Kane sniggered. “Mike’s in love.”
But Mike wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of expressing annoyance and waved off the dumb joke.
Leo raised his eyebrows and stopped working to get a better look at Mike. “What’s this stupid shit about?”
“Mike got the cold shoulder from Arden,” Kane sniggered, accepting one of the beers the hangaround brought over without a word.
Mike took his and pressed the cool, damp bottle to his sweaty forehead. Damn, they really should get some air conditioning in the garage, because the place was an oven, but Dad was too cheap to organize it. “I did not. The boy’s clearly playing hard to get. You saw how he looked at me!”
Leo unzipped the top part of his overalls before tying the sleeves around his waist. “Why were you teasing him in the first place? You’re a grown ass man, so act like one.”
Kane laughed out loud and poked Mike with his elbow. “Gonna let your little brother talk to you like that?”
Mike exhaled the smoke through his nose and had a sip of the cool liquid that made everything better. “I know you’re all about that husband, children, picket fences, and the mother of your children, who also happens to be our sister’s wife, but some of us don’t want to be tied down in modern patchwork families, Leo. I’m too hot to resign myself to mediocrity.”
Kane laughed even harder, but Leo kicked his shoe. “What’s so funny? Your old lady’s a camgirl who made you a step-father to four.” Leo then turned to Mike. “Go and find a different target. Arden’s under Rain’s protection. She brought him here two weeks back, gave him the job, and there you have it. The kid’s got some issues at home or something, and he’s living at the compound for now. Rain won’t say anything else, and Dad’s lips are sealed too.”
Bingo. That was potentially useful information, but it wasn’t like Rain could tell him what was attractive to men. Which left Mike with Leo. Again.
“So what should I do to make him suck me off? Is it true guys do it better?”
Leo spread his arms so fast he spilled some beer down his tattooed chest “The fuck’s wrong with you? Just told you to stay away from the kid.”
Kane had tears in his eyes. “I mean, Leo married one after dating women all his life, so it must be half-decent.”
“Why, is he a minor?” Mike challenged.
That shut Leo down, and he lowered his beer. “No, but—”
“There’s no buts. If he didn’t want to get some, he wouldn’t be making all that effort to look like the finest girl in town. I just need to know how to break through that icy facade.”
Leo rubbed his big nose. “Why do you even—? What? What’s going on here? Because it feels like I’ve stepped into another dimension.”
Kane was eager to fill in the details. “Mike got his ego rubbed the wrong way. He won’t go through with shit. He just wants to know he can. Arden told him he wasn’t his type, and that’s what got him so worked up.”
The reminder was like a brand at the back of Mike’s skull. “I’m just pointing out it’s a complete lie. I’m every guy’s type. Even Leo’s husband tried to get into my pants!”
Leo groaned and had a big gulp of beer. “It was a long time ago. Besides, you’re not Zolt’s wet dream, so get over yourself. He just thought you’d be easy.”
Mike snorted, amused that Leo would think this was a slight. “Everyone knows how easy I am. I just wouldn’t want all that hair touching me, you know. Or does the beard feel good on your balls?” he teased. It was too much of a temptation with Leo, who took everything so seriously.
This time, though, Leo fired right back. “Maybe you should go for Arden after all, give him head, and then ask him. But as I’ve heard, the boy won’t let you anywhere near him.”
Kane downed his beer and grinned with the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, which was surely what had landed him Shay. “Fifty bucks you can’t get the boy to admit he likes you.”
Hell yeah. Of course he could do that. He so loved a challenge.
Mike walked up to Kane and grabbed his hand, shaking it. “Fifty that I can.”
Leo rolled his eyes. “This is gonna end up so badly,” he grumbled, put down his beer, and got back to the work at hand. Just because he resented fun didn’t mean Mike couldn’t have any. Hell, he’d be the gayest straight guy the world has ever seen.
Chapter 2 - Arden
“I’m dying here, Kaley. Withering away.” Arden slurped on his milkshake, enjoying the cool drink not far from the gas station, yet far away enough to be alone. “Next time we meet, I’ll be just a shadow…”
“Wow. That’s a dramatic way to say you’re not fucking anyone. You know you’re supposed to lay low, right? Living in Hawk Springs, the boring shithole, is still better than rotting in prison.”
Arden scowled. Couldn’t he just forget what happened and start a new life? Wasn’t that why he’d come here in the first place?
Only what kind of new life could he hope for in Hawk Springs? There was nothing going on here. Its closeness to Reno, and his sister, Kaley, was this place’s one advantage, because the town itself was a maze of streets with stand-alone houses that looked as if they’d come from the very same factory. Their lawns were dried out, dust spiraled everywhere, and the lone tree within sight had yellowish leaves despite it not yet being time for a change of color. But worst of all, once Arden was done working for the day, he either went back to his tiny room with a mattress for furniture or walked around aimlessly. Maybe he should have crossed state lines after all and hidden somewhere far away instead of relying on a biker club for protection?
“So what? I’m supposed to never get my roots done?”
“Who do you want to beautify yourself for, huh? You’re with an MC, in a town that’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere,” Kaley said, chewing something on her end of the line.
On his trek along the road, Arden got to a lone bus stop with a rusted bench facing the local bank and some industrial buildings obscuring the hills surrounding the town, but it would have to do, since its single park—if the bit of grass could be called that—in Hawk Springs was three miles away. He wished he’d taken his sketchbook so that he could pour all his stifled arousal onto its pages, because the light here was much better than in his tiny room.
“I mean… there’s people. I just want to be presentable.”
People like the stupidly hot biker with a patch announcing to the world his name was Mike. Arden had been replaying their encounter in his head for hours now despite knowing Mike was the kind of man Arden should stay away from. And yet, here he was, trying to distract himself because all he could think of was Mike’s dick spurting cum at the back of his throat.
Which couldn’t happen. Because Arden was done with sex, men, and especially sex with men like Mike. He’d been burned too many times to count.
“Handsome people?” Kaley asked in a low tone. “Much older than you and charming? Is that what this is about?”
Arden sighed, wiggling his feet in the gravel under the bench while the sun scorched his head. He should have worn a hat, but he’d put too much effort into the buns to ruin them.