Hellbent (Four Horsemen MC Book 5) (19 page)

Pretty Boy couldn't remember the last time he was this drunk. But then again, he probably wouldn't remember this time either. Eddie had left Lexi to housesit while she and Cap got 'reacquainted'.  After raising two of the rowdiest of sons, Eddie seemed to have dived into the opportunity to have a ‘daughter’.

Over a series of summer visits, Lexi had become closer to Eddie, Elizabeth, Ryker’s old lady and Dani, Goat’s daughter. She had even started to get to know Duke’s old lady, Rose and her older sister, Daisy. So she jumped at the chance to get off campus for a while.

Shep had instructed the prospects to stay on guard duty since they
obviously just fucked things up
when they were
allowed in public
, which suited them just fine. About eighteen hours into her week long stay, Lexi had invited Dani, Rose, Daisy and Elizabeth to hang out and it had become the slumber party that would never end, complete with endless snackage, lots of laughing and a shit-ton of booze.

Today, they had decided to watch Supernatural and play drinking games. That was at about ten in the morning, when it made sense for them to all be in their pajamas. Coyote had shown up five minutes after Lexi posted a pic to Instagram of the girls jamming out to "Carry on My Wayward Son" with fresh popcorn supplies. Pretty Boy had made them pancakes—just like Voo had shown him—and extra strong mimosas. Now at nearly seven p.m. in the evening, they'd switched to the hard stuff but decided to lay off the drink every time "Winchesters drop their weapon" and "Cas and Dean make sex eyes", for the sake of their brain cells.

Currently the women were curled up amongst each other and towers of throw pillows and blankets on the couch and the prospects had been waylaid into providing pedicures. Crash and Dash had dragged a mattress out of the spare bedroom into the living room and pushed it up to the couch so the prospects could lounge more comfortably at their feet.

Voodoo had shown up with two drink carriers full of fresh vanilla milkshakes that were Lexi's favorite. When they immediately requested they be spiked, he'd set one aside for Daisy, who was pregnant, and headed into the kitchen. He blended their milkshakes gently with a jar of Eddie's Apple Pie Moonshine and topped it with Cool Whip. He carried them out to the girls. Lexi dubbed them Forbidden Fruitshakes, then snagged Voo's arm, tugging him down to sit on the arm of the couch next to her. Two hours later, his eyes were still glued to the screen and he hadn't moved.

When Jagger showed up to buy some weed off of Pretty Boy for his band practice tonight, Voo tried to warn him, but it was too late and he got sucked in, too. He sprawled across the bottom corner of the mattress, propped up on his elbows.

Lexi had one leg curled underneath her and the other draped over Pretty Boy's shoulder. He held her foot firmly in one hand as he painted her toenails. His prospect brothers were in similar scenarios, but the reward was being hand fed popcorn by hot women. Not a bad day's work, all in all.

"New game!" Lexi announced, her knee bouncing lightly against his head. He shot her a warning look and she froze. "Instead of drinking, you have to make a confession—something …
naughty
." She giggled.

"But not too naughty," Daisy asserted. Cowboy’s old lady cast stern eyes at all of them. "One, my sister's here.” She shot a pointed look at Rose beside her. “Two, as I'm pregnant and the only one here
not
drunk, there's only so much info I'm prepared to hear."

"
Boooo!"
Oh, please,”
Rose playfully elbowed her. "
Stick in the mud
Marine girl can handle it. What’s that
M
arine motto? Improvise, adapt, and overcome
.
Besides, I wanna hear the good stuff.
"

“If you tell me anything about you and Duke, I’m gonna barf. Right here. Right now.”

“Stick in the mud,” Rose said.

"I don't care to hear
where
you put your stick. That was my point." She raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, okay! Broad topics are a bad plan." Lexi thought for a moment. "Okay, your secret turn on. Nothing too dirty, just the weird little thing you can't resist."

Pretty Boy grinned, his answer instantly floating through his head. The day he had met Shep, he’d been shuffled into the little spare office for staff of the community center. Apparently the youth pastor had bought boxes of apple fritters for a bible study later that night and his office had filled with the scent of apples and cinnamon. Shep had shoved a stack of books off a chair, pushed Pretty Boy down onto it and pulled out a first aid kit.

“This is going to sting. A lot.” He pulled out some peroxide and gauze, laying it on a stack of papers on his desk. “So if you want to start cussing me out, my name’s Shep.”

He’d laughed, then winced. Shep had cleaned him up, without asking a damn thing about what happened. And he’d never been so attracted to another human being in his life. The five year age difference didn’t mean a damn thing to him.

The girls laughing snapped him back to the moment.

"Weird little thing?" Dani coughed into her hands.

"Shut up or you're going first!" Lexi threw a pillow at her, jostling the whole group. Pretty Boy and the guys grumbled as they tried to juggle open bottles of nail polish and women's feet.

Dani stared skeptically down at Crash's hand on her foot. "If any of you says they have a thing for toes, you're getting kicked in the nuts. Fair warning."

Rose started laughing, snorting a little and shaking.

"What?" Daisy asked in that mix of affection and exasperation only an older sister type could pull off.

She gasped for air, rasping out, "Can you picture … Duke prospecting …like this?"

"Oh my god!" The room collapsed into laughter and shouted suggestions of how he'd react to being asked to give pedicures.

"Wait, pause it, pause it, pause it!" Elizabeth bounced on her seat cushion, knocking Lexi closer to Voo and pushing her knee into his head again.

"Ouch! Watch it!" He laughed.

"Roll it back. Look at that. Just look at the way they're looking at each other!" Elizabeth gestured at the screen with her spiked milkshake. "Tell me Castiel and Dean aren’t hot for each other!"

“Yeah, that’s some eye fuckery right there,” Dani said, with a nod.

As the girls began dissecting subtext and arguing about expressions, Pretty Boy wondered if Shep would stop by. He had a meet with Axel today to talk about the prize fight. See if he could get a glimpse on how that went from Shep's face.

He was still figuring out how deep of shit with Shep he was in. Upon leaving the prospects in charge of guarding the womenfolk, the VP had been sure to explicitly tell Lexi the prospects would be more than happy to help her with anything and everything her little heart desired. So maybe he was still pissed?

On the other hand, Pretty Boy had still been itchin' to see him today. Get a read on exactly how much shit he was in for the Manson fiasco. See if they accidentally fell into bed together again … you know, whatever.

"I agree with Elizabeth, that totally counts as a shippy moment!" Lexi announced.

Jagger twisted around to look at her. "Explain shippy?"

Coyote groaned. "You know, as in we 'ship' them
so hard?
Aren't you paying attention?"

"So, does this involve postage? Or …"

"Relation
ship
," Pretty Boy offered. "It means, you want them to be in a relationship and desperately search for clues that support your view."

"Desperate is an ugly word," Lexi scolded. She reached down and ruffled Pretty Boy's hair. He glanced over his shoulder, noticing that Lexi had kind of curled in toward Voodoo, who had slunk down against the back of the couch behind her head. "But we're going to let you off easy, since you're going first. So, what's your secret turn on?"

Pretty Boy laughed, "Okay, I'll go—but no judging. Or I'll paint your toes vomit green, understand?"

Lexi nudged him with her knee. "Come on, give up the goods!"

"The smell of apples and cinnamon," he said, with a self-deprecating smirk. "I know—ten kinds of wholesome, right? But I just want to bury my nose in that smell and …" He cleared his throat, adjusting a little in his seat.

When Lexi snickered, he smacked her leg. "You, go then, punk."

She took a long drink of her milkshake. "Me? Accents, all the way."

"Would that be Irish accents, love?" Jagger waggled his eyebrows at her over his shoulder, his black hair dancing around his face.

"Creoles are hotter," Voo whispered to Lexi, in a voice so warm it made Pretty Boy shiver.

Hmm. Interesting.

Lexi cleared her throat. "Yeah, so anyone want to hit play?"

Coyote grabbed the remote. "Your wish is my command."

The show rolled on, but Pretty Boy focused in on the whispered conversation between Voo and Lexi.

"So, what's going on here, ma petit? These two guys are in love?"

"Yes!" The girls crowed emphatically.

"But no, not really." Lexi held up her hands to hush the booing, and leaned closer to Voo to explain. "We just think you can totally tell that they're both hot for each other and they're in this big dramatic thing, where they keep saving each other, and not feeling worthy of the other's sacrifices … it's epic."

"So, how can you tell they are both 'hot for each other'?" Voo asked in his lilting creole.

Pretty Boy could feel Lexi's toes curl. He was beginning to feel like a bit of a third wheel, but to be honest? He loved being in on people's secrets. He casually checked to see if her nails were dry, carefully looking away from them.

"It's the long, silent, intense stare," Lexi whispered. "The way they communicate with their eyes."

"So looking at each other?" Voo teased.

She shifted closer to him and Pretty Boy chanced a look. Her head rested on her hand and her elbow was propped on Voo's knee. His gaze was fixated on her face. "If you stare in a person's eyes that long without saying something—and you're not related—then yes. You want the sex. You're picturing each other all kinds of naked and smexy. Fact."

A vision of Shep's perfectly tanned, muscled body stretched around his bike as he powered down the highway flashed into Pretty Boy's head. Yeah, he could see what she was saying.

He may not deserve it but he wanted. He
needed.

"I'll take that bet." Voo reached a hand out and tilted Lexi's chin so their eyes locked.

Pretty Boy glanced around at the rest of the room. Most of them were tied into the tv show, but Dani was doing a bad job of hiding her '
I knew it!'
 smirk, in a handful of popcorn

Meanwhile, the silent, sexual tension staring contest continued over his shoulder. His breath actually caught when he looked up at them again.

Hot damn.

 
They kept that up much longer, they were going to scorch Eddie's upholstery. Smiling wickedly, Lexi caught the straw of her milkshake with her tongue and took a long drink. He could feel Voo start to shake.

Lexi tilted her milkshake straw towards him. "Want some?"

Voo shifted, leaned forward almost close enough to touch his lips to Lexi's. Pretty Boy cleared his throat and Voo pulled back with a jerk. He coughed and sputtered, defeat all over his face. "I give."

Pretty Boy ducked his head as Voo steadfastly stared at the screen. He wished Shep had been here to see that. Or would it have happened if Shep had been watching? He kinda had the feeling the situation had escalated quicker than Voo's brain had been able to keep up. He felt for the guy.

A motorcycle purred in the distance. And a warmth that had nothing to do with the copious amounts of alcohol he had consumed spread through his chest.

"Well, there's our fearless leader," Pretty Boy said.

"Dude, how could you possible know? He's not even in sight yet. And you know what there's no shortage of in this town? Bikes." Dash sighed.

He grinned. They'd see. He'd know the sound of Shep's bike in the middle of a rally.

The motor cut off outside the house, gravel scuffing.

Crash glared at Pretty Boy's knowing smirk. "Could be anyone – Axel or Ryker or Duke or Cowboy—"

There was a sharp rap at the door, followed by the creaking hinges.

"For they know!" Pretty Boy shouted.

Shep stepped into the living to the prospects’ chorus of, "When their Shepherd is nigh!"

"You know," Daisy sighed. "There's something very comforting about that whole 'Shep is nigh' thing."

"Missing your bootcamp days, Daze?" Rose laughed.

"And my bootcamp shape," she said ruefully. "This keeps up and I'm going to be the size of a tank."

Pretty Boy winked at her. "A beautiful, lethal tank."

"Aw, you're sweet!" She beamed at him.

"So, things are going … well?" Shep sought out Pretty Boy's gaze.

He mentally stumbled as he looked up. Shep stood, framed in the doorway and backlit by the hall light, decked out in distressed denim and leather. A short layer of soft scruff covered his jaw, his mouth curved in amusement. When he finally reached Shep's navy blue eyes, Shep raised an eyebrow. Apparently, he'd noticed Pretty Boy's appreciation of the view.

Oops. He blushed a little. "Oh, yeah. Going great." He shook himself. "No worries."

"Good to hear."

"How's it going for you?" Pretty Boy asked as casually as possible.

A flash of something complicated, bitter and raw crossed Shep's face. "Fine." He glanced around the room. "Well, if everything's good here …"

"Shep, you should stay with us!" Lexi called. "Please?"

"Don't, brother! It's a trap!" Jagger called. Daisy and Rose threw their pillows at him. "Hang on, don't kill the messenger!" He leapt to his feet, dancing away from them. "Shep, I'm glad you stopped by. I was wondering if you might sit in on our practice tonight. We're working on the set for the Apocalypse Rally. And I want to test out your harmonica skills on that song."