Nester turned his phone around and asked, “Is this the guy?”
“You know him?” Payton pursed his lips. “See, Pyke. You’re new squeeze is shady as fuck.”
“Shut up and describe the woman he was with,” Pyke said.
Woman? Dreed pooled in Nester’s stomach as Payton described his mother. Fuck. What the hell was going on? Why would Norma Jean be talking to Dublin? Was that how she figured out where Nester was staying?
Pyke and the sheriff looked at Nester.
“What am I missing?” Payton asked.
“The door,” Nester replied. “And if you keep harassing Pyke, I’m going to bitch-slap you.” He crossed the room, but Pyke moved in front of him. “I don’t need the rescue,” he argued.
“No need to get testy. I was leaving.” Payton walked to the back door. “That’s what I get for trying to help you.”
“What the hell is going on?” Sheriff Copache asked when Payton left. “Why would your mother be talking to Irish thugs?”
“I have no idea.” It was the truth. He knew his mother was out there, but Nester never thought she would be conversing with the enemy. Did she even know who Dublin was, or had he approached her under a ruse?
“Let me see the video.” Pyke held his hand out, and Nester gave him the phone.
“I’m going in the other room. I don’t want to see or hear that video again.” Nester was so over people being killed. He was relieved the sheriff wasn’t going to press any charges against him, but Nester still had Dublin to worry about.
He paced the living room, something he normally didn’t do, but found he was doing it a lot at Pyke’s house. No, he refused to believe his mother had anything to do with the thug. She was a lot of hateful things, but not even she would hand Nester over to criminals.
Would she?
Pyke came into the room and handed Nester his phone. “I sent that video to Grayson’s phone before he left. Call your mom and hint around at the guy she met at the gas station. If she’s in on this, I don’t want to tip our hand. If she isn’t, she needs to be warned.”
“Great, now she has something else to hold against me. It’s not like she ever wanted me in the first place.”
“I want you,” Pyke said. “That’s all that matters, sweetheart. If she wants to snub you, then that’s her loss.”
Nester’s heart freaking melted. “Really?”
“Hon, it’s not just about sex between us. I keep telling you that.” He gave Nester a quick kiss. “Call your mom.”
“Do I have to?” Nester didn’t mean to whine, but he really didn’t want to talk to her. He wasn’t in the mood for her disparaging words. Their conversations always made him feel worthless.
Pyke hauled Nester close, curling his arms around him. “Can you do it for me? We need to know if she’s in on this.”
“Asking me to cut my nuts off would be easier,” Nester said. “Lord knows she neuters me every time she opens her mouth.”
“Was she really that bad?”
“You’ve met her, remember?” Nester sighed as he called her, dreading their conversation. “I told you what she did to me and my dad, so yeah, she was that bad.”
Pyke slid in behind Nester and held him as he waited for her to answer. When the call dumped to voice mail, Nester said, “Hey, Mom. I need you to call me.”
He hung up.
“We can try again later.” Pyke let him go and dropped onto the couch.
“What do you mean we? I don’t remember you dialing her number, chicken shit.”
Pyke yawned, and Nester felt the weariness in his bones. It wasn’t just lack of sleep, either. Too much was going on, and all Nester wanted was for the crazy train to slow down and let him off for a while.
He curled up on the couch next to Pyke and rested his head on his mate’s arm. “I think we both could use some sleep.”
“You’re right, and I’m not a chicken shit. I just don’t believe in being rude to my mate’s mother.” He shrugged. “I was raised better than that, and I refuse to lower myself to her level.”
“I’d forgive you if you did.” Nester tucked his feet under him, fighting his drooping eyelids. “She didn’t make my life, or my dad’s, any easier. I think we would have been better off without her.”
Nester felt guilty for saying those words out loud. No matter what kind of person she was, Norma Jean was still his mom. She was far from perfect, but deep down, he loved her.
Very deep down, buried under the painful memories she’d given him.
Chapter Eight
Pyke had put Nester to bed, but as his mate slept, Pyke lay there wide awake, staring at the window as he tried to make heads or tails of what Payton had told him. Why would Nester’s mother meet with Dublin? If Nester was his target, could he be using Norma Jean as leverage?
Pyke and Nester barely knew each other. But hell, Nester was his mate, and that meant everything to Pyke. It was his one chance at true happiness, and that meant Dublin had to be dealt with.
Which meant Pyke would have to go on the hunt, because damn if he was waiting around for the bastard to strike.
But for now, Pyke turned on his side and gazed at Nester while his mate slept, finding comfort in the fact that neither of them would ever be alone again.
“If you keep staring at me like that, I’m going to think you want me,” Nester said with his eyes still closed.
A smile tugged at Pyke’s lips. Never would he have guessed his mate to be such a horndog. Nester just kept amazing him. “I’ll always want you, Nester.”
That statement made him think of earlier, when Nester told him that his mother hadn’t even wanted him. Pyke’s heart hurt for him. That had to be tragic growing up, knowing your own mother despised you.
But Pyke would always let his mate know just what he meant to him, even if their romance was just budding. Pyke had no doubt his feelings for Nester would grow by leaps and bounds.
Nester tossed back the blanket and wiggled out of his clothes. Fuck if that wasn’t a wondrous sight. Pyke smiled at the urgent way his mate was undressing. “Were you getting hot?”
“For you,” Nester answered as a smile played at his lips, his eyes still closed, as if the little imp were pretending to talk and move in his sleep.
Pyke would worry about their problems later. Right now all he could concentrate on was the gorgeous sight right in front of his eyes. All that smooth, pale skin, the needy look in Nester’s eyes when he cracked them open, and the way he was palming his own cock.
That was an invitation in the most blatant form of arousal. His eyes took in the small flare of his mate’s milky mounds as he lay there with his balls centered between his legs. It was the sexiest sight he’d seen in ages. Their kiss was slow, soft, teasing tongues and the brushing of lips. Pyke’s hand went to Nester’s swollen cock, knocking his mate’s hand away, and then Pyke stroked the hard erection gently.
Nester hissed into his mouth, groaning as he punched his hips upward.
When Pyke made no move toward Nester, the small man slid from the bed and knelt before him.
Pyke wasn’t sure what his mate was doing, but seeing Nester stare up at him made Pyke feel godlike. His mate gave a wicked smirk as he reached up and curled his fist around Pyke’s cock. Clear liquid glistened, pearls of pre-cum sitting on the slit.