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“Well, I don’t feel anything that doesn’t belong,” she murmured, while he pushed lightly at her shoulder, hoping she’d get the hint before he shoved her onto the floor.

“Leave the goddamned boy alone,” his father snapped. “He’s too young for you.”

She’d huffed at that and pouted before standing to retrieve the beer his old man held out to her. The moment Axel was free, he ducked into his room and turned the music up so he wouldn’t have to listen if they started fucking.

By the time he and Creature pulled up outside of Joker’s Wild, Axel found himself longing for one of those long rides Creature had mentioned.

He didn’t move until after Creature patted his leg and told him it was okay to get off, and even then, as he planted both feet on solid ground, his body still hummed with the rumble of the engine’s intensity.

“That was awesome,” Axel declared as he did his best to comb his hair with his fingers until it was less messy. “I’d love to go on a long ride the next time you take one.”

“Good,” Creature said as he draped an arm over Axel’s shoulders and headed for the door with Axel pressed against his side.

Freebird blared from the speakers as they stepped inside to raucous cheers coming from deep within the space.

Creature guided him into the room, pausing at the bar for a couple twisted lemonades, while Axel took a moment to study the four men in leather gear hanging from the ceiling with laundry baskets in their hands, confused as fuck about what was going on over there.

Then he looked closer and noticed one was Scout, a determined look on his face as he was lowered.

With all the men standing around, it was impossible to see what was taking place on the floor.

“What are they doing?” Axel asked, hesitating when Creature tried to pass him one of the lemonades.

“Playing the MC version of Hungry, Hungry Hippos,” Creature explained, still holding his drink out to him.

“I really don’t like alcohol,” Axel explained.

“It’s alright; these don’t have any booze in them.”

“Then what makes them twisted?”

“The fact that Kat swirls in the flavor of the night whenever she makes them,” Creature explained. “Folks can get them with booze or without. I got them without tonight, since you were riding with me.”

“T-thanks.”

“No worries. I want you to feel comfortable on the back of the bike with me,” Creature explained. “After everything you’ve dealt with from your old man, I doubt you would if I came in here and started pounding drinks.”

“No, I’d, um, probably just walk home.”

“My point exactly.”

“So what’s tonight’s flavor?” Axel asked as he raised his glass to his lips.

“Kiwi.”

“Ohhh, nice, I love cold kiwis in yogurt,” Axel admitted, “But it’s been forever since I’ve had any.”

Sweet and tart, ice cold, and absolutely delicious. Nothing about this lemonade had come from a powdered mix; that was for damn certain. Sighing, he savored the taste lingering on his lips before guzzling half the glass.

“Come on, let’s check out the insanity,” Creature said, guiding him over to the game and right through the crowd so Axel could get an up-close look at what was happening.

A plywood barricade had been erected, big enough to fit the men being lowered into the square it formed.

The floor was covered with colorful, squishy-looking balls that the hippos were trying to scoop up in the baskets before they were raised back up to the platforms their boxes sat on.

Each dumped in the contents of their basket, then waited to be lowered again.

As soon as they were, they wiggled and squirmed, dragging the baskets with the balls they’d trapped over to the wall to try to tip them in.

Their partners, who manned the ropes, were blindfolded, so they couldn’t see if their partners had completed the task or not.

As Axel watched, one man was lifted without the basket he’d lost hold of and immediately started bellowing to be lowered again.

With all the noise, no one could tell who he was speaking to, meaning all the hippos were lowered, Scout and a blond using the opportunity to scoop a few extras into their baskets.

From the look of things, it was a risky move, considering they weren’t allowed to use their hands except to hold on to the baskets.

“Aren’t they worried about being smashed into the floor or ceiling?” Axel asked, going up on tiptoe so Creature could hear him.

“Nope, see those big knots in the ropes there?” Creature pointed out, drawing his attention to them and the pulley systems rigged to thick beams in the ceiling. “That keeps the hippos from being raised too high or lowered too far.”

“Nice!”

The more he studied it, the more the other safety features started to stand out, like the thick harnesses each hippo wore along with motorcycle helmets, though he couldn’t decide if that was to protect them if they accidentally collided or to make them look more like hippos.

“That really looks like fun,” Axel admitted after watching for a few minutes more.

“You can try it if you’d like,” Creature offered.

“Will you be my partner?”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Grinning, Axel sipped his lemonade, studying the game while working out a strategy in his head.

Scout looked to be doing well at it, having devised a plan that allowed him to capture the balls in the basket and drag it with one side open, collecting as many balls as he could on the way to the nearest wall.

A few times, he was tugged away before he was able to scoop them all in, but Axel never saw him come away empty-handed.

Those bright mismatched eyes of his were lit up with joy as he laughed and wiggled around, capturing balls as the men crowded around made bets on who would walk away the winner.

“I’ve got twenty on Scout,” Creature bellowed, holding the bill up until someone took it from him.

Axel could tell that Scout heard him too, because he doubled his efforts to capture a small pile that had rolled away from some of the others.

There were only a few scattered clumps of balls remaining on the floor, though it seemed like the game wouldn’t be over until the last one had been scooped up.

At least they weren’t using nets, Axel mused, wondering how the hell they’d come up with their strange but seriously badass version of the game in the first place.

When two guys collided, going after the same pile, Scout saw it as an opportunity to capture it beneath his basket and drag it away from them.

A few short minutes later, the game ended and the boxes were lowered down, one at a time, for someone to count.

The men were lowered as well, with four men already positioned behind them to take their spots.

“We’re next on this line,” Creature declared, snagging them a spot for the round after the next one.

“You’ve got it,” the big man who seemed to be in charge of that section replied.

“Want another lemonade?” Creature asked when he saw that Axel’s had been drained.

“Yeah, but I’ll get them,” Axel said, taking Creature’s glass too, and heading for the bar, glad to see Scout headed there as well.

“I need to talk to you,” Axel said after placing the glasses on the bar and requesting refills.

“Alright, so talk,” Scout said, grinning as he leaned in close. “I’m not on the clock tonight.”

“Cops came by the gas station,” Axel whispered, hating the way the teasing, flirty grin faded to a scowl as he tugged Scout a little way away from the bar where they couldn’t be interrupted.

“Asking more questions. Ms. Esperanza woke up and said she was certain another man was there, in a leather jacket. I told them she was mistaken, but they’re looking for you.

They wanted to know if I knew how to find you, and no, I didn’t tell them that you worked here.

I just told them I didn’t know you, had only met you that day, and didn’t have a clue where you went after you left. ”

Scout’s shoulders slumped some, and Axel could see the worry and relief written all over his face. “Thanks. I wish they’d just let it drop, for fuck’s sake.”

“You and me both,” Axel said. “Mrs. Martinez remembered seeing him too and said that she thought he’d come in with you, or at least, that she was certain you’d come in at the same time.

She told them that he was still in the store when I told her to go to the back but that I was stocking shelves when she called me to the front and probably hadn’t noticed him. ”

“Thank the gods for that.”

“Doesn’t mean she didn’t ask me about it later,” Axel explained. “I hated lying to her.”

“I’m sorry I put you in that position.”

“I put myself in that position when I backed your story,” Axel admitted. “Guess we’re both stuck with it now.”

“Yeah,” Scout said; whatever he said next was drowned out when he was announced the winner of the game.

Cheers, groans, and curses filled the room as someone came over and pressed a roll of bills in Scout’s hand.

“I guess it pays to bet on myself,” Scout remarked to the man, who shook his head, then smacked him on the back hard enough to stagger him.

“Yeah, well, I’ll remember that for next time and bet on you too,” the man said before ambling away.

“Thanks for the warning,” Scout said, as Axel snagged his and Creature’s refilled glasses.

When he turned around with them, Scout was gone, the back of his bright, sun-streaked hair disappearing through the crowd as he made a beeline towards the door, while Axel made his way back to Creature’s side to await his turn to play hippo.