Sleep didn’t come for a damn long time and then when I eventually drifted, it wasn’t peaceful. The cause of it was from dreaming of masked men attacking Lan, and I wasn’t able to help him.

In the end, I climbed out of bed in the early hours of the morning feeling like I hadn’t slept at all. I made my way into the kitchen and switched on the kettle. While that boiled, I went to the back door and unlocked the dog door. Not that the lazy buggers would be up; it was too early for them. I glanced out the floor-to-ceiling glass back sliding door to down under the kitchen window where their beds lay and caught a couple of them lifting their heads to sniff. They checked out it was me unlocking the door and then curled back into themselves to go back to sleep.

Hell, maybe if I had someone to sleep next to, I wouldn’t be up so damn early on my holidays either. Snorting, I walked into the living room to peek out the front window towards Lan’s house.

I’d left there after settling Lan into his spare bed again. Even though Parker had made me a sandwich, I ignored it because I didn’t want to be around either of them. My limits had been pushed. Not only from Lan and his loose lips, but from the aggravating Parker. I didn’t understand the guy, and I didn’t want to since all he seemed to do was piss me off.

Well, it wasn’t like I had to know him anyway. Even if he was Lan’s work partner, I didn’t care because Lan wasn’t going to be in my life again.

There was no way I would want to put myself through the hurt I’d felt that first time again.

Especially since it was noticeable that not even Lan’s partner, who he worked closely with, knew Lan liked women and men. God, I hoped Parker would keep it to himself since I was certain Lan didn’t want anyone to know about his past with me. Not only that, but about him liking guys.

Had he been with anyone lately?

Shaking my head, I scrubbed a hand over my tired face.

I didn’t care either way.

Like I’d told Parker, I’d go back and check on Lan and his wounds. I’d keep it professional. Act like Lan Davis was a patient.

I had to.

My phone rang. I went back into the kitchen, grabbed it off the bench and answered it after glancing at the caller ID. “Miss me already?”

Oliver snorted. “No, okay yes, but that’s because Henrietta is bossier than you on the job.”

“Only another few weeks and I’ll be back.”

“Thank God, but I was also calling about tonight. Chris and I were going to bring out takeaway.”

“No,” I stated, already knowing the real reason Chris and Oliver would want to soften me up with a takeaway since it was usually me who cooked on nights we got together.

“He’s a friend of Chris’s and really nice. Cute even.”

I groaned. “Cute? Oliver the last guy you called cute was Brad, and he had a problem with phlegm.”

He chuckled. “I forgot about him.”

“How? Chris nearly threw up each time he sucked his snot into the back of his throat and then made that swishing sound as he played with it in his mouth.”

More laughter. “Good times. But I promise Simon is different.”

Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose and thought about it. I didn’t really have anything planned for that night, and I only had to check on Lan that day. I supposed I could tidy the house in between.

“Easton?”

“Fine. But he’d better be nothing like Brad.”

He cheered. “He won’t be, you’ll love him. See you at seven.” He blew a kiss down the line before ending the call.

Had I just made a big mistake or could Simon be the distraction I needed from a certain someone else?

I’d waited until just before lunch to head over to Lan’s. It also happened to be the time after I saw Parker leave when two bikers arrived to keep watch on things. How I knew Parker was gone wasn’t because I’d been at the window staring out again. It wasn’t. I just happened to be walking by the window to clean the TV when I heard some Harleys coming up the road.

What didn’t make sense was how my heart sped as I saw Parker step out the front door wearing a thermal top and jeans. Then I scoffed at the stupid organ and put its reaction down to the fact Parker aggravated me too much.

Once Parker’s vehicle was out of sight, I stepped out of my house and made my way over. I knocked on the door because I wasn’t sure if it would be unlocked, and if it was, I wasn’t keen on walking in and having bikers wanting to kill me for just entering the place without drawing attention to myself first.

Tits on a whale, my stupid mind was running away from me. Then again, I didn’t know any bikers, so I wasn’t sure how to act around them. The ones from yesterday seemed okay, and they all acted like I was doing them a favour helping Lan.

The door swung open and in it stood Goliath.

The man was huge.

He stood in it scowling, crossed his arms over his chest and loomed over me. If I had to admit, for a moment, I felt like I wanted to run or whimper in fear or squeak out a sorry and hide. Instead, when his brow arched at me, I blurted, “I’m here to check on Lan. I was the one who found him yesterday with, um, my, ah, dog….” I glanced down, expecting to find Nero, but he wasn’t with me that time. I looked back up and added, “I fixed Lan. With that Nurse guy. I’m a fixer… uh, I mean, a paramedic. Here to check on Lan.” The guy blinked, and I blurted, “I won’t say anything to anyone.” I wanted to live and was sure the guy could snap me in two with just a look.

It had been years since I’d mumbled and acted like a shy little boy, but with a guy like the one in front of me, I was back to being my teenage self in seconds.

“Who is it, brother?” was called from behind.

The big guy stepped back, his hands moving as another biker came to his side. At least the new one smiled after he chuckled at whatever scary guy signed. “Hey, Easton. I’m Knife and that’s Beast. The other brothers told us about you, as did Parker this mornin’. Lan’s in bed asleep. You wanna check him?”

I eyed them both. “Yes?”

Knife laughed. “Relax, dude. You’re cool, so Hawks’ll be cool with you.”

“Okay.” I nodded. When they both moved out of the doorway, I stepped in. I licked my suddenly dry lips. The two men before me were good-looking, and any other time I would have taken my fill in and admired, but I wasn’t stupid. Doing that would be a sure way to sign my death warrant. I looked everywhere else but at them and quickly pointed towards the hall, mumbling, “I’ll, um, check out—on…. I’ll check on Lan.”

I heard a snort, and when I was halfway down the hallway, more laughter started, different from Knife’s, so I guessed he just told Beast how awkward I was being. At least they were finding my actions funny. Why in the high heaven had I acted like a timid little boy around them? Yes, they were intimidating, but if shit went down, I’d trained in boxing and martial arts enough to be able to protect myself. I could take them on. All right, maybe one.

What was I thinking?

The whole situation was messed up. First, Lan being my neighbour and what had happened to him, and then how he wanted to take care of the situation on his own. Well, not his own but with the help of Parker and the Hawks MC. Who was Lan Davis?

Was he anything like the person I used to know?

I shook all the thoughts off and entered the spare room. Knife was right; Lan still slept soundly. I checked over his wounds. All of them seemed to be okay. So I made sure to refill his water on the bedside table. On it was also an iPad, Lan’s phone, some magazines, cut-up fruit, and bottles of medication. I read a couple of the labels. One was for inflammation, another was for pain, and then there were some antibiotics. I glanced at the IV. He still had fluids dripping into him. I’d have to mention to the bikers if Lan was drinking on his own, which he was more than capable of, we could take the drip out. Yesterday it had been to infuse the harder pain meds into him to knock him out and to make sure he didn’t dehydrate too much overnight.

Lan twitched in his sleep. I expected his good eye to open, but it didn’t. As I stared down at him, so many emotions flooded me. Anger would always be present, but I couldn’t push the small part of me that cared for Lan away. I was happy he would heal, sad it had happened in the first place, and worried about what it meant if I stayed being his neighbour.

Of course I would stay. I loved my house too much to move and start over again.

But I wasn’t sure how I’d handle knowing Lan lived just next door. I ran my gaze over him. He hadn’t changed much. Back when… he’d always been muscular, and with how the sheet rested down around his waist, he was still built like a stone statue. All contours I used to love tracing with my hands and mouth.

A soft smile touched my lips at a particular memory.

Lan sat topless on my couch; he’d just finished drinking his beer and bent forward to place it on the coffee table. Of course my eyes weren’t on the movie we were supposed to be watching together. Instead, they lingered on his chest, his abs, his warm, smooth skin. He’d been visiting me for over a month, and I was well on my way to loving him. Each text, call, or pop in I got giddy over. We talked about everything, even what we wanted in the future. But being able to stare and admire him as I was, I never thought I would get used to. I never thought I would ever have been so lucky to have a man like Lan Davis in my house and bed. Someone who teased me when I blushed, laughed when I stumbled over my words when he’d said something dirty, and looked at me like he was right then.

“You’re supposed to be watchin’ the movie,” he said.

I smiled. “Can’t help it when you’re sitting there half-naked.”

He chuckled and winked. Then his eyes darkened, his tone serious with the next words, “Happiest night walkin’ into that pub and seein’ you.”

“Really?”

“Yep.” He grabbed my hand and tugged me closer, and I straddled his waist. “Been thinkin’ of movin’ to Melbourne.”

My body tingled. “Really?” I breathed.

He smiled. “Yeah.”

A clatter in the kitchen brought me from my thoughts, and I was grateful for it. My smile dropped, and I bit my bottom lip instead. Thinking about those sweet moments wouldn’t get me anywhere. Clenching my jaw, I sighed and then made my way out of the bedroom, down the hall and stopped dead.

The kitchen was an open area that joined into the living room like mine did. I could see clearly into it from where I stood at the mouth of the hallway.

I could see what was happening in the kitchen.

The shock had my jaw dropping, my eyes widening, and me stumbling my steps towards the front door. I didn’t want them to know I’d caught them; they could want to beat me senseless to keep my mouth shut.

But they’d heard and parted, both glancing my way. I froze like a deer caught in the gaze of a predator.

Knife slapped the counter in front of him. I jumped from the sound, and my body jolted again when he started laughing. He threw his head back and laughed heartily, then folded forward to slap the counter again. I chanced a glance at the scary Beast to even find him with a smirk on his lips. He rolled his eyes, and then when he gripped the back of Knife’s hair, my stomach churned before it tingled and shot that feeling right to my cock. Beast pulled Knife back into his chest and whispered something into his ear before nipping at his neck.

Knife snorted out a small laugh and then said, “Okay, all right. I’ve had my fun.” He grinned. “But you should’a seen your face. Fuck, that was funny.”

“W-what?” I stuttered.

Knife started around the counter. “Man, you nearly had a heart attack when you’d said you’d check out Lan, instead of on. Probably thought we’d hate gay guys or some shit, had to play with you a bit.”

“What?” I whispered.

Both Beast and Knife laughed. “Easton, we’re bikers. We have our own set of rules that some would frown on, but what we’re not is haters of gay, black, and any type of different people.”

Sweat formed on my top lip. I wiped it away. “Um, I think, ah… I could tell.”

They’d been lip locked together when I’d walked in.

Knife grinned wickedly. “Beast’s mine. We have a kid together. The sooner you learn Hawks is different to most clubs and the members are awesome people, like me, the sooner you’ll calm the fuck down around us.”

Beast was his.

They had a kid together.

Hawks was definitely different.

Still, what was I supposed to say to that?

“Okay?” I offered.

Knife snorted. “Get your arse in here and have a drink. You helped Lan out. Lan and some of the brothers said you’re cool, so let’s chat.”

Did I want to chat with Knife and Beast?

Bikers?

Men who would do anything for Lan since they were already out hunting for the man who harmed him.

Shit. Yes. I was intrigued by them and even the club.