Jake seemed to eat the words right of Knight’s lips. “Oh. I never thought that there could be another reason for how you guys acted about it…”
“Trust me. No matter what you might think, we do care about you. You are like a younger brother to all of us. Well, minus the putting our dicks in your holes thing, but you get what I’m saying, right?”
Jake bit back a smile and nodded. “It’s why I like the club so much. Whatever happens, there’s always respect at the core of it all. Even to me. I never feel like you guys are just being shit to me. I don’t get that from any other people outside the club.”
Knight cleared his throat, watching Jake more attentively. Wrapped up in his own issues, he did kind of forget about the problems Jake might have with the situation changing. “Yeah, but you can’t look for sex just inside the club. It’s a small pon—” Knight’s mind stopped in its tracks. “Wait, are you saying you don’t ever sleep with people who aren’t one of us?”
“It’s ‘cause you guys command such respect. No civilian can measure up to that. So I guess I’m a bit pissed off you’re always busy and don’t need me anymore. I know it’s not your fault, but... I’m horny.” Jake groaned in the end and put his face in his hands.
“And what can I do to help you out? Do a casting for a new suckee for you? One that commands respect? Tell me, Jake.”
Even Jake’s ears were getting red at this point. “Asshole. Just tell me if it’s ever gonna happen again between us or not, because the suspense is fucking with my head.”
Knight exhaled, slumping forward and resting his elbows on top of his knees. “It’s not because I don’t need you. Or because you suddenly got shit at blowjobs, you know?”
Jake looked up at him. “I know. ‘Cause I’m pretty fucking good at them, so why not?”
Knight massaged his eyeballs with his fingertips, feeling his tongue become dry as chipping wood. There was just one answer. He didn’t feel like it anymore. “I’m really focused on Elliot now.”
The silence that followed was grating every inch of Knight’s skin. He hated having to say that, but then again Jake deserved to know.
“Oh,” Jake said in the end with a childish pout. “Like… Beast and Laurent kind of focused?” The sly asshole started grinning. “Will you be proposing too?”
Knight pushed Jake back so hard the chair wobbled under him. “Very fucking funny,” Knight hissed, feeling heat in his cheeks.
Jake laughed for a while, but then let out a long sigh. “I’ll miss you.”
Knight swallowed, watching the blue eyes settle on him for the longest moment. He was uneasy from the way his throat tightened in reaction to Jake’s tender comment. “You know I’m not going anywhere. You can still blacken my boots.”
Jake laughed and wrapped his arms on his chest. “Only until I get patched in.” And yet the threat felt empty, since Jake always seemed so happy providing services to Knight.
“Mr. Mercier?” the nurse who’d scolded Knight before was approaching fast. “You may now see your cousin. But please be quiet. He’s still sleeping.”
Knight’s gaze darted to meet Jake’s, and he exhaled, unfocused as he stood up and followed her.
He dreaded to see the damage done to Elliot’s innocent face.
Chapter 27
Elliot’s head throbbed with a dull pain that was even more intense in his eye. It felt like swimming in a volcano that was about to erupt in his eye socket. A soft, regular beeping pulled him back to the edge of consciousness.
Wary of the pain, he slowly opened the eye that wasn’t feeling raw, only to be greeted by a blurry white light. Memories flooded back, soaking into Elliot’s aching brain with the latent fear. The loss of control. The sight of the thin blade coming closer with each split-second. The dull ache he was feeling now was nothing in comparison to the searing pain that had made him dry-heave on the cold floor before Knight came back.
Knight’s arms had carried Elliot with such ease. First to the car. Then into the hospital. And then everything went as blurry as the lamp above Elliot’s bed.
He opened the one eye wider when he realized Fane could be somewhere around, waiting with the promise of more suffering. But Elliot couldn’t sense him or see him anywhere. No one else was in the room either. Just him and the beeping of machines. Elliot`s heart sank at the thought of paying for all this treatment. He didn’t have insurance. He couldn’t even afford new shoes, let alone surgery.
The beeping sped up, and he curled his hands close to his chest, looking around the tidy space with green walls. On a small table close to the wall was a large bouquet of purple and white flowers. And a box of chocolates, as if he were suddenly transported to one of those picture-perfect TV show hospitals where he most certainly didn’t belong. It was a single room too, with its own bathroom and a chair which now hosted a pile of leather and long hair.