by Ana Night
Sean shrugged. “Well, you did complain a lot whenever our paths crossed. I thought the attraction was one way only. I never thought you’d actually be interested in me. You also scared me a teeny tiny bit.”
An amused smile spread on Mal’s lips. “I scare you?”
“Scared. Past tense. I’ve seen you argue with a can of tomato soup and I know your favorite movie is 10 Things I Hate About You. So you’re not so scary anymore,” Sean said with a smug smile.
“Good.” Mal nodded, then met Sean’s gaze. “I don’t want you to be scared of me.”
“Me neither. I like not being scared of you,” Sean said and took a step closer, running his eyes down Mal’s body. “Especially because it means sex. Lots and lots of sex.”
Mal rolled his eyes and grabbed for Sean, pulling him closer. Sean tilted his head back to meet Mal’s gaze, a smile playing on his lips.
“So, you want me?” Sean teased.
Mal made a sound in the back of his throat and crushed his mouth over Sean’s.
Mal
He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and watched Sean as he walked around the living room, cleaning up. Sean didn’t seem to notice him. He was singing some song Mal didn’t know while stacking the glasses spread out on the coffee table. His hair looked ruffled and there was a stain on the back of his shirt. He was calm and comfortable, exactly how Mal had learned he liked Sean best.
Telling Sean the truth was risky, but he’d felt it was time. Having Sean think he was working for Wade was much worse than telling him he’d been there because Sean meant everything to him.
He’d told his handler—the woman who found and accepted contracts for him—to keep an eye out for anything regarding Sean at all times. She was the only one who’d known about his interest in Sean. He hadn’t told her why, and she never asked. She was smart like that. When she’d called him and told him there was chatter about Sean, he’d dropped everything to rush to DC only to find when he got there that there was no sign of Sean. Instead, he found a house shot to shit and someone else at Sean’s warehouse. At first, he’d thought Sean was dead, but then he’d learned what Wade had done and that he’d failed in getting to Sean.
He’d been in the middle of a job when he’d gotten that call and Sean had been gone for a while when he got there. Even though he knew Sean’s number by heart, it hadn’t mattered because Sean had ditched his phone. He hadn’t known where to look for Sean so instead, he’d taken on the job of eliminating the reason Sean had to stay away. But he’d wanted to learn as much as he could about Wade, his reasons, and what the man knew about Sean before killing him. Getting work for Wade hadn’t been hard and he’d been there less than a week when Sean called and told him to get out. He hadn’t hesitated to do as Sean said. However, he had wondered how Sean got his number. He changed phones and numbers often and there was no way Sean would’ve had his new one.
“When you called me at the warehouse,” Mal said, getting Sean’s attention. “Where did you get my number from?”
“Uh, I called Madeleine and asked for it.”
Mal blinked at Sean. What. The. Hell?
“And she just gave it to you?”
Sean nodded, then pursed his lips. “That is kinda strange, isn’t it? I never really thought much about it. I was too occupied with everything else going on.”
“I’m gonna kill her,” Mal growled.
“Whoa. Take it easy. I told her you were in danger. You shouldn’t kill her because she cares,” Sean said.
“She can’t just go around handing out my number to anyone who calls and says it’s a life or death situation.” Mal shook his head. “I need to call her.”
He needed to check in with her anyway. Might as well yell at her while he was at it. He’d called her before he’d been shot to tell her to lay low. He’d known they wouldn’t take him saying no to that job very well, but he hadn’t expected it to end quite that badly. Madeleine was smart and she could take care of herself, so he hadn’t been too worried about her.
He pulled out his phone and called Madeleine’s number.
“Madeleine,” Mal said when she picked up.
“Ah, so you are alive.”
Mal scoffed. “Yeah. Apparently, you care so much about keeping me alive, you just go handing out my number to anyone who says I’m in danger.”
Madeleine sighed, then said, “I did wonder when you’d figure that out.”
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I was thinking he cared as much about you as you care about him and I would hate to lose my best source of income.”
Mal cursed under his breath.
“Malcolm? If it’d been anyone else, I wouldn’t have given out your number.”
“Why him, then?”
“Oh, sweetie. Anyone who knows you just a little would know how you feel for that man. And with the concern and fear I heard in his voice when he called me? I’m pretty sure he feels the same.”
Mal didn’t know what to say, he just glanced up at Sean who was bent over, picking something up off the floor. Could he really feel the same? Did they have a shot at something real? Sean hadn’t balked when he’d mentioned it earlier and Sean had said he hadn’t wanted to keep those other guys around because they weren’t Mal. For the first time in two years, he actually had hope for them.
“I’m gonna take your silence as you having just gotten an epiphany, so I’mma run. Be safe and good luck, Malcolm.”
“Thank you,” he mumbled, letting his hand fall to his side, his eyes not leaving Sean.
Sean
When Mal was done with his call, Sean walked up to him, wrapping his arms around the back of Mal’s neck.
“Everything settled or do you still want to kill her?”
Mal huffed and leaned his forehead against Sean’s.
“She’ll get to stay alive for now,” Mal said.
“Good, ‘cause if you want to blame someone it should actually be me. I’m the one who called her,” Sean said.
Mal raised his hands to cup Sean’s face and took Sean’s mouth in a sweet kiss. He pulled back, meeting Sean’s gaze as he said, “I could never blame you.”
The way he looked at Sean as he said it had all sorts of feelings bubbling up in Sean. He cleared his throat and took a step back.
“So, on another note, I think it’s time I go back to the warehouse,” Sean said. “I should start fixing the mess Wade made and I would like it very much if you came with me.”
He saw surprise in Mal’s eyes but Mal didn’t hesitate to say, “Yes.”
A smile spread on Sean’s lips and he couldn’t resist kissing Mal.
They both got ready, Mal replacing his shorts with a pair of Sean’s sweatpants. He really should get some of his own clothes, but Sean liked it too much when Mal wore his. Everything of Sean’s was a size too small for Mal, which he certainly didn’t have a problem with.
Sean locked up and then they walked to his car. He handed the car keys to Mal.
“What’s this for?” Mal asked, holding up the small black device hooked onto the keyring.
“It’s a key finder.” He huffed at the look on Mal’s face. “What? I lose my keys all the time. That bad boy has really good location tracking.”
Mal let out a chuckle and said, “Why am I not surprised? You could probably forget yourself somewhere.”
Sean flipped him off and sat down in the passenger seat. He crossed his arms and scowled at Mal when he got in. The grin on Mal’s face only made him sulk more.
“Keys are small,” Sean mumbled and when Mal raised a brow at him, he said, “They’re easy to lose. I’m not.”
“No, you’re not,” Mal said.
He didn’t elaborate on that and Sean wasn’t brave enough to ask what Mal meant. He turned on the radio and began singing along. He noticed Mal’s quick glances his way and the smile on the man’s face was hard to miss.
Mal pulled
into Sean’s parking space at the warehouse. They got out and made their way to the front door. Sean unlocked and held it to let Mal in first. He locked the door after them and then he led the way into his office. He walked to his desk and turned on his computer, then pulled a face at all the unanswered emails popping up.
“What do you need done?” Mal asked.
Sean hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, “I need to do inventory, so I know what I have to work with. What orders I can complete.”
Mal gave him a nod and said, “Show me how and I’ll help.”
That brought a warm smile to Sean’s lips.
“Well, I doubt Wade kept to my protocols so basically, we’ll have to open everything and write down what’s there.”
“All right. Let’s do it,” Mal said.
They spent hours opening boxes and crates to check the content. Sean spent most of the time cursing Wade and complaining. He knew he had a lot of angry customers, but he was also sure they’d heard of what had happened with Wade. He doubted most of them would want to do business with him again. He always got half the payment upfront so when he and Mal had everything back up and running again, he was going to deliver the orders without the rest of the payments. It was the least he could do.
Back in the day, he’d been surprised by just how many people wanted to buy forgeries off of him. He never asked what they planned to use them for. That’d be bad for business, besides, he didn’t want to be more of an accomplice than he already was. There were a lot of expensive artifacts going around the black market and he was sure a lot of it was his forgeries.
He leaned back against the desk, scanning the list of orders he never got to complete because of Wade. He looked up when he heard Mal enter the room. Mal’s gaze was on Sean, his eyes gleaming with intent. Sean licked his lips and put the piece of paper behind him on the desk. Mal stalked towards him and when he reached him, Mal slammed his mouth over Sean’s. Sean groaned into Mal’s mouth when Mal grabbed his ass with both hands, kneading and pulling him closer against Mal’s body. Sean parted his lips for Mal’s tongue. The kiss grew hard and heavy, their tongues dueling for control. Sean turned them so Mal was against the desk. Mal’s heated gaze was on Sean as he reached for Mal’s belt buckle.
“Well, if it isn’t the guy I’ve been looking for.”
Sean froze. There was no way. He turned his head slowly. Bones was standing with his arms crossed, his shoulder leaned against the doorframe. The look on his face didn’t bode well for Sean. How the hell did he get in anyway? Oh, wait. He’d given Bones a key to the warehouse. In hindsight, that was rather stupid.
Sean put a hand on Mal’s arm to stop him from drawing his gun. He shook his head at Mal and then he took a step back, turning towards Bones.
“Look. Bones. I know—”
“Do you? Really?” Bones pushed away from the door. “What kind of game are you playing, Sean?”
“Who the fuck is he, Sean?” Mal asked through gritted teeth.
Sean glanced from one to the other, running his hands through his hair.
“Fuck. Listen, I…” Sean trailed off. How the fuck did he explain this mess?
Bones turned to Mal and said, “Name’s Bones. Who the fuck are you?”
Mal threw Sean a dirty glare.
“You’re one of those motorcycle guys. What the hell do you want?”
“I wanna know why Sean is shacking up with one of Wade’s guys,” Bones said.
Sean nearly choked on his tongue. “He’s not actually—”
“Did you seriously think we wouldn’t find out?”
“No, but I—”
“How stupid do you think we are? You’ve been giving Auggie the runaround this whole time while you’ve been screwing this guy,” Bones said while pointing a finger at Mal.
Sean was getting real tired of getting interrupted.
“How about you keep your trap shut and I won’t tell you brothers about your little girlfriend,” Sean said.
Bones stared at him with wide eyes. “I don’t know what you think you know, but—”
“I know she’s Saint’s sister and you’re not supposed to be anywhere near her,” Sean said, crossing his arms. “I know you fucked up once already. You think you’ll survive this one, too?”
“Fuck you,” Bones hissed.
“No. Fuck you. Just shut up and listen, all right? I’ve been trying to tell you that I’m on your side, but you wouldn’t fucking listen, would you? Not until I mentioned Emery. Guess I know where your head is at.”
Bones snapped his mouth shut and crossed his arms, glaring at Sean.
“Yes, I knew Mal was at the warehouse. I didn’t think he’d help us, which is why I never told Joker and Saint. But I had to tell him to get out because it would’ve been really fucking bloody if he’d fought those two, and I’ve got enough bloodstains in this warehouse as it is. Also, I couldn’t let anything happen to Joker and Saint. I couldn’t have that on me. For obvious reasons. But Mal? I had to get him out because just the thought of anything happening to him, especially if it was my fault, now that would probably break me. Because I love his stupid ass.”
Bones stared at him with wide eyes. Sean held his breath, unable to look away from Bones because he also couldn’t face Mal. He definitely shouldn’t have said that. It was way too early for that.
Bones nodded. “All right. I believe you. I believe that you didn’t mean any harm and that you’re still on our side.”
“Good. ‘Cause that’s what I’ve been trying to say all along,” Sean said. He took a deep breath and then arched a brow at Bones. “Also, what the hell is this thing between you and Emery?”
Bones arched a brow at him. “How do you even know about her?”
“I know her,” Sean said.
“Still. How?”
Sean felt a smile tease his lips. “Why don’t you ask her?”
Bones crossed his arms over his chest. Sean arched a brow at him and asked, “You gonna answer my question? Otherwise, I’m just gonna assume it’s a fling and that—”
“It’s not some fling. I’ve loved her pretty much since the day I met her. We were together for a while before she moved here. She needed to go, and I couldn’t come with. It’s been hell. Not to mention the shit I’ve been through lately. Then King sent me here and I just couldn’t… I couldn’t stay away.”
“Shit, man. You know it’s gonna be ten times harder to leave now, right?”
Bones glanced down. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry.”
Bones nodded, a somber expression on his face. He looked up, meeting Sean’s gaze. “I won’t say anything about…” Bones glanced at Mal. “What’s your name?”
Mal grunted before saying, “Mal.”
“Right. Mal,” Bones said with a nod and returned his gaze to Sean. “I won’t say anything about Mal if you don’t say anything about Emery.”
Sean crossed his arms and said, “I was never gonna say anything about Em because she’s my friend.”
Bones breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.
“All right. This stays between us, then.”
“Deal,” Sean said. “By the way? When this whole thing with the Henchmen is gonna go down, I wanna be there, ‘cause that bitch sent Wade after me and I want payback.”
“We will be there,” Mal said, taking Sean’s hand in his.
Sean glanced down at their hands, a silly smile spreading on his lips. He looked up, meeting Mal’s unwavering gaze and then he turned back to Bones.
“Yeah. We will be there,” Sean said.
Mal
When Bones left, Sean dove straight back into work without a word. He avoided Mal’s gaze and kept his eyes on whatever document was in his hands as he paced the room.
He’d meant what he said. He was a hundred percent with Sean on joining the bikers when they went after the guy who’d started this whole thing. He wanted to kill anyone who
as much as thought of harming a blond strand of hair on Sean’s head. Wanted to protect his man. Sean might not know it, but he was Mal’s. He wasn’t going to let Sean slip through his fingers. If Sean really loved him, then he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to do what he could to deserve that love.
The only reason he hadn’t pulled his gun on Bones was that Sean had asked him not to and he respected the hell out of the man. Sean was smart. If he’d thought for a second that they were really in any kind of danger, he would’ve let Mal know. But he was also pretty sure the only reason Sean wasn’t afraid was because he knew Bones’ girlfriend. Otherwise, Mal wasn’t sure what Bones might’ve done. He knew most bikers weren’t to be messed with and he doubted these bikers were any different. Sean had literally put his life on the line to get Mal out of the warehouse that day.
“I had no idea you risked so much by calling me,” Mal said.
Sean stopped in his tracks. He walked to the desk, put the document down and turned around.
“Yeah, well, what can I say. You make me do stupid things, like risk my own life and my business, just to save your ass.” Sean ran his eyes down Mal’s body and pursed his lips. “It is a fantastic ass, though.”
“You love me,” Mal said.
Sean squeezed his eyes shut. “Can I get away with claiming I only said that to convince Bones not to kill me?”
“Hell, no.”
Mal cupped Sean’s face. Sean opened his eyes, finding Mal’s beautiful dark green ones staring down at him.
“I love your ass, too,” Mal said.
Sean opened his mouth, then closed it, a frown forming on his forehead.
“What?”
“You said you loved my ass. Though I’m pretty sure you called it stupid, too,” Mal said, a smile playing on his lips.
“Oh my fucking god. That’s so gonna be a thing, isn’t it?”
Mal chuckled and nodded, then said, “I think it might.”
“Good. ‘Cause I really do love your ass,” Sean said.
Mal grinned and lowered his head to take Sean’s lips in a searing kiss. Sean clung to him, his hands fisted in Mal’s shirt.