LC was holed up in the office, planning the New Year’s Eve party, going over the last-minute details as wel as dealing

with the real estate agent.

He’d come in here after the club closed the night before because he’d stil been wired. Since he’d made the cal to

Styx, he’d felt uncharacteristical y lighter. And unable to fucking sleep a wink.

So yeah, business as usual.

Now, the sun ha d come u p long ago, a nd h e wa s sti l bent over t he computer, crunching numbers, fielding a few

preliminary offers the real estate agent sent through. She’d done a soft perusal of the market, using word of mouth, and

the numbers, despite the recession, were impressive.

It was prime real estate…great location and a built-in clientele for anyone who wanted to keep Crave the way it was.

He wondered what would happen to the place and then realized that he’d gotten sentimental somewhere along the

way.

Ridiculous. His Delta CO would’ve kicked the shit out of him for it, and he needed to do the same to himself.

And stil , he reached into the desk drawer where he kept his files and pul ed out the gift certificate Paulo had given

him for the tattoo. Paulo had been working a lot but he’d left LC a message. There were none from Styx, although what

the hel had he been expecting? He’d told the man that he was done with him.

The old Styx would’ve known that was total bul shit. This one probably did too, but he wasn’t going to magical y arrive

and make everything right.

God, he was so fucking pathetic it wasn’t even funny. And the fact the Paulo kept showing up in his dreams at the

oddest times made the whole thing even weirder.

He was nearly facedown on the desk, his head swimming, when Damon came in, holding hot mugs of coffee. He slid

one across the desk and LC grabbed it and took a long swal ow.

Damon waited until LC almost drained his mug before asking, “Want to tel me what’s going on?”

“No.”

Damon sighed. “I’m going through hel here, LC.”

L C knew i t had been four days since Damon had seen o r spoken with Tanner and holy crap, i f this wa s what would

happen after four days, what would happen when the time stretched to months? “Stop expecting me to pick you up and

dust you off. I can’t make everything al right al the goddamned time.”

Damon strummed his fingers on the desk. “I realize that. Have you spoken with him?”

“Not everything is about him,” LC chal enged, and he could see that Damon itched to disagree, but the couched

warning i n LC’s tone must’ve forced him t o hold back. “You going t o b e i n a shitty mood until Tanner comes back o r

until he retires? ’Cause I just want to know how long I need to walk on eggshel s for.”

“You never walk on eggshel s around me,” Damon pointed out.

“You’re worried about him. Jealous as hel too. And you can’t stop thinking about him. Brother, do I real y have to be

the one to tel you what this means?”

“Don’t say it, LC,” Damon said tightly.

“Okay, but you’re going to have to, eventual y.”

“Asshole.”

“Yeah, that’s why you come to me for the pep talks.” LC paused. “I don’t want to talk about Styx again.”

“For how long?”

LC looked his friend right in the eye. “Never. And I hope that’s goddamned long enough.”

LC went over some of the real estate crap with him, even though he knew Damon wasn’t paying attention. Final y, he

told Damon to do this shit himself and stalked off to bed.

Damon didn’t even bother to try, actual y shut off the computer. Left alone, he brooded more, until he was sick of

himself.

Paced and wondered if he could handle another night at the damned club surrounded by wil ing subs and feeling

more alone than he ever had.

For a long time, the club had been his refuge. Now, it was making him claustrophobic when he stepped inside.

LC had never been invested in the club beyond a business investment—this had real y been Damon’s heart and soul.

Now, LC, a s always, was simply behind Damon no matter what. I f the club sold, L C would make a s much profit as

Damon, and he and Damon would decide what to do next together.

Even if things went further with Tanner, LC would always be in his life. The man couldn’t be more his brother if they

were blood related.

If things went further with Tanner
…hadn’t they gone far enough?

Christ, he was turning into a goddamned girl. And so he turned the computer back on and went over the comps so he

could tel LC that he was helping.

When he heard the rumble of what could only be a customized bike a couple of hours later, he checked out the

window.

His cock hardened at the sight of Tanner on the big machine, knew how damned good the rattle of that vibration could

get them both off.

He walked outside to greet the man. “What’s going on?”

“Let’s go for a ride.” Tanner grinned. He wore sunglasses, a black leather jacket and his hair was wrapped in a blue

bandanna that made his eyes glow. And no helmet. “We’re going back roads,” he said as if reading Damon’s mind. “And

we’re going far.”

Damon resisted the urge to grab Tanner and kiss him, but he knew that would delay the trip even more. “How long wil

we be gone for?” he asked, not wanting to leave LC alone for long, considering the fact that the attacker was stil at large.

But Paulo was stil around a lot, no matter how hard LC was attempting to push him away, and that made Damon feel

slightly better.

Tanner bit his bottom lip before he answered. “Couple of days. That okay?”

Damon ran a hand through his hair and thought for a second before deciding to stop thinking for the next couple of

days.

“I’l be right back.”

He went inside and packed a smal bag. Grabbed his own leather jacket, wrapped his hair in a similar fashion—black

bandanna—and told LC that he’d be gone for the weekend.

“I’l hold down the fort,” LC said with a smal smile on his face.

“I don’t mean to push al this shit on you.”

“Just go.”

Damon did. Walked to his own custom hog—a refurbished Harley next to Tanner’s.

“Nice,” Tanner said with a whistle.

“How’d you know I rode?”

“Just figured. Let’s rol .” Without further conversation, Damon got o n his bike a nd fol owed Tanner through the quiet

streets until they hit the back roads Tanner had mentioned.

They rode for about two hours of beautiful scenery and rol ing, hil y roads with infrequent traffic, until Tanner pul ed

over at a lunch place, and he and Damon sat outside and ordered a ton of food.

The weather was unseasonably warm, which had melted al the ice from last week’s storm, and Damon enjoyed the

way the sun warmed his face. “How much longer?”

“Another half hour,” Tanner said as the food was set down on the table. Both men dug in eagerly.

“You ever going to tel me where we’re headed?”

“I thought we’d do a little fishing.”

“Fishing?”

“Yep.” Tanner grinned as he dragged a few fries through the ketchup. “And, you know, fucking.”

That’s what Damon was talking about. He took a bite of the lobster rol and wondered when the hel the last time he’d

felt so carefree was.

He couldn’t remember, but he was grateful for this. He tucked his feet around Tanner’s legs under the table and

continued to eat the food in front of him. And when they’d had their fil they got back on the bikes and pul ed up to a private

cabin in the late-afternoon sun.

“I rebuilt it myself over the years. It’s a lot better on the inside than it looks,” Tanner explained.

“Looks damned good to me.” He glanced at Tanner. “How long have you owned this?”

“I bought it after my first year in the Army. Wanted a place like this to escape to whenever I felt like it.” Tanner

motioned to him. “Come on—I’l give you the grand tour.”

The cabin was private as anything—the interior a mix of modern yet stil managing to be rustic.

Tanner had hit just the right balance. There were two bedrooms, one of which Tanner had turned into a smal gym, the

other held a king-sized bed and not much else.

The main room was a large living area and an open kitchen.

The cabinets were wel stocked, as was the freezer, Tanner told him. He brought out a cooler bag from his bike and

put fresh food in the fridge. Then they went outside to walk around the property.

“No one for miles,” Damon commented after Tanner had showed him the lake and the various other trails and paths.

Dusk would set in within the hour and they ended up back on the screened-in porch.

It was stil warm, but the cold would settle back in after dark for sure.

“Yeah, I had the opportunity to buy the other lots and I figured I’d want the privacy.” Tanner paused and then said,

“You’re the first person I’ve brought here. I like being alone.”

“What changed?”

Tanner looked at Damon for a long moment before speaking. “You. You’ve changed me…in ways I never expected.”

Damon wanted to tel him, “Right back at you,” but his throat was suddenly tight. Instead, he cuffed a hand around the

back of Tanner’s neck and rubbed the warm skin as Tanner smiled. “I don’t remember the last time I took a vacation.”

Tanner rol ed his eyes. “Big surprise there,” he said. “Don’t you know the saying, work hard, play hard?”

“Work and play have been combined for me for a long time. I guess that’s not working out so wel .”

“No,” Tanner agreed and then, without warning, he was stripping down. Damon’s mouth practical y watered at the

sight of the younger man’s pecs, abs and the deep indents above his hips that looked carved.

It was a body fashioned by real-life work and not just a gym. Taut and strong. Bruised and battered. A survivor’s body.

And his. At least for this weekend.

They had yet t o discuss what happened when Tanner went back o n Monday fo r more training a nd then away fo r a

mission that could last a week or months, depending, mainly because Damon himself didn’t know what to say about it.

“I think you should stay naked for the next forty-eight hours.”

“I can do that,” Tanner agreed. “But right now, it’s time.”

“For what?”

“Your interrogation.” Tanner’s tone sent a shiver up Damon’s spine.

“Tanner,” he started warningly, but Tanner was spreading out a towel on the porch and lay down on it, buck naked in

the shade but completely exposed to anyone who happened by.

He real y hoped the neighbors didn’t have long-range telescopes, because they were about to get a hel of a show.

Tanner’s cock jutted and he lay there and watched Damon watching him. And he laughed. “Come on.

Clothes off. Get the fuck down here.”

Damon did strip. If nothing else, he would show Tanner yet another lesson about who had control.

And so he lay down next to Tanner and stared at the ceiling of the porch and somehow felt more relaxed than he had

in a long time.

Until Tanner started in again. “How long were you in the Army? And Delta?”

Damon sighed, rol ed on his side and propped on his elbow, looked down at Tanner. He’d play along for a few

moments.

“Altogether, ten years.”

“You’re going to make me pul teeth, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, but I play dirty.” He rol ed Damon to his back, moved down and buried his face against Damon’s cock,

nuzzling, licking.

Damon wondered if he should give the boy a warning, but his cock ended up in Tanner’s mouth before he could stop

it.

“Jesus.”

Tanner played for a while, suckling along the sensitive skin before pul ing back. “Why’d you get out of Delta?”

He gave the head a lick that made Damon jump and then he paused again.

“Bastard.”

“Yeah,” Tanner breathed.

“I’d had enough…saw too much.”

Tanner’s head dipped back down obediently. He was holding up his end of the bargain. Sucking, laving until Damon

felt his bal s tighten and then… “Family?”

Damon sighed, fisting his hands on the ground beside him instead of in Tanner’s hair like he should be doing.

“Fucking cocktease. And none.”

Tanner shook his head as if to say,
not enough information
.

“Dammit, Tanner—you are pressing your luck.”

But Tanner didn’t seem worried, waited patiently, tel ing him, “I’m suffering too—my cock’s so hard it’s going to break

through the porch floor.”

Damon stared at Tanner’s deep blue eyes. Guileless but not without intel igence and cunning. “I was put into foster

care as a six-year-old. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the six-year rule, but it certainly
Bound by Honor
applied to

me. I remained in and out of foster homes until I was twelve. Then I ran away, escaping that shitty existence.”