Finally. Finally Knight could stop pretending and watching his mouth. What a fucking relief. “Congratulations, brother! When’s the wedding?” He asked, pulling Beast into his arms. He wasn’t entirely successful in his deception, with Beast stiffening and leaning back to look at him.
“Wha— you ass... you’ve known about this all along, haven’t you?”
Knight put his hands up. “Why would you think that? I’m happy for you, that’s all.”
Anger mingled with amusement on Beast’s severe face, and he gently pushed Knight’s chest. “I’ve known you for years. My boyfriend proposed to me, and you don’t throw in one idiotic joke? You two have been conspiring against me.”
Knight snorted. “Fine. Yes, I knew. And I won’t be joking, because it’s high time for you. Or else you’re gonna be an old bachelor, and nobody wants that.”
“Oh, yeah? You’re gonna propose to Elliot next year?” Beast asked with a cocky grin.
Knight’s brain hit reverse and for a moment he completely lost the plot. “What?”
“‘Nobody wants an old bachelor’?” Beast groaned and waved his hand at Knight in annoyance. “It’s a joke. Though I can just about imagine a creepy-weird wedding for the two of you. He’d wear that dumbass wig.”
Knight raised his voice without even thinking about it. “Don’t change the topic. What the hell are you implying? We’re just... partners in research, that’s all.”
Beast did a double take at Knight. “What are you two researching? How many positions can guys fuck in until someone loses an eye?”
Knight gritted his teeth, and he must have frozen to the ground in the bitter cold, because he couldn’t move. “What’s your problem? Getting married soon doesn’t mean you can get all judgmental on me!”
Beast spread his arms. “Since when are you so touchy? Wait… you’ve never had a boyfriend before.”
Knight pressed his hand against the cold brick wall of the facade, more irritated by the second. “I don’t have a boyfriend. What the actual fuck, Beast? Where is all this coming from?”
“What do you mean you don’t have a boyfriend? You live with him, you fuck him and you don’t fuck anyone else. And for the record, I’ve never seen you kiss a guy before. Am I missing something? He even makes you fucking sandwiches.”
Knight clenched his hands into fists, fighting the sense of his chest clenching around his lungs. “So what that I haven’t? I’m an outlaw, and I do whatever the hell I want with anyone I want. And he doesn’t live with me.”
Beast rolled his eyes. “Oh right. He’s just got his own room but hasn’t been sleeping there for three weeks. Listen, it’s all fine by me, I’m not his keeper. What do I care? But if you two aren’t a thing, make sure he knows that, because he doesn’t seem to.”
“What? Did he say something?” Knight snapped, stepping closer to Beast and almost breaking into his personal space. He could handle gunfire. He could handle the police. But this was getting him freaked out. He didn’t do boyfriends. In fact, he didn’t do relationships anymore. After Jordan, he was truly done with making his life difficult for no reason if he could get some tail either way.
“Not to me, but Jake was teasing him the other day, and Elliot got all snappy, telling him to back off from you because you were taken. He got a smack for it, but he did say it.”
Knight took several deep breaths and stared at the footprints in the snow. “Fuck. Fucking hell. And... what, Jake hit him? He’s my guest here,” he muttered, overflowing with mixed feelings.
Beast shook his head. “The guy was asking for it. Always steps on everyone's toes. He's fine.”
“He’s just a kid.” A twenty-five-year-old kid, but still much weaker than Jake.
Beast put his glove back on, staring at Knight as if he could see something Knight couldn’t. “He’s not. He’s a grown-ass man. Older than Jake. And Jake might still be a prospect, but he can’t have guys like Elliot messing with him.”
Knight pushed his hands down his pockets, more unnerved by the second. Beast was right. Of course he was. Elliot was only a guest here, and he shouldn’t allow himself to be insulting toward his hosts. Even women weren’t excluded from having to respect the bikers, but it still felt so wrong to hear of someone putting his hands on thin, underfed Elliot that he wanted to give Jake the toughest of jobs. Just because.
“I’ll talk to him.” Knight turned his head toward the sound of panting and quick footsteps just in time to see Laurent approaching with a wide smile and red cheeks, looking like the prince of Winter with his long hair sticking out in waves from under a fur hat.
“There you are! I’ve been trying to call you. Are we going?” Laurent said to Beast.