The flush blooming on Arden’s face was a satisfactory answer, but Mike wouldn’t let it go until he heard the correct words from the pretty lips.
“Nope,” Arden said sternly, but still tickled Mike’s chest with his gaze. “You can put that away.”
Mike blinked. “This isn’t a department store. Nobody would fire you for sleeping with the boss,” he said, even though Mom was the de facto owner of the business.
Arden’s lips parted, and the pink hue reached his ears. “You’re gay?”
“No, but you look my type. Cute and compact. With a nice ass,” Mike teased, taking a step closer while his eyes pinned Arden in place as if he were a butterfly. So he was straight, but nothing about this feminine boy threatened his identity.
Arden squinted and stepped back, hitting the shelves with car lubricants close to the entrance. “And you look like the kind of guy who always gets what he wants. Must be a tough thing to hear, so I’ll repeat. You’re not. My. Type.”
Mike laughed, and the way Arden’s eyes were instantly drawn to his lips told him everything. “You’re lying. We both know I’m everyone’s type.”
Arden shook his head and the flowery smell he carried about him only got more intense, pulling Mike in. It was as if his mind didn’t fully register Arden’s sex. The petite form ticked all of Mike’s boxes, and the rejection made the predator inside him all the more eager for a chase.
“What is it to you if you’re not gay?”
“You don’t look like a guy,” Mike said, his instincts going awry from this confusing situation. His brain kept short circuiting as it flashed images of the glittery nails scraping Mike’s back and the soft lips moaning his name.
Arden’s frown deepened, and he crossed his arms over a chest so flat it might have been pressed with an iron. “I don’t care. I wear what I like and I’m cute the way I am.”
Mike nodded, struck by the allure of the strange creature before him and unable to look away. “How about I get you a drink?”
The boy’s eyes flashed. “No! What the hell?”
Mike noticed one of the tats on Arden’s arms was blurry, as if something had rubbed it off, and then he realized all the colorful patterns, ponies, skulls, and pink sharks were body stickers.
He probably wanted the look but was afraid of pain. How cute.
“Don’t get so worked up, honey pie. No need to play coy with me when we both know you’re not being honest with yourself.”
Mike spotted Kane in the corner of his eye. Too soon. He wasn’t done here. Kane had never exactly been gay-friendly, but maybe Shay had softened him up in that regard as well.
“You’re exactly the kind of guy I’d never date!” Arden exclaimed.
Kane patted Mike on the shoulder. “Not going so well?”
Damn it. “It’s only a matter of time,” Mike said, staring straight into Arden’s huge eyes. They were a pale blue, like tropical waters around a crater about to erupt with burning lava.
Damn, this…person was hot. And the rejection somehow made Mike even more eager to see what hid under Arden’s clothes, whether he’d end up liking it or not. One of his brothers was gay, and so was his sister. What was the harm in a bit of experimenting? It wasn’t like getting into a guy’s pants would keep him from the girls.
Kane shrugged. “Should have told you New Girl’s a bit frigid.”
Arden squinted. “Don’t call me that.”
“How do you know? You wanted to bring Arden into your and Shay’s bed?” Mike asked, eyeing Arden with a smile when he spotted the boy staring at his pecs.
“Only extra dicks in our bed are rubber,” Kane said, waving his heavily tattooed hand. “Enough laughing. Now come, let’s have a drink and you’ll tell me about all the pussy you tapped in Texas.”
There hadn’t been any, for Mona’s comfort, but Kane didn’t need to know that.
“You goin’ with me or what?” Mike tried once more, but Arden spun around without a word, and returned to his duties at the newspaper stand.
“What’s up with him?” Mike asked as Kane nudged him forward and past a car being fueled at the family gas station.
Kane shrugged. “Don’t know really. I thought he was trans or something, but he claims that’s not the case. Why dress like a girl and then claim you’re not one? Burns through my circuits, man.”
The gates into the compound were open during the day, so family and friends, as well as customers of the garage could come and go. Mike left his bike for the prospect to deal with and led the way into the large, elongated courtyard with blocky, no-frills buildings on either side. He used to live at his parents’ bungalow until he was old enough to move out, but since he could remember, the clubhouse had been his real home.
Its smooth, dusty walls were parched by the sun on the outside but thick enough to keep the rooms pleasant without the need for excessive use of aircon. This was where he’d had his first fight, where he’d first tasted liquor, and where he’d lost his virginity. This was where those closest to him all worked together.
It was his place in the world.
The garage was at the very end, to the left, with parking for twenty cars stretching all the way to the boundary of the property, and Mike noticed someone waving at him from there. Leo had been sweating into his overalls since morning, but he was a top notch mechanic, who earned the club a lot of legal cash. Out of all of Mike’s brothers, Mike wouldn’t have pinned him as the gay one. With firm muscles and a crew cut, he was the antithesis of someone like Arden. Then again, Leo’s husband, Zolt, was even more butch, and that didn’t make him any less gay.
But those were the only two gay men he knew, so without a better frame of reference, his mind raced to fill in the blanks about a person like Arden.
“You had a good vacation, lazy ass?” Leo yelled from across the dusty yard. If it wasn’t for the ink adorning his arms, he could’ve been the boy next door all grown up. A wholesome and responsible family man. But no. He had an equally tattooed husband with a past, and lived at the back of a pawn shop.
“Pretty good. Had fun with the mother of your children while you took care of the brats,” Mike said, changing direction to join Leo by the car he was working on.
Leo laughed, wiping some motor oil on his cheek. "They're fuckin' angels, man. When they grow up, I'll be keeping them away from guys like you."
Kane sat in the sunshine outside the garage and yelled for a hangaround to get them some beers. Mike leaned against a side table where some of the tools were laid out, and lit a cigarette, watching Leo pour coolant.
“So… you know Arden?” he asked, watching Leo for a reaction.
“Who?”
Kane snort-laughed. “You know who.”
Leo gave them both a level glare. “Why would you ask me?”
Mike rolled his eyes and filled his lungs with warm smoke. “Because you’re both gay. It only makes sense for you to befriend him.”
Leo groaned. “First of all, I’m not gay, which I told you a million times. Secondly, I’m a married man with kids, who works as a mechanic at a biker club. I’ve got no business befriending a pastel-haired teenager who loves sparklers and makeup. Why do you care anyway?”