Jake groaned and sank deeper into Vars’s arms as Knight stormed out. Jake couldn’t even feel angry, because the real issue for Knight was surely the one under his gloves.
Vars’s arms were so steady Jake would have let him hold him over a cliff without fear. In the end, the smooth hair of his beard rolled over Jake’s forehead, and they eventually pulled apart.
“Let’s finish up those donuts and go downstairs,” Vars decided.
Only then the truth dawned on Jake like an anvil falling from the sky. “Fuck. Me. How am I supposed to sit on my bike for nine hours?”
A tug on the collar made him look up to meet Vars’s warm gaze. Something inside him fluttered.
“I’m sure you can do that for me, boy.”
Jake bit his lips, suddenly floating on the wings of butterflies. “Yes, sir.”
Chapter 24 - Vars
The last thing Vars wanted to hear after nine hours on the road was the all-too familiar thumping of loud music coming from the building. He could practically feel the ground vibrate under the wheels of his bike when they drove along the stretch of the facade. At night, the entire structure was like a huge dragon—asleep yet still watching the world with some of its many eyes open, and dreaming of orgies.
When Vars had introduced Jake to impact play last night, he hadn’t expected that they’d be riding home on the very next day. Despite his worries, Jake endured the pain with a smile, and Vars would make sure the boy was rewarded with a soothing bath and rest. Having already decided he would take on all their chores tonight, Vars hoped Knight would take his time discussing everything they’d found out with the other patches.
But when Vars saw a sign reading ‘Happy Birthday Knight’ and balloons above the open entrance of the garage, he knew this evening would not go as he’d hoped. Knight was a great guy, but if there was something he loved as much as he did Elliot, it was parties.
When Knight parked his bike, his boyfriend was already there, planting kisses on his helmet and climbing his back before he could even dismount his vehicle.
“I missed you so much,” Elliot said even though the three of them had been gone for less than two days.
Jake rolled his eyes at Vars, but his face quickly became neutral when more people poured into the garage. Joker led the way grinning wildly, with Blackstar under his arm and a beer that he held proudly, as if it were a scepter. Beast followed him with Laurent, and even Gray graced them with his presence, which meant that he deemed the whole thing important.
Crap. If that was the case then Vars and Jake would have to attend too, and only then, after nine hours of travel and a further five or six of migraine-inducing noise, would they be allowed to clean the bikes and go to sleep. Considering what news they’d brought with them, they wouldn’t get to sleep long tomorrow either.
Vars was getting too old for this.
“Birthday boy! Finally!” Joker called out as all the other close members of Knight’s chosen family, from the patches to stay-in hangarounds like Nao and Blackstar, gathered around him.
“I didn’t expect this, guys. It’s like I’m no longer tired. You are a whole jug of coffee spiked with meth,” Knight said in a tone that suggested he totally had expected all of it. He grinned and leaned his head back, to make space for Elliot, who kept kissing Knight’s neck as if he were one of those little fish that sealed their faces to the glass in aquariums.
It was a bit too much. But then again, Elliot and Knight were always too much.
“Prospects, let’s give Knight a warm welcome,” Beast said and pointed to an antique-looking armchair that had no place in the garage and must had been brought in on purpose.
Joker grinned from ear to ear and clapped three times, as if he really believed himself to be the master of ceremonies.
“Er… I don’t get it,” Jake said. “What are we supposed to do? And isn’t Knight’s birthday next week?”
“It’s more fun if it’s a surprise, isn’t it?” Nao chirped, twirling around the chair in a tutu that did nothing to obscure her lacy thong.
Knight unsealed his lips from the vacuum of Elliot’s mouth and wiggled his brows. “Haven’t I told you two lazy bums you’re gonna carry me in a sedan chair? This might just be the fulfillment of all my vengeful fantasies,” he said before dropping his ass into the seat. He crossed his legs, rested his arms on either side and looked around with the majesty of a drunk king.
Vars stared at it in hopelessness, but Beast’s hand tapping him on the back finally set him into motion. It couldn’t be helped. Jake smiled at him, and the peace with which the boy was ready to accept his orders lifted some of the tiredness off Vars.