Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 202(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 202(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
“You really made my night, Trig,” Tooth said coolly and stepped back, gesturing with his head. “You’ll have to explain yourself.”
Regardless of how their relationship had ended, Trig taking some honorable fall for him was the last thing El wanted, so he stepped forward and spoke. “It’s my fault.”
The weight of Tooth’s stare made him slouch. “And you’ll pay for it once I have all the details.”
El’s feet grew roots into the ground, and his stomach clenched. He was no stranger to picking fights but also no masochist and would very much like to avoid the guy’s massive fists.
“I made the call. It’s my responsibility,” Trig said, already following Tooth toward the open doors leading into the clubhouse.
“So chivalrous, Trig! You really are one of my favorites,” the blond said with a wide grin.
El’s eyes widened, and his mouth worked before his brain even caught up. “Favorite for what? You’re one of the fuckarounds?”
Tooth stopped and faced them, his stony expression so sharp it could’ve flayed the skin of El’s face. “I suggest you keep your mouth shut. Lucky is the son of our retired president. And my property.”
Trig stepped forward. “Tooth, he’s just nervous, okay? He’d be dead if I didn’t happen to be there!”
“And still, he’s so fucking ungrateful.”
Was El supposed to be grateful? Maybe to Trig, but not to the strangers who’d lured his man away from him.
He stepped back, but Trig’s arm sat firmly on his shoulders and wouldn’t let him get far. “I don’t even know what I’m doing here. We should be halfway to Canada after what happened.”
Tooth met Trig’s gaze, prompting him to answer an unvoiced question.
“He’s definitely staying tonight,” Trig declared without asking for El’s opinion.
Tooth nodded and rubbed his chunky beard. “Lucky, will you get some towels, blankets, and that kind of stuff to Trig’s room while we talk?”
It was impossible to miss the stink eye Lucky gave El, but he didn’t argue and turned, presenting large patches at the back of his denim vest. They read Property of Tooth.
Fuck. Could El not live through one night without offending everyone around him? Sadly, he had a talent for antagonizing people, which had gotten him in trouble more than once, including with his parents back in the day. Instead of staying in the closet like a good little gay punk boy, he’d made a spectacle of his coming out by saying “Jesus was kinda hot”. He would have regretted it if the fallout hadn’t led him to Trig.
Tooth led the way into the clubhouse through a door at the side of the blocky building with thick walls. The music had been loud in the yard, but the volume inside ate up all other sounds, including the frantic beating of El’s heart. He tried not to attract too much attention and instead took in the varied crowd filling up the open space, from the busy pool table to the men engaged in some kind of head-banging contest close to the bar that had been well-stocked with liquor and beer.
But as the three of them made their way through the dusky room, the music came to an abrupt stop, replaced by the dull howl of a microphone that had just been switched on. Several people voiced their dismay at the sudden interruption, but they went quiet when a man with a head of gray hair and a youthful smile that seemed oddly sinister climbed onto a long table, where he sat with a group of bikers his age, and a flock of scantily clad ladies.
Dressed in a long black robe that reminded El of the cassocks worn by some priests, he wobbled on top of the improvised podium, but when his friends stabilized it, he wiggled his thick brows and spoke, “Tooth, my successor! Finally, you join us!”
Tooth raised his hand in greeting. “Maybe later—”
But the man in the robe went on. “Without him, tonight’s anniversary wouldn’t have been possible! You, Tooth, are a man worthy of—and Trig, you might be another queer addition to my flock, but hell, I go with the times, and a brother’s a brother!”
Some of the men gathered around the pool table laughed and raised glasses of whatever they were drinking.
Trig raised his hand and turned, as if he wanted to run off to wherever they were headed, but the former club president wasn’t done yet. “Hey, is that the boy you’ve been stalking? He is not what I expected,” he said, squinting as he wobbled again, prompting a young woman in a sexy goth dress to approach and try to talk him down.
“I’ll introduce you later, Priest!” Trig shouted and pulled on El’s arm, but the comment had put a bullseye on El, and there was no escaping all the gazes lingering on his flesh. He’d had no idea people all the way in Detroit have been aware of his existence.