Feel My Pain (Curse Bound 1)

A few seconds passed, worrying Zane that maybe he’d have to take over after all, but Roach flicked the lighter open, and threw it in.

Flames engulfed the metal container within seconds, a beautiful yellow and blue that warmed Zane’s heart though the smoke rising from the impromptu hearth emitted a choking odor. He stepped back, breathless with relief. This has been the right thing to do. The world should forget the Rabid Hyenas MC had ever existed. Maybe then, so would he.

Roach looked handsome with the sun rising behind him and flames illuminating his face. But even without the patches, Zane would always remember Roach had been a Hyena. That he’d been the one to push Zane at Hulk—his own father.

Nothing could change that.

They took their time watching the boxes turn to ash without speaking, and when the fire died down, they walked back to Roach’s room hand-in-hand. The place still wasn’t particularly clean, but the ghosts of the past had perished to make room for Zane.

“I’ll empty a shelf for you,” Roach said as if he were a mind reader, but he was already taking off his clothes.

Zane smiled, at ease, as if the burnt items had destroyed the last of their owners’ souls. Those men were no longer a threat to him.

“Later. You’re tired,” he whispered, pulling Roach toward the bed by the wrist, without the risk of stumbling over trash left behind by Roach’s bastardly family.

“I’ll sleep for a week,” Roach muttered, unzipping his pants and pushing off his boots at the same time.

Zane’s gaze settled on an exposed bit of his stomach, and he turned around to remove his top. So he was sweaty, and his hair likely smelled of the fumes, but he was so, so tired and just wanted to feel safe for once.

Like a baby.

“Yeah,” he uttered, kicking off his own boots and moving on to the jeans.

Roach didn’t even stay in his underwear. Naked, he rolled into bed, and pulled Zane under the comforter, pressing against Zane’s back shamelessly.

The bed creaked, the air was dusty, Zane was homeless and broke, but he sank into the comfort of Roach’s arms without a care.

Roach might have been the one to cause the most traumatic experience in his life, but now Zane felt like they’d known each other forever, and he wasn’t afraid.

“What now?” he whispered as sleep started taking hold, making his muscles relax as the combined warmth of their bodies closed him in a cocoon he intended to stay in for the winter.

Roach kissed his nape, tickling it with his beard. “I don’t know.”

Chapter 16 – Zane

The shower stall smelled like a wet pot of incense. Zane leaned against the wall, enjoying the heat of the water drizzling down his body. It had been two months since he’d moved in with Roach, and he couldn’t tell whether those nine weeks had felt like a long time or the blink of an eye. They’d settled into easy routines, and for Zane, who’d grown up in a tiny bungalow with way too many people under one roof, the motel room offered more than enough space.

For the first time in months, he didn’t have to worry whether he’d get to sleep in relative comfort or doze off at a diner, and while he was stuck in a small town that didn’t offer him many opportunities to earn money, he sent some cash to his parents almost every week—a feat he hadn’t managed in a while.

Roach had convinced Culver to let Zane play at the bar three nights a week. Roach would then extract half of their living costs from the pay and return the remaining sum to Zane. It didn’t amount to much, but coupled with tips, it allowed Zane to make a dent in the massive debt he had with his family. And since Roach took care of payments, Zane didn’t have to bear the problematic responsibility of dealing with numbers.

He had no reasons to complain, even though not much had moved in terms of the curse. But it would today. If Zane was to get Roach on board with his new lead, he needed to get the lazy bastard out of bed.

He exhaled three times and turned the shower to the iciest setting, which made even his cold-inured body shiver uncontrollably. The scream coming from beyond the wall made him laugh out loud, and soon enough, a banging on the door followed.

“I told you not to do that! What the fuck?” Roach yelled.

Zane didn’t remember experiencing things like this in the past two years. There had been vague aches, some unexplained bruises, and, of course, the surprise tattoo on his back, but nothing that would outright freak him out. He figured physical proximity made their connection more intense, because he’d often taken cold showers before, and Roach didn’t recall waking up to his body shuddering for no reason.