King Cobra (Hot Rods) (6 page)

Alanso appreciated her loyalty. No questions asked. She’d always have his back.

Which is why he felt extra lame when he rounded on her as she crept closer again.

But having her near confused him all over again, just when he’d thought he’d found some answers.

“Stop! Don’t you get it? I don’t like
chocha
.” He drew a ragged breath, knowing he had to say the word. For himself. “Sally, I’m gay!”

Holden laughed first.

He flat out snorted as he rocked in his chair. Several beer bottles scattered on the table in front of him when his arm knocked into them. The clatter echoed off the high ceilings with exposed metal beams.

Sally froze. She tipped her head as she scrutinized him. Her gaze roamed over him inch by inch, as if one of his tattoos had secretly proclaimed his orientation all this time and she’d missed it.

Roman shot up from his chair. He paced behind the poker table. As usual, he didn’t say anything right away, but Alanso could practically hear the wheels turning in his mind. What conclusion were they working toward? Would he accept a gay guy in their mix?

Carver piped up from the couch. Not in disgust. With pure curiosity, which was harder to drum up protective anger toward. “I’m confused, Al. It was less than six months ago that I walked in on you, in our laundry room, fucking that check-out girl from the grocery store. There wasn’t any faking the way you pile-drived her.”

“Hell, this place isn’t soundproof. We’ve
all
heard you making women scream. And that damned Spanish. Wraps them around your dick every time. What’s this really about?” Kaige grinned, his golden dreadlocks dancing around his head as he shrugged. “Dude. You almost had me for a second there.”

“I’m not joking,
cabrón
.” He scrubbed his hand over his head. “Okay, maybe not
maricón
. What do you call it? Bi. Something. Whatever. I sucked a guy’s dick tonight and I liked it. Label that whatever the fuck you want.”

“You should have waited outside for me,” Eli murmured. “This isn’t the time or place for this discussion. Let’s take a walk. Cool off.”

“Fuck you.” Alanso wrenched away from Cobra. “I’ve had enough of secrets. They deserve to know why I’m not welcome. Why everything went to hell.”

“You’re always welc—”

“No, I’m not.” Refusing to settle for half-alive wasn’t an option anymore.

While he was distracted, Mustang Sally snuck in. He flinched when she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her cheek between his shoulder blades. “We love you, Alanso. It doesn’t matter who you choose to have sex with. Why would you think we’re so judgmental?”

Whether it was the heat of her embrace or the enormous open heart she flashed them all, arousal—the same familiar longing that had plagued him lately in the presence of his de facto family—flared around him. The inappropriate thoughts heated his cheeks and had him staring at the floor.

Not one of the guys uttered a peep.

“Because Eli is.” He hated the trembling in his worn-out muscles. It transmitted his exhaustion and fear to Sally as clearly as if he’d painted the torment in the bright colors she loved so much. “He’s been keeping me gagged for months.”

And didn’t that image rouse his cock? Damn thing wouldn’t behave. Seriously? After the best fucking night of his life? Well, second best if you counted the session with the crew.

“What?” Roman stood farthest away, but there was no way he had misheard.

“You’re ashamed of him?” Bryce took a step closer, cracking his knuckles. “Cobra, what the fuck?”

“Hell, no.” Eli rounded on the beefy guy. “You don’t understand the situation.”

“Of course not,
coño
. Because you haven’t shared any of it with them. How could they know what we saw? What we did?” Weeks and weeks of rage exploded from Alanso at once. “You refused to be honest about it. You’re a fucking coward. I didn’t imagine your cock in my hand or your tongue in my mouth, did I?”

“Holy shit.” Kaige plopped into his seat. “Is this the Twilight Zone or something?”

“No. You did not.” Eli stepped closer.

Alanso couldn’t have retreated even if he’d wanted to with Sally plastered to his back, sobbing quietly. He knew how much conflict upset her. Still, he couldn’t stop the snowball they’d set rolling down this mountain of angst.

“Well, at least I’m not crazy
and
gay,” he spat.

“Look, if you keep saying that like it’s a bad word, you’re going to be fighting with more than Cobra.” Holden surprised them all by getting fired up. The usually affable guy rarely took a stand on serious issues. “You’re not the only one in this room who’s hooked up with a dude. I just never had some kind of emo crisis about it. Do what feels good and fuck anyone who tells you not to. What the hell’s so hard about that?”

Alanso’s stare whipped to his friend. Could it be true? All this time he’d spent not confiding in them he could have had an ally. It was partially his fault. Not everything could be blamed on Cobra. That asshole.

“Nothing.” He cleared his throat. “It’s how I plan to live from now on. Like from right this second. And it’s how the crew does it too.”

“The crew?” Sally tensed around him. “Joe and his guys? What do they have to do with this?”

“Alanso…” Cobra hissed out a warning.

“Quit that.” Bryce winged a clay poker chip at Eli. It bounced off his corded biceps. “Let him talk.”

Alanso swallowed hard. “When Dave was in the accident and we went down to help, the crew was a mess. Kate and Morgan were pregnant and having a rough time. They were all torn up. Terrified he wasn’t going to make it. We finished with the insurance paperwork earlier than expected so we met Joe, Morgan, Kate and Mike back at their house where the women were resting. Or so we thought.”

Eli hadn’t blinked once. It was as if he could visualize the scene they’d walked in on as clearly as Alanso could. The day replayed like a movie on endless loop in his mind.

“Cobra didn’t want to wake them. Morgan had practically passed out at the hospital and the guys weren’t hanging in there much better. So he picked the lock. We snuck in.” Alanso couldn’t stop himself from licking his lips. “Joe was fucking Morgan on a mattress. Right there on the floor of the living room.”

“Guess she was feeling better.” Kaige’s eyebrows wiggled.

“They were helping her get there.” Alanso nodded. “Taking away some of the fear and comforting her.”

“Who’s
they
?” Roman spoke up.

“Kate watched while Mike and Joe got it on with her.” Alanso couldn’t help the boner that started to rise. He hoped they wouldn’t notice.

“Damn.” Bryce rubbed his chest. “That’s fucking hot. Kate was cool with it?”

“Hell yeah.” He thought back to the serene smile on her face. “She wasn’t up for sex with Mike just then. But she didn’t want him to suffer. I could see how much she loved him. All of them. While she cheered them on.”

Eli still hadn’t budged. Light brown hair stuck out in a messy array, courtesy of his convertible. He breathed hard at the memories. He stood rigid as Alanso spilled his family’s secrets.

Alanso had talked to the crew enough lately to know they didn’t mind him sharing the details of their alternative lifestyle. Hell, they’d threatened to call the garage and enlighten the rest of the Hot Rods if he didn’t do it soon.

“I always knew Morgan was a lucky bitch,” Sally whispered, squeezing him tighter. If she didn’t let up he might suffocate. He wouldn’t mind. Her hug soothed his heart.

“I assumed because of your moms…” Alanso paused.

“After how I grew up, it seems kind of normal to have more than one partner.” Sally hardly ever talked about her childhood in rural Utah. “That wasn’t why I ran away. I didn’t like being brainwashed. Or forced.”

He dropped his shoulder, allowing her to swing around to his side and tuck under his arm. Holding her in return helped him finish. Especially when Kaige asked, “What does any of this have to do with you being gay?”

“Cause what we busted in on was only the beginning.” Eli’s raspy answer startled them all, if the dead silence was any indication. “Go ahead. You’ve gone this far. Finish it.”

Alanso certainly didn’t argue. “After they’d satisfied Morgan, you could tell Mike hadn’t had enough. You know how everything falls to him.”

Though he spoke of the head of the crew, Alanso stared into Eli’s eyes as he elaborated.

“He takes on tons of responsibility. Protects them. Worries. Loves them all.” A deep breath stretched his ribs.

Sally rubbed his back with one hand.

“Mike asked Joe if he could fuck him. Joe let him. It was like he gave up everything to Mike, allowed him to take all the anxiety and relaxed for the first time since I’d seen him. And for a while Mike had the situation under control again. The whole time, Morgan made out with Joe and helped him get off. They were in it together. Kate…”

Alanso peeked up at Eli, who didn’t try to shush him again.

“She played with me and Cobra. We did stuff. To each other.”

A strangled groan left Sally’s milky white throat. Whether it was approving or disgusted, he couldn’t tell.

“And I liked it.” Alanso gulped. “A lot.”

Afraid to glance up, a weight lifted from his shoulders when Eli said, “I did too.”

Kaige coughed around the slug of beer he’d taken to wet his throat. “Holy shit, guys. Well, I have to say of all the things we put in the pool as reasons for your bad mood…no one had
that
.”

“I sort of did.” Sally peeked at him from her spot against his chest. She laid her palm over his pounding heart. “I had lack of pussy. I know how you boys get when you hit a dry spell. And neither of you have been going out lately.”

“You keeping track of us now?” Alanso couldn’t say why it bothered him that she paid such close attention. Maybe it shamed him because he didn’t care for any of the women he’d shared sheets with as much as he did for her.

Standing there, with her and Eli so close, sandwiching him between them, had him breaking out in a sweat.

“Excuse me, guys.” Carver raised his hand, being ridiculous as always.

“What?” Eli growled.

“If
you
liked it…and
he
liked it…what the motherfuck is the problem here?” He scratched the stubble on his jaw.

“Good question.” Alanso’s spine straightened. “Apparently, Cobra only approves when he’s hot. Afterward, he’s horrified.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.” The corner of Eli’s eye twitched, as it did when he got thermonuclear angry. It didn’t happen very often, but when it did…

“I don’t need fancy talk to explain when you avoid me like I gave you herpes or some shit. You fucking insisted I not tell them what happened and acted like I’d killed someone. Even tonight, you must have watched. You were on the scene a fucking second after I finished. But you didn’t bother to join in or try to break their fingers for touching me. It’s pretty obvious you don’t give a shit.”

Sally interjected, “I don’t believe that, Alanso. I’m sorry he’s made you feel unwanted. He’s a dumbass, yes. But he loves you. We all do.”

“You’re our brother,” Roman affirmed.

“And
that’s
my problem.” Eli latched on to the excuse. “How can I want him? Or more? Any of you? All of you. Because believe me, I do. I wish you all could have seen what we did. I think you might like it too. I remember those nights…when we were younger, undisciplined, dumber… There were some close calls.”

He met each person’s gaze for a moment or two before moving on to the next.

“What you saw affected you as much as it did Al.” Bryce nodded, moving closer. “I can see where it would disturb you to blur the lines. You’ve always thought you had to look out for us.”

“You realize we’re plenty capable of holding our own, right?” Kaige chuckled. Hell, he’d single-handedly started and finished bar brawls regularly back when they were in their wilder days. “We’re close, yes. Something more than family. And if this is what you two want, I’d be willing to dip a toe in and see where it goes. If it doesn’t work for someone, or several people, we don’t have to pursue it.”

“I’d like to watch,” Sally whispered. A few of the guys mumbled their agreement. When she lifted her face toward Alanso, he thought maybe for a second she would keep stretching onto her tiptoes and put that dark red mouth lined with something even darker too close to his. Tonight had left him with no self-control intact. He stepped out of her hold. Unfortunately, that left him within Eli’s reach.

Instead of making a grab for him, Cobra closed his eyes. He stood there, breathing hard for a moment or two before his lids fluttered open and he focused his brilliant blue laser stare on Alanso. “Get over here and kiss me.”

Injustice triggered his stubborn streak. It didn’t seem fair that he’d had to beg for months only to give in immediately to Eli’s whims. “I’m not your bitch.”

“Don’t you wish you were?” Cobra canted his head. His high cheekbones were accentuated by the devilish smile Alanso knew so well.
Dios
, he’d missed that look. Homesickness roiled in his guts. He’d prayed for this man. And he didn’t care if it made him a pussy, he caved.