Gray looked away, trying to ignore the spectators, but didn’t stray from Shadow’s touch. Behind closed doors, their relationship must have become more intimate, and Laurent’s heart bled for them when he realized how high it made the stakes for getting more rubies. He didn’t even want to imagine how it would have felt to see Beast’s existence hanging on something so difficult to obtain.
Laurent stroked his man’s arm when he noticed him frowning at the sight outside. “How about you sit down, and I’ll get us beers?”
Beast looked toward the counter. “If they ask you for ID, say you’re with me.”
Questions could wait, because despite Beast’s assurances, there could be bruises under his clothes that he wasn’t talking about. But Laurent was also proud to be able to buy things with his own money. Granted, his pay came from the club, but he’d still earned it.
Laurent gave Beast a gentle kiss before walking off to the counter. He was about to call out to the barmaid when a curious machine lit up with flashing colors right next to him.
The woman spotted him nevertheless and leaned over the counter, exposing her bosom in a low-cut sleeveless top. “What can I get you, sweetheart?” she said, but before Laurent could have produced an answer. “Wanna use the juke? It’s only a quarter.”
Laurent swallowed, staring at the pulsating lights of the device that reached his shoulders and featured a multitude of buttons. If the king could have afforded such a thing back in the nineteenth century, it would have been the pride of his court.
“What does it do?”
She smirked, betraying her age when the crow’s feet by her eyes deepened. “Ah, you must be real young. It plays music. What do you want to listen to?”
Laurent took in the list of names and titles in a window at the front of the device. “Something melodic and elegant, please.”
“Will that be all?” the barmaid asked. When Laurent ordered the beers, she gave him a long once-over, but then looked at the Kings and asked. “You with them?”
How ingenious of Beast to know that such a question would arise! When Laurent confirmed, the woman gave him two bottles, and the aggressive music rapidly made way for a slow guitar tune that agreed with Laurent so much more. He squeezed the cold bottles, already locking his eyes with Beast, who beamed at him, making space on the seat next to him.
“I’m so happy it’s all going so well.”
Shadow jumped to his feet, watching his lover with the eyes of an eager puppy. “I’ll get you beer, too. I’ve got money.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a whole bunch of crumpled bills.
“Don’t even ask,” Gray said once Shadow was off to join Joker at the bar.
The evening transformed into a regular party. A couple of cars pulled into the parking lot in front of the bar, but only three people decided to enter, out of which two took their food in plastic boxes. Not everyone felt safe around the Kings of Hell MC, but for Laurent there was no place more secure. The patches on his back proclaimed him ‘property’ but he no longer took it literally, and instead relished what his status meant. He was under Beast’s protection, even when they weren’t touching, but when he could sense the warmth, weight, the fresh scent of Beast’s arm across his shoulders, Laurent felt untouchable.
He was glad to hear Magpie offered Gray and Shadow a lead on a ruby they could use, but at the end of the day, he was too focused on Beast to listen to the whole conversation. He was realizing that this night might have ended differently. With Beast hurt. Gone. Laurent sent back to the gallows in year 1805.
He nuzzled Beast’s jaw, struck by a need for affection that couldn’t be quelled. He was far from wanting to make out in public the way Elliot and Knight often did, but he too wanted to proclaim his love for everyone to see, all propriety be damned!
Beast hummed, diving his thick fingers into Laurent’s hair and massaging his scalp. “What is it?”
“May I see the ruby?” Laurent asked, running his hand over Beast’s thigh under the table. How could one man possess another so, he didn’t know, but he wouldn’t be fighting it either.
Beast’s breath caught, and his leg stirred under Laurent’s touch. “The ruby? You can always see the ruby,” Beast whispered, leaving the booth with a smile tugging at his lips. He had such a dirty mind. Then again, now that the suggestion was there, so had Laurent. He’d never claimed to be an angel.
“I really mean it. The actual ruby,” he said, but ran his hand up the back of Beast’s vest with a smile. Two birds with one stone, he supposed.