Page 38 of Lane (East Dremest Mafia #5)

LANE

A Month Later

“What are we doing here?” I asked, glancing around at the gym. A giant rock wall towered in front of me.

“Team building,” Raiden said, clapping his hands together. He was already geared up, hooked to the line or whatever the fuck it was called.

This was so not my thing. I could shop, go to the gym in the building, torture people, and fuck like it was my full-time job, but no one should ask me to climb a goddamn rock wall.

“The fuck?” I muttered. “Why isn’t Jordan here? He can get his balls squished with the straps and scale this bitch. I’m not sure why I’m the one who has to lead this show.”

“You really want to see his sac like that?” Barrett asked and shivered. “I don’t. Jesus, Lane, why did you have to put that visual in my head?”

“Why did you have to suggest this idea?” Raiden told me it was Barrett’s.

Not the whole team building bullshit. That was Jordan’s idea.

Bastard. But Barrett suggested this place.

We’d rented it out. No one else could come in.

The instructors weren’t scared of us, so that was a plus. “You should go first.”

Barrett grinned. His dimples popped. “I thought you’d never suggest that. I live for this.”

“Lies,” Reghan coughed.

Spinning, Barrett glared at his lover. “Just for that, you can stay on the ground while I climb the wall. If I fall, you won’t be there to stop me.” Oh, he knew what he was doing. Reghan was super protective of Barrett.

“I’ll go against him,” Raiden offered.

“Jerk,” Barrett said. If Reghan couldn’t watch Barrett’s back, his brother was the next best person.

We waited for Barrett to get ready, the straps to be tightened, and the carabiner to be hooked into place. I seriously had no idea what any of it was.

They got into position. It would be a race to the top. There was no prize though. At least, I didn’t think there was. My luck, Oleander had something in his backpack.

“It’s bullshit that I can’t participate,” Sheldon said from behind me. He sat on a bench, still healing from his wounds.

“No strenuous activity for you,” I said.

Alton nodded beside me.

“I expect to see you climbing the wall, Doc,” Sheldon stated.

“I’m not part of your team. I don’t have to do the exercise.”

“You’re wrong. You’ve been part of us for years.”

Alton shook his head. “What I do and what you do are two very different things.”

“Go!” the gym manager shouted, drawing our attention to the wall.

Barrett and Raiden climbed it with ease, each foot and hand placement perfect to propel them up the wall. The way Raiden’s muscles bulged, and his ass flexed, my cock thought it was game time.

Leaning close to Alton, I asked, “Are you?—”

“Yes.”

It was seconds before Raiden reached the top first with Barrett right behind him.

“You got a head start!” Barrett yelled as they were lowered to the ground.

Raiden tipped his head back and laughed. The joy that lit his face was a thing of beauty. “You’re so full of shit. You just can’t handle losing to me.”

“My turn,” Oleander said, shifting from one foot to the other. Man, these guys really got into this. Maybe if they fought about who was going next, they’d forget about me.

Raiden speared me with his gaze. “You.”

“Hell no.” I walked backward until my legs hit the bench Sheldon was on, where I sat, my hands gripping the edge.

“Team building.”

“I can be part of the activities from right here. I don’t need my cock to look like a hot dog to prove I’m a team player.”

Raiden walked to me and bent at the waist. I thought he was going to give me a pep talk but instead, he lifted me, put me over his shoulder then slapped my ass.

“Hey!” I yelped. “That’s not very sportsmanlike.” I had no clue what I was saying.

“You have to do it at least once. You might as well get it over with.” He placed me on my feet but kept his hands on my waist, so I didn’t flee to the bench again.

“I’m not sure what you think this is going to accomplish. Ollie’s going to win. I’ll look like I have no idea what I’m doing, which I don’t, by the way. And I’ll need to be lowered to the ground when I’m only a quarter of the way up because that’s all I’ll manage to do.”

“Your confidence is overwhelming.”

I grinned. “Isn’t it though?”

There was no escaping the task at hand. I was strapped in, my life literally hanging by a rope, straps, and metal clips. “Why couldn’t we go mini golfing like I wanted to?”

“Flashbacks,” Sheldon said from the bench. Right. There was an incident when he and Oleander were younger. A windmill was involved.

“Kite surfing?”

“In April in Pennsylvania?”

“New Jersey’s not far. There are beaches.”

Raiden lifted an eyebrow. “You’re telling me you’d be better at kite surfing than climbing a rock wall?”

“I haven’t divulged every one of my skills. For all you know I could be an amazing kite surfer.”

“Sure.” He pressed a delicate kiss to my nose. “Get ready to climb.”

“I hate you.”

“But I love you so.”

“I hate all of you,” I called over my shoulder.

Oleander had his hands in position on the wall as I did the same, wondering how far I could get before he reached the top.

Ten feet? Twenty? Maybe I could just pretend to try.

These guys had seen me slice a man from neck to ankle and watch him bleed out.

Climbing the wall wasn’t going to prove anything except that I was terrible at it.

“Go!” the manager yelled.

I contemplated my next move while my opponent took off like a shot. Then I climbed. Slowly. Hands went to my ass and pushed. A very unattractive squeak left me. Turning, I had Raiden beneath me, boosting me up the wall.

“I can climb faster if I want to,” I told him. “I’m planning my moves.”

“Sure, you are.”

“You shouldn’t handle your boss this way. I’ll get… ideas.”

Raiden didn’t expect me to say that and dropped me. All of four feet.

I landed on my feet with a bounce. “I could have been injured!”

Raiden’s arms went around me from behind. “As if I’d ever let that happen.”

“You suck,” Oleander said when he was lowered to the ground.

“I do and do it well.” I waggled my eyebrows.

“Good god.” He was unhooked and walked toward Sheldon to sit with him.

“Hey, Ray, unhook my cock.” I grinned. “This isn’t doing anything for me.”

“With pleasure.”

“Jesus Christ,” I heard Barrett say behind me. “Who’s next?”

I stopped paying attention after that. How could I when I remembered the way Raiden’s palms grazed my body to get me out of the harness? I had to wait until we were home before I could put my very talented mouth to work.

Alton pulled me onto his lap, where he sat on the other side of Sheldon. “It’s a good thing I was already in love with you, and this wasn’t a way to win me over.”

“Oh? You weren’t turned on by my display of athleticism? I’m appalled.”

“No, but I was turned on by you in the harness.”

“Don’t get any ideas. I’m not putting that on again. The closest you’ll get me in is a swing, and that’s iffy. I’d probably go ass over head and hurt myself.” It wasn’t that I was uncoordinated. I knew my weak points. Trying to swing and fuck… absolutely not.

“Let’s move to the next task,” Reghan said.

“There’s more?” I asked. “I thought we were going home.” Sighing, I stood and followed them. We rounded the corner, and I came to a halt. “What in the actual fuck?”

In front of us was a different kind of climbing wall. This one jutted out at weird angles and even had overhangs.

“This is the bouldering wall,” Reghan said with a grin.

I shook my head. “Fuck you, I’m not doing that.”

“It’s amazing.” Oleander’s head tipped back to take it in. “Barrett, go against me.”

“You’re on.”

Me, well, I walked as far as I could in the opposite direction while keeping them in sight. Team building and all of that. No way was I trying this. I didn’t even like the flat wall.

“I’ll let you off the hook here,” Raiden told me.

“Believe me when I say, you would have had to pry my cold, dead fingers from this bench to get me hooked up to climb that.”

Sheldon shook his head as he sat beside me. “Do you know how much I would give to be able to do this?”

Alton placed his hand on Sheldon’s shoulder. “Let me buy you a drink. I saw a juice bar near the lobby.” I felt bad for Alton. He still felt guilty for what Sheldon went through.

Guilt was going around. Raiden and Reghan had been taking their mom on day trips when they could, just the three of them, to spend time together.

She’d moved out of Jordan’s building and in with her sister.

Lily didn’t want to be alone just yet, nor did she want to return to the house where her husband was killed.

It was currently being redone to be put up for sale.

Lily insisted the twins didn’t have anything to feel guilty about, although she loved spending time with them. I wasn’t sure when they’d be able to let it go, if ever.

Then there was Alton, who felt awful that Sheldon was stabbed.

He’d offered to do a lot for Sheldon like run errands, buy his favorite foods, whatever he wanted.

Sheldon didn’t desire any of it and just wanted everyone to live their lives to the fullest. He could have lost his that day.

It was a horrible reminder that any of us could leave this earth at any moment.

Alton and Sheldon left the room while Oleander and Barrett climbed the wall.

I zoned out and focused on all the changes my life had gone through since I’d returned to the country with my pretend father and asshole sibling.

It was a lot, not going to lie. What I’d been through brought me to this moment, to these people.

If someone were to ask me if I thought I’d end up working for Jordan Altair Sr. as his second-in-command, I’d laugh like a fool.

Yet, here I was, in the official position as his second.

A role I didn’t take lightly, except now, because this was ridiculous.

I did enjoy watching the men laugh and have fun.

We’d invited Kayli and her sister along, but they had a weekend away and couldn’t make it. They said they’d join us next time. Kayli also promised she’d kick everyone’s ass at any event. I couldn’t wait to see it.

Reghan took the empty seat beside me. “Doing okay?”

“Yeah, you?”

He nodded. “You and Alton make my brother happy.”

“He does the same for us. It’s a mutual happiness.”

“I never said thank you.”

I turned. “For what?”

“For not letting Ray push you away. For showing him how amazing it could be with the three of you. Without you, none of this would be possible. I don’t just mean your relationship.

You were the person we were missing in the organization without even realizing it.

So much of what we do is terrible. It’s serious shit all the time.

You bring a levity to it, Lane. One we desperately needed. ”

“Wow. I think that’s the most you’ve ever said to me.”

He chuckled and put his palm on my face to push me away.

“Awww, you’re just a big teddy bear, aren’t you?” I hooked my arm into his as Raiden walked over. His smile was so damn gorgeous.

“What’s going on here?”

“I’m bonding with your brother.”

Raiden sat on Reghan’s other side but didn’t say anything else. I could feel their contentment, their joy. Losing their father had been hard on them, but with this other family around them, their mother and their partners, they still had a lot of life to live. I was damn lucky to be a part of it.

Thank you for reading Lane!