Sex & Mayhem 01 Road of No Return (31 page)

A sharp laugh tore out of Zak’s throat, and he shook his head. “Yeah, I know. You’re a criminal with a flamethrower. What did you burn this time?” he whispered.

Stitch closed his eyes. “I burned their drug field. As retaliation over them stealing our money… and drugs, beating us up. Gator killed one of their men. It’s a mess. That’s why they attacked tonight.”

Zak sighed but stroked Stitch’s face not to discourage him from sharing. This was much worse than he had assumed. Gator, the silly bald president of the club? A murderer? Zak had a hard time getting his head around that. “Maybe it’s better if we just move? Or did they see your face?”

“Lake Valley is my home, Zak. I’ll sort it out. They don’t know who exactly burned down their field, but they know it was probably us three who had the biggest grudge against them. I got a lot of weed from their warehouse, so it will cover most of my debt to the club. The guys who died tonight? Rat became a prospect two weeks ago, and Joe only patched in last month. Not to mention the girl, she was just a hangeron. I can’t stand that it could have been you, or that you even had to see it.” Stitch opened his eyes and cupped Zak’s face. “I never really killed that guy whose house I burnt down, the one who stabbed me. I beat him up, but I couldn’t finish him. Actually… I didn’t want to, you know. That’s not what I want my life to be.”

Zak felt his whole body melt into Stitch, and he nuzzled his cheek with a smile. “I know. You wouldn’t have done that. I knew you just said that to scare me.”

Stitch groaned. “Do I really seem like such a teddy bear?”

Zak shook his head, playing with the dry, long hair. “No, but you’re not a murderer either.” He smiled and brushed his fingers over the middle of Stitch’s chest. “You have a soft center.”

“Maybe because I’m a fag.” Stitch frowned but stroked Zak’s face. There it was again, the language Zak wanted to roll his eyes at.

“No, you’re a masculine gay badass. Killing people is hardly the norm, you know. I wouldn’t have fucked you if I believed that you killed that man.” Zak swallowed hard and cupped the side of Stitch’s face, moving his thumb over the ever-present stubble.

Those words finally brought a hint of a smile to Stitch’s face, and he turned slightly to kiss Zak’s finger. “‘Gay badass’, I like that. I can’t be here until I sort things out though. I can’t have someone come round here someday and attack you. I
would
kill that sonofabitch and go to prison forever. And that you don’t want, right?”

Zak chuckled and hugged him hard, pressing a kiss to the side of Stitch’s neck. “You think that’s gonna last long? A week?” he whispered, already feeling strange at the idea of not sleeping with Stitch for several days in a row.

“I don’t know, baby. It’s gonna get ugly before it can get pretty.” Stitch slipped his palm over Zak’s and entwined their fingers.

Zak bit his lip, raising his head to look at him. “So... where will we meet up?”

“We probably won’t for a while.” Stitch pulled on Zak’s lip piercing with his teeth. “But I’ll try to call and let you know how things are going.”

Zak stiffened and pulled on the folds of Stitch’s hoodie. “Come on, we’re in the same town. Won’t you miss me?” he asked, not sure what to make of this. Was he to wait and see whether Stitch got out of this mess alive?

“Are you kidding me? Of course I’ll miss you. If it’s not risky, we’ll meet up. I need to pacify Captain first. I’m not looking forward to it.”

“Isn’t he your friend?” Zak sighed and pulled closer, pushing his arm under Stitch’s head. “He’ll come around. What do you think he'll say after tonight’s ‘performance’?”

Stitch petted the back of Zak’s head. “Probably a lot. He’s a friend of Straight Stitch. I don’t think he’ll appreciate the gay one much. But I don’t think he’ll out me. I really hope so.”

Zak nodded and kissed the bridge of Stitch’s nose. It was killing him that he could do nothing to help. “Will you let me know? If something’s wrong, give me a shout or come over.”

“I will if it’s safe. Keep Versay fed, yeah?” Stitch gave him a small smile.

Zak shook his head, fighting the clenching feeling around his stomach. “Yeah, yeah, your favorite.”

Stitch kissed Zak once more. “We better move to bed.”

Zak nodded and slowly withdrew from his arms. He unzipped his boots and pushed them down so that he could remove the leather pants as well. He was increasingly agitated. “How long will you stay?”

“A few hours. I’ll go in the morning.” Stitch sat up and got some tissues from the table.

Zak accepted them and briefly cleaned himself up before taking hold of Stitch’s warm hand and leading him away from the living room. They let Versay in and all three of them climbed the stairs. It was surreal how well they could move through the dark house, as if it had been their home for years. Darkness was safe, hiding them from the world, even if just for a brief few hours. Zak watched Stitch climb into bed first, naked, and he joined in, sliding under the thin sheet to feel the warmth of his lover’s body again. He didn’t want to fall asleep before Stitch needed to go, watching the line of fine hairs on his body in the weak moonlight, playing with his coarse mane as worries toppled over him like cold waves. But after they fucked again, he gave up and let Stitch’s scent lull him to sleep.

Stitch was gone when Zak woke up the next morning.

Leaving Zak’s house in the morning was the hardest thing Stitch had done in a while, so to save himself the goodbyes, he slipped out without waking Zak up. He took a shower and packed a bag of essentials. He didn’t bother with the rest of his stuff, since he was planning to come back soon. Soon. It was a vague term for the time being, but Stitch kept it in his heart nevertheless.

In the morning, he also dared to check his phone, where Captain’s text message stabbed his eyes.

‘Meet me at Granny’s at 9’

Captain didn’t even want to talk to him at the clubhouse. The police could still be there, but it also meant Captain wanted to talk one on one. Stitch had no idea if it was a good sign or not, but ten to nine, he parked in front of Granny’s.

Captain’s bike was already there, so Stitch didn’t hesitate and walked in, smiling at one of the owners, who greeted him with a wide smile and presented the cake of the day. He hadn't had any breakfast yet, so it might be a good idea to get his stomach full while he could. He didn’t even want to look for Captain, who was probably hidden away in the deeper corner of the cafe. He ordered his food by the counter and took it himself, spending a bit of time chatting to Maggie. If he were honest with himself, he would admit that he was avoiding having to talk to Captain, but he couldn't stay at the counter forever. He took his food and turned around to face his friend. This wouldn’t be a pleasant morning.

Captain sat, as predicted, in the shadowy corner in the second room of the cafe, with a large black coffee in front of him. His single eye trailed up and met Stitch’s gaze like an ice pick ready to strike.

“Ahoy,” Stitch tried at a joke, but only got a scowl in return as he sat down with two pieces of cheesecake. Captain’s face became even more stern.

“What is this? A fag breakfast?”

Stitch was so taken aback by this notion that he had to re-evaluate his cake. It didn’t look very gay to him. “I don’t know,” he groaned. “I’m just fucking hungry, jeez.”

“Should have taken a proper breakfast, not one that’s suitable for a divorced wife crying over the paperwork,” growled Captain, squeezing his hands over the cup. It wasn’t a good start of the conversation.

“Okay, okay, I get it, you’re pissed. I’ll have some toast if that makes you feel better.” Stitch tapped his fingers on the table as Maggie got him his coffee.

They waited until she went off with the jug, and only then Captain leaned forward, drilling his gaze into Stitch, as if he expected to extract the elixir of truth from him with the look alone. “Since when?”

Cold sweat already beaded on Stitch’s back, and the cakes looked more appetizing than ever. “A while,” he muttered.

Captain sucked in some air and shook his head. “Fuck. I should have noticed how much of a freak he was. Weak, no interest in women whatsoever. It should have been fucking obvious.”

It struck a nerve that Stitch found hard to keep in check. “But it wasn’t, ‘cause he’s not obvious at it.” And Zak wasn’t ‘weak’, just not used to fighting. Like any normal person.

“And what, you just went for it? What can he do that’s so much better than what you can do with a girl?” Before Stitch could even answer, Captain waved his hand in the air with a sneer. “Don’t tell me. I’m gonna fucking puke.”

Stitch grumbled as a waitress brought him a full breakfast with eggs, bacon and toast. He waited till she left to speak. “It’s just blow jobs,” he lied, hoping that would go down better than anything else. He got used to feeling so liberated with Zak that having to deal with actually talking to someone about it was surprisingly uncomfortable. Looked like he wasn’t so liberated after all, and joking about being a ‘fag’ became all too real. He didn’t worry all that much about what Zak thought of him bottoming, because Zak was doing it himself. Zak was gay, he got it. But Captain? Crystal? What would his daughter think if she ever found out? All those questions were falling on his head brick by brick. He was finding out that he himself wasn’t feeling all that good about being gay anymore, now that ‘being gay’ didn’t just equate to having mind-blowing sex with Zak.

“There are plenty of girls who’d love to swallow your dick, so what the fuck’s wrong with you? How did he pull you into this?” Captain leaned in, his brows lowering over his eyes. “Is this fucker blackmailing you?”

“No.” Stitch looked up at Captain, with his eyes going wider. “He’s a friend. It’s not like we do it all the time or anything. He’s got those tats and that lip ring—” He figured it was about time to shut up, so he stuffed his mouth with bacon.

“So get a fucking chick with tattoos and piercings. What the fuck’s your problem? You’re handsome enough,” growled Captain. He had some more coffee, watching Stitch’s plate rather than his face. “Who else is he fucking in town?”

“I don’t know. We don’t talk about shit like that,” Stitch mumbled with his mouth full. As much as he hated Cox’s guts, outing him could provoke Cox to out Stitch in return. Fucking catch-22.

Captain shook his head. “He needs to go.”

“What do you mean?” Stitch hunched over his food. Even with a half-truth of ‘just blow jobs’, or that Zak was the only guy Stitch was attracted to, Captain was already on the edge of doing something stupid. This wasn’t some Kumbaya coming out, this was about survival.

“He leaves town. That’s it,” muttered Captain, tapping his fingers on the table.

Cold sweat was back on Stitch’s skin. “Come on, give the guy a break. I’ll just tell him not to come over. It’s not like he’s a Hound.”

Captain sneered. “He might not be a Hound but he bit one’s balls off apparently.”

Stitch filled his mouth again, but barely had enough appetite left to chew. Was he really all that gay now? He didn’t notice any particular change in himself other than being satisfied like never before in his life. “My balls are firmly attached,” he snapped at Captain.

Captain snorted. “We’ll see about that. Gator’s already planning to get back at the Nails. I hope your knees won’t soften like a little girl’s.”

Stitch wanted to scream in frustration. This kind of shit was exactly why it was so hard to pull out. “My knees are firm, but aren’t Rat and Joe dead enough? We really need more?”

“Are you chickening out?” uttered Captain with challenge in his eyes, and in the same moment, Stitch’s phone buzzed against his hip.

He pulled it out and when he saw it was Crystal, he wasn’t happy at all. Arguing with her was the last thing he needed today. “What?” he asked harshly when he picked up the call.

She sighed into the line, and when she spoke, her voice was worried. “Are you all right? I just heard what happened.”

“Ah, yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just tense here.” It was touching to hear that she cared enough after all that rotted between them.

Captain sighed, relaxing into his chair. He probably heard the female voice. Crystal always spoke loudly on the phone.

“Do you think you could come over? I was thinking maybe it could be good if we talked and you spent some time with Holly?”

“Yeah,” he said before he could give it a second of thought. “Yeah, I’d love to see her.” Stitch just hoped the ‘talking’ wouldn’t develop into an argument, but he could take it if it was the price of getting to see Holly.

“Cool. We’ll be home for the whole day, so come over whenever you have time, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks for calling, I really appreciate it. See you.” He put the phone down only to get back to yet another uncomfortable conversation. “Can’t we just leave the drugs? We’re clearly still not big enough,” he went back right where they finished before. “I’m not chickening out, I’m just being logical.”

“You’re being faggy.” Captain shook his head and emptied his cup without looking at Stitch.

Stitch froze, using all the willpower he had not to slam Captain’s face against the table. Enough was enough. “You’re pissing me off. I’m gonna go see Crystal now, but I’ll come by the club later on and deal with everything that needs to be done.” He drank some coffee and got up, knocking the back of his chair against the empty table behind him. “You can eat the fucking gay cake if you want.”