In the Arms of the Beast (Kings of Hell MC 5)

“Job? What job? What the hell are you talking about?”

Knight seemed a bit stiffer than usual when he offered Beast a close-mouthed smile. This was unbelievable.

“We’re a couple of miles from town,” Beast roared, heartbeats from shoving Knight at the tool cabinet behind him. The smell of gasoline, metal, and oil that he knew so well were suddenly potent and choking. “He couldn’t have gotten any job if he didn’t have help. Did you go behind my back?”

Knight rolled his eyes and sucked on his upper teeth in a way so infuriatingly dismissive Beast wanted to drag him by all that perfect hair that had never been touched by male-pattern baldness. There wasn’t even a drop of guilt in Knight’s expression, and Beast wouldn’t hesitate to call him out on it.

“You should have asked me!”

Knight moved his mouth, as if he wanted to say something without Beast hearing it, before meeting Beast’s gaze. “I should have asked you if I was allowed to help him get a job? Really? Do you even hear yourself?”

Beast’s jaw muscles ached when his teeth ground together in fury. “Better get down from that high horse before I throw you off it. You’re one to talk. Elliot does nothing without consulting you first.”

“Yeah, but that’s what he wants. I don’t make him report to me.”

Beast’s head was already pulsing with an upcoming ache. There went his quiet evening. “Laurent’s different. He’s not from here. He might do something that exposes him, or do something reckless, because he thinks he always knows better.”

Knight actually had the guts to snort while meeting Beast’s gaze. “Really? Sounds like this one friend of mine.”

Beast stepped back, because if Knight remained within reach, he might have lost it. “Fuck. You. What’s the fucking job?”

Knight shrugged. “Ask your husband.”

Enough was enough. Beast clenched his fists and stormed out of the garage. A part of him wished for a poor soul to stop him over some petty bullshit. But there were no volunteers for him to vent his anger on, so Laurent would be getting the brunt of it.

Beast slowed down, holding on to that thought. Would he? Would Beast unload his anger on Laurent? It wasn’t even a question of strength and size inequality, because Laurent seemed fearless, but arguing with him was so counterproductive.

Beast needed a different approach. One that could actually help them make some progress and pull Laurent back where he belonged. To their apartment, to their bedroom, and even to that damn bathtub. Beast would’ve been ready to do pretty much anything for a chance to wash his teeth in a steamed-up room while Laurent talked to him about the book he was reading.

But a nasty voice at the back of his head whispered that none of this craziness would have happened if it wasn’t for the egg. If the issue of children came up at some point in the future, they would have at least known whether their world was doomed or not. The search for a surrogate could have taken years, which would have given Beast time to adjust to the thought of being a father. His life wouldn’t have to change so abruptly.

He wouldn’t have to share Laurent so soon after the wedding. He was still greedy for Laurent’s attention, but his desperation to keep his husband to himself had left him alone in the apartment. Laurent was gone, not even willing to look at Beast, as if he suddenly found him undesirable.

He rapped at Laurent’s door, maybe a little too hard, but Beast no longer had patience for subtlety. He inhaled a large gulp of air and rested his hands on either side of the door, listening. Waiting.

It only took a moment for Laurent to open, but he stilled at the sight of Beast, and his pretty lips parted. “Can I help you?” he said with that defiant expression. Beast loved him, but Laurent could be such a little shit sometimes.

“Why did you take Marcel off club grounds?” was the first thing that burst out of Beast’s mouth as he pushed his way into the small, modestly-furnished bedroom. It didn’t even have an en suite. Who the hell put Laurent into a room with shared bathroom facilities? He was the club president’s husband, for fuck’s sake!

Laurent crossed his arms but took a step back. “I was running an errand so I took him. Since when do you care about him?”

Beast pulled his hands down his face. “I never said I didn’t. Why do you always make assumptions about people without hearing them out? First me, then Elliot, then Shadow, and now me again!”

Laurent frowned. “I have taken my time to assess all three. And I acknowledge my mistakes. Has something changed that I don’t know of? You realized you haven’t actually been ‘forced’ into having a child?”