Page 29 of Hidden Desires (Bikers of Mayhem #2)

ACE

I t was just after one a.m. when the tan sedan rolled past the motel driveway, swinging open its back door and tossing Ace’s tied-up body out onto the gravel driveway.

The car sped off, not bothering to ensure that someone noticed Ace’s body or that the boy landed in a spot clear of traffic.

No. Their only job was to return Ace’s body. And they had done just that.

“Marcus!” someone shouted off in the distance.

Gravel crunched beneath multiple pairs of boots as several feet came running toward him.

“Ace?” Lucas’s voice was heard seconds before his body was flipped onto his back, and the concerned face of his best friend suddenly appeared above him.

“Hey, buddy,” Ace attempted. His ribs hurt—most likely from the beating he took while his captors were trying to hoist him up on that crane. Unlike Blade, he wasn’t willing to go so easily.

“Ace!” Marcus’s voice was heard next, followed by even louder thumping as his big brother charged toward him.

Marcus’s concerned face appeared above him.

“Ace, are you okay? What happened?” Marcus asked, reaching for the ropes that tied his hands together.

“Got my ass handed to me, is what happened,” Ace huffed, moaning as Lucas helped him sit up on the ground.

His head went fuzzy, and the world around him began to sway.

No. Now was not the time for him to pass out or faint. Blade needed him.

“Blade. They got Blade,” he managed to get out.

His big brother scooped him up into his arms and carried him back to his motel room.

Ace clung to his brother as Marcus shouted orders to the men around them. “Open the door. Grab the first aid kit. Someone get him some water.”

All around him, there was a flurry of activity as his brother lay his body down on his bed.

He wasn’t broken. He could sit up on his own.

Impatiently, Ace pushed his brother’s hand aside and sat up on the bed.

“Would you please fuck off and let me talk?” Ace barked at his brother.

The room went silent as all the hustling bodies suddenly stopped what they were doing.

Marcus fell to his knees by the bed.

“What? What is it?”

“Blade. They have Blade,” Ace repeated, just in case his brother hadn’t heard him the first time.

“Who? Who has Blade?” Marcus asked, taking his brother’s hand and giving it a loving squeeze.

“Blade’s father.”

Whispers filled the room. Most people weren’t aware that Blade even had a father—or family—for that matter. Rumor was that the road just opened up one day, and Blade emerged, throwing knives.

They never questioned it. The story made sense.

Blade was never one to discuss his past or where he came from. All his stories just began the day Marcus brought him home from California.

“His father?” Caden asked, looking just as confused as everyone else.

“Yeah, at least I think he was. Blade called him Dad when I was tied up,” Ace responded.

“I wasn’t even aware that he had a dad,” Nikolai muttered, cracking open a bottle of vodka and pouring himself a glass.

“Yeah, and I’m guessing that the man is just as good at throwing knives as Blade, judging by how scared Blade was of his father,” Ace added.

“What do you mean, scared?” Marcus asked, eyes suddenly narrowing as he glared at his little brother.

“Scared. His father had me tied up, suspended over a canyon. The man held up a dagger and threatened to let me drop, unless Blade tied himself up and traded his life for mine. I never saw Blade give in so fast.”

While Blade was often seen as the clown of the group or the one who always liked having a good time, he was also known for his fierce loyalty.

He was always the first to jump into a fight and always volunteered for any jobs that were dangerous.

He often joked that he volunteered because he was the only one crazy enough to carry out the job, but the rest of them knew it was really because he was trying to keep them all safe and out of harm’s way.

Blade was not a coward or a chicken. So if he gave in to someone or yielded, he was either terrified of what the person might do or had his reasons for doing so.

“Blade traded his life for yours?” Marcus asked, eyes still filled with worry.

Ace nodded. “The man loves me. His only concern was getting me out of that situation and as far away from his father as possible. He didn’t hesitate.

When his father offered him the trade, he ran over and grabbed those zip ties.

His father could have betrayed him or shot him on the spot, but Blade was willing to sacrifice everything if it meant a chance at saving my life. ”

“You got a good one there, Ace,” Lucas said, leaning into Caden for support.

“You do. Which is why we are going to get our brother back,” Marcus snarled. “Do you remember where they took you?”

Ace shook his head. “All I know is that there was a canyon and a ratty old cabin sitting next to it.”

Growling, Marcus stood up and turned to the rest of the boys in the room.

“Nikolai, you hit the streets and see if any of your contacts know where we can find Blade’s father and this cabin by the canyon.

Caden, you and Luc call Chester. See if he has a doc in the area he trusts.

I want to get someone to come and check out Ace and make sure that he’s okay.

” Then he turned to Ace. “Ace, you are going to tell me everything you remember while I clean your wounds.”

Ace nodded at his big brother.

There was something to be said about watching a gigantic man squeeze into a tiny bathroom and maneuver around the place like he wasn’t being squished at all.

This whole thing was ridiculous.

Ace had already told his brother that he didn’t need his scrapes cleaned and that if Marcus insisted, they should probably just do it in the bedroom, not the tiny-ass bathroom.

But Marcus insisted. It was easier to wash out the wounds and then ensure that the bandages were securely in place in the bathroom.

If you asked him, Ace was pretty sure this was just Marcus’s way of trying to maintain control over a situation that he felt out of control in.

So Ace let his six-foot-four brother squeeze his big-ass man-cheeks into the tiny-ass bathroom to tend to his wounds, while he sat on the toilet like a ten-year-old child, letting his parent bandage up his scraped knee.

Ridiculousness.

“I have to apologize,” Marcus said in such a low voice that Ace wasn’t sure the man had said anything at all.

“For what?” Ace asked, staring at his brother, who was refusing to make eye contact.

“For being an overbearing asshole of a brother to you.”

Ace placed his hand on his brother’s, stopping him from washing the dirt off his elbow.

“We already covered all of this.”

“ I know, but if it wasn’t for me going all caveman on Blade, he wouldn’t have run off, and you wouldn’t have been kidnapped.”

“Oh, I probably would have been kidnapped, even if you hadn’t tried to murder my fuck toy.”

Marcus gave Ace a disgusted look.

“I’m still not comfortable with the thought of Blade being inside of you. The man is just so…”

“Sexy? Strong? Hilarious and charming? Has a big dick and knows how to use it?”

Anger flashed across Marcus’s eyes.

Okay, perhaps he had gone a little too far with that last one.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. My point is that Blade is a really good guy deep down. I know he might not always show it, and often thinks that he will be made fun of if he shows vulnerability or weakness, but the truth is, he is the perfect man for me. Plus, he’s crazy about me.”

“Well, if a guy is willing to trade away his life for yours, I guess I couldn’t ask for a better person to share your bed.” Then a look flashed across Marcus’s face. “Wait, why do you think that you would have been kidnapped either way?”

Ace shrugged. “It seemed to me that Blade’s dad really wanted Blade for some reason and that the easiest way to get him alone was to lure him out with me.”

“Lure him out?”

“I’m not sure. Before today, I didn’t even know that Blade had a living relative. But doesn’t it seem like a coincidence that his long-lost father happens to be in the same place as his son after all these years?”

They both sat there in silence.

“Better finish up that arm of yours,” Marcus said, resuming his duties as male nurse.

Ace wondered how Blade would look in a nurse’s outfit. Oh! Perhaps a male scrub nurse’s outfit. Mmm, something about those loose-fitting pants that displayed the perfect dick print had his mouth salivating.

There was a knock on the motel room door just before Nikolai’s voice was heard asking if he could come in.

“Door’s unlocked,” Marcus shouted. “Come on in.”

Nikolai appeared in the bathroom doorway seconds later, looking all out of breath.

“I think I know where they are.”