Sex & Mayhem 01 Road of No Return (26 page)

“Ten grand,” Stitch muttered and didn’t look Zak’s way but squeezed his hand back.

Zak relaxed, taking a turn toward his home. That was all right. It was a large sum of money but manageable. “Okay. Thanks for telling me.”

“But it’s not your responsibility, yeah?” Stitch looked like he was doing a silent prayer when he saw Zak’s house.

“It’s not, as long as you don’t do anything reckless to get that money back,” whispered Zak as he parked the car.

“So what’s your story?” Stitch nudged Zak’s side before getting out.

Zak sighed and rested his forehead against the steering wheel before leaving the car. He gestured for Stitch to follow him home. There was nothing in those boxes that couldn’t wait in the vehicle.

“I’m not trying to sell the house because the economy’s terrible for that now.”

“But you left your old home.” Stitch put an arm over Zak’s shoulders as soon as they walked into the house.

Versay rushed from his bed in the kitchen and circled them with a wide smile, accepting the gentle petting.

Zak shrugged, not sure whether he was ready to talk about it. Even to him, the situation was silly. “I was betrayed by someone I trusted, and I guess I just took the opportunity to leave.”

“What do you mean by ‘betrayed’?” Stitch pulled Zak along to the living room and they cuddled up on the couch.

Zak sighed and sat cross-legged, leaning into Stitch. He chewed on his bottom lip and held on to Stitch’s hand, which made him feel warm and safe. “I was the co-owner of a tattoo studio. The other guy, my partner, had started it but he wasn’t doing well. I guess he isn’t that good of an artist either, but I talked to him, and he promised me fifty percent if I could help him make the studio work, even though on paper I only got thirty. He wanted to keep control of the business, and I got that because he didn’t know me yet.” Zak inhaled some air, playing with the numerous signets on Stitch’s thick, strong fingers. “He kept his word and we were splitting the money fifty-fifty. At this point, he was the closest thing I ever had to a boyfriend, so I trusted him,” he said with a shake of his head. Now that he thought about it, it seemed like such a bad idea. All of them, actually, from dating your co-worker to not pressing on the changes in the contract.

“I can see how this story goes,” Stitch said, but there was no mocking in his tone, just compassion, and he kissed Zak’s temple. The gesture was so tender Zak actually had to wait for his voice to return to normal before he could speak further.

“Yeah, at some point he got greedy and told me that there is no reason for me to get that much money, that he was the one who created the studio. And you know, I helped him hire all the artists he now has, to make the studio known. I worked so hard for it.” He shrugged, his face turning into a scowl. “I couldn’t stay there. Neither with the studio, nor in his bed, you know.” Slowly, he turned his head to look at Stitch.

“So you thought to make it on your own here in Lake Valley?” Stitch stroked Zak’s hair, embracing him with his wide arms. Zak immediately turned around to face him, curling his legs against Stitch’s side.

“I thought I could get some rest from all this bullshit and work from home at the same time, but now... I don’t know,” he whispered, slowly resting his head on the wide chest. Even now Stitch smelled of wood chips.

“No? You seem to be settling in well.” Stitch gave him a kiss.

Zak sighed and picked on Stitch’s cut with a small smile. “Yeah, I didn’t think I’d stay this long. It’s all on you.”

“Yeah? I’m anchoring you here?” Stitch nuzzled his neck. “I hope you stay so, you know, I have a place to live.” He nipped on Zak’s bruised skin.

Zak snorted. “Men, always using me.” He didn’t really mean that, but his dark humor got the best of him.

“You love to be used by me.” Stitch murmured into Zak’s collarbone.

Zak closed his thighs and pushed his fingers into Stitch’s mane, getting flour all over his hands. “I know, you make me so helpless when you kiss me.”

“I’ll remember that for the future, thanks.” Stitch chuckled. His stubble scraped Zak’s skin as he let his lips explore.

Never breaking the close contact, Zak climbed into Stitch’s lap, straddled him, and let his head fall back, accepting the sweet kisses all over the skin.

“You’ll stay with me here, won’t you?” Stitch murmured and slid his hands to Zak’s ass. It was so good that Zak’s balls tightened at the contact, and he pushed his body closer to Stitch.

“Yeah.”

Stitch pulled up Zak’s hand to his lips and kissed its knuckles. Without a word, he took off one of his signets and slid the heavy thing on Zak’s thumb.

Zak stared at it, hardly breathing, his mind still frozen on the moment when Stitch’s lips touched the back of his hand in a gesture that spoke of devotion. The metal on his finger was still warm from its former host. Zak exhaled, looking at the hammer adorning the ring, his heart already rushing, pulling him deeper into Stitch’s body, but he resisted and looked at his lover instead.

Stitch pointed to the little runes around the heavy signet. “It’s Mjölnir. And the runes around are for protection. My granddad gave it to me.”

Zak bit his lip, his mind going astray just as his pulse quickened even more. “I... but it’s important to you.”

“You’re important to me,” Stitch said with a smile, sliding his fingers under Zak’s T-shirt. Their rough skin was the sweetest kind of touch Zak could imagine, and he hugged Stitch closer, brushing the ring over his lover’s jaw over and over again. He wasn’t sure what it all meant so he abruptly kissed Stitch’s mouth, robbing them both of breath.

“I... why the ring?” he whispered, closing his eyes.

Stitch grinned into Zak’s lips. “My name is Thor. And I gave you my hammer. Does that sound dirty?”

Zak laughed out loud. “Super dirty. Is that a sign that you’re the only one allowed to hammer me, or something?” He brushed his hand over Stitch’s face and kissed him again, slowly calming down even though the warm metal seemed to burn his finger. “And you never even told me what your name is, you jerk.”

“I just told you. Thor. Blame my Norwegian parents. And yes, I am the only one allowed to hammer you.” Stitch started a languid move of his hips under Zak while looking into his eyes.

Zak let out a laugh. Even the sensuous grinding between his legs couldn’t distract him from what he had just heard. “You’re serious? Oh, my God, you’re actually called Thor?” He felt so light he could fly up to the ceiling, still clinging to Stitch with his thighs.

“Don’t you dare call me that though. It’s embarrassing, especially after the movie. Being a tall blond doesn’t help either.”

“No? You don’t want to hammer me in a Viking costume?” chuckled Zak, making a languid move with his hips. His eyes were completely taken by the handsome face in front of him.

Stitch frowned, but Zak could feel his dick stiffening under Zak’s ass. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you.”

“No, you totally should have,” whispered Zak, rocking in his lap. “Didn’t you just put a ring on my finger?” he asked, looking deep into Stitch’s eyes. He had no idea what was going on in that Nordic head. The last thing he wanted to do was make false assumptions.

“I did. I like it, so I put a ring on it. Dibs.” Stitch had that silly smile on his face as he paraphrased the Beyoncé song.

Zak gave a dry laugh as he put his arms around Stitch and hugged him close. This was insane. Things were getting far too complicated, far too soon, and with a man who was a known criminal and ex-convict at that. But that didn’t change how natural it felt to be in his arms, and how easy it was for Zak to commit to monogamy after all the years of carefree sex. He was getting old. Old and corny.

“And now that it’s legit, I
am
gonna hammer you,” Stitch’s grin widened and in one abrupt move, he arched his hips and threw Zak over to his back while still holding on to his legs. “All night. And then the night after… and after…” He lapped at Zak’s neck.

Every single nerve in Zak’s body stood alert, as if waiting for Stitch’s command. Zak moaned, feeling a rush of heat to his face, and rapidly pulled on the sides of Stitch’s cut. The moment his lover’s weight collapsed on top of him, he knew there wasn’t anything he wanted more.

It had been over five months since Zak moved to Lake Valley, two since Stitch moved in with him, and it had passed like spring break. They were oddly good together, and Zak hadn’t even thought of kissing another man since then. His new boyfriend kept him busy and satisfied, even though he still had doubts about giving head. Zak suggested it once, but Stitch approached his dick like it was a porcupine. Then again, the last thing Zak wanted was to force him into it, so he fucked Stitch’s tight ass instead. That man had such a gorgeous, muscled butt. Zak could play with it for hours.

They were spending so much time together too. Zak was hanging out with Stitch’s friends at Valhalla, and already kind of liked most of them, even though they could be homophobic jerks at times. Since the situation with Crystal, they deleted all messages and made sure no one got their hands on their cell phones either. She at least didn’t try to hurt any of them physically, which couldn’t be guaranteed if any of the Hounds got their hands on the correspondence between Stitch and Zak. It was NC-17 to say the least.

Stitch on the other hand helped Zak around the house a lot. They painted a new room, and Stitch made an amazing table for Zak’s studio space. He even made a carving in the counter, of one of the demons Zak had tattooed on his body.

In a surge of goodwill, Stitch even let Zak teach him some basic cooking, which ended up with a somewhat burnt but heartwarming breakfast in bed one Sunday. Unfortunately, Stitch was a useless case when it came to cooking, and Zak ended up planning their fridge contents and preparing food a lot more.

Despite him being such a sweet, caring guy, Zak couldn’t help but worry whenever he went out to be with his club buddies. Stitch never explicitly told Zak what they were dealing with, and Zak didn’t want to pressure him since Stitch had already declared he wanted out of the illegal business, but it was hard not to know where Stitch was late at night. Especially when Zak had jobs to do and needed to stay professional and focused.

The worst time of all was when Stitch told Zak he’d be out for the weekend to do a job in another state, but when Zak noticed Stitch’s gun was gone and tried to call him, all he got was a dead line. He couldn’t sleep at night, sick with worry, only to find Stitch sleeping on the couch next Monday. Of course, Stitch wouldn’t tell him where he’d been and why he got Zak worried sick. Another time, he came home with an incision that Zak ended up stitching up, and even more bruising than usual. It hurt Zak to even look at his lover injured, and not knowing the cause was killing him. It provoked a few arguments, which dispersed eventually without solving the problem. Usually through Stitch’s sneaky seduction techniques.

And there were the nights when Stitch simply went out with the guys and when Zak drove by the bar, none of the motorbikes were there. He wanted to confront Stitch about it, but seeing him come back home, looking like an empty-eyed puppet, made Zak ignore his own insecurities and get down to making Stitch feel better. And on top of that was the matter of Holly. Despite their initial assumptions, after two months, Crystal still wouldn’t budge and stood firm by her decision not to let Stitch see his daughter. He was only allowed to occasionally deliver some treats and small toys for her but never play with her. The most he got was half an hour, and those days were actually worse than having him
not
see her. Stitch wouldn’t even want cheering up. He just drove off for a ride for a few hours. He was so obviously upset that it also made Zak push away any issues he wanted to confront Stitch over.

And then there was Cox and a few of his cop buddies, sniffing around the Hounds of Valhalla. The worst thing was that Zak was increasingly aware that the cops actually had good reason to investigate, but any attempts to get Stitch talking ended with them not speaking for hours.

On top of that, Zak found himself back in the closet, and while he understood that Stitch couldn’t be open about his sexuality in his circles, the secrecy and necessity to tell lies whenever someone tried to flirt with him or asked about him not having a girlfriend were slowly choking Zak. It was like a noose around his neck, always ready to tighten, and the longer it lasted, the more suspicious looks he was getting, and the more uncomfortable he became.

He thought a weekend trip to New Orleans where he and Stitch could hold hands in public, dance in a club or even have a beer as a couple, could relieve the tension, but the idea was instantly shot down. Zak believed part of it had to be about Stitch not really being comfortable with his sexuality, not just the danger of being spotted. To Stitch’s credit, he had toned down his flirting with the girls when Zak told him how much he hated seeing him humping or kissing someone else, but that didn’t change much about Zak’s situation. He hadn’t even noticed when he’d crawled all the way behind the thickest coat in the closet, and he was ashamed of it.

Zak’s day had been slow. He did a small tattoo on a girl’s wrist in the early afternoon, had a long walk with Versay, and spent the rest of the day making designs and drawing in front of the television. Stitch was supposed to be back late at night so Zak wasn’t rushing to do much but he smiled when he heard the doorbell ring. Sometimes, Stitch had this quirk of ringing just so Zak would greet him at the door, even though he already had his own key.