Scary Read online

  “Time to get your helmet on, Princess. We have a long ride before lunch.”

  “Okay, Uncle Scary.”

  Princess wiggled to get off Elijah’s lap and Tank picked her up to set her on the ground. She took off running as she pulled the hemp tie from her hair letting her hair down. He shook his head as the heavy mass of braids, thread wraps and beads shone under the morning sun before she covered it up with her helmet.

  “She’s so much like Brody at that age.”

  “We know your parents died, wasn’t there anyone else to take Brody?”

  “No, our parents were only children,” Elijah paused. “They weren’t the responsible type—spoiled. I don’t even know why they named me as Guardian in their wills.”

  “So, you took over.”

  “I’d already taken over. Brody was mine from the time our parents brought him home. I was twelve and responsible for him while they continued with their trips and parties. By the end they’d already blown through most of their inheritance and trust funds, and also the college fund our grandparents set up. What little was left over paid off the debts, rented our apartment.”

  “What the fuck were they thinking?”

  “They weren’t. They’d never worked a day in their life and weren’t required too.”

  Tank wanted to wipe the sadness from Elijah’s beautiful face. He stepped away from the car and took Elijah’s hands tugging him off the hood.

  “Okay, how do I do this,” Elijah asked.

  “Tank will get on, you’ll settle in behind him and set your feet on the pegs. Move with Tank. Lean when he leans and all that shit. Just hang on and he’ll take care of you. Relax, this is supposed to be fun.”

  “Okay.”

  “Here, we got you this,” Scary lifted the new helmet off the seat. “You can tell us what you want Tank to paint on it.”

  “Thank you.”

  Elijah softly spoke as Scary set the half helmet with the tinted visor on his mop of curls. Scary secured the chin strap and leaned down to place a quick kiss on Elijah’s lips that tilted into a small smile.

  Tank swung his leg over the bike and settled into the seat, he reached for Elijah’s hand to help him swing up. His man settled in behind him, slim thighs lightly gripped his hips. Elijah’s lean muscled arms twined around his waist.

  “Let’s get going,” Scary bellowed as several bikes rumbled to life.

  Elijah jumped a bit when Tank started his motorcycle, but eased and leaned against his back. He pulled into the lead beside Scary as they headed out of town. Elijah’s long fingers gently stroked his stomach. It still shocked him someone would touch him gently or look at him with anything other than disgust when they saw his face and neck. Maybe he was finally going to get something good after all the hell he’d been through. If so, it was about fucking time.

  # # #

  About three hours later they pulled off at an old-fashioned drive-thru and parked off to the side. He turned off his bike, leaned back into Elijah and then turned to cast his gaze along the line of bikes. Elijah slid his arms over Tank’s shoulders and loosely hugged his neck. He almost flinched when Elijah dragged his lips the length of Tank’s scar and he closed his eyes tight at the unfamiliar sensation of his eyes burning.

  “That was incredible. Thank you, Tank.”

  He reached back to stroke the underside of Elijah’s thigh.

  “Don’t the two of you look fucking cozy,” Scary’s rumbling voice had them both looking up.

  Tank still wasn’t sure if Scary was okay with sharing. He was waiting for something to go down and he’d lose this new set of emotions he was feeling. Admitting what it might be or would turn into scared the shit out of him. He already knew he was attached the beautiful man and he was happy to share him with Scary, but his best friend wasn’t one to play well with others. Over the years he and Scary had butted heads enough to know sometimes their dominant personalities clashed.

  “Princess is starved and isn’t waiting for us.” Scary tilted his head towards the small cement building and Princess already stood in line giving them an impatient glare.

  Elijah lifted on the pegs and swung one leg over to settle on the ground. He wobbled and bit, both he and Scary grabbed an arm to steady him.

  “Takes a minute to get your legs back.”

  “I see that. I’m going to wait with Mi... Princess.” Elijah rose on his toes barely reaching Scary’s chin and quickly kissing the dark stubble.

  They both turned to watch Elijah’s sexy ass as he walked away.

  “I can’t wait to get my hands on that.”

  Tank grunted in agreement. We need to take him on a date just us—Tank signed. Group activities were to get Elijah used to the idea he was in a relationship with two damaged bastards. He knew for innocent Elijah going from barely dating anyone to involved with him and Scary had to be a huge leap of faith.

  “Yea, I was thinking about that on the way here. Next Saturday we can have him over to my house.”

  That would work—Tank glanced towards Elijah who now had Princess perched on his hip—there is a lot we have to talk about.

  “Yea, this baby steps bullshit isn’t exactly our style, man.”

  Tank had to agree. They hadn’t gotten where they were by dragging their feet. He tried to convince himself Elijah was worth taking it slow, but his gut told him if they took it too slow with their man he’d rethink being with them and make an excuse to escape. That wasn’t fucking happening. Elijah Vaughn was theirs and the sooner he realized it the better.

  “We better get over there and buy our boy lunch before he does it himself.”

  Tank nodded and dismounted from his bike. By next weekend their boy would know for sure they weren’t fucking around.

  8 SCARY’S GOING AWAY FOR MURDER

  Scary’s huge fists clenched as he snarled at the three police cruisers lined up across the road from Brawlers. They loved to bust his and Tank’s balls. Their pasts weren’t squeaky clean, sometimes laws were meant to be bent, but to the cops around here being gay was enough to warrant a close watch.

  Tank was inside taking care of an escalating issue which would end only one way, in a brawl. The guys were regulars and they pulled this shit at least a few weekends a month. The anger bang must be worth busted lips and black eyes. The big guy’s twink boyfriend liked to flirt and Scary quickly realized he did it on purpose.

  The rumor was the little guy got off on rough play. Scary was sure they could take care of their kink without fucking up his bar especially with the cops with a hard-on for staking them out.

  He stepped forward and Crave grabbed his arm, “Be nice, boss.”

  “I’m always fucking nice.”

  “We’ll start gathering a pool for bail money.”

  “Fuck you,” Scary grunted and strode across the parking lot, then across the deserted road.

  “Mr. Sheridan, what can we do for you tonight,” Officer Bastard smirked at him.

  Scary resisted the urge to wipe the asphalt with his smug face. “Don’t y’all have better shit to do than sit outside my place all night?”

  “Just keeping the peace, sir.”

  “We can handle our own shit, Officer.”

  “I’m sure you can, but that’s our job not yours.”

  The beeping of his phone saved him from taking a swing. I can’t go to jail, Scary kept repeating it as he checked his phone. A message from his bartender Twitch popped up. His petite bartender was worthless in a fight.

  We’ve got three down. Need backup ASAP.

  He cursed under his breath as he turned away from the cop and calmly made his way back to the bar.

  “Something we can help you—”

  Scary blocked him out as he made it to the doors and shoved them open. He swung at the first fucker who had the balls to come at him. Scary spotted Tank on the opposite side of the room. There was a man attached to his back and he was exchanging blows with another.

  “We don’t get this under co
ntrol I got six assholes with badges ready to storm in,” He hollered to be heard over the crowd as Crave came up on his right.

  “I’ll take the right, you go to the left and maybe we can knock the fuck out of enough of them to get some attention.”

  “It’s a plan.” Scary pushed his huge body into the crowd.

  Someone got in a sucker punch and Scary tasted blood. He grabbed the guy’s t-shirt and just as he was about to send the bastard sailing through the air the deafening clang of a gong froze everyone in place.

  He jerked his attention to the door to find Elijah standing on the narrow counter running the length of the wall near the pool tables a bat in his hands. Scary still had his hands fisted in cotton but he felt a smile pull at the corners of his mouth.

  There stood his man in an expensive three-piece suit, his hair immaculate and looked around the room with a disgusted expression on his cute face. He’d be more pissed if he didn’t see Crave guarding him.

  “Now, I know there’s overabundance of testosterone in this room. If no one wants to be arrested by six very upset police officers heading this way everyone better start acting like they have some sense.”

  Elijah motioned to Crave to be helped down and Scary lost sight of him until the crowd started to part. When Elijah approached he was shaking his head and pulling a handkerchief from his pocket.

  “Lean down,” Elijah ordered.

  “My hero. Now, tell me why I shouldn’t redden your ass for putting yourself in danger?”

  “Crave was there and as I’ve learned, law enforcement isn’t among your biggest fans. I’d prefer not to have to go down there to bail you out.”

  He looked around to see everyone pretending they weren’t fighting minutes before.

  “Ain’t that the fucking truth, can you imagine the gossip the mayor having to bail out one of his hoodlum boyfriends?”

  “I don’t care about that.”

  Scary let Elijah clean his busted lip all the while Elijah wore a disapproving expression. He didn’t understand it but he felt slightly guilty for disappointing Elijah. Oh fuck, this having a boyfriend thing was going to suck.

  “Where’s Tank?”

  “Towards the back near the bar.”

  “Is he injured?”

  “I don’t know, let’s go find out.” He steered Elijah towards Tank when he noticed the cops walking in.

  They looked pissed off as they were smiled at as the whole room waved at them. Scary snorted as he let Crave handle them. They broke through the crowd and Elijah ran right into Tank. The man’s instantly embraced Elijah.

  “Look at you,” Elijah leaned back and turned the cloth around to wipe at the cut above Tank's eye gently. A new scar bisecting the old one.

  Sorry—Tank signed, but the grin on the man’s face ruined it.

  “Save it. You’re like big kids.”

  “What are you doing here? You didn’t call.”

  Elijah barely spared him a glance then turned back to finish cleaning the blood from Tank’s face. “I didn’t think I had to call to see you both.”

  “You don’t, sorry, this nearly got out of fucking hand.” Scary scanned the open room to find his customers lined up around the perimeter. The cops were trying to get answers, but no one was talking.

  “I came by to let y’all know I have to cancel our date Saturday.”

  “Why, decided we’re too much trouble?” Scary ignored Tank’s glare.

  “No, I, um, have a job interview and I have to go out of town.”

  “Where?”

  “Atlanta.”

  “Why do you have a job interview? Someone giving you shit?”

  “No, nothing like that. There’s an LGBT Organization that needs a director. Housing, outreach and counseling for teens in crisis. It would mean some commuting, but I can work from home too.”

  “Are you giving up your job for us?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Come with us,” Scary took his hand and led him down the hallway towards the office. He nudged Elijah into the room and Tank closed the door behind them. “Explain.”

  “You’re being difficult.”

  “Don’t give a fuck, spill.”

  “When I ran for mayor I wanted to make a difference. I’m not exactly doing that. With the new job I can. Now, part of the reason is—”

  “Keep going.”

  “Fine, if we’re going to make a go—”

  “If?”

  “You sound like Landon, do you have to keep interrupting me?”

  “Start talking faster. I’m losing my patience.”

  “You are a pain. Listen, I don’t understand why you two want to date me, but I’m willing to give it a try. To do that, I don’t want to fight with the upper crust of this town. I’m not saying I’m quitting my job now. I still need to go to the interview Saturday afternoon. They wanted to get the entire board together.

  “If I get the job, then I’ll have to meet with the Town Council to give my resignation. They will appoint an interim mayor until a permanent replacement can be elected.” Elijah leaned back against the desk. “I don’t want to fight about this. It’s not going to hurt my feelings to give up the job.”

  “We don’t want to change your fucking life completely. We can deal with you being all proper and shit.”

  Elijah rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

  “What about you,” Elijah asked Tank.

  Whatever makes you happy. I do not want to turn your life upside down.—Tank shrugged and went to sit on the desk beside Elijah.

  “You’re not. Even if we don’t work out. I want to do this.”

  “As long as we’re not fucking up your plans.”

  “I promise. Now, I’m going home.”

  “You won’t even stay for a drink?”

  “I don’t drink.”

  “Then coffee. You can’t show up here and then just leave. Besides you’re bailing on us for our date.”

  “Is this a guilt trip?”

  Scary watched as Tank tapped Elijah on the shoulder and when the man turned to Tank all his friend did was nod.

  “Fine, if you’re both going to gang up on me.”

  “Thought so, but first, I think we’ve been patient.”

  “Wha—what—”

  “You put yourself in a dangerous situation,” Scary closed the short distance just as Tank lifted Elijah off the edge of the desk and placed him between Tank’s muscular thighs.

  Elijah leaned back against Tank’s chest and tipped his head back. The slender column of his man’s throat was exposed and he leaned down to draw the edges of his teeth down Elijah’s pounding pulse. His cock flexed at the submissive move as Elijah leaned his head to the side.

  “You’re sexy as fuck. Tank’s going to take off your jacket.”

  Even as he said it, Scary leaned back to watch Tank remove their boy’s coat, then his vest to expose the pale pink dress shirt. A glazed blue gaze watched him from beneath a thick fringe of dark lashes. He let his gaze travel downward to the bulge pushing at the front of gray pants.

  Scary reached down to cup Elijah and squeezed, the man slim hips jerked forward as Tank started to work on the buttons of Elijah’s shirt. He focused on each inch of perfectly smooth skin exposed.

  “Who do you belong to, boy,” Scary growled.

  Elijah’s cheeks were tinged pink with what he knew was equal parts arousal and embarrassment. The last of the disks slipped free and Tank pulled Elijah’s shirt from his pants. His chest was flushed and his nipples hard.

  “Answer me, every inch of you belongs to who?”

  “I belong to y’all.”

  “Yes you fucking do. Have you ever sucked a cock before, boy?”

  “No—no.”

  “On your knees, boy.”

  He observed as Elijah trembled and stepped away from Tank, then slowly lowered to his knees. The smaller man roughly panted as Scary popped the button on his jeans and then slid down his zipper. He groaned as his callouse
d hand circled his dick, his palm and fingers catching on the bars of his Jacob’s ladder that ran from the length of his shaft.

  “Open your mouth,” He ordered.

  Elijah parted his plump pink lips and he painted them with pre-come, he growled and jerked his hips at the tentative stroke of Elijah’s tongue.

  “Good boy,” Scary praised Elijah and then he looked up to find Tank pushing at the thick bulge in his jeans. Tank’s hungry, heated gaze peered down at Elijah. He understood, there wasn’t anything sexier than their boy on his knees for them.

  Tank stepped up until he feet straddled Elijah’s calves. Elijah automatically reclined back against Tank’s thighs and Scary took another step to bring his cock back into contact with Elijah’s mouth.

  “We’ll start slow, just suck the head and slide down, we’ll work on your gag reflex later. Open.”

  Elijah obeyed perfectly and opened his mouth wide, wrapping his lips around the head. A rumble sounded deep in his chest at the gentle pressure and the ever so slow glide of wet heat suckling. “Perfect.”

  “Boss, Boss, we’ve got a problem out here,” Crave’s voice had him cursing.

  “What the fuck do you want? It better be good. If not, I’m going away for murder tonight,” He bellowed as he looked down to find Elijah with his forehead resting on his thigh and his face was scarlet.

  “Um, probably not a good thing to say with the cops standing out here.”

  “We’ll be out in a minute.”

  “Oh fuck, sorry, boss.”

  “You’re gonna be. Tank, get him dressed and take him to the bar for his cup of coffee.”

  Tank nodded as he helped Elijah to his feet.

  “I’m sorry,” Scary leaned down and kissed Elijah gently. “Tank will take care of you while I talk to the fuckers and then I’ll join you, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  He tucked himself back into his jeans and winced as he eased the zipper up. As soon as he saw a badge his hard-on would be gone. He made sure everything was put right and Tank put himself between Elijah and the door. Scary unlocked the door and pulled it open.

  “What?”

  Crave lowered his eyes to the ground. “They want to talk to you for a few. I think the fuckers want to make a report.” Crave whispered. The other man’s eyes widened as he looked passed him to notice Tank and Elijah.