Royal

I’m manning the counter at Heathens when the bell above the door dings. I look up from the magazine I’m paging through to see a man heading toward the counter with a beard to rival Adam’s and enough ink on both his arms to make my inner artist drool.

“Welcome to Heathens Ink, what can I do for you?”

The man looks me up and down with a weary expression. I half expect him to turn around and walk right back out the door.

“I’m wondering if you guys might be hiring at all?” His voice is a low rumble, and his question is so quiet I have to lean forward to hear.

“Uh, maybe. Let me go grab Adam, he’s the owner,” I offer.

The man gives me a small smile and nods as I slide off the stool behind the counter and head down the hall toward Adam’s office.

He’s clicking away on his computer, no doubt doing the monthly spreadsheets, or whatever a person who owns a business has to do.

“Hey man, there’s some big bear of a dude here asking about a possible job.”

“Okay, I’ll be up in just a second, I need to finish this real quick first.”

I head back up front where the guy is still waiting, shifting from foot to foot and looking around at the art on the walls.

“Adam will be up in a minute if you want to have a seat.”

“Cool, thanks so much,” he gives me a nod.

The bell above the door dings again and this time I look up to find Madden and Liam walking in.

I greet them both and Madden starts telling me about a new tattoo he wants me to do for him. As he talks I notice Liam’s gaze roaming over the mystery job seeker with interest. I feel a frown tugging at my lips. Fuck, I’m barely ready to deal with raising a teenager, I hadn’t even accounted for the idea of dating. Damnit, I am so not equipped to deal with this. And, over my dead body does he need to be checking out a dude who’s got to be almost a decade older than him.

Luckily, Adam chooses that moment to emerge and breaks the spell and Liam looks away, blushing.

“Hi, I’m Adam, I own Heathens. You’re looking for a job?” Adam eyes up the guy, clearly taking inventory of the ink on his arms.

“Owen,” the man introduces himself, holding out his hand to Adam. “Yeah, I’m looking for a job.”

“Okay, let’s go talk in my office.”

As the two of them disappear down the hallway I catch Liam’s gaze following Owen again and I decide I’m going to need to consult with Nash and Zade about how to deal with the entire idea of Liam dating.

 

 

Nash

Something’s been bugging Royal all afternoon. I know him well enough not to push it though. So, when we get home from work Zade has dinner ready for us.

“Got this for you,” I tell Zade, handing him a bag of jelly beans I’d picked up for him on the way home.

“What’s this?” he asks, his voice laced with surprise as he takes the bag of candy.

“You said the other day you wanted jelly beans,” I say with a shrug.

Zade tosses the candy on the kitchen counter and shoves me up against the refrigerator, claiming my lips in a bruising kiss.

“I’ll bring you all the candy you want if you keep kissing me like that,” I tease, sucking his bottom lip.

“You’re sweet, and thoughtful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I give his lips one more peck before Royal comes into the kitchen and gets his own chance to kiss our man.

Throughout dinner we keep conversation light, and when we’re done Liam offers to do the dishes while the three of us go to unwind with some video games.

“So, this guy came in to Heathens looking for a job today,” Royal starts.

“Oh yeah, I saw that guy. He’s kinda hot,” I say as I set up Call of Duty and hand Royal a controller. Zade settles in beside us, content to watch us play for a little while.

“Yeah, Liam thought so, too,” Royal gripes.

“What?”

“Liam was eyeing the dude up like he was made of chocolate.”

Zade makes an irritated noise in the back of his throat.

“How old is this guy?” Zade asks.

“At least like twenty-five. Way too old for Liam, without a doubt. I didn’t even think about Liam dating. How do we deal with this?”

“He’s sixteen,” I point out. “You and I were already having threesome’s with college chicks when we were sixteen.”

“Yeah but, what if people aren’t nice to him?” Royal’s voice is rough.

“Oh, babe,” Zade puts an arm over Royal’s shoulder and kisses the top of his head. “I know you want to protect him from the world, and I promise we’ll do everything we can to make sure no one ever hurts him. But, you can’t bubble wrap him. He’s going to date, and some of the people he dates will probably suck. Lucky for him he’s got three badass motherfuckers at home ready to bury any dude who fucks him over.”

“Damn right,” Royal agrees, turning his head into Zade’s neck and taking a deep breath. “What would I do without you guys?”

“Be sad,” Zade suggests, “and probably jerk off a lot.”

“True,” Royal agrees.

I kick Royal’s ass at Call of Duty then the three of us climb into bed and fall asleep wrapped around each other.