Sex & Mayhem 02 The Devil's Ride (11 page)

Tooth snorted, but on the
inside, he had to stifle the anger
bubbling up. “You brought him here. You promised to talk to him and
help him, but so far you did neither. You had him help
you
get some drugs back, and that’s
about that.”

Priest finally looked back at Tooth. “He knows where
he stands.”

Tooth shrugged. “Does he?”

“Yeah, you told him, right? He’ll stay with you, go
to school, get his own room when he cleans up his act.”

Tooth gritted his teeth and rested his right ankle
on the knee of his other leg not to get up and yank Priest by the
collar. “You’ve taken a neglected teenager who was forced into
prostitution after his mother blew her brains out from the one
place he knows. You have me babysit him, you keep him here by
force, and you won’t even talk to him? Aren’t you his father?”

Priest finally shut up and chewed on those words for
a long time before answering. “I don’t know what to say to him. He
seems like this little brat who just does everything to annoy me.
I’m afraid I’ll just smack him if he doesn’t behave next time.”

Tooth’s chest deflated as all air left his lungs.
Priest might be a good father to his other two children, but even
imagining Priest’s fat fists on someone as small as
Luci
fer had him
cringing. “What gives you the right to slap him? You didn’t even
raise him.”

Priest leaned over the desk with a groan. “But
he’s here now. If he opens that dirty mouth of his when I’m nearby,
I’ll have to do
something
.”

“Like what? You’re not exactly the ideal churchgoing
and full-time working father of middle America yourself.”

Priest pursed his lips. “But he’s
my
son. The guys won’t respect him
if he keeps doing that.”

“
Doing
what
?”
growled Tooth.

“
Talking about his past, showing off about how much
of a little boy-slut he is. It’s
— just no.” Priest slammed the desk with his
palm.

Tooth sneered. “Maybe he’d stop provoking everyone
if you actually made him feel like he’s wanted for once.”

“
Oh, so it’s my fault? We looked for him. You know
that. He
chose
to
disappear!”

“Yeah, it is your fault. Of course it is,” said
Tooth, looking Priest straight in the eye. “I ran away from my dad
as well. I know.”

“I didn’t do anything to him. He grew up like this
on his own.” Priest’s frown got so deep his eyebrows almost
met.

“
That’s exactly why. A boy needs a father growing
up, and you weren’t there. I know you weren’t because I was already
with you back then. You screwed up so now you need to mend what you
did, or
didn’t do
for
that matter,” muttered Tooth.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Okay, okay, I’ll tell him
what’s going to happen with him now. The only gay guy I’ve ever
known was that hairdresser they had at the salon last year. What do
I say to him?”

Tooth counted to ten and pulled on his beard. “How
is being gay relevant? He could as well be an addict, or whatever.
Just a lost kid, that’s what you should think of him. Show him that
you want to get to know him, I don’t know, play fucking pool with
him tomorrow, or something. If you’re his father, act like one,”
growled Tooth, folding his arms across his chest.

“I’ll try something. It should shut up Bell as well
I suppose.” Priest took a deep breath as if it were some tough
ordeal he’d agreed to.

“Do that.” Tooth swallowed, not sure whether he
should tell Priest everything he thought, but he supposed it
couldn’t harm his cause. “He seems like a nice kid when he doesn’t
feel like he has to fight everyone.”

“Maybe I could give him a job at the bar, or taking
calls at the service station, so he feels he has something to do.
But I’ll talk to him, fine.”

Tooth let out some air and cleared his throat. “If
he needs punishing, I’m the one to do it, yeah?”

Priest raised his bushy eyebrows. “Good cop, bad
cop, huh?”

Tooth stroked the tip of his index finger over the
nail on his thumb, thinking of his own father, who was now
hopefully six feet under. “Don’t want him to hate you.”

Priest got up and held his hand out to Tooth.
“Thanks, Tooth. I mean it.”

Tooth shook Priest’s hand. “He’ll come ‘round,
you’ll see,” he said, getting up.

“Send him up to me before the party.”

“
Will do. I know you can be a good father,” said
Tooth as he went for the door. He didn’t wait for an answer,
leaving Priest to his own thoughts, pretty happy with himself.
There were some people in the yard, already drinking, but most of
the guys were still preparing everything in the common rooms, from
rolling
in kegs of beer,
to moving furniture.

“Hey, Tooth! Come give us a hand!” Milk yelled from
afar where he was moving the pool table with Bell.

Tooth walked over and grabbed it on one of the
sides, pulling the heavy thing up. “That went well today,” he said
as they maneuvered the table to another corner.

“At least the boy proved some kind of useful,” Bell
said and picked up the pool table on the other side.

Milk snorted as they lowered the table to the floor.
“I bet the guys at Vanilla Lounge know how useful he can be.”

Tooth stared at him, squeezing his fingers on the
edge of the table. He opened his mouth to speak, but Bell was the
first to lose his shit.

“What did you fucking say about my brother?” His
eyes were wide open, and he was already making his way to Milk, who
began circling the table with his hands up.

“What the hell? Luci says it himself!”

Tooth smirked, deciding not to break this up until
it was absolutely necessary. For once it wasn’t him who needed to
lecture Milk for his foul comments.

Bell opened his mouth, showing clenched teeth and
gums. He looked ready to breathe fire through his nose. “Then we
teach him not to say it, you stupid fuck,” he growled and pushed at
Milk’s chest.

“He’s gay, he’s gonna give head, so better get used
to it!” Milk pushed Bell back despite being significantly
smaller.

Bell growled. “He’s not.”

Tooth dragged his hands down his face.

Milk laughed unpleasantly and grinned. “You believe
that? That guy is more cock-hungry than any of the girls coming
tonight.”

And just like that, he got a fist in his face. It
sent him tumbling to the floor, followed by Bell, who growled like
a dying tiger.

“Bastard!”

For a moment, Milk’s eyes strayed to Tooth, who
decided he wouldn’t move yet. Milk had brought this upon
himself.

“I was just messin’!” Milk screamed, trying to push
Bell off but was more focused on protecting his head.

“You should know when to stop messing around,” said
Tooth, walking over to ultimately break the fight apart, but he was
taking his time, watching every well-deserved blow.

Bell huffed over Milk, his muscles tense and stiff
as he shook his victim. “I will set him straight, so stuff your
fucking comments up your ass.”

Tooth could already see brother-bonding time would
be a disaster, but this wasn’t the time to bring it up. “That’s
enough, ladies,” he said, putting his hand on
Bell’s shoulder.

Bell shrugged it off, but slowly got up.

“Am I interrupting something?” Tooth didn’t have to
turn around. Not only did he know the voice, but the sound of
jingling bangles always accompanying Dolly was a dead giveaway.

“Nah, just a misunderstanding over pool,” he said,
slowly turning around to face Dolly, who looked even more like a
witch now she was all made up for the party.

Bell
shrugged. “Hi, mom.”

Milk got himself off the floor, groaning and holding
on to his stomach. “Good evening, Dolly. Tooth? I’ll be going,” he
muttered and was quickly dismissed with a gesture.

“I was just wondering, Milk. Tooth doesn’t have
family, does he?” she asked before Milk could flee.

Tooth’s stomach clenched. Here it was. The sneaky
interrogation. He laughed. “I’m right here, Dolly.”

Milk stood still looking unsure where to go.

Dolly put her hands on her hips. “I’m just asking
out of confusion. You said to me you brought an informant
yesterday, but Priest told me he’s your cousin. I’ll be doing the
groceries. Have to know how many mouths there is to feed.”

Tooth sighed and scratched the back of his head to
give himself a few more seconds to form a comprehensible answer.
“He is my cousin, but he’s also an informant. It’s thanks to him
that we got some stuff back. And if you want to feed him, I’m sure
he’ll appreciate that. He’ll be staying here with me for some time
until he stands on his own two feet.”

“He’s staying with you?” Milk snorted but one look
from Tooth made him rush away with a slight limp.

“I’d love to meet him soon. You’re like a son to
Priest, so your cousin is family.” Dolly’s black lips gave him a
smile.

Tooth nodded. “He’s gonna be at the party. You’ll
notice him
—skinny,
blond, long hair.”

“
I’ll be on the
lookout,” she said and walked off with a tap to Tooth’s
shoulder.

Bell sat on the pool table, blowing air over his
knuckles.

“
He deserved it,” said Tooth before going off
toward his room. He could only hope there would be ways to tame
Bell’s eagerness to turn Luci
fer into a copy of himself.

Back in the room, Lucifer’s few possessions were
neatly stacked on the shelves Tooth let him use, and the bed
Luci
fer had on the
mattress was tidied up and covered with a comforter. He’d even made
Tooth’s bed as well. Lucifer wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but a
steady sound of hair brushing came from the bathroom. Tooth’s mouth
tingled, and he let himself smile as he closed the door.

“
Luci
fer, I’m back. Thanks for making the bed.”

“
There’s only so much I can do,” came from the
bathroom. Luci
fer’s
shadow danced on the wall, all slim and taller than the boy
himself.

Tooth slowly walked over to the bathroom and looked
inside. “Getting yourself ready?”

“Yep, wanna look presentable even if all I get is
slurs.” Lucifer shrugged and looked over his shoulder with those
pretty blue eyes that didn’t belong on someone with such a dirty
mouth.

Tooth cut his train of thought when it went
somewhere even dirtier and smiled. “You’re gonna be fine. I’ll have
someone at your side at all times. The guys just aren’t used to
people who aren’t like them.”

“
It’s a nice way to say ‘you’ll be watched’, huh?”
His hair did look nicer now that he used a proper brush on it. When
he turned around, Tooth stilled. Luci
fer’s vest top had a palm tree print and ‘I love
long, romantic walks on the beach. And anal.’

Tooth couldn’t stop staring as adrenaline rushed to
his brain while vast amounts of blood sped to a different place
altogether. “You can’t wear that.”

“Are you the fashion police now as well?” Lucifer
frowned and crossed his arms on his chest. When tensed, they were
slim, but not all that skinny after all. Tooth ignored them and
focused on Lucifer’s face instead.

“No, but it won’t help you making friends down
there. Wear something more neutral.”

“They all know I’m a fag, might as well be upfront
about it.”

“You need to ease them in,” said Tooth, stepping
closer. “I can help you choose another shirt.”

“
I could
ease
you in.” Lucifer looked up at Tooth with a silly
smile.

Were this any other situation,
Luci
fer would be on the
bed within seconds. But things were as they were, and all Tooth
could do was dismiss the crude advances. “I think I need to
introduce some more rules because you can’t act like that. It’s not
helping you here.”

“I didn’t ask to be here. This is me.” Lucifer
spread his arms in a gesture of provocation. God, did Tooth have
his work cut out.

“Look, I am not your enemy. Can you do what I ask
you to and change your shirt?” he asked, combing his fingers
through his hair.

Lucifer exhaled deeply, and for a moment Tooth
didn’t know what he would do, but Luci
fer finally pulled off his vest showing off the
pink nipples that just begged to be pinched. He passed Tooth all
too close when he went back to the bedroom. “So what other rules do
I have, huh?”

“There was this ‘no provoking’ rule that you keep
breaking,” said Tooth, following him back into the room.

“
I’m hardly provoking you, am I? You already kicked
me out of your bed.” Luci
fer leaned over to a shelf and grabbed a T-shirt. Thank
God, it turned out to have a band print.

“You know very well what you’re doing. And this is a
good print, your dad likes that band,” he said, even though Priest
would most likely be moderately interested at best.

The sincere smile it got Tooth made him kinda regret
that what provoked it was a lie. “He does?”

Tooth forced himself to smile. “I think that’s the
one. The Hangmen. Your
dad actually asked me to bring you to his office so you two
can chat. He’s just not very good at dealing with all
this.”

“Haven’t you already told me everything?” Lucifer
pushed his hands into his pockets.

Tooth sighed and, after a brief moment of
hesitation, rustled the silky hair on Luci
fer’s head. “I’m sure he didn’t want all this
happening to you. Give him a chance.”