Sex & Mayhem 02 The Devil's Ride (16 page)

“Yeah, California. Hot sand on beautiful beaches,
palm trees, cute surfer dudes…”

“Now I’ll know where to look for you.”

Luci blinked a few times, hardly believing he’d
given away so much intel so easily. “Hey! So unfair. I was sharing
here! I suppose I could give up my job for a while…” he groaned in
the end.

“You know, you will be paid if you work at the
clubhouse. How about that?”

“I’d like that…” Luci grabbed a strand of Tooth’s
hair. It was so coarse and dry. He’d love to make Tooth condition
it.

Tooth growled. “Is there something wrong with
it?”

“Touch mine, feel the difference.”

There was hesitation on Tooth’s face, but once he
got over it, his moves were decisive. He pulled on a strand of his
own hair while gently tugging on one of Luci’s. “Hnn.”

“I could advise you what to use. If that’s not too
girly for a big bad biker.” Luci laughed.

“As in, try a different shampoo?” grumbled Tooth,
his fingers still stroking along the strand of Luci’s hair.

“Yeah, you’d need a whole treatment. I could find
out what to do with your beard as well.” With the bruises still
fresh over his body, Luci would never expect he’d have such warm
feelings for Tooth, but he couldn’t stop himself from thinking the
big bad biker wanted to help him in his own way.

Tooth frowned. “A ‘treatment’? I haven’t been to the
hairdresser’s in years, and I don’t want to.”

“Well, you won’t have to if I learn how to do it,
huh?” Luci’s heart already fluttered with excitement at the thought
that he could be useful.

Their eyes met, and Tooth eventually gave Luci a
weak nod. “I guess. Just don’t make me smell girly.”

Luci turned his back on Tooth to hide the flush
creeping up his face. “I won’t. I like your cologne.”

He didn’t expect Tooth’s heavy arm
to pull him back. “So, how is
it gonna be? Can I trust you?”

Luci’s heart skipped a beat, and he leaned against
Tooth’s chest, molding himself to the bulky body. It felt as if he
were made to be there. The fact that Tooth wasn’t interested in him
sexually actually had him feeling safer, even if a bit melancholic.
He could enjoy Tooth’s company without having to worry about waking
up to a dick up his ass. One of many reasons he never trusted
anyone enough to sleep in a bed with them. Maybe he wouldn’t be
such a coward if he were bigger, but he had to be realistic about
his strength.

“You can trust me,” he said breathlessly.

“Promise me you won’t run?”

Luci hugged the strong arm that didn’t seem at all
like a threat. “I promise.”

Tooth sighed. “Good. I want you to learn how to
behave in a way that makes people respect you. If you lie, I will
spank you like a little lying brat. Same happens if I find your
behavior lewd. Do you understand that?”

“I want to be able to be myself. I can’t change into
some preppy boy.” Luci was afraid kneeling in front of glory holes
had changed him forever. He would never be normal.

“I’m not telling you to do so. What I want is for
you to have normal relationships with people. You can’t just
proposition everyone.”

“I’d have to lie though. No one will want me
otherwise.” Luci squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t understand why
Tooth cared to listen to him, but he would take whatever attention
Tooth wanted to give. But in the dark room, in the cocoon of a warm
comforter with Tooth’s arm to top it, he felt safe enough to say
it.

It took Tooth several seconds to answer. “Why would
you say that? Not everyone lives in the past.”

“I don’t wanna think about it, okay?” He was only
getting upset. Life was what it was.

“About what? You have your life ahead of you,”
insisted Tooth, hugging Luci closer.

“I’ve just been taking it one day at a time.” He
liked how firm Tooth’s arm felt, how secure and grounded it made
him feel.

“You don’t have to anymore. We’ll keep you afloat,
you can finish school, and think about your future.”

Luci clung to the arm around him, holding back his
tears. It was all too much. Too much thinking, too many memories.
Even with his dad despising him and his brother hating him, it
seemed that he could count on Tooth. For once, he wouldn’t have to
do everything on his own. He took deep breaths trying to calm down.
He’d already proven himself to be a crybaby.

The big, warm body pulled closer. “It’s all right.
You’ll be fine.”

Luci couldn’t take it anymore. A deep sob escaped
his throat. It was all Tooth’s fault. He kept doing that to him.
Rick never got so deep under Luci’s skin, and they’d known
each
other for months.
It was as though the guy knew all the right words to unlock Luci’s
emotions. In the last two days, Luci had cried more than in the
last year. First from the spanking, then because of that damn
brush, the beating on the hands, and now this, more compassion from
a stranger than from his dad. Tooth somehow knew what to say, and
despite being angry about the plan to escape, about blowing Milk,
he still didn’t seem judgmental. Lucifer curled into a ball,
hugging Tooth’s arm and sobbed again.

But this time, Tooth didn’t say anything more. He
just pulled Luci even closer. When he rested his head on Luci’s
arm, and some of that coarse hair fell to brush against Luci’s
skin, it felt like being touched by an angel... or some shit like
that. Tooth was no angel.

He didn’t judge Luci though. He let him cry his eyes
out, held him close until Luci fell asleep, too exhausted and on
the verge of a headache. No one would hurt him if it was Tooth
guarding him.

Lucifer was energetically sweeping the floor with
a broom, gathering all
the trash left by last night’s crowd. The lounge by the bar
was pretty empty, with only a few hungover guys still lingering.
After trying to weasel out of his punishment in the morning, he
eventually accepted the ball gag and was now cleaning up like a
good boy. Three hours into his punishment, and despite the
drooling, he was going strong, getting everything in order without
slacking off.

Tooth watched him from behind the book he was
trying to read, but every time he finished a
page, he would realize he didn’t even
remember what happened to the characters, too absorbed by the boy
in front of him. Yesterday’s events kept replaying in Tooth’s head,
taunting him with images of Milk cynically using Lucifer’s resolve
to flee, of Lucifer showing his vulnerable side and breaking down
crying in Tooth’s arms. When they lay in bed together, it was as if
all the walls Lucifer had built around himself suddenly crumbled,
leaving him with no protection whatsoever. Tooth knew he’d be
filling that void, even though it made his jaw clench.

Twelve years ago, he
’d promised himself he wouldn’t engage in anyone’s
problems ever again. He wouldn’t take care of any lost souls, but
now he could already see that he was back at point A. No one was
willing to take care of that poor kid, clearly damaged more than
he’d let on, not even Priest, the kid’s father. And now that
Lucifer was here, Tooth knew he couldn’t just watch him breaking
apart. Even thinking of it made him physically ill.

And speaking of people breaking apart, he saw Milk
passing through a back corridor, slow as if he were a zombie, pale
and trembling. That would teach him not to mess with
Luci
fer. Tooth would
still have an eye on him though, make sure he didn’t drink and
followed the rules.

As Lucifer was cleaning the bar counter, Blitz sat
nearby and made comments too quiet for Tooth to hear. By the way
Luci
fer groaned and
rolled his eyes, it couldn’t have been anything nice.

Tooth closed the book with a loud clap. “Is there a
problem?”

“Nah, just wondering what this was for,” the
prospect laughed and poked the little padlock on the side of
Lucifer’s gag.

Tooth slowly stood up, putting his hands into the
pockets of his pants. “He’s not a monkey at the petting zoo.”

Blitz had more sense of self-preservation than Milk
did yesterday and put his hands up in an apologetic gesture. “Okay,
okay.”

The way Luci
fer looked up at Tooth with those big blue eyes, gag in his
mouth, made blood stir below Tooth’s belt. This really was the last
thing he needed.

“
Could you get me some coffee?” he asked as
neutrally as possible. He needed to get his eyes off Lucifer for at
least a moment. This boy
was
such a honeytrap. Tooth wanted to put his hands all over
him and make him sticky, but he doubted Priest would let him stay
vice president after that.

Luci
fer
smiled with his eyes and walked off. It was nice to see him not
that angry about the gag anymore.

“Hey, Tooth! You’ve seen Milk?” Bell yelled from the
corridor, and when Tooth looked around he noticed Priest as
well.

Tooth leaned against the wall and waved at them.
“Yeah, but he’s totally hungover. Why?”

“Wondering if he’s up for a chat.”

Priest sat down at one of the pristine clean tables.
He actually swiped his hand over the tabletop and raised his
eyebrows. “It was nice to get the powder back, but we need to find
out about Suzy.”

Tooth shrugged. “I agree. She could be held by one
of our rivals, and that may cost us.” He looked at the tabletop,
oddly proud of Lucifer. Those tables hadn’t been this spotless...
pretty much ever. “What does Milk have to do with it?”

Bell raised his eyebrows. “He usually goes with us.
You know this. Not to mention he visits the Vanilla Lounge every
now and then.”

Priest cringed at the mention of the strip joint,
and Tooth frowned. “How do you know that?”

He didn’t.

Bell yawned and stretched. “He spilled the beans
to me yesterday. He was going there apparently ‘cause it was far
away, so no one would know. Without the cut,
incognito.
”

Tooth bit the inner side of his cheek. “Whatever.
Not my business. Take him, I don’t think I can make it today, and
it’s just to see what’s going on there anyway.”

Priest opened his mouth to talk, but then just
stared over Tooth’s shoulder. Bell blinked as if pepper
had fallen into his eyes. When
Tooth turned around, he saw Lucifer approaching them with a coffee
and whole fistful of other stuff.

He put the mug in front of Tooth, along with the
little packets of sugar, sweetener
, and creamer. Next to it, he put a napkin that
stated: ‘I wasn’t sure what you like it with’.

Tooth stared at him, resisting the powerful urge
to just pet the boy. “Thank you, that’s very considerate,” he said
in the end, giving Luci
fer a wide smile.

Priest cleared his throat, staring at the gag. “Do I
want to know?”

Tooth shook his head and looked at his friend.
“Luci
fer’s doing a
pretty good job with the cleaning, isn’t he?”

Bell rubbed his forehead as Lucifer turned red and
walked off quickly. “What the fuck are you doing, man?” he
groaned.

“I trust Tooth, so let him do what he thinks he
needs to do,” Priest said.

“It’s punishment,” answered Tooth. He looked at his
watch.

“
Christ, what did he do?” Bell leaned over the
table, watching his brother give the leather sofa in the back a
thorough scrub. Tooth was kinda impressed that
Luci
fer touched the
sticky old thing out of his own free will. It was the kind of
furniture Tooth wouldn’t advise women to sit on in case they got
pregnant.

Priest sighed and got up. “Why are you so
persistent? Let it go.”

Tooth smiled. “You can ask Luci
fer when he can speak again.”

“I’ll talk to you later,” Priest told Tooth and
walked off with a yawn.

Bell frowned. “Is it something messed up? You can’t
just do these things to him, I don’t care what Priest says about
it.”

Tooth blinked, staring at the young man he’d known
for years. What
had
gotten into him all of a sudden? “I’m not doing anything that could
possibly hurt him, trust me on that.”

“
Well, he doesn’t look all that happy to me.”
Bell’s frown deepened as they both watched Luci
fer scrub the sofa in the far off corner.
To be fair, Bell was probably looking at Lucifer as a whole,
whereas Tooth couldn’t help but watch the ass in those skinny
jeans.

“That’s why it’s called punishment. He will behave
next time.” Tooth knocked his fist against Bell’s arm. “He’s a big
boy, so he needs a crash course.”

“I know I wanted to kick him out just two days ago,”
Bell lowered his voice. “But I just can’t fucking stand the thought
that my little brother is somewhere out there sucking cocks for
money. I mean, what the fuck?”

Tooth stared at Bell, who must have done a lot of
thinking in the last two days. It was quite impressive. “He’s a
sweet kid. And I think he needs an older brother.”

“I was thinking maybe he was in it for the money,
and he’ll get normal when he’s around the club.”

Tooth stayed silent for a moment. He did believe
that people could consciously choose prostitution, for kicks, or
just considering it a valid source of income, and there was nothing
wrong with that. But a teen couldn’t make a conscious decision
about those things, especially one as vulnerable as Lucifer. “You
know he’s gay, right?”

Bell groaned and leaned back in his chair, crossing
his arms. “I suppose. But I don’t want him to hang out with some
creeps. I keep comparing it to some sleazebag groping Asty or some
shit.”