On Your Knees, Prospect (Kings of Hell MC 3)

They both stood up, and a moment later the rich insides of the cake were revealed. They each took a piece and fed one another, with Beast’s face ending up with a chocolate smudge, which couldn’t have been incidental. A sweet kiss sealed the deal and had the guests cheering, but everyone already started gravitating to the front of the room, eager to get a piece of each of the cakes.

In the crowd, Vars disappeared from Jake’s sight, but it wasn’t like they were attached at the hip. “Can I have two pieces?” Jake asked Nao, who’d taken over the cutting duties from Beast. The cake was quickly disappearing from the box, but it was everything Jake would have loved for his own celebration. A big fat tire infused with chocolate and sugar.

“Greedy!” Nao scolded him but didn’t seem offended.

“No! It’s for the ghosts.”

Nao winked at him as she put two massive slabs of cake on the plastic plate with pretty grooves on the edges. Jake was about to walk back to his seat when his gaze met Gray’s. In his black funeral suit he looked much sharper than most of the other guys, and he’d even used a golden pin on his tie, to not look all black-and-white, which was a problem considering that even his hair was in grayscale.

“You must be hungry. Or is the second slice for someone else?” Gray asked through the chatter and music. Kids were running around, eager to get their hands on the dessert, creating a lot of distraction in the process, but Jake still caught his friend’s words loud and clear.

Jake laughed, and pointed to the ghost table. “Can’t leave ‘em hanging, right?”

Gray glanced that way. “I wouldn’t disturb them,” he said and started to walk in a way that indicated that he expected Jake to follow.

Jake wasn’t sure if Gray was serious, or if that was one of his deadpan jokes. “Wait, you don’t really believe this ghost stuff, right?”

Gray slowed down, walking through the busy room with the grace of a cat. “If Laurent believes it’s important that ghosts have a space of their own at his wedding, then I’m not going to mock him for that,” Gray said, eventually sitting down on a small sofa by the wall. It provided him with an excellent view of the whole party. It was close to midnight, which meant that the kids who still remained awake were about to be put to bed, and Lizzy would set up to play with his band once everyone had filled their stomachs with cake.

Jake stuffed his face as soon as he dropped next to Gray, and he stayed silent for a while, wondering how to crack open the topic. “Soo… do you believe in the paranormal or not?”

Gray looked contemplative. “What if I do?”

Only then it struck Jake that maybe his question was out of line. After his brother’s death, Gray had surely wondered about the afterlife much more than Jake had. “That would be okay. You know, there’s stuff out there that we can’t explain.” Like turning into a fucking gargoyle.

Gray’s lips crooked, and he patted Jake’s shoulder. “How are things? We hardly had a chance to speak in the past two weeks.”

“Oh, you know. So busy with the wedding. I never thought so much stuff would be needed, so Vars and I kept getting jobs to do, errands to run… I’m really sorry I’ve been missing practice. You know I want to get better.”

Gray fed on some more cake, and his forehead wrinkled slightly. “I’m just surprised. With one more prospect around, you should have less work, not more of it.”

Jake started eating faster, even though his stomach curled with worry that Gray could have witnessed something he shouldn’t have. He moved like a cat, so it was possible he’d walked in on them and backed out without anyone noticing. “Err… Yeah. It’s weird.”

“Once you’re patched in, there will be new prospects to do the dirty jobs. We have candidates in mind already. Are you happy that it shouldn’t be long now?”

Jake’s muscles stiffened when he thought of someone else taking over jobs he’d been doing for years now. The routine was a part of his identity. “Sure I’m happy. I’ve been waiting for this so long.”

Gray nodded, slowly shoveling cake into his mouth. “It’s gonna be a big change for you. Once you have that patch on your back, you’ll have the same rights as everyone else, and your decisions will influence everyone. You are young, but so were Mike and I when we joined. Everyone needs to become independent at some point, and I think you’re ready, Jake.”

“Looking forward to that pay rise,” Jake said, but the expectant look it got him made the smile drop off his lips. “I guess I am nervous. But I really want to be a part of it all. I’m trying to be more serious about it. This club is everything to me.”