“Are you ready?” Quinn picked up his gloves and helmet.
“Yeah.” Cade hastily dragged his eyes away from Quinn’s groin. “I’m ready.”
Quinn nodded. “I’m gonna alert the team here and at the club. Remember, you do what I say. If I tell you to duck, you hit the ground fast.”
“This ain’t my first rodeo, cowboy,” Cade drawled. “You ain’t my first bodyguard.”
But I’m gonna be your last!
Whoa, where had that come from? Two weeks, remember? Just two weeks.
“We leave in five minutes,” Quinn said before he said something he’d regret later.
“Okay.” Cade seemed tired, less openly bratty than he was before.
“Do you still want to go out?”
Cade glowered at him. “Is this your way of telling me to stay home?”
Quinn shrugged. “I’ve got the team in place at the club, and Jace is ready to follow us. Whether we go or not is up to you.”
Cade huffed and ran a hand through his hair. “The owner’s a buddy of my manager. He promised him I’d turn up.”
“Your manager arranges your social life?”
“With my PR team. I like clubbing. Everyone knows that.”
Cade had a reputation for burning the candle at both ends. Strada had encouraged it. Made sure he and Cade were seen at the hottest places in town. Now Strada had lost his ticket to the VIP life. Quinn made a mental note to talk to CDR about that.
“Do you ever go to the Daddy clubs?”
Cade gave a quick shake of his head. “Eric said it wouldn’t be good for my reputation. My contract has a morality clause. I’m ‘allowed’ to be gay within reason.”
Interesting. Quinn added that to the list of things to discuss.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Jace waited outside with Cade’s Harley. He rode a high-end Kawasaki. He was a sleek black guy who lived for racing his bikes. An injury had put him out of the pro-circuit, but he still followed it avidly. He and Quinn had been to many meets together. He smiled as they left the house. “Ryder, it’s been a long time, man.”
“Good to see you too,” Quinn said, clasping his leather-clad hand.
He turned to see Cade glaring at him. Uh-oh, Cade was getting all possessive again. Jace had the sense not to say anything, just briefly smiling at Cade.
Cade swung onto the bike and Quinn crowded in close behind him and wrapped his arms around Cade’s body.
“He’s not a boy,” Quinn said in Cade’s ear.
“What?”
“He’s not a boy. He’s not in the scene at all. He’s happily engaged to a lovely woman named Josie and they have a little girl called Lily.”
“What the fuck do I need to know that for?” Cade muttered, but the tension eased from his muscles.
“Because I expect you to respect the guys watching your back.”
Cade stiffened again but he said nothing as they rode out of the gates and headed downtown.
Quinn looked over his shoulder to see Jace on their tail. Jace gave him a thumbs up. He turned back to focus on the road ahead. He didn’t like not being the one in control, but he had Cade in his arms. After a few minutes, Cade relaxed into his embrace. They looked like any couple out for a ride, and for a brief moment, Quinn wished it were true.
Cade
Cade faced forward, furious at himself as Quinn lectured him about respect. The muscle had no right to give him orders. He needed to be stronger than this. He should be the one giving orders, even if it went against every bone in his body.
He really had to get himself under control. He’d never been this possessive of boyfriends before, not even over Eric. Why did Quinn bring out the green-eyed monster in him? He wasn’t in a relationship with Quinn, he was just there to guard his back.
Yet all Cade wanted to do was stay in Quinn’s arms forever. And Quinn, bastard, knew that, or at least sensed it. Cade was just another boy to Quinn, in a long line of disposable boys. Cade gritted his teeth, angry at himself, angry at Quinn, and angry at Eric for treating him like Cade was nothing more than a hole in which to stick his dick.
“Hey.”
Quinn’s exclamation was almost lost in the rumble of the Harley’s engine, but his arms tightening around Cade jogged Cade from his dark thoughts.
“What?”
“Are you all right? You’re shaking.”
He was? Cade hadn’t realized. Then he felt wet on his cheeks. Dammit, he’d been crying. He needed to concentrate on the road. The last thing he needed was to kill Quinn because he was upset at Eric.
“I’m okay.” He yelled the lie loud enough for Quinn to hear.
Quinn said nothing, but he held Cade tight enough for Cade to draw strength from his embrace.
They reached the club without incident. Cade parked outside the front entrance. A line stretched down the block of people eager to get into the newest sensation in the club scene. Cade didn’t have to wait in line. He was a VIP and there to be seen. Quinn got off the Harley and held his hand out to help Cade off the bike.
What the fuck?
Then Cade remembered this was all for show. Awkwardly he allowed Quinn to sweep him off the bike and set him on his feet on the sidewalk. There was an increase of chatter and then cries of recognition as he took off his helmet and shook out his hair.
“It’s Cade Connolly.”
“Who’s tall, dark and dangerous with him?”
Cade wanted to snarl, “Mine,” but then Quinn put his arm around Cade and the urge died away.
“We need to get inside,” Quinn said.
Cade handed the key to Jace and allowed Quinn to guide him across the sidewalk and to the ropes. The doorman moved them aside and they entered the club, the street noise dying away as the door closed.
Tormac nodded at them as they were shown to the VIP floor and to their booth. The rest of the band was already there and, judging by the way Keith was listing to one side, already liquored up.
“Cade! Come here, baby!”
Keith went to wrap him in his usual sloppy hug, but Quinn tugged him back, flush against his body, a leather-clad arm tight across his chest.
Cade gasped and tilted his head, unsure why Quinn had suddenly gone caveman.
“I’m making it clear to whoever’s looking you are mine, okay?” Quinn said, warm breath ghosting across Cade’s ear.
“Okay,” Cade breathed.
“He’s yours, I get it. Now can I give him a hug?” Keith grumbled.
Quinn let Cade go and Keith gave him a half-hearted version of his usual hug. “Sorry,” Cade murmured.
“Nah, it’s cool. It’s good to see you with someone who gives a shit.”
The beer-soaked benediction was balm to Cade’s soul. He just wished it were true.
Quinn slipped in beside him in the booth, their thighs jammed against each other. A waitress arrived to take their order. Cade wasn’t surprised when Quinn stuck with water. He ordered soda as he wanted to ride his bike home. He needed to keep a clear head tonight. All of a sudden he felt tired and wished he’d stayed at home.
“They’re gonna expect me to dance later,” he said to Quinn. “I need to show myself.”
His manager and PR team were always insisting he was visible. He wished sometimes he could say no.