Page 37 of Brandishing Balance (Devil’s Psychos MC #3)

Maya

I t was going on eight p.m. when Marcos, Jason, and Nico walked back into Marcos’s dorm room. Luke was engrossed in the Transformers moving we were watching, while I kept glancing between the book I was reading on my phone and the movie.

Same shit I’d be doing at home, except at home I’d be more comfortable and not in the jeans I squeezed my ass into just to come here. Ok, that’s a lie, I’d lost a lot of weight in the last couple weeks and all my clothes were baggy now—including my jeans.

“Hey, Mi Vida,” Marcos murmured tiredly. He walked over and pressed a soul-sucking kiss to my lips, his tongue immediately invading my mouth as his hand cupped my jaw.

“Ewww,” Luke groaned.

I immediately pushed Marcos away, shocked that we forgot about Luke sitting a few feet away. “Luke—”

“Are you guys like together ?” Luke asked, his precious face watching us with a hint of excitement in his gaze.

“Would that be ok with you?” Marcos asked, before I could respond.

A bright smiled bloomed on Luke’s face. “Yeah… I mean… I guess.” He tried to play it off. “It’d be alright, I guess, to have parents that are like other kids’ parents.”

My heart broke for what my son has been forced to endure in his short nine and half years. “Luke, you know it’s ok to not be like everyone else, right?”

“Yeah, I know. Tommy likes boys, but I like girls.” Luke was so serious as he spoke, a wry smile pulled at my lips.

“Yes. And like most other parents there’s usually only two people in the couple, either the man and the woman, or sometimes two men or two women,” I started, figuring this was the best lead in I could get. “But for some families there are multiple partners.”

“Like how Auntie Kara is with uncle Johnny, Uncle Kevin, and Uncle Derrick?” Luke asked.

“Yep, exactly. I’m also with Nico and Jason.” I don’t look at him as I add his name to our relationship. Shit with him was still rocky as fuck, and we might have only had a truce, but I believed in my heart that he still loved me—we just had a shit ton to work through.

Luke’s mouth dropped open. “Really?” he asked, looking around at the three men that stood to my left.

“Really,” Marcos answered.

“So if you see me kiss your mom, don’t freak out. We just all love her very much,” Nico added.

“Yes, your mom is the very center of our family, and we can’t live without her,” Jason said.

I snapped my gaze to his and stifled a gasp. His stormy gray eyes were watching me intently. His usual stone-cold mask was gone and in its place was a yearning emotion that I hadn’t seen from him in years.

“Huh,” Luke said. He glanced at the four of them before he shrugged and went back to watching his movie.

I smirked and shook my head at his resilience. He never ceased to amaze me.

Jason cleared his throat, drawing my attention to him. “Do you think you’d be up for a ride?” he asked me.

My mouth dropped open in shock. “Um,” I shot a quick glance at Luke then Marcos.

“Its fine, we got him,” Marcos said.

Feeling apprehensive, but knowing Jason and I need to talk, I got up from the couch and walked over to Jason.

“We ran back for my bike before we came up here, so Marcos will take Luke home in the truck. Think you can handle a ride?” he asked.

“Um, maybe? I guess we’ll see.” I answered as honestly as I could. I had no real way of knowing how my body would react. My internal stitches had dissolved already, according to Doctor Griffin, but I still had moments when I got too sore if I over-did something.

Jason nodded. “Alright, we’ll try to keep things short then.”

I said goodnight to Luke, before I kissed Nico and Marcos goodbye and then turned back to Jason. He was watching me and clenching his jaw in anger. Was he mad at me? Trepidation rolled through me. Did I really want to go somewhere alone with him if he was angry?

Probably not, but mostly because I didn’t want to cause a scene if I ended up bitching him out for being a dick. We needed to talk though, so I pushed past him out the door.

“Hold on,” he said grabbing my hand.

I looked up at him and his stone-cold mask was back in place.

“You’re not inked yet, or wearing a ‘property of’ patch. You gotta stay with me,” Jason said as a way of explaining grabbing my hand.

I rolled my eyes, I knew the rules around here. It may have been a decade since I left here, but I remember how things went. I often wondered why they never inked me back then, but I often wondered about a lot of shit from our relationship in those days.

Jason led me down the stairs, through the barroom and out the front door.

The cool night air had me stopping in my tracks.

I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and despite it being late September in northern Illinois, it had been warm when we drove over in the truck.

I was not dressed for riding on the back of a bike at night.

“Here,” Jason said, motioning me forward.

I watched him pull a wad of black fabric out of his left saddle bag before he handed it to me.

I grabbed it and unfolded it, discovering it was one of his hoodies.

Quickly pulling it over my head, I embraced the warmth that settled around me.

It was a thick sherpa lined hoody that the man would not be getting back, ever.

Jason opened another saddle bag on the other side of his Harley and pulled out a spare helmet. I pulled it over my head and as I started doing up the straps under my chin, Jason slapped my hand away.

I smirked, though he probably couldn’t see it, and to mess with him I tried again to do my own straps.

Not only did he slap my hand away again, he gripped the base of the helmet and jerked my face up to look at him.

“Darlin’ you want to be a brat, that’s fine, but let’s not forget who’s in charge here. ”

Still smirking, because I know I have him, I chuckled softly. “If that’s what you gotta tell yourself,” I said.

He growled deep his chest, “You and I are gonna figure this shit out between us tonight, then I’m going to spank this ass for that sass.”

I laughed lightly. “Bring it on, lover boy,” I taunt him.

The smile that broke across his face had butterflies erupting in my stomach. His stormy gray eyes were crinkled at the corners, making my heart pound in my chest. He really was fucking hot as hell; he just had to be a dick half the time.

He finished up my buckles on my helmet, then slammed my visor closed for good measure, before he turned away from me to grab his own helmet.

A few minutes later he was sitting on his bike that he had started and waiting for me to climb on.

I grabbed his shoulder and used his body to mount the bike, putting one foot on the peg before I climbed up and swung my leg over.

It was a magical feeling being on the back of a motorcycle again.

Feeling the rumble of the engine beneath me, my man between my thighs.

It felt like coming home after a long ten years away.

I had to remind myself not to cry, because I wouldn’t be able to wipe my tears away with the helmet—not easily at least.

“Are you ready?” Jason’s voice crackled to life in my ears and I shouted, jumping in alarm.

His rich, melodious laugh rang through the apparent speakers in my helmet, sending shivered down my spine.

“Holy shit.” I breathed hard, hand on my heart.

“Gotta love technology. Bluetooth speakers and mics in both helmets.” He spoke normal, his voice a soothing balm for my ears. “We didn’t have these back then.”

“These are fantastic,” I murmured.

“They are—they let you listen to the music too. One day, if you’re a good girl, I’ll give you the remote to the radio,” he crooned.

The moan that escaped me was obscene. I had already forgotten that he could hear me, because I blushed bright red when he started laughing.

“You ready, darlin’?”

“So ready, si—Jason,” I said, slipping up and almost calling him sir.

“Oh baby, you and I aren’t going to talk things out if you keep that up, and we have a lot to talk about,” Jason said. He didn’t wait for me to respond before he revved the engine. He was still in park, so I quickly leaned forward into his body and tightly wrapped my arms around him.

Jason slipped into first gear and took off a moment later. Music filled the speakers in my helmet and I slipped into the zone, enjoying the night air zooming by me.

A while later, Jason pulled into the parking lot at Quinnlyn beach my heart immediately skipped a beat. He really wanted to talk about our relationship, our future, at such a romantic spot at night?

The sun had long since set, and the moon and stars were out, shining in full force. There was no one else here, as the beach was technically closed the public after dusk. But since when did my guys care about the law?

Jason pulled into a spot and shut off the bike, killing the music in my ears as well.

The silence was deafening, and we both sat still, watching the waves roll on the massive lake.

It might not be as big as Lake Michigan, but Lake White Buffalo was no small body of water either.

It would be warmer than Lake Michigan, though, should we choose to stick our feet in it—especially at this time of year.

And I kinda wanted to stick my feet in it.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t go to Chicago this weekend,” Jason’s voice is soft over the speakers in the helmets.

I startled nonetheless. Needing to be face to face with him, I made quick work of the helmet straps and pulled it off my head.

I fixed my messy hair as Jason pulled his own helmet off.

I slid off the bike and set my helmet on my seat and stepped away so Jason can dismount.

He quickly swings his leg over in a practiced motion while undoing the straps of his helmet.

Once he placed his own helmet on the handlebar, he looked over at me.

“Are you upset?” he asked.