Page 18

Chapter Eighteen

“ D o you know what happens at that club?" Eryn constantly checked his phone. He watched the screen even as he asked the question.

Skippy wasn't sure why he was on his phone so much. It was a recent development. Yael's behavior was also off. His shoulders went up to his ears, and he seemed one second away from bolting. He always stayed within touching distance of Eryn. He watched Skippy as though he wanted him to come closer for protective reasons too, but of the two, he chose his kid.

He was a good parent.

"How do you know what happens there?" Yael tried to peek at Eryn's phone, but then glanced away as if he didn't want to see it.

"Because I go to a public school in a small clan town, and I have ears." Eryn rolled his eyes but put his phone down and met Skippy's gaze. "Is it true I can get a tattoo there?"

Skippy said yes at the same time Yael said no. Skippy smirked. "Well, I guess the answer is no."

"But I could if…" Eryn gestured with his head to Yael. "Someone said yes."

Skippy shrugged. "Maybe if you could talk Landry into it as well. And then you'd probably have to go through Daruss because you're a minor. He won't even let you in the building during business hours."

Yael smiled, letting Skippy know he appreciated the back up.

"But I could come to the club if I wanted, though, right?"

"If you want to meet everyone, sure. We can head over now."

Eryn met Yael's gaze. "Can I come with you guys? I'll drive myself so I can go to the lake later."

Yael nodded. "As long as the club stays PG."

"I can promise rated R but definitely not PG. We're a biker gang, baby. Not a preschool."

Eryn chuckled. "I think I can handle rated-R."

"I think we'll come home if it's bad." Yael raised his eyebrows at Skippy as if reiterating the PG rating of the club.

Skippy was no miracle worker, and that's what it would take to get everyone to behave. "I can promise no one will fuck out in the open. But there will be ass cheeks visible. Just don't stare or Daruss will rip your eyes out. Plus, it's not polite."

Eryn's eyes got wide the longer Skippy talked, and he grinned. "Ass cheeks? Like guys or…"

“Most of us are male and gay, so yeah.” Skippy crooked his finger at Yael.

“I definitely want to go then.”

“Let’s keep all our clothes on.” Yael came to him without hesitation, which told Skippy whatever was wrong didn't have anything to do with him.

“ We should, but cute boys can take it all off if they want.” Eryn was way more excited than he should be, considering the rules of the club stated no gawking if the person didn’t want you to. And there was the fact Eryn was a minor.

At some point, he'd try to coax Yael into telling him what was wrong. Whatever it was, it had happened while Skippy was in the shower. Yael had been his normal cuddly self before then.

Yael was still cuddly, pressing himself against Skippy. He lay his head on Skippy's chest. But his body was tense. He was strung so tight it put Skippy on alert.

Skippy had half a mind to demand Yael tell him what was wrong, but someone as independent as Yael wouldn’t take that well. Not if he didn't want Skippy to know, and he hadn't told him what was wrong yet, so it appeared Yael wanted to keep his secrets.

Gavin might know. He'd be at the club. He and Easton always came on a Saturday before it got busy. But since they were shutting down the club for a while, it was all hands on deck to make sure everyone they turned away left safely. Skippy would find out more about what he knew, if anything.

He didn't like going behind Yael's back. He'd rather ask the questions directly to Yael. He'd wait until they were alone, although he was pretty sure Yael wouldn't tell him without some creative coaxing methods.

So instead of starting an argument, which he knew would happen, he waited for the right time. He just held Yael. He rubbed his back because Yael seemed to like that.

Eryn smiled. But his smile turned into a worried frown, and he bit his lip. Whatever bothered Yael had Eryn worried as well.

When he met Skippy's gaze, it was clear he wanted to share something, but his gaze darted to Yael again as if he weighed how much trouble he'd be in by opening his month.

Skippy shook his head at Eryn. He’d find out soon enough.

****

Skippy held Yael's hand when they entered the club.

He probably should have texted Daruss about Eryn coming since he was a minor, but no one was undressed for once. Jude and Raylee rubbed against each other to the beat of whatever song played on the radio, clearly putting on a show for Daruss.

Skippy scowled at the speakers. "What the fuck is playing right now?"

Jonik held Wren around the waist but flipped Skippy off, which meant Wren picked the song and Skippy's question would hurt Wren's feelings.

But it was a pop song, and they were a biker gang. No one but the boys liked pop music. The only thing Daruss liked about it was watching Jude and Raylee hump each other and calling it dancing.

Eryn's eyes popped out of his head when they full on started making out.

Skippy headed toward the bar.

Eryn zeroed in on Casper, standing in front of him. “Hi. You’re very cute. What’s your name?”

Casper blinked at Eryn as if he were out of his mind. And then he glanced at Skippy as if asking for help.

“This is Eryn. He’s my mate’s brother and a senior. In high school.” It wasn’t a warning so much as giving Casper the information he needed to keep Eryn at bay. Not that Casper needed it. His wariness practically shouted his disinterest.

Casper nodded. “Got it. No alcohol.”

Eryn sighed and sat on the stool, taking the hint.

Skippy pointed to the back room.

Casper sighed but came around the end of the bar.

Jonik took over for Casper. Skippy pointed to Eryn. "He's a minor."

Jonik nodded and then smiled at Eryn. "You can hang out with Wren and I, while Skippy talks to Casper."

Eryn nodded and leaned into Wren to make conversation. The music was loud and his voice didn’t carry very far. To Skippy's surprise, Wren actually smiled and showed something to Eryn on his phone.

Yael tugged Skippy's hand. "Should I stay with Eryn?"

"You can, but he'll be fine. Jonik won’t serve him and Daruss will make his boys chill out."

"Who are his boys?"

Skippy pointed to Jude and Raylee. "I'll introduce you in a second, but I have to take care of some business first."

Yael stiffened and pointed at Casper as he walked ahead of them. "You're not going to hurt him, are you?"

Skippy shook his head. "Of course not."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Offer him a different job. He can't do his old one anymore." Skippy should have done it months ago.

Daruss followed them into Landry's studio.

Landry sat between Enzo's legs. He sketched on his pad. Enzo whispered something in his ear that made him smile. But he met Daruss' gaze. "Do you need us to leave?"

"You can stay." That was all it took for Landry to go back to his drawing.

"Is my son still ‘dancing’?" Enzo made air quotes when he said the last word.

"They're behaving themselves at the moment."

Enzo stood. "Good. I'll grab something to drink. Do you want something, sweetheart?"

"Just water." Landry didn't look up from his drawing. “Thank you, Daddy.”

“You’re welcome, boy.” Enzo kissed his temple before leaving the room.

Casper met Skippy's gaze before focusing on Daruss. "Am I in trouble?"

"No, Cas. You're not in trouble," Daruss answered.

Skippy decided to put Casper at ease by putting the focus on Yael. "Hey guys, this is my mate, Yael. He's Gavin's assistant."

Daruss must have known what he was doing because he smiled at Yael. "We've met, but it's nice seeing you here, Yael. Congrats on your mating. You have a good one with Skippy."

Yael smiled. "Thank you."

Landry waved his pencil at Yael. "I'm Landry. Resident tattoo artist."

"Nice meeting you. Please don't let my brother talk you into tattooing him."

Landry met his gaze with raised eyebrows. "Your brother?"

"He's in the main part of the building, meeting everyone. But he's seventeen going on twenty-one and thinks he's ready for things that he isn't."

Landry waved away the possibility. "I don't tattoo anyone under the age of eighteen."

Yael smiled at Skippy.

"I told you, baby." Skippy kissed him before he turned to Casper. "This is Casper. He's one of the few human Dragon Skulls."

"He means I'm weak." Casper averted his gaze.

Landry surprised Skippy by being the first to correct Casper. "Stop with that. It's nonsense."

Yael met Skippy's gaze as if asking how he should respond. But then Yael pulled away from Skippy to stand in front of Casper. When he spoke, it was almost in a whisper. "When I was a kid, my father made me feel…weak. I guess that's a good word for it. I remember feeling small, as though I was beneath him. He seemed so big, powerful, like he fell from Olympus."

Casper nodded. "Some gods are really demons in disguise."

"When they do bad things to us, that’s often how we find out." Yael took Casper's hand.

Casper didn't seem to mind. He'd always had issues with touch, but lately he’d regressed to where he had been when they'd first rescued him years ago. The latest kidnapping set him back to where he’d been when he first became a Skull. But he let Yael hold his hand, which was a step in the right direction. "It's a shitty way to figure out the truth. I'm sorry that happened to you. But I knew my kidnappers were demons right from the start."

"I’m sorry too. No one should have to go through what you did. But it gets better."

"Did it for you? Did Skippy rescue you?"

Yael smiled. "No. But he's on standby just in case." Yael smiled and winked at Skippy.

Skippy smiled back.

"I saved myself and my little brother. It wasn't easy or safe, but I got away from him. It's hard to rebuild after something bad happens, though. Really hard. Especially when things keep creeping up, haunting you."

Casper met Yael's gaze for the first time.

Yael sighed. The creases on his forehead remained for a second too long. Skippy wasn't sure if Daruss or Landry noticed, but he definitely did.

Daruss took over the conversation.

Skippy pulled Yael into his arms again.

Yael snuggled into him. "Sorry if I got weird."

"No worries. Besides, I'd expect nothing less from Skippy's mate," Daruss said.

Landry chuckled, and even Casper smiled.

"The reason Skippy and I wanted to talk to you was because we think you need a different job." Way to be subtle. Sheesh, Daruss.

Casper stiffened. "Are you firing me?"

"No. Of course not. And you can come back to bartending whenever you’re ready, but after the kidnapping and beating, it's too much." Daruss cursed when Casper started crying.

Yael surprised Skippy again when he growled at Daruss and pulled Casper into a hug. "Let's all stop making him feel like a victim, please. He's a survivor and struggling, but that doesn’t mean we get to make him feel bad."

Casper let Yael soothe him and even hugged him back. "I can't afford not to work."

Daruss cursed again. "What the hell do you mean you can't afford not to? Are you struggling for money, Cas?"

Landry was the one who answered. "We both have been for a long time now. Not me anymore thanks to Enzo, but Casper still is. Always has been."

Daruss growled. His dragon was stronger than most, but Skippy was used to it. Yael, however, wasn't, so he sucked in a breath. "If you have problems, you come to me. I'll fix it for you. Or you go to Izzy. Skippy. Ronin. Nash. Hell, even Avit will let you live with him."

Skippy gave Daruss his best incredulous look. "Avit. Are you insane, man?"

Daruss shrugged. "He has the biggest house."

"Yeah, but that's like telling beauty to go live with the beast if the beast was about a thousand times grumpier than in that stupid cartoon movie." And a thousand times more rabid and certifiable.

Landry raised his eyebrows. "You've watched the cartoon version of that movie?"

"Shut up." Skippy liked cartoons.

Yael chuckled, which made Casper smile, even though it was watery.

Skippy grabbed the box of tissue and handed some to Casper.

"Thank you."

"Do you want to learn how to garden?" Skippy didn't wait for Casper to answer. Instead, he launched into his spiel. "I need a couple of people who want to learn about landscaping, but it would be mowing and stuff, too. It’s a very physical job, so you'd have to want that. It's forty hours, five days a week, with weekends off--"

"Okay." Casper’s eyes were wide, but he was hopeful.

"You might want to think about it because it comes with the stipulation that you move into Seryn's guest house. You'd have your privacy, but you wouldn't be alone. And Seryn has agreed to train you."

“Train me to do what?”

“Protect yourself.” They thought it would make him feel more secure to learn some skills.

"So I’m moving in with Seryn and Mitch?"

"We want to keep an eye on you, honey," Daruss' tone was gentler than it had been before. "You've not been very good about letting us know you need help."

"Do I have to pay Seryn rent?"

"It's free. And you can stay as long as you want."

Casper wiped his eyes. "It's a punishment, but I get a free house with a pool."

Yael chuckled. "Punish me too, please."

Skippy wiggled his eyebrows. "I'll punish you later, baby."

Yael blushed.

Daruss rolled his eyes. "It's not a punishment. If you don't want the family up your ass twenty-four seven, then start telling us when you need help."

Casper sighed. "I haven't had anything up my ass in so long, I might think I'm having sex."

Landry chuckled. "Yeah, cause fucking your family is how you want to fix that dry spell."

"We're not blood related." Skippy shrugged.

"Okay. Conversation over since it got weird," Daruss said.

Casper met Yael's gaze. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Yael's gaze was the same one he got when he looked at Eryn. His parental instinct was strong when someone needed a little TLC.

Casper hugged Skippy next. "You'll teach me about plants and stuff, right?"

Skippy rubbed Casper's back. "Yep, and I'll pay you one and a half times more than you were getting to bartend."

Casper met his gaze. "Really?"

"You'll earn it. Digging in the dirt isn't always easy, and it’s never clean."

"I'm in."

"We start at eight o'clock on Monday. I'll pick you up."

"Will you help me move to Seryn's guest house tomorrow?" Casper didn't ask for help very often, but it seemed a little motivation was all he needed. And maybe for them to let him know he didn't have to do everything alone.

"We all will, Cas." Skippy would rally everyone. They'd get Casper's stuff moved in less than an hour. "We love you, kid. Remember that. Okay?"

Casper hugged him again. "I love you guys, too."

They needed to remind each other more often, it seemed.