King Cobra (Hot Rods)

chapter Five


Alanso swung his leg over his bike and clomped up the metal stairs at the rear of Hot Rods without waiting for Eli to park his Cobra in the personal bays the rest of the group reserved for their rides. His bed called loud and clear. Given the chaos of his thoughts and the ragged emotion chasing on the heels of his experiment, he thought it’d be best if he avoided a confrontation tonight.

God only knew what he’d say when all of his insides were laid bare. He felt like he was turned inside out and everyone could see his guts, what made him tick and the dumb hope causing his heart to pound.

He had to think.

Or maybe getting in his head too much was the f*cking problem. Deliberating hadn’t done him any good over the past several months.

Seriously, there was no mistaking the tongue Eli had shoved in his mouth before spinning on his heels and commanding Alanso home.

But he hadn’t been exactly affectionate either, had he?

Begrudging intimacy wasn’t going to cut it anymore. He refused to settle. Or walk around feeling like he’d done something wrong.

Links had it right. Alanso didn’t plan to hide ever again.

Except maybe just this one night. Until he figured out what to say to the five guys and one smoking hot woman staring at him as he opened the door to their common room a teensy bit too fast. The knob slipped from his grasp, allowing the door to hit the wall as he flew inside. A black-and-white picture of their first restoration job fell off the wall. The glass cracked as it hit the hardwood floor they’d installed a few years ago.

Just like that, something inside him shattered along with it.

His eyes flickered first to Sally. Worry lines around her pretty green eyes only amped him up more. This tension between him and Eli had affected the entire group in some way. From where he lounged on the couch beside her, Carver put his hand on her shoulder.

The movie they’d been watching droned in the background.

Roman, Holden, Kaige and Bryce set their cards on the table despite the large pot resting between them. Big, usually quiet, Bryce broke the silence. “You okay, Alanso?”

“No.”

Roman’s eyes widened and Holden scooted his chair around so he could catch the show too. In an instant, Sally rose and started to cross the sweeping area. The second floor of the garage was enormous. A complete blank slate had allowed them to slice the space into the rooms they needed to house them all while leaving a big-ass kitchen and this common ground.

Fortunately, the size of the living room gave Alanso opportunity to evade Mustang Sally’s outstretched arms. He put a beat-up leather recliner between them.

“Don’t.” He shook his head. She couldn’t touch him after where he’d been. What he’d done.

Tears shimmered in her eyes, obscuring jade behind pools of crystal. “What happened? What’s wrong? Where’s Eli?”

Relief washed through the gang when the door opened for the second time in as many minutes and their King Cobra came home.

“Who broke the picture?” He stepped toward the shards on the floor. Would he sweep them up? Alanso didn’t think he could. None of them could put it back together now. It was too late. The damage had been done.

“I did.” Alanso didn’t recognize the tone of his own voice. “Leave it. I’ll get it before I head out in the morning.”

“What?” Sally rounded the chair. “Where are you going?”

Alanso kept pace, never letting her close the distance. “It doesn’t matter. But I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not just to fit in.”

Sally propped her hands on her hips. She looked damn cute when she got pissed. Not that it happened often. “The hell’re you talking about? Did he tell you to get out?”

She jabbed a finger in Eli’s direction.

“You know better than that, Sally.” Eli’s response came quiet yet sure.

“Shut up.” Her snap at the garage owner raised a few brows in the room. “You’ve f*cked up enough already, haven’t you? Somebody damn well better tell us what’s going on. Keeping us in the dark is a shitty thing to do. Since when do we hide stuff from each other? Afraid we’re going to kick your ass, Eli? I’m starting to think you really deserve it.”

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, f*cking 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 f*ck 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.”

“F*ck 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 f*cking 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 f*ck?”

“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 f*cking 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 f*ck 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 a*shole.

“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 f*cking 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 f*cking 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 f*ck 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 p-ssy. 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 motherf*ck 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 f*cking 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 f*cking 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 p-ssy, he caved.

“Sometimes.” Alanso squared himself to his best friend, coming face-to-face. “But mostly I wonder what it would be like to make you forget about the world for one f*cking moment. What if I could take away your obsession with the bills, worry about your dad’s loneliness, the look you get on your face any time one of us doesn’t feel well or, God forbid, has to go to the doctor? What would it be like to see you carefree? That’s what I wish.”

“Never gonna happen, Al.” Roman sighed.

“Prove him wrong.” The dare hung in the air. Eli knew damn well Alanso couldn’t resist a challenge like that. “Go ahead.”

Alanso didn’t recall deciding to give in. One instant he was floundering, his whole life about to change—for better or worse he couldn’t tell yet. The next, he’d stepped forward, grabbed Eli’s head between his palms and tugged until the taller guy yielded.

Before their mouths could crush onto each other again, Eli murmured, “I’m sorry.”

This time, when they met, something was different.

Sure, the urgency remained. A rough massage at the back of Eli’s skull nudged him closer. Alanso practically climbed the garage owner despite their friends witnessing his undeniable craving for the guy he groped.

Yet their lips told another story. Eli didn’t advance. He allowed Alanso to take charge of their exchange. Instead of powerful nips or the lashing of tongues, they traded swipes of soft, wet flesh against the same.

Eli fed a groan into Alanso’s open mouth. He went still and calm. His movements turned fluid. The change spurred Alanso to escalate their encounter. The hard wall of Cobra’s chest met his as they fused together full-length. And only when his hands roamed from that short, tousled hair past strong shoulders to a narrow waist and finally to Eli’s gorgeous ass did he realize the shafts trapped between them were equally hard.

Hell, it felt as if Cobra really did have a massive trouser snake if the bulge poking Alanso’s flexed abs was any indication. In the background, someone whistled.

Coming to his senses, Alanso opened his eyes. He imprinted the peace and desire in Eli’s expression on his memory before he ripped away.

Cobra stumbled.

Carver appeared from beside them to brace the garage owner. It seemed he’d elected for a ringside seat to their little show. Sally clasped Eli’s other arm, steadying him on his feet where he swayed.

“Great idea. It’s time for bed.” Their leader was back, and he had a mission.

“You think just because you rock at tonsil hockey, you’re going to sleep with me tonight?” Alanso shoved away from Eli’s chest. “F*ck off. I’m still pissed. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than one f*cking tongue tango to convince me that you deserve a shot with me.”

Eli grinned, wide and slow. “You think I’m a good kisser?”

“Kiss my ass, Cobra. No me jodes.” He stalked toward his room, which shared a wall with Eli’s, trying not to remember how Ronnie had done just that earlier, while Cobra observed from the shadows.

“Wow, Al. Maybe you really are a chick under all those tattoos.” Holden got smacked upside the head by Roman for his smartassery. Sally tossed in a defense for her kind too. She wasn’t a head-game player like most women they’d run across.

A double salute from Alanso’s middle fingers, without checking the rearview for reaction, marked his exit. The day had drained him. In more ways than one.

Maybe tomorrow he could process it all.

Until then, sleep sounded heavenly.

He locked his hallway door, stripped to bare-assed-naked and took a minute to brush his teeth in the bathroom he shared with Cobra. It didn’t occur to him that his mind had stopped racing for the first time in months, making it easy to crash into his pillows and drift off.