Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

Gunner

T he clubhouse was a large building that almost looked like a warehouse. It was very nondescript and plain. The lot was covered in gravel that crunched under the tires of my truck as I followed Ace, who was driving the SUV he’d taken into the mountains. His brothers were ahead of us, and by the time I got out of the truck, my boots thumping onto the gravel, they were already heading inside.

Ace strode over to me, his blue eyes peering up at me through dark lashes. “Are you sure about this, Papa?”

I chuckled and leaned back against my truck, spreading my legs a bit to pull him as close to me as possible. I palmed his lower back, leaning down to softly kiss him. “I’ll get used to it,” I promised him. “I want to be wherever you are and this —” I glanced around us, “is what you call home.” I smiled at him. “And you are my home, remember?”

He blew out a soft breath and nodded. “I know, but it can be loud sometimes. There are a lot of people living here. And Blu and Grey are really… loud during sex.” He winced. I bit back a snort of amusement.

“As if you’re not loud?” I teased.

His eyes brightened, the blue shining so damn prettily, it took my breath away. “Oh, my God ,” he breathed. “I can totally get back at everyone now for all the hell they’ve been putting me through in the middle of the night.”

I snorted. “Sure, sweet boy.” I didn’t give a fuck who heard us as long as he didn’t. I lightly tapped his ass before backing him up. Opening the back door of my truck, I reached in and grabbed my duffel bag, hefting it onto my shoulder before I grabbed Ace’s hand in mine, stroking my thumb over his soft knuckles. “Come on. Show me your room so I can get settled in.”

The main part of the clubhouse was empty when we walked inside. Ace led me to the stairs off to the right. We climbed up them with Ace in front of me, coming out into a long hallway. Ace led me to the second to the last door and grabbed a key out of his pocket, unlocking it before walking inside. I followed, a smile tilting my lips as I took in his space.

It was a fucking mess.

He had clothes on the floor and on the bed with only enough space cleared for him to sleep. Nail polish and numerous opened and unopened boxes of hair dye littered a vanity stained with random colors. The mirror was cracked in the bottom right corner. An overflowing makeup bag had been shoved into an open drawer, clearly too full to close. His shoes were in a pile by the door.

This whole place was so… him. But I couldn’t live like this. Even now, it felt like my skin was crawling. Everything was too cluttered.

“We’re going to need to set some rules,” I told him as I nudged the door shut behind me with my boot.

He huffed. “Rules suck.”

I dropped my duffel bag by the dresser before turning to him, crossing my arms over my chest. His eyes tracked the movement, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. Finally, he looked up, meeting my eyes, a pout settling on his pink lips. Fuck, I wanted to kiss him. But we needed to have a serious discussion over his room. This was… frankly, this mess was… I had no goddamn words. Five-year-olds had cleaner rooms than this catastrophe.

“Ace baby, I can’t live in this mess,” I told him as gently as I could. I knew how he could get when he felt cornered, and my intention was never to corner him. I was his safe space. “I’m going to clean up and organize all this,” I gestured around before crossing my arms again, “but from now on, you’ll be putting up everything as you use it, and you’ll be folding and putting away your laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer. Understand?”

He huffed and scuffed his boot along the carpet. “I like everything where it is.”

I sighed. “Ace…” He stomped his foot, scowling at me. I gripped his arm and yanked him against me, arching a brow at his bratty expression. “I will bend you over that bed and spank your little ass so red, you won’t sit comfortably for the rest of the day.”

His fight immediately died out of him. He was still pouting, but I knew he was giving in. Reaching up with my other hand, I cupped his cheek, stroking my thumb over his soft skin. He leaned into me and rested his forehead on my chest. “Fiiine,” he groaned, giving in. “But I’m going to complain every time I have to put something up.”

I chuckled and dropped a kiss to the top of his head. “That’s fine, sweet boy. My hand is always ready to paddle your bottom when you do.”

Before he could say anything, a knock sounded on the door. Ace groaned and stepped back from me before going to open it, glowering at Cameron. “What?” my boy griped.

“Need you at the table,” Cameron told him before he spun on his heel and headed up the hallway. Ace glowered at his back before turning to me.

“Go,” I told him, jerking my chin in the direction of the hall. “I’ll clean up in here and then take a shower.”

He sighed. “I don’t wanna leave yet.”

A soft smile tilted my lips. “It’s okay, baby. I’ll be right here. Just upstairs. And you can come to me whenever, remember?”

He nodded. “Okay.” With that, he slipped from the room, quietly shutting the door behind him. Heaving a tired breath, I planted my hands on my hips and turned to survey the absolute disaster that was Ace’s room. I was pretty sure there was a couch over by the far wall, but I couldn’t see it beneath the pile of clothes and shoes he had on it. Clearly, my boy loved to shop; I’d never seen someone with so many clothes and shoes. And clearly, he had zero organizational skills.

But that was okay. He had me now. This was one of my duties as his Papa, and I was more than happy to ease him into being a more organized adult.

Ace was right. The clubhouse was loud. Voices easily trailed up from the main room, and someone was banging around in the kitchen. I wasn’t sure how I was going to cope. I’d become so used to solitude and peace. This was going to be a major transition… if I could even manage it. My temples were pounding, and I’d already had a minor flashback when someone dropped a pot down in the kitchen and the sound drifted up to me, jerking me out of the little bit of peace I’d found.

I was still trying to quell the nausea from it. It’d been years since I’d been in the desert. Since I’d heard an IED explode. Since I’d watched three of my men get blown to smithereens, just pieces of them lying around for us to gather and take back to base to be cremated and shipped home to their families.

But when that pot dropped, it felt like I’d been right back there. In that heat. In the billowing dust. Choking on sand. Struggling to see enough to protect the rest of us that were still alive.

The shower curtain opened, and I swiped my hand down my face, watching as Ace stepped into the shower. His slim, naked body was on full display, and I eyed his pierced cock with a hungry gaze before I trailed my eyes over the nest of blonde curls at the base of his cock, up his flat stomach, finally landing on his pierced nipples.

“You okay?” Ace asked.

I blinked, frowning at him. Reaching up, I slicked my hair back. “Yeah, baby.”

He scowled at me. “That’s the first time you lied to me, Papa.”

I sighed and leaned back against the tiled shower wall. “You were right,” I told him. “It is loud here. I just… had a rough moment a little while ago.”

“A rough moment?” Ace asked. He stepped closer, reaching for me, but then, he paused, his hand in midair. “Is it okay to touch you?”

Jesus fucking Christ, this boy .

Reaching out, I pulled him to me, wrapping my arms around him. “You never have to ask to touch me, sweet boy.” I pressed a kiss to his quickly dampening hair, squeezing my arms around him. “I just ask that if you ever find me having a flashback, you keep your distance. I’m never aware during those episodes, and I don’t want to accidentally hurt you. It would wreck me.”

He nodded. “Okay, Papa.” He tilted his head back to look up at me, resting his chin on my hair-roughened chest. “So, you had a flashback?” I nodded. He frowned, concern burning in his eyes. He pressed his fingertips into my back, his nails slightly biting into my flesh. I welcomed the pain, letting it center me. “What caused it?”

I laughed a little. It sounded so ridiculous when I thought about it, but I knew the tiniest things could bring forth a flashback and send me spiraling. I was much better these days, especially with all the therapy I’d gone through. But I knew I’d never truly be one hundred percent better. I’d gone through and seen too much to ever be “normal” again.

“Someone dropped a pot downstairs,” I told him.

He huffed. “That’s not funny. Why were you laughing?”

I reached up and stroked my hand over his purple hair. “Because if I don’t laugh about it, baby, I’ll spiral. Laughing is my way of coping.”

I swallowed thickly when he suddenly dropped to his knees, looking up at me from beneath his long, sooty lashes. I groaned when he gripped my cock and licked at the tip. My breath shuddered from my lungs. “Will this help?”

Fuuuuck . He was going to be my undoing.

“Yes, Ace baby,” I rasped, spreading my thighs so he could get closer. I groaned when he sucked my tip into his mouth. “ Goddamn , sweet boy,” I groaned. “Stop teasing me.”

Like the good boy I knew he wanted to be for me, he swallowed me to the back of his throat. My back arched off the wall, and my fingers slid into his hair. I stared down at him through slitted eyes as he worshipped my cock, the sounds coming from his mouth sloppy and obscene. I wasn’t going to last long. Ace seemed to love sucking my cock, and he was so damn good at it.

“Baby,” I moaned, trying to resist fucking into his mouth. “I’m not going to last, Ace. Fuck, baby, your mouth is too fucking good. Fucking sinful .”

He moaned around me and reached up to fondle my balls, and that was it. I groaned his name as I spilled down his tight, hot throat. And he swallowed every drop. When I shivered, he pulled off of me and leaned back to rest on his heels, looking up at me with swollen lips, his cheeks flushed, tears leaking down his cheeks.

I crouched and cupped his face, pulling his lips to mine in a soft, soothing kiss. “Thank you, baby,” I murmured, nuzzling my cheek against his.

He leaned up and wrapped his arms around my neck. “I know you said I can come to you anytime I need you, but I want you to know the same goes for you,” he told me, his voice muffled by my shoulder. “I…” he swallowed thickly. “I love you, Papa.”

My heart clenched in my chest all while everything else in my body loosened. I clutched him to me, squeezing my eyes shut. This boy of mine had no idea how infinitely precious he was. He was everything to me. The center of my entire universe.

“I love you, too, Ace baby,” I said quietly. “I love you with my whole fucking being.”