Sex & Mayhem 02 The Devil's Ride (47 page)

It took several more seconds until the bus slowed
its pace, moving to the side of the road as the formation of bikes
held it in a tight loop.

Tooth exhaled, biting his lip. His temples were
pulsing as if there
were
a tennis match playing out in his head. “I’ll go in.”

He was in a weird place where some of the pain was
blurred out, yet some was all too present as he dragged himself
over the grassy side of the road, all the way to the door. He
passed all his friends and got out of their sight when he reached
the door of the bus and knocked on it. The driver seemed to
hesitate, but finally opened the door.

“What is this?” he hissed at Tooth, his pale face
red and sweaty.

Tooth raised both hands before getting on the bus.
Only now, when he had to move up the five
steps did his side awake even more. “Family
matters. My little brother’s run away from home,” he said,
straightening up and looking down the narrow corridor. Not all
seats were taken, but all the passengers stared at him in stunned
silence, as if they were expecting him to produce a machine gun
from God-knew-where. “I’m looking for a male teenager with long
blond hair,” he said as firmly as he could, even though his mind
was slowly falling off the rails. “He’s on the run, and all we want
is to bring him home.”

Most of the passengers looked at him blankly, or
avoided his gaze altogether, but when he got closer to the back, an
elderly lady swallowed as she stared at him and pointed to the back
of the bus where no one sat.

He forced a weak smile and walked over there,
leaning over the last set of seats Luci could be hiding behind. He
was struggling to keep his breath level as he looked down. What he
saw was Manson in his carrier on the seat and Luci squeezed on the
floor into the tiny space between seats. The look of utter dread in
his eyes could only be compared to the way Luci looked at him when
they first met.

He didn’t understand any of it, and the way Luci
looked at him made him feel completely rejected. But he still
needed to know why.

“Lucky, let’s go.”

“You shouldn’t be out of hospital,” Luci said
quietly, and his gaze softened slightly, but he wouldn’t budge from
his hiding space.

Tooth swallowed. “Yeah? I kinda expected you to be
there when I woke up.”

“I couldn’t… I failed everyone. I didn’t have enough
courage to take my punishment,” Luci whimpered like a frightened
child, and tears were already forming in his big blue eyes.

Tooth bit his lip, shocked. “Punishment?”

“I left Bell to die,” he whispered and clenched his
fists close to his body.

Tooth shuddered and slowly grabbed the handle of the
cat carrier. “Lucky, come with me. Everyone’s waiting.”

“Come on, we’ll miss the transfer!” someone yelled
from the front.

Luci slapped Tooth’s hand and took the carrier
himself. “You shouldn’t carry anything,” he just said and followed
Tooth with his head hung low. Tooth scowled, feeling the familiar
warmth behind him. As happy as he was to see the boy, he couldn’t
help the bitterness spreading through his body.

He nodded to the driver and slowly, trying not to
endanger the newly sewed flesh, came down to the grass. All the
guys gathered on the other side of the road, so at least he could
have a minute of
semiprivacy with Luci. His eyes darted back at the
boy.

Luci put the carrier on the ground and nervously
played with his hair. “Please, promise that if Priest wants to kill
me, you’ll do it quick? No teeth taken?” He was shivering like a
leaf in autumn.

Tooth shook his head, unable to process what Luci
was saying. “Is this how little you trust us? Me?” Tooth whispered,
staring at him, barely able to breathe.

“No… Tooth…” Luci reached out and grabbed his hand.
“But the club is your family. I don’t want to break that up. It’s
enough that I failed mine.”

Tooth knew he should say something else, tell him
how worried Priest and Asty were, but it just wouldn’t come out of
his mouth. “Why would you leave me now? Without even saying
good
-bye? That’s not
right.”

“I thought you’d hate me. You wouldn’t have been
there, nothing would have happened if it wasn’t for me and my
stupid decisions.” Luci stepped closer and looked up with his plump
lips parted and begging to be kissed.

“
That’s not true,” whispered Tooth, leaning closer
to Luci. All he wanted was to hug him again. Kiss him and tell
him
everything was all
right. Instead, he grabbed the locket on the boy’s neck and pulled
him close enough to smell Coke on Lucifer’s breath. “It was me who
asked you to arrange a meeting, wasn’t it?”

Luci nodded with his pretty face scrunched up into
an expression of utter sorrow. Instead of saying anything, he slid
his fingers into Tooth’s beard and leaned closer to kiss him. With
an engine growling somewhere at the back of Tooth’s mind, he rushed
to press their lips together. His hands went to Luci’s shoulders
and grabbed them for support as the world spun into a whirlwind of
sweet softness, heat, the brush of hair on Tooth’s cheek, and the
smell of gasoline. Luci didn’t pull away, massaging Tooth’s beard
in a way that made the pain in Tooth’s side disappear.

“I’ll always trust you now,” he whispered between
one kiss and another. “Wherever you lead, I won’t run.”

Tooth gasped, gently pulling on Luci’s hair when
all of the sudden, they were out of shadow, and his blood froze.
With a low grunt, he broke the kiss and looked across the road, at
his brothers, his family, who
had now witnessed something they really shouldn’t
have.

Luci’s fingers slid out of Tooth’s hand all too
slowly, and he didn’t even manage to step back before Priest
crossed the space in which the bus
had been just a split second ago. The other guys
stayed back, but their glares, stares, and confused gazes showered
Tooth from head to toe.

“What is this?” Priest asked both of them.

Tooth swallowed hard, trying to breathe through
his nose, but he did meet Priest’s gaze at the same time his hand
found Luci’s and squeezed. He
had wondered how he’d eventually tell Priest he and Luci
were involved, but he never imagined it being like this. He was
oddly calm.

“We’re... seeing each other.”

Priest’s frown deepened, and he scanned the holding
hands like they were toxic waste. “What? I don’t get it.”

Luci swallowed and took a deep breath before
looking up at Priest. “I love Tooth,
Dad.”

Tooth raised his eyes to the sky as they started
prickling. He squeezed Luci’s hand as tight as he could without
hurting him. His chest swelled with warmth, and Priest, the guys,
the organ snatchers all dispersed from his mind.

Priest’s jaw set. “You’re fucking my son behind my
back?”

That was such a crude way of describing what was
between them. Tooth exhaled, knowing that whatever he said wouldn’t
look good anyway. “We’re a couple.”

“Why’d you run then, boy? Is he threatening you?” It
had to be the dramatic events of the morning that made Priest so to
the point. Tooth could only imagine the emotional drain on a man
who lost his son and had to deal with clusterfuck after
clusterfuck.

“N-no. I left Beelzebub when he was dying… I’m so
ashamed.”

Priest grabbed Luci’s arm and shook him. “What are
you talking about, Luci? Your brother died on the spot.”

Tooth gently massaged Luci’s hand with his thumb
and nodded. He too saw the bullet hole go through
Bell’s forehead. He could not
have possibly lived through that.

“
Dolly said you wouldn’t want to see me, that you
were angry
—”

Priest stopped him. “This is bullshit. I’m angry,
but not with you. I want you
safe
,
Lucifer.” After a second’s hesitation, Priest stepped closer and
embraced Luci so hard the boy was lifted off the ground for a
second. “I won’t be losing another son.”

Tooth swallowed hard, averting his eyes to scan
his brothers, who still stared at him, dumbstruck, their brows low,
and he knew they were still assessing the situation. Milk actually
turned his back on him and stood behind his bike. Their homophobic
jokes were pissing him off at times, but at the end of the day, he
always ignored
them. Now
he would find out whether that has been a wise decision. He put his
free hand in his pocket, still holding on to Luci’s. So much chaos.
He longed to be back in a bed and have Luci by his side, but he
wouldn’t get to rest until he tracked Rick.

Tooth had never seen Priest hug Luci so it didn’t
surprise him when Luci slipped his hand out of his and gripped his
dad with both arms. Luci would rarely say it, but it was always
clear just how much he craved his father’s affection, how much he
longed to be a part of a family. And strangely, Priest held
on
to Luci just as
tightly, as if the sorrow of losing a son wasn’t something he could
show to his brothers, but could let out with Luci, a boy much
gentler than any of the Coffin Nails.

Tooth cleared his throat and slowly moved across
the street to give them a moment. He knew all the guys pretty much
accepted Luci, but how would they see
him
? A man who’d seen most of them naked at some
point and had hidden his true colors for such a long time. He
forced a tight smile. “Mission accomplished, huh?”

The grim, confused looks he was getting weren’t
helping. Milk still wouldn’t even look at him.

“He’s pretty for a guy, but… what the fuck?” hissed
Blitz with a scowl.

Tooth groaned and walked up to the car to lean
against the hood. Damn, maybe he could still go back to that
hospital? Get some morphine maybe? Would they give him any?

“
Guys, let’s get rid of this elephant. I’m gay,” he
said as confidently as possible, despite the growing pain in his
side. “I’ve always been, just
so you know and don’t blame Lucky.”

“So I can’t get a blow job from him, but you can do
whatever the fuck you want?” Milk hissed with his arms crossed.
“This is bullshit.”

Hisses and questions roared for a moment after that
statement.

Heat stirred in Tooth’s head, and he lowered his
voice
so Priest wouldn’t
hear it. “You can’t get a blow job from him because you have a
wife.”

The atmosphere was too grim for anyone to laugh, but
a few smirks appeared on people’s faces. Ghost stepped up to Tooth
and patted his arm. “It’s all right with me.”

A part of Tooth thought that he didn’t care, that he
didn’t need anyone’s approval, but truth be told, it did feel good
to hear that.

Don cleared his throat and lit a cigarette, staring
at Tooth from behind his glasses. “I knew there was something odd
about a guy like you never dating.”

Blitz stepped closer, and it was clear to Tooth
he’d say something stupid to make himself look smarter than he was.
“I actually had my suspicions. Tooth
Fairy
after all,” he said with a nod.

“Prospect, Tooth’s not ogling your ugly ass,”
muttered Ghost, making everyone laugh. Tooth smiled too.

“Damn right. You’re all my brothers.”

Despite the sour mood, there were nods, which filled
Tooth with hope. There wasn’t time to discuss this further anyway
because Priest was coming back with his arm over Luci’s shoulders.
It was a heartening sight. He even carried his son’s cat.

Tooth gave him a tight nod, stiffening.
He
’d known Priest would
be the hardest obstacle to overcome, but what mattered was that
Lucifer was safe with them. They could hunt down Rick without
worrying about the boy getting hurt. With Luci in sight, more of
Tooth’s thoughts drifted to what he could do to Tracy’s
murderers.

Luci got into the back seat of the car, but when
Tooth made a move to follow him, Priest snapped his fingers and
pointed to the front seat. “We’ll talk in the car.”

Tooth closed his eyes for a moment and looked back
at the other guys. All of a sudden it struck him that their road
captain wasn’t there, and he would never be
again. “We’re going. See you back home,”
he said before slowly climbing into the passenger seat. The
atmosphere in the car was so thick he could cut it with a
knife.

Priest started the car and was the first to speak.
“Dolly fucked up. She’s shattered and looking for someone to blame,
but what happened isn’t your fault, Lucky, and you need to remember
that.”

Tooth focused on Luci’s reddened eyes in the mirror.
All he wanted was to hug his boy, but he’d rather not try it or
Priest would stop the car rapidly enough for Tooth to go through
the front window. And he couldn’t wear a seatbelt with his
injuries.

“Damn right. You’re part of the family.”

Priest nodded to that as they drove along with the
Nails in front of them. “Don’t you ever let anyone tell you
anything else. You’re all Asty’s got now, so think about that too.
She’ll need your support, you can’t just run.”

“I’ll be there for her,” Luci said with a sniff.

Tooth sighed, unsure how he fit into that
conversation. He discreetly kept an eye on Priest, waiting for him
to speak.

“Now for this bullshit.” Priest pointed to Luci and
Tooth. “I let him stay in your room for months and you didn’t make
a peep? All those months, behind my back.”

Tooth bit the inner side of his cheek. He did know
how it all looked like. “No, it only started recently. I didn’t
know how to tell you,” he muttered.