For now he would just hang out and wait … watch the trailer rock some more and choke down the envy.
Okay, so things had turned out well in the end. At least for my brother.
There were two reasons he’d wanted to get out of the Las Vegas city limits and return to the canyon with Cameron—the first being for them to reconcile what’d occurred in the mine. Cameron had faced his fears about the nightmare he’d experienced years ago and had come out of the ordeal with a boyfriend.
But as for himself?
He had yet to face his own misgivings about the area and still needed to fully accomplish what he wanted to do on the trip, fessing up about what he’d seen as a teenager during their family camping excursion, and revealing a secret.
Memories about that one night all those years ago filled his mind. He’d persuaded Cameron to sneak away with him so they could go check out a mine they’d seen earlier while on a guided hike. The tour guide had said the place was off limits, then followed with tales about the ghosts of dead miners and the spirits of the dogs the workers had abandoned in the area. He’d shared the legend about the crazy Native American who’d cursed the animals and land, changing those worker dogs into hellhounds. He’d said if an individual rattled a chain near the opening of a mine, a hellhound would show itself. The man had gone on to say aggressive wolf and other dog-like beasts with razor sharp teeth roamed the canyon area.
The stories and the allure of the place being forbidden had triggered a sense of curiosity in him. It was like telling someone on a high perch not to look down, or a mother telling a child not to touch the stove because it was hot.
Of course instructing us not to do something only made us want to do it more. So, what did we do? We’d explored the mine at the first opportunity.
On the hike there, Cameron had complained about not feeling well, but Jarrod hadn’t wanted to hear it. He’d told his brother to buck up and stop being such a baby. He’d convinced his brother to follow him into the mine. That’s where they’d heard low and hateful snarls along with the echoes of scratches.
That’s where Cameron had dropped into a pit and had a life-altering incident.
Jarrod had never admitted to anyone in the past fifteen years that’d he’d had an experience as well. When Cameron went down, he’d collapsed to the ground. A slight bump to his head had knocked him out for a few moments. After he woke, Jarrod had tried to reach down to get his brother, but a huge, black wolf-like creature advanced from an opening in the wall and slunk into the cavern, interrupting his rescue attempt.
All at once the scene unfolding before him seemed distant yet not that far away. To his horror, Jarrod had realized the tales about the hell dogs in the southern Nevada area had some truth to them.
The beast had slanted its head, sniffed the air then growled. Its eyes had flashed red in the dim lighting. Another wolf had trotted into the area and stood between the black beast and his brother. Fear like he'd never known in his short, fifteen-year-old life had surged through him. Frozen in place, Jarrod couldn't have dragged his gaze from the sight below even if given more money than he knew what to do with.
That was until something else did happen to catch his attention. Another creature’s face had appeared at the edge of the tunnel. The light only caught its forehead and eyes so what kind of animal it was he had no clue. What he had known was that its gaze had been full of anger, but as it’d looked his way, its concentrated stare had softened into an expression akin to love. Then, as if it realized what it was doing and was alarmed, its gaze had widened, and it’d retreated into the passageway’s darkness.
Jarrod had passed out for a few minutes. Once he’d come to again, he’d checked on his brother and had been able to pull him out. For a long time, a part of him hoped the whole thing had been some kind of bad dream, but he knew better. It’d been all too real.
The other reason he wanted to take the camping trip was to have less distractions. He needed to have a serious talk with Cameron. One where he could share his secret about his own sexuality. Jarrod figured if anyone were to understand his preferences it’d be his gay brother.
For a long time Jarrod had subscribed to the term bisexual, with a leaning more toward women, but every so often, there’d be a man he’d be insanely attracted to. He’d dated a handful of guys over the years, but when it’d come to intimacy, he hadn’t taken the plunge, so to speak, with anal. His sexual encounters with men had so far consisted of blow jobs, frottage, and rimming, along with making out with the hunks. Because of how often he changed back and forth in his preferences, he started to consider himself sexually fluid. Yet no one in the family knew.
Too bad it was taking him so long to get his nerve up to say anything, because there’d been diversions aplenty. So while Cameron entertained himself with Gabe in the trailer, Jarrod continued to wait and gather his courage to admit his truth.
“Jarrod? Jarrod…” Emma’s sing-song voice broke into his thoughts.
“Hmm?” He blinked and glanced her way. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”
“I’m thinking of going to the store. I need several things and I thought I’d see if I can find a special treat for our last night of the tour. Would you like to go with me?” She bobbed her head in the direction of the truck and trailer. “Get your mind off things for a bit?”
“Sounds good. Lead the way.”
Emma drove them to a small town and parked in the lot of a supermarket, but didn’t move to get out of the van. Her tan skin paled. She white knuckled the steering wheel.
“Emma? Are you okay?”
She breathed deep, then shook her head as if coming out of a trance. “Um, yeah, sorry. I just… Um… You know when you sense something off about a place or situation and can’t quite put your finger on it? That’s what suddenly came over me.”
“I get it. Do you have a list? I could go inside and buy the stuff if you don’t feel comfortable.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll be good. Let’s go.”
On the way through the sliding, double doors, Emma rattled off a few items, asking Jarrod if he could go get them while she shopped for the other stuff.
Grabbing a basket, he said, “No problem.” He headed for one end of the store as Emma headed in the opposite direction.
As he neared the snack food aisle, gooseflesh rippled up his arms. The faint, mixed aroma of the bakery and seafood departments disappeared, replaced with scents that reminded him of a day at the beach. Hot sand. Barbeque. Lemonade. Suntan lotion. The fragrances brought him back in time to spring break his freshman year of college. He and his buddies had gone to Cancun. It’d been his first vacation without his family and one of the best trips of his life.
That was when he kissed his first man and received a mind-bending blow job from him. That was when he realized he was bisexual.
Jarrod rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. A tall, breathtaking man stood in front of the generic tortilla chips. The guy, who had to be close to seven feet tall, picked up one bag, read it, put it back and repeated the actions with a couple of others.
Sweat trickled down Jarrod’s back as he watched the sexy god choose a snack. The man’s snug jeans fit him all too well, as did the leather vest covered in different patches over his tight white t-shirt.
As the guy swept his fingers through his long, dark hair with its honey blond streaks that fell in flowing waves to below his shoulders, Jarrod realized his sexual fluidity had shifted again. Big time. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so intensely and instantly attracted to anyone. All he wanted to do was run his own fingers through the guy’s thick mane, rub his cheek along the man’s bearded chin and admire his chiseled good looks.
A magnetism that Jarrod couldn’t explain drew him toward the stranger, and before he could make a fool of himself, he came to a halt and dropped his gaze, focusing on the man’s dusty, black boots.
Carried away by his overheating libido, he barely noticed the booted feet
move toward him.
“Excuse me.”
The man’s deep rumbling voice sent tingles all the way through Jarrod’s bones and into his cock. “P- Pardon?”
A mesmerizing blue-eyed gaze stared him down. There was something animalistic about the fellow, like a tiger pacing in a small cage. He even had an expression of a predator, one that said he shouldn’t be messed with. Jarrod wondered what the stranger could be holding within him in such tight check.
“I’m asking you to move, dude.”
Jarrod blinked. “Uh. Oh. Yeah. Sure. Sorry.”
As he clamped his mouth shut and stepped to the side, the man barreled past him, bumping their arms together as he did so. The quick touch electrified his senses and made his cock rise to full attention. He turned to catch the stranger, but he’d already vanished from view.
He’d never put much stock into the whole soul mate, meant for one person mumbo jumbo or believing people when they’d said they’d fallen in love at first sight. Lust, yes, but love?
At least until this moment he couldn’t have fathomed it.
Now he understood why people felt that way, and the sucky part of the situation? He feared he’d never see the man who could be the love of his life ever again.
Chapter Three
Tex hurried to the front of the store, barely glancing at the bank area and the cashiers, as he ran out of the building like Cerberus nipped at his heels.
He didn’t know if his day could get any worse. The general store he’d planned to rob had been closed due to a family emergency, so his idea of holding up the joint and getting some cash had burst. Since he’d had to get permission from Inferno to leave the compound and Inferno was expecting a cut of the heist, Tex had to stop at an ATM to draw funds out of his secret account. This way Inferno wouldn’t be any wiser as to what Tex hadn’t done, and Tex could have some pocket change.
Ever since Tex had started thinking of his abuela’s cooking, he wanted to make some nachos, which is why he’d stopped at the supermarket. Just his luck that while he tried to find chips that were as close to freshly made as possible, the memory of the scent overwhelmed him.
Worried he couldn’t escape the real or imaginary smells, he’d sighed. The fragrance of chili meat and chips wasn’t in his mind. It was real, and the source had to be super close.
Then he’d noticed the man out of the corner of his eye. An electrified tremor of unbridled passion had flowed through him. The aura emanating from the stranger had permeated his whole being. The sudden and inexplicable magnitude of his desire for the guy had almost knocked him on his ass.
An odd sense of déjà vu had then settled over him. He could have sworn he’d experienced something similar in the past. Good thing he had enough wherewithal to high tail it out of there before he said something and made an ass out of himself.
Tex hadn’t bothered buying anything and pushed aside the brief thought of robbing the bank or one of the cashiers. All he could do at that point was run and put distance between himself and the man.
The thought of having a mate, someone considered to be his other half who was only meant for him, gave him the jitters. For the most part, he liked his lifestyle and being able to play the field. The idea of settling down with one person had never been on his radar, especially the idea of that one being a male. A human male at that.
Not that gender was an issue. He’d had his fill of both men and women over the years. When a wolf like him had immortal blood coursing through his cursed body, he had to change things up now and then so as not to succumb to ennui.
Tex jogged over to his motorcycle, stopped, then reached into the back of his jeans, pulled out a handgun and put the safety on. With a sigh, he returned the weapon to its hiding spot.
So much for having some fun with some petty larceny.
Glancing back at the store, he realized he needed to leave before that man came out and he had to face the truth of his sudden and bizarre captivation with the guy.
He mounted his bike, and after a rev of the engine, Tex sped away from the supermarket as fast as he possibly could. The cloud of dirt and dust his tires kicked up obscured the view in his mirrors. The building and surrounding vehicles disappeared in a wall of brown and for some reason he felt much better not seeing them.
After he drove into the compound, he directed his bike toward the garage. Sitting in there earlier had helped him to get away from the mate scent. Then again, Thumb’s constant babbling about nothing in particular had grated on his nerves. Even though his friend meant well and was just trying to keep his mind off things, he couldn’t deal with the prattling again so soon.
Not when his mind was consumed by the man with the gray-blue eyes and light blond hair.
Not when he couldn’t rid himself of the sense that he’d seen him before.
Reconsidering his decision to hang out with the mechanic, he turned and headed for the clubhouse. He’d pay Inferno the fake cut from the non-robbery, so he wouldn’t be accused of trying to escape the ’pound, then he’d find some tail and put the matter of his mate out of his mind.
* * * *
The next morning as Jarrod and his brother were dismantling the tent and packing up the gear, Jarrod worked on gathering the courage and words to talk to Cameron about his sexuality and the man he’d bumped into at the store.
Yesterday evening no opportunity for a serious conversation had presented itself. Emma had stayed quiet on the ride back and in camp, except for the occasional tiff with Gabe, when Cameron and Gabe had decided to come out now and then and join everyone for a few minutes.
Harsh voices drifted on the air.
Emma and Gabe. Bickering again.
“Hey, Cameron.” Jarrod gained his brother’s attention. He bobbed his head toward the arguing couple. “Know what they’re going on about?”
Cameron shoved a pole into the tent bag. “Not sure. I think she’s not happy that Gabe’s found coverage for them for the next three tours, and she’ll have to go back to the city and hang there while he’s gone. I think she’d hoped they’d continue working in the canyon and looking for the family fortune. Gabe also mentioned that he thinks she’s hiding something from him, and he’s upset that he can’t get her to crack.”
Or she’s antsy about the other family members. The ones in the motorcycle club they’d told us about. Men who wielded hundreds of pounds of machinery down the road and wore a lot of leather, like the man he’d seen in the store the day before. Thoughts of the tall, long haired god made his cock twitch.
Then something his brother had said clicked. “Wait. Gabe’s leaving? In the middle of tour season?” Jarrod smiled. “Guess he wants to spend more one on one time with you.”
Cameron nodded and offered a sappy grin. “Yeah. Gabe’s going to come up to the city first thing in the morning, and then we’ll be heading for Tahiti.”
“Tahiti?” He knew he sounded surprised, but Jarrod hoped the hurt he’d felt hadn’t come through. He’d expected to spend more quality time with his brother than they had and would have spent during the last couple of days in Las Vegas. “Guess the camping gig is good.”
“From what he says, it’s not the best paying job, but it’s not the worst either. Remember, they do have some money. The Mongrels didn’t get it all. Just the bulk of it.”
Jarrod nodded and swung the straps of his backpack up onto his shoulders. Cameron’s mouth was closed, and he noticed how his brother’s jaw muscles were tensing every few seconds. Cameron wasn’t telling him something, but he decided not to press him for information. The nuances of their romance and Gabe’s finances weren’t his business. If Cameron needed advice or just someone who’d listen, Jarrod would be there for his brother. In the meantime, Cameron and Gabe needed to navigate their new liaison on their own, and if Gabe was able to treat his brother to the finer things in life, then all the better.
“Cameron, would you mind driving back to the city?” Normally Jarrod loved getting behind the wheel for road
trips, but ever since his encounter in the store, he’d been feeling unbalanced and distracted. Just picturing the sexy hunk in the chip aisle made his body pulsate with liquid fire, sending burning heat to his thighs and groin and giving him raging hard-ons. He didn’t know if he’d be able to drive if that happened on the highway since he wouldn’t be able to do anything to relieve himself to make himself comfortable.
“Sure, and tonight I’ll do whatever you want to do. I want us to have some decent brother time together before Gabe and I leave on our trip.”
Like on the first day of the camping trip, they loaded up the van and piled in. Cameron’s willingness to ride with Jarrod in Emma’s vehicle back to the starting point surprised him. But then Cameron mentioned Gabe had a few things to take care of and didn’t need his lover sidetracking him.
Jarrod wondered if his brother would be able to survive not being with Gabe for the next twenty hours or so. Would Cameron be able to handle the withdrawals? Jarrod chuckled to himself, then realized he’d be dealing with his own torment. At least Cameron would see Gabe again, whereas he’d probably never see his man again. His stomach dropped and soured. He suddenly felt like he’d lost his dog and best friend together in one millisecond.
Once they were alone in the rental truck and on the road back to Las Vegas, Cameron asked, “What happened? Why’d you get so quiet? Didn’t you have a good time?”
“Aside from being scared out of my wits when you were abducted and fretting every second until you returned, yeah, I guess I did.” Jarrod fidgeted in the seat. Now. He had to confide in his brother now while they were alone and the line of communication had opened. “Listen there was something I’d wanted to tell you while we were in the canyon, but I never got a chance to. It’s something I’ve kept to myself for far too long.”
Cameron’s face turned a pasty white. “Are you sick? Please tell me you don’t have a serious disease.”
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