CHAPTER ELEVEN
Blaze
I sat on the couch, beer in hand. For once, the clubhouse was empty, everyone out enjoying their Friday night. I’d been hard the better part of the evening since I’d returned from the Yellow Banana, and so goddamn frustrated. Closing my eyes, I ran my hand over the bulge in my jeans, remembering.
My mouth dropped as I watched Lake on stage. This performance was even hotter than the last one I’d seen. Lake seemed to be driven to make every man in the club come in his pants, and that included me, although he couldn’t know I was there.
I’d come to see Ax.
Yeah, right.
By Ax’s smirk when I’d shown up, he hadn’t believed it, either. He’d fluttered his eyelashes at me and asked if he should buy something pretty for our first date, as I was obviously courting him.
I’d snorted, and we’d both broken out laughing.
Ax was busy making drinks, and I…I was trying to hide the boner I’d gotten since the moment Lake had come on stage wearing only the pair of tiny white shorts.
The crowd was wild, shoving money in Lake’s waistband every chance they got. I wondered if they were big bills or small; probably small, seeing the clientele of The Yellow Banana wasn’t exactly high class.
The more they touched Lake, the more pissed I got.
“Calm down,” Ax leaned over the bar. “It’s just a dance. He’s not going home with them.”
“That you know of,” I said over my shoulder. I wasn’t turning from the stage until Lake finished his show. God, those legs. They went on for fucking miles. I had the sudden image of those two luscious limbs wrapped around my waist as I fucked into him, and almost bust a nut.
Damn. Me fucking a man? My fantasies about J had never crossed the line from kissing and giving head to full-blown sex, but the thought of putting my dick in Lake’s ass turned me on something fierce.
“What’s going through your mind, Bossman? You look like a starving man eying a piece of steak.”
Onstage, Lake’s crotch got way too close to the faces of the men ogling him. One of them ran a hand down Lake’s bare leg, and suddenly Ax’s hand wrapped around my arm in a strong grip.
“Uh, uh. Sit back down.”
I hadn’t realized I’d stood up.
“Man, I’ve never seen you like this. Calm the fuck down,” Ax said as I reluctantly eased back onto the barstool, eyes still on the blond sensuously moving to the music.
“You think you’re gonna push your way through the crowd and sweep the guy off the stage, then drive away with him on your bike? Come on. Not only would you have to fight a hundred-plus outraged gay men to get him out of here, but likely Lake would give you a bloody nose before you cleared the parking lot.”
He’d been right, I knew, so I’d left.
Since then, I’d been thinking nonstop about Lake, that pole, and those naughty little shorts that barely covered his ass.
I heard the front door open and voices. Curious, I wandered barefoot into the hall and almost dropped my beer bottle when I saw who was standing with Ax.
“Hey,” I said.
Lake glanced at me, looking uncomfortable.
“I didn’t know you were bringing me here,” he said to Ax. “I thought you had your own place.”
I saw red. Ax had asked Lake to his place? And Lake had accepted?
“Cool it, Bossman,” Ax said, approaching me warily. “Lake just needed a place to crash tonight, so I brought him here.”
Just the thought of Lake with another man turned me inside out. I rubbed my hand that wasn’t holding a beer bottle over my face and counted slowly to twenty.
“Of course you can stay here,” I said, proud at how even and normal I sounded when I was still shaking inside with rage from my misguided thoughts.
Wait a minute.
“What happened to your apartment?”
Lake looked at his feet. “I got kicked out.”
“For what?”
“I was late on the rent. And Ron told the landlady I was always bringing trashy people over. A lie.”
The rage started building again. That asshat across the hall had gotten him thrown out. I ground my teeth together and started for the door. “That fucking—”
“Don’t.”
I stopped in my tracks when Lake grabbed my arm, his touch electrifying me. When I met his eyes, he looked confused and pulled his hand back, letting it drop to his side.
“It won’t change anything with Mrs. Lebowitz, and I’d rather not remind Ron I exist.” A visible shudder ran through him, and suddenly I wanted nothing more than to pull him into my arms.
Ax cleared his throat. “I figured Lake could stay in Zeke’s old room. None of the guys are staying tonight other than the regulars.”
The clubhouse had three bedrooms. Hung and Ax had taken over the room with the twin and the double bed that Dante and Swish had once occupied. Matteo as often as not stayed at his grandmother’s house a few blocks away. Zeke had once shared a room with J, but J died and then Zeke moved out to live with Morgan. The room stood empty most nights. My room was the third, and in the past had usually been shared with whoever my current girlfriend was at the time, Maddy having been the last. The image of Lake sharing my bed instead wormed its way into my brain, and when Ax nudged me, I realized I was staring intensely at Lake.
“If you don’t want me to, I can sleep on the floor,” Lake said.
“What? No, of course you can stay in Zeke’s room. Come on, I’ll show you.” I walked down the hall, Lake following, and flipped on the light in the bedroom. No one had taken down the posters of models and motorcycles J had used to decorate the space. One particularly busty blond leaned over a Harley like she hoped someone would fuck her on it. I’d been with J when he’d bought that poster.
“Blaze?”
I blinked and looked at Lake.
“You sure it’s okay if I stay here?” His face was an odd mixture of haughty pride, worry, and reluctance.
“Yeah, sure. No problem at all. The bathroom’s across the hall. Make yourself at home.” I turned and walked out, confused by the melancholy that had fallen over me when I’d looked around J’s old room.
“It was okay to bring him here, right, Boss?” Ax asked when I entered the kitchen. “He was lying to Vince, the manager, about having a place to go because Vince was all too willing to let him stay at his place, if you know what I mean.” Ax continued spreading peanut butter on bread and then began slicing a banana length-wise. “You want one of these?”
“Sure,” I said, “and of course it was okay.” I poured us some milk. “Make one for Lake too. He probably hasn’t eaten.” I poured a third glass and then went to get him.
I found him standing at the window, curtain pulled back, staring out at the night.
“Come have a sandwich with us,” I said. When Lake looked at me over his shoulder, my heart jumped. He was just so…I couldn’t explain it. I found the softness of his features very attractive, while at the same time, I found his masculine qualities equally appealing. He just made me want more.
Lake followed me into the kitchen and sat down.
“Hope you like banana and peanut butter sandwiches,” Ax said, placing one in front of Lake. “We’re not fancy around here.”
“Who doesn’t like them?”
I placed the milk on the table, and we all dug in.
“So, what are you gonna do about a place to live?” Ax asked Lake.
“I have friends who will let me stay with them while I find another apartment, but they’re out of town right now.”
“Where’s your bicycle?” I asked, thinking of his paper route.
“At Cal’s. He’s a waiter at the Banana. I spent the night with him and his boyfriend last night, but the boyfriend’s the jealous type and doesn’t want me doing it again. Cal said I could leave my stuff tonight, though. I called the paper and quit my job. It was only doable because I lived in the neighborhood.”
“When do your friends get back?” Ax asked.
“It’ll be a week.”
“Sorry that douchebag caused you to lose your place,” I said.
Lake shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “It’s not that I loved the apartment or anything, and I definitely hated living across from that jerk, but the building was really close to the subway. I doubt I’ll be able to find anything that handy again.”
When we’d finished eating and cleaned up, I said, “You can stay here as long as you want. The room’s free now that Zeke’s moved out.”
Lake looked appalled. “I don’t want to put you out.”
“You’re not. I just said the room’s free.”
“But you have other guys who sleep there sometimes, right?”
“Most of them only crash when they get drunk, and they can do that on the couch or out on the back porch. I’m telling you, it’s no biggie.”
Lake looked to Ax for affirmation, and the big guy nodded. “Stay here. You don’t want to have to take Vince up on his offer, do you?”
Lake made a face. “God, no. I’d rather sleep on a park bench.”
“Too cold for that,” I said, rubbing his shoulder before realizing what I was doing and abruptly pulling back.
“Well, I think I’ll turn in. The sheets are clean in that room, right?” I looked at Ax.
“Should be. Last one to sleep there was Skitz and his date, and we made sure he changed them after that.”
I made a face. No telling who Skitz had picked up and what they’d gotten up to. The guy was kinky as hell.
“Fresh towels in the hall closet,” Ax added. “Hung did the laundry this morning.”
I headed for my room, pulse racing like a teenager’s at the thought of Lake sleeping nearby. Hell, what if Ax hadn’t heard Lake needed a place to stay? Would he be sleeping in an alleyway somewhere? I’d have liked to think he would have called me, but the way he’d acted tonight made me doubt it.
A knock preceded Ax sticking his head around the door. When I waved him in, he stepped inside.
“You’re welcome,” he said, looking smug.
I sighed. “Do you think he would’ve slept out on the streets if you hadn’t overheard?”
Ax shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe. I could see how much he’d hated the thought of staying with Vince. Lake pretended to call a cousin to spend the night. I saw right through that.”
“I’m glad you did. Thanks, man.”
“No problem. Now you’ve got him here. Make a move, why don’t you?” He waggled his brows and left the room.
“Easier said than done,” I muttered.