Page 3

Kaz

HE LEANED back on the couch, his arm lying across Jane’s shoulders.

She was giving Wilder the middle finger for making lewd suggestions, much to Solo’s amusement.

Wilder flicked Solo’s nose and promptly got pushed off the couch.

He wasn’t the least bit surprised when it turned into a full-on brawl on the floor.

Wilder was a notorious flirt, but Jane was wholly unaffected. She was adamant that fucking any of them would be like fucking a brother. They had all met at the Disciples’ shelter and pretty much grown up together, so he tended to agree with her.

“Ten on Solo,” Jane said, green eyes gleaming wickedly.

He wrapped his fingers around Jane’s hair, giving her ponytail a light tug that made her roll her eyes.

“Make it twenty.”

Solo landed a blow to Wilder’s gut that made him regret that bet instantly, but even if Wilder lost the fight, he didn’t care about losing the money. Jane could use it. Her after-school job paid next to nothing.

Years ago, the Disciples had turned their old clubhouse into a shelter for the kids they pulled off the streets or saved from human traffickers.

The Disciples might look like just another one-percenter motorcycle club but the illegal shit they did?

It was for good reasons. It was to help and save those who couldn’t do it themselves.

It was why he’d wanted to become a Disciple.

He wanted to do for other kids what the Disciples had done for him.

Out of the four of them, he was the one who’d spent the least amount of time at the shelter.

Ares and Jace had taken him home with them after only a few months.

He didn’t know what they saw in him to make them welcome a stubborn and volatile teenager into their family.

He still wasn’t sure why they’d picked him out of every kid at the shelter.

There were certainly more deserving kids than him, but he’d had an instant connection with Jace and Ares, even if he’d fought against Ares’ affection in the beginning.

Jace claimed it was because they were so much alike.

He knew that was likely true. They were certainly both too stubborn for their own good.

He loved his dads, which was a strange thing to think and feel.

He’d barely known what love and affection were before them.

Before he had a real family. Wilder, Solo, and Jane were his family, too.

Solo was the one who’d been at the shelter the longest and was the first he’d met and bonded with.

Wilder and Jane arrived together and while she’d been a scrawny kid, thanks to her time on the streets, she hadn’t taken shit from anyone.

Wilder had kept her safe out there, and she was the first person to show Wilder what love and trust meant.

Kaz could only be thankful they’d had each other out there .

Jane was the one who’d approached Solo, and he’d brought Kaz with him into their weird little group of friends.

Wilder and Solo were both twenty years old and out of the shelter, while Jane was only seventeen.

Not that you could tell. The result of living on the streets as a kid meant growing up real fucking fast. He was turning nineteen in just a few weeks himself.

His dad hadn’t let him prospect for real until he’d turned eighteen, but he’d been riding with the club since he was sixteen and could legally get his license.

From Wilder’s deep groan and the thump of his head as he dropped it back against the floor, Kaz knew he’d lost. Solo’s victorious laugh was just salt in the wound.

Solo was grinning from ear to ear as he sat down on the couch next to Jane and high-fived her. Kaz grumbled under his breath and reached for his wallet. He pulled out two tens, knowing damned well those two were going to split the money anyway.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Jane said with a wink at Kaz.

“You did well,” Solo said to her, a wicked gleam in his brown eyes as he tucked his bill into his back pocket.

“As did you,” Jane said with a nod toward Wilder.

A curse came from the other side of the coffee table, and Kaz smiled as he shook his head. They should’ve known better than to bet against Jane and Solo. Those two made one hell of a team.

“So, when’s this party I heard about?” Solo asked, leaning forward to catch Kaz’s gaze .

He leveled Solo with a stern glare. “Don’t even think about crashing it.”

Solo put on an innocent front and shrugged.

“I would never .”

“It’s gonna be boring as shit, anyway,” Kaz said with a sigh, “Not like my patching-in party.”

He’d just thrown the prospects outside to shine every single bike in the courtyard when the three of them arrived to crash the party. Surprisingly, Ares hadn’t been pissed about it. Griff, though? He’d had to drag Solo and Wilder away from his daughter. By the ear.

Those two couldn’t stay away from girls who were that perfect mix of gorgeous and dangerous.

Solo was usually a little more discreet whereas Wilder would fuck anyone that gave him the time of day.

Granted, that was most people. Those green-flecked brown eyes of his, along with his boyish charm, worked wonders for him.

It certainly didn’t hurt that he was six-foot-four and built like a linebacker.

Solo wasn’t exactly hard up when it came to women either, despite his often somber demeanor.

Neither of them were getting their grimy paws on the princess, though.

Not just because her dads would shoot them if they tried, but because she was just as likely to do it herself.

Despite Griff’s best efforts to keep Mia away from the club, she thrived as a Disciple.

She was tough as nails and a damned fine shot, too.

She’d been trained by the club’s resident sniper, so that wasn’t exactly surprising.

“You could just sneak us in,” Solo said and cocked a black brow at Kaz.

“You need to be a full-patch, partner, or a prospect,” Wilder said, still on the floor, “because if you’re not, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.”

“I’d like to see them try,” Solo drawled, that confidence of his never lacking. A punch to Solo’s shoulder had him looking at Jane.

“Don’t even,” she said with a shake of her head, her long ponytail whipping around.

Solo blew out a breath and sank into the couch, arms crossing as he pouted at Jane. She rolled her eyes and leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. Solo dragged her into his lap and tickled her, which only resulted in him getting punched repeatedly until he released her.

“Fucker,” Jane said under her breath, laughing when Solo winked at her.

Wilder sat up with a groan, and Kaz glanced at him. He didn’t see any blood which was good, and not just because it meant his friend wasn’t hurt, but because his dads would kill him if they got blood all over the hardwood floor.

“You still sure you don’t want to prospect? You’d be a great Disciple,” Wilder told Solo. Wilder was going to prospect soon. He’d told Kaz he wanted to be set up with a job and an apartment before he jumped into it, and he could respect that. The Disciples would respect him more because of it, too.

Solo shook his head, then turned expressive, dark eyes on Kaz .

“I’ll prospect when you’ve got a club of your own. You’re the only one I’ll ever follow.”

He knew Solo meant it. His friend wasn’t much for authority figures, and he would never get past the prospecting stage because he’d fight the Disciples the whole way.

He met Solo’s fist with his own and said, “One day, brother.”

Solo smiled wryly at him for a moment, then tugged Jane off the couch so they could go raid the kitchen. It was a good thing his dads never complained about being perpetually out of food and beer.

He leaned forward and dropped his head into his hands.

Tomorrow’s party was going to be boring as fuck.

Well, except… there was one thing he always looked forward to about the club’s parties with their parent club: seeing Miles.

Antagonizing the guy was a favorite pastime of his.

Miles gave him the best reactions. He only got his bullying on with Miles, though.

He knew Miles could take it. Mainly because he gave it right back or would fuck him up in some way.

He’d gotten a bloody nose a few times along with the blame for some shit he hadn’t done other times. It’d been fun, though. It was always fun.

∞ ∞ ∞

He was sitting on a stool, elbows resting on the bar behind him as he watched the entrance of the clubhouse. Most of the people from their parent club had already arrived, and it wasn’t long before he noticed movement at the entrance and straightened in his seat.

Zayne and his husband walked into the room, and Kaz was grinning right until someone stepped out behind them.

Miles. Except, this Miles was all grown and, fuck, but he’d gotten hot.

His face was slimmer, accentuating a sharp jawline and those lips, the bottom one just slightly fuller than the top… fuck .

His dark blond hair wasn’t shoulder-length anymore, which meant it no longer shielded those striking honey-brown eyes or where they were looking, which was right at him. He felt a thrill rush through him, his pulse rising as heat flooded his body.

Damn. College looked good on Miles.

All he could do was stare right back at the man.

Yes, man , because he could no longer call him a boy.

His shoulders were wide, stretching out the white T-shirt he was wearing.

His arms were thick, too, and when he swallowed and his Adam’s apple moved up and down, all Kaz wanted was to run his tongue along it.

He slid off his stool but waited until Zayne and Nash were occupied before he sauntered up to Miles whose gaze was still fixed on him, that flash of annoyance in his eyes making Kaz smile wider.

“Miley,” he said in a cheerful voice. “Long time no see.”

“For good reason,” Miles said under his breath while glaring hard at Kaz.

Miles’s smile was fake as hell as he shook Kaz’s hand. Two minutes in the door and he was already getting to him. That had to be a record.

“New haircut?”

Miles rolled his eyes. “That was a while ago.”

“Well, it suits you.”

Miles stared at him in disbelief, a look of caution flashing through those golden eyes of his even as his cheeks flushed pink. Miles ran a hand through his hair, then dropped it to his side when he noticed Kaz watching.

Who would’ve thought that complimenting Miles would get him an even better reaction than teasing him did?

“I―uh…”

Kaz stepped closer, lowering his voice.

“You got hot, Miles.” He ran his gaze down that body he wanted a chance to explore. Miles had filled out so fucking nicely. “Real hot.”

Something that might’ve been a mix of surprise and lust flared in Miles’s eyes before he blinked it away.

Miles’s brows snapped together, and he took a step back. “I don’t know what the hell you’re trying to―”

Kaz’s laughter had Miles cursing under his breath, and when he took off, shoulder slamming into Kaz’s on his way past, he savored every second of that touch of their bodies.

With Miles looking this hot and not wanting anything to do with him, he was definitely going to do something stupid. Something very stupid.