Joker (Salvation Kings MC Book 2)

by Ana Night

  He felt Joker step up behind him, his hands sliding up Gabe’s sides. Lips found that spot beneath his ear, making him shiver. Joker kissed his way down the side of Gabe’s neck. He tilted his head to the side with a groan.

  “Not fair,” he mumbled.

  “What’s that?” Joker asked, amusement in his voice.

  Gabe turned around. “You’re a morning person. I am not.” He wrapped his arms around Joker’s neck and Joker put his hands on Gabe’s waist, smiling down at him. “You, sir, are trying to take advantage of me.”

  “I would never,” Joker said and reached behind Gabe as the bread popped out of the toaster.

  Joker pulled away, making Gabe narrow his eyes at him. Joker wore a smile as he took a bite of the bread. Gabe let out an outraged gasp.

  “You did not.”

  Joker chuckled and walked out of the kitchen. Gabe shook his head, a smile teasing his lips. He turned, grabbed the other piece of bread and put some butter on it. He followed Joker to the living room and sat down on the couch next to him. He handed Joker the juice and began eating.

  “We should order some food,” Joker said. “We need some real sustenance with what I have planned for us today.”

  “And what might that be?” Gabe asked with a smile teasing his lips.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Gabe moved closer and put a knee on either side of Joker’s thighs, sitting down in Joker’s lap. Joker’s hands came around his waist and he slid his fingers into Joker’s hair, tugging to make him tilt his head back a bit. He lowered his head, his eyes on Joker’s lips for a moment before he glanced up to meet his gaze. Joker’s pupils were dilated, heat and want in his eyes.

  “Something like this?” Gabe asked and rolled his hips.

  Joker groaned and grabbed Gabe’s ass. Gabe lowered his head to kiss Joker. Joker pulled him closer, licking along the seams of Gabe’s lips. A loud knock on the door made Gabe sit back with a heavy sigh.

  “Dammit,” Gabe mumbled.

  He stood and adjusted himself through his pants. Joker looked up at him with dark eyes and a wry smile. Gabe went to the front door and pulled it open. Saint and Nash were standing on the other side. Nash gave him a big smile and held up a take-out bag.

  “Hey. We thought you guys might be hungry,” Nash said.

  Gabe’s stomach rumbled as he breathed in the smell of pizza. He held the door open for them and let them inside, then he closed it. He followed them into the living room. Nash put the bag onto the coffee table while Joker got up to say hello. Nash took the pizzas out of the bag and opened the lids. Joker was quick to grab a piece. Gabe sat down next to Joker though he made sure there was plenty of space between them.

  Saint took a seat in the armchair and even though there was plenty of room on the couch, Nash sat down in Saint’s lap. Gabe couldn’t help the flare of jealousy rushing through him. He threw a glance at Joker, but the man was busy stuffing his face. What Saint and Nash had was pretty much everything he’d ever wanted with Joker. Seeing them together hurt his heart. He was happy for them. He really was. Nash had become a great friend and he’d grown closer to Saint over the past few months.

  “When did you two get in last night?” Saint asked.

  Joker glanced at Gabe before answering, “Around five.”

  “Shit,” Nash said. “Did you get any sleep?”

  Gabe glanced down, feeling heat spread on his cheeks. Sleeping in Joker’s bed, with Joker, had been pretty amazing. He’d slept like a baby. Joker might’ve grumbled about Gabe being a cuddler but the two times they’d shared a bed, Joker had been the first to wrap around Gabe. That had to mean something. Right?

  When they finished eating, Joker and Saint carried everything to the kitchen and when they didn’t return right away, Gabe knew they were probably talking club business. He must’ve made a disgruntled sound because Nash arched a brow at him and leaned forward in his chair.

  “What’s wrong?” Nash asked.

  Gabe sighed and said, “Nothing really.”

  “Bullshit. Is it Joker?”

  “It’s complicated,” Gabe mumbled.

  “So it is Joker. What’s he done now?”

  He wanted to tell Nash, but he was pretty sure Joker would kill them both if he did.

  “Just being a dick as usual,” Gabe said.

  Nash looked like he was about to say something but then Joker and Saint walked into the room. Nash looked up at Saint with a wide, loving smile. Saint cupped Nash’s face and bent down to press a kiss to his lips. Gabe glanced away, his eyes landing on Joker, finding the man watching Saint and Nash.

  Joker

  Watching Zayne and Nash kiss, made his heart ache and he fucking hated it. Love wasn’t for him. Not that kind of love, anyway. He felt eyes on him and turned to see Gabe watching him. He didn’t like the frown he was seeing on Gabe’s forehead.

  “So. Isn’t anyone going to address the elephant in the room?” Zayne asked.

  Joker’s spine went ramrod straight and his whole body tensed. Zayne couldn’t know. He hadn’t said a word about him and Gabe.

  “Which elephant?” Gabe asked with caution.

  Zayne crossed his arms over his chest and turned his sharp gaze on Joker. “You two had sex.”

  “What?” Nash spluttered, jumping out of his chair.

  Joker clenched his teeth, glaring at his best friend.

  “Um.” Gabe stood from the couch. “How the hell did you know?”

  Zayne grinned and said, “I didn’t. But I had a hunch.”

  Joker cursed under his breath. This was the last thing he needed.

  “It’s just sex,” Gabe said, his voice sounding flat.

  Gabe was tapping his thigh. He was nervous. Not that he could really blame him. He was hating this whole situation.

  “Like hell it is,” Zayne snapped.

  Nash punched Zayne in the arm, making the man glare at his boyfriend. They shared a look, then Zayne glanced back at Joker.

  “What I meant was it can’t just be sex between you two. You’re the VP for Christ sake. If you don’t claim Gabe…” Zayne trailed off.

  Gabe snorted, making everyone turn their gazes on him.

  “That’ll never happen,” Gabe said and walked out of the room.

  Joker moved to follow him but stopped himself. Gabe wasn’t wrong and he wasn’t going to tell him otherwise. Nash was glaring at him as he pushed past him to go after Gabe. He heard the front door slam and flinched.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  Joker turned to look at Zayne. His best friend wasn’t happy with him that was for sure.

  “What the hell do you want me to do? Lie to him?”

  Zayne took a step closer and said, “You have so much more to give. Why do you keep yourself closed off? He loves you. Grumpiness and all.”

  “He can’t. He doesn’t really know me.”

  “Then show him,” Zayne said. “Let him in.”

  Joker shook his head. “Even if I did that, he’s still King’s son.”

  “That’s why I said you needed to claim him. Take the beating and then, find out if it was worth it. I can almost guarantee you it will be.”

  Joker sighed and sat down on the couch. He could do as Zayne suggested, but that was a lot to go through for a fuck buddy because that was all Gabe would ever be to him. He couldn’t be more. No matter how much his heart tried to convince him of the opposite. Gabe deserved much better than he could give him.

  Gabe

  He took the stairs two at a time, just needing to get outside. He pushed through the door and stopped right outside to suck in a deep breath. He heard the door open behind him and for a split second he thought it might be Joker, but he knew it wouldn’t be. He wasn’t the least bit surprised when Nash walked up next to him.

  “Well that was interesting,” Nash said. He put a hand on Gabe’s shoulder. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m not sure. I mean, we have a connection, rig
ht? That’s not just in my head?”

  Nash shook his head. “I’ve seen it. The way he is with you? He’s protective of you. He would definitely protect his brothers and sisters, but you? I’d wager he’d take a bullet for you anytime.”

  Gabe felt his lips twitch. “He kinda put himself between me and a bomb last night.”

  Nash stared at him with huge eyes, his mouth hanging open.

  “Are you fucking serious? Fuck. Are you even allowed to tell me that?”

  Gabe shrugged. “I don’t care. It’s not like anyone’s gonna reprimand me for it.”

  Nash looked shocked for a moment before he recovered enough to ask, “What happened?”

  “Joker was holding down the handle on a door with a bomb on the other side. The door was opened, and he thought the bomb would go off, so he grabbed me and threw me to the ground, covering me with his own body.”

  “That must’ve been hot,” Nash said.

  Gabe chuckled. “It was. There was a guy after, the one we’d gone there to see, and he shook my hand, holding on just long enough to make his interest known.”

  “What happened?”

  “Joker told him to back off and then he kissed the shit outta me,” Gabe said.

  “So he got jealous? That doesn’t sound like something a man only looking for sex would do.”

  “I know. That’s what’s bothering me. It’s playing with my fucking head. He says it’s just sex but then he does things like that. He just kisses me for no reason.”

  “Yeah, I get why that would confuse you,” Nash said.

  “What the hell am I supposed to do with him?”

  “I don’t know. Kick his ass, maybe? Show him what you’re made of. That you’re stronger than he gives you credit for and can handle his shit.”

  Gabe nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

  They were interrupted by Saint walking out the door. He walked right up to Nash and wrapped an arm around him. His gaze landed on Gabe and he gave him an apologetic smile.

  “I’m sorry for Joker’s assholeness.”

  Gabe shrugged and said, “I knew what I was getting myself into.”

  “Not entirely, I think,” Saint said, a sad expression flashing across his face. “I’m not gonna break Joker’s trust and tell you all his secrets, but I can tell that you love him, so I’m gonna give you some advice. If you want this relationship or whatever you want to call it, to work, you need to get him to trust you, to talk to you. Make sure he knows he can tell you anything because you won’t fully be able to understand him if you don’t know everything about him.”

  Gabe

  He walked through the front door and the silence that met him made him think Joker had left. He toed off his sneakers. It wasn’t until he walked into the living room, he realized that Joker was actually still there. He was sitting on the couch, his head in his hands.

  “Hey,” Gabe said softly, trying not to startle him.

  Joker raised his head to look up at Gabe and when their eyes met, Joker stood.

  “I’m sorry,” Joker said, his voice breaking. “I’m sorry, I can’t be what you need.”

  Gabe blinked at him. Did the man not know that all he wanted was him? With his faults, spotted past, and everything in between. He didn’t know much about Joker’s past, but he did know the man he was now, and he’d been in love with him for years.

  “You are everything I need,” Gabe said.

  Joker shook his head. “I’m not. You want more than I can give.”

  “No, I don’t. Not right now.”

  Gabe took a step closer.

  “What happens when you do later?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we reach it,” Gabe said.

  “Are you sure?”

  Gabe nodded and walked to stand in front of Joker. He slid his hands up Joker’s chest to wrap his arms around the back of his neck. He looked up into Joker’s eyes, certain he’d never seen so much vulnerability in them before.

  “I’m sure,” Gabe said.

  Joker put his hands on Gabe’s waist, tugging him the last inch closer before lowering his head to brush his lips over Gabe’s. Joker nibbled at Gabe’s lips. Gabe groaned and tried to deepen the kiss. Joker let him in and he took full advantage, licking into his mouth.

  As they kissed, he thought, just maybe, everything would work out fine.

  Chapter Eight

  Joker

  HE WALKED into the clubhouse which was largely empty. He found Stiletto, Auggie, and Zayne at the bar and made his way towards them. Zayne had called him less than half an hour ago, informing him that they’d received news from Ares. Stiletto was sitting on the bar top, her legs folded under her. Joker leaned against the bar and grunted a “Hello.” It wasn’t long before King and Rooster showed up. They walked into the church room to get some privacy. They all sat down at the table.

  “Ares called,” Zayne said. “He didn’t want to give us this information through a text.”

  “Shit,” Rooster said.

  “What did he say?” King asked.

  “That Ronin is going to sell the rest of the guns. To a guy named Wade.”

  Joker’s brows shot up. “That Wade? How do they even know each other?”

  “That’s the thing,” Stiletto said. “I think they already knew each other before he tried to get rid of Sean.”

  If that was true, then the most plausible scenario was that Ronin had sent Wade after Sean because he knew Sean worked for them.

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Rooster asked.

  Stiletto nodded and said, “I think it’s safe to say that the Henchmen didn’t stumble upon our stash. We have a mole.”

  No one said a word for a long time. Just the thought that one of their brothers had turned against them hurt like hell.

  “We have to get Ares out,” Auggie said.

  All eyes turned to Auggie who said, “If we have a mole, then what’s the chance of him or her not knowing about Ares?”

  Auggie was right. It had to be a patched member and they all knew about Ares. He groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose. This was a shit show.

  “We keep this information between the six of us,” King said.

  Everyone agreed with that.

  “What the fuck are we going to do?” Joker asked.

  “We can set up a trap,” Auggie suggested.

  Joker arched a brow at him and asked, “How do you suppose we do that?”

  “Well, I haven’t exactly worked out all the details yet.”

  “However we catch this mole, I say we use them,” Rooster said.

  “We can make a list of who knew about the stash and who knew where Sean was,” Zayne said.

  Almost everyone knew about Sean but only a few of them had actually been in Washington and done business with him. Joker was the one who’d initiated the partnership with Sean, so King had made him the liaison between Sean and the club. No one went to see Sean without him.

  Auggie pulled out his phone and after a few seconds of tapping away at it, he asked the others to give him the names of everyone who’d known about those two things. The list was long, but not as long as Joker had feared.

  “How do we know the mole hasn’t gotten the information from one of the others?” Zayne asked.

  “We don’t,” King said, a hard expression covering his face.

  Gabe

  He was leaning against the doorframe of Nash’s office when he heard motorcycles nearing. He looked towards the garage but couldn’t see much. He glanced back at Nash who was looking at him with a raised brow.

  “Sorry. What’d you say?”

  Nash grinned and stood from his chair. He walked around his desk to stand in front of Gabe.

  “I asked if you and Joker had made up, but from the way you reacted to hearing those bikes, I’d say you did.”

  Gabe glanced down, fighting a smile but losing horribly.

  “Let’s go see who it is,” Nash said, a playful smile on his lip
s.

  Gabe rolled his eyes and pushed away from the door to let Nash close and lock it. Then he followed Nash into the garage. There, they found Saint and Joker talking to Len. Joker glanced up, his eyes landing on Gabe.

  Nash walked right up to Saint and pulled him down for a kiss. Gabe had to stop himself from touching Joker. He glanced down, unsure of what to do with himself. Their relationship wasn’t anywhere close to Saint and Nash’s. What they had needed to be kept a secret.

  “What are you two doing here?” Nash asked.

  Saint looked down at his man and said, “I’m here to steal you away for lunch.”

  “Lunch? Is that what they call it now?” Len asked with a snort before walking away.

  Nash chuckled and shook his head, wrapping an arm around Saint.

  “Why are you here?” Gabe asked Joker.

  “To talk to you,” Joker said. He turned to Nash. “You mind if we borrow your office?”

  Nash handed Joker his key and turned a smirk Gabe’s way. “Sure, just no getting dirty on my desk.”

  Joker groaned and grabbed Gabe’s arm to pull him towards the office. Gabe was pressing his lips together to keep from smiling. When they reached the door, Joker unlocked and held it to let Gabe in first. Gabe walked right to the desk and turned, lifting himself up onto it. He leaned back on his hands, his gaze on Joker as he turned around.

  Joker’s eyes narrowed at him. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Gabe.”

  Joker walked across the small room to stand in front of Gabe and run his hands up Gabe’s thighs, spreading them so he could step between them.

  “Maybe. But I think I’m winning,” Gabe said and bit his lip.

  Joker reached up to run his thumb along Gabe’s lips, pulling it free from between his teeth. He pulled Gabe closer and lowered his head to kiss him. Gabe slid his fingers through Joker’s hair. Joker grabbed a hold of Gabe’s ass. Gabe gasped and Joker slid his tongue past Gabe’s lips. By the time they came up for air, Gabe was half-hard and in desperate need of Joker’s touch.