“What?” Ryker uttered. With hair darkened with box dye and swollen bags under the eyes, he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.
Of course he had to spoil their fun.
Hammer licked water off Dex’s lips. “Right, you don’t know,” he said and headed for the garage, where his biggest, meanest sledgehammer was attached to the wall. It was heavier than the others, but that was why it would do so nicely. “I suppose I should thank you. If you didn’t lie about me, I’d have never gotten together with Dex.”
Dex smiled, watching the weapon in awe, as if he were about to witness a record-breaking performance. He must have understood that Ryker was rotting meat already and nothing he said mattered.
“Does it have a name?” Dex stroked the big head of the tool as if it were a pet he now shared with Hammer.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ryker uttered with a sob and tried to pull his legs in, to protect them from blows, but the feet and knees would go first.
“Carrie,” Hammer said with a smile and lifted his face to meet the refreshing rain. Dex’s shoulders relaxed, and his gaze climbed Hammer like a hungry monkey. “Wanna give her a swing?”
He hadn’t even expected to say that. After all, Ryker was supposed to behiskill, but he would do anything to make Dex’s eyes light up like they had moments ago. A warmth spread in his chest as he wordlessly offered the handle to his boy.
Dex nodded, his lips parting when Hammer bestowed Carrie on him. “Wow. It’s so heavy. Is there a technique to it?”
By this point, Ryker’s begging was just background noise. He wasn’t getting away, which meant that Hammer could make this a moment for both teaching and pleasure. He stood behind Dex and took hold of his hands, letting their bodies push together into a seamless form. Tempted by the scent of jasmine, he allowed himself a little kiss to Dex’s damp nape, but spoke right after. “Put in strength, but let momentum guide you. It’s like any other sport, and she can wreak as much havoc as the Carrie she’s named after,” he said, showing Dex the right motion.
Dex’s grip on Carrie was confident, but instead of immediately swinging the sledgehammer like Hammer had showed him, he looked back with a shy smile. “I love you,” he whispered in a voice so sweet and warm, Hammer had no doubt about the pure honesty of his words.
Hammer had never expected to hear such a confession, but he couldn’t stop himself from grinning like an idiot when joy burned bright in his chest.
“Fuck me. I love you too.”
This was the first time he’d ever said it to anyone, but he meant every syllable.
The sky lit up with lightning, and the roar of thunder drowned out Ryker’s persistent begging, but the rumble seemed to electrify Dex even more. The loving glint in his brown eyes became predatory, and with Hammer’s help, he made the perfect swing, letting Carrie have the last word.
Epilogue – Dex
Oneyearlater.
Dex’s feet kept twisting together, as if they were about to make a knot, but Hammer pulled him up once more and pushed the key into the lock of their home. It was already dark, and they’d both gotten so damn drunk the new prospect had to give them a ride home. One of the many perks of finally being a fully patched member of the Demon Brethren MC.
Dex rolled his back against the door and pulled Hammer in for a breathless kiss that tasted of beer, cigarettes, and barbeque sauce, but just as his man’s clever tongue entered Dex’s mouth, they both stumbled into the hallway.
“Fuck!” Dex complained when he stumbled over a cardboard box, only to realize this was a hell of his own making, because he’d been meant to take that stuff to Goodwill.
Hammer was there to catch him. He’d either drank less, or metabolized alcohol better thanks to his size, but what mattered was that he was always there to aid Dex with his calm and cool view of things. And the likewise assessment of terrain.
“I shall,” Hammer said, grinning as he locked the door and slapped the light switch, illuminating the main room, which Dex had recently repainted a bright yellow.
Living with Frank had been a struggle, since the only place he could adjust to his taste was the tiny bedroom he used to occupy. Hammer on the other hand didn’t care much aboutstuff, so he gave Dex free rein when it came to decorating the home they now shared, andreignhe did!
It was out with the vomit-colored couch and in with the delightful tiger print sofa Dex had chosen as an homage to the late Bandit. They also got a mega toaster that could make six pieces of toast at once, and a set of chairs from Frank’s junkyard, which Dex upholstered himself, using a fabric with an amazing print of alien heads. He’d even gotten a lamp shaped like a UFO to go over the dining table, as if all those elements were parts of a set.
They adjusted to living together real fast too. Each of them had their own interests and hobbies, but there were also enough things they loved doing together (other than sex and violence) to always crave each other’s company. Dex usually did more talking than Hammer, but that was fine.
“Where?” Dex asked with a grin, thinking back to their last orgy at Cora’s, when Hammer had fucked Dex in the kitchen while Dex’s head was under the sink. It was one of those pretend oh-no-I’m-stuck! porn scenarios Dex had wanted to try and it did not let him down. Several guys had used him that night under Hammer’s supervision, and the echo of his own moans in the closed space had been so arousing he’d come three times. He could barely remember the ride home the next day.
Hammer sighed and stumbled toward the sofa, taking Dex with him. “Right here,” he mumbled and rolled onto the seat. He pulled Dex into his lap and pushed his face into the crook of Dex’s neck, covering the skin with kisses.
But Dex’s eyes were drawn to the bit of red and orange peeking out from behind a cushion. “My pizza blanket! I thought I lost it.” He pulled out the fluffy triangle despite Hammer’s groan.
The thing was a bone of contention, since Hammer couldn’t stand its pizza slice shape. He claimed the blanket was useless because it could either barely cover one leg, or half the chest if placed the other way.
He was right, it had been an impulse buy. But Dex couldn’t admit it so they were stuck in limbo where Dex pretended it was a perfectly reasonable blanket and sometimes wore it tied around his shoulders like a pepperoni cape. Hammer on the other hand, hid it away just so it didn’t ‘assault his brain with its stupidity.