Chapter 12

(Sinn)

When home lacks a welcoming vibe

“Joy, you’re home and tracking mud and water all over the floor I just scrubbed!”

Rolling his eyes at the greeting, Sinn knelt to remove his boots only to have Night’s hand on his arm still his movements.

“In case you haven’t noticed, it’s pouring out there and we’re drenched,” Night snapped.

“Which is what we have a mudroom for,” Teddy snarked.

“Then maybe you should consider posting a sign outside the door directing people to it so they know it exists,” Night shot back.

“Maybe you should consider watching your tone, prospect, before I get you bounced down the road.”

Night snorted at that, while Sinn rubbed his temples, the minor headache that had started earlier that morning beginning to morph into a full-blown migraine. Between the tropical storm raging off the coast and the washed-out bridge that had forced them to add an extra day and a half to their trip home, he was exhausted, drenched to the skin and more than ready to sleep on something soft.

Sinn’s first thought was to wish they had a place away from the compound to go like Cody, Wreck and Bellamy did, if only to avoid the unpleasantness of Teddy when he wasn’t in the best form to deal with the man.

His second was that he should have insisted they follow them up to the main house where Cody had gone to give messages to his mother and brother, only he’d second guessed that thought the moment it had entered his mind, not wanting it to look like he was hiding behind Cody or Kat. They’d parked Night’s bike in the garage adjacent to the clubhouse where the rest of the crew had gone and wiped his machine down together. By the time they’d finished, the trio had been on their way out the gate, Wreck’s airhorn sounding a goodbye.

Having Night speak up didn’t sit right either, not when he risked his position among them by doing it, only something must have changed between the time Sinn had gotten snatched up and their arrival back, because Night was full on laughing now, while Teddy let out a hiss of outrage.

“Do you think I’m kidding!” Teddy snapped, the wet slap of his foot stomping on the floor and crunching dirt beneath it almost enough to get Sinn laughing too. He’d give anything to see him looking like an angry imp with a pinched frown and a wet sock on his foot.

“No, I think you’re delusional,” Night replied, his voice having grown low, cold and more than a little bit dangerous. “You don’t have the kind of pull to get me tossed out of here. You’re treading on thin ice with that attitude of yours and I’m going to be the one laughing when Kat and Mark show you the door. How can you be a part of something so strong and viciously protective and not have any of it rub off on you? Just fuck off and get back to being the maid while you still have that position. We’re going to the bunkhouse. You can explain why to Saint when he gets back.”

It made his head throb a little, but Sinn laughed anyway and readily turned when Night nudged him. Together they headed back out the door, Sinn taking great satisfaction in stomping the mud from his boots all over the floor on their way out, laughing harder when Night did the same.

Outside was nothing to laugh about though and he didn’t mind in the slightest when Night wrapped an arm around him and guided him in a half-run, half-slide down the hill to the main part of the compound and the bunkhouse on the far side of it.

“Guess at this point, the only way we’re going to get warm is in the shower room,” Night declared over the pounding of the rain on the metal roof. “At least there are boot trays outside of the door there and a scut puppy who wouldn’t mind cleaning up the mess even if there wasn’t.”

“Oh really?” Sinn teased. “You’ll have to introduce me to him sometime.”

“I think that can be arranged.”

Night’s shoulder brushed his as they knelt to remove their boots, all the shadows beneath the covered porch making it a little tricky to place them properly in the tray when it already contained several other pairs from their riding companions, but he managed, and without Night having to adjust them.

Inside the shower room, Sinn could hear several other stalls already in use and hoped there was at least one free that he and Night could share. Once they’d stripped off their wet rain gear and the damp leather underneath, they patted it dry with soft cloths, then hung them on the drying rack in the corner, before peeling off their wet clothing. It wasn’t an easy feat when dealing with jeans and Sinn was glad to hear that he wasn’t the only one cursing. Night let out one colorful stream of expletives after the other before Sinn heard something clatter and go spinning across the floor.

“Shampoo, conditioner or body wash?” Sinn asked, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

“Who the fuck knows, but now there is a mess for this scut puppy to clean up,” Night remarked, chuckling as he went after it.

A shower turned off and a short time later Sinn heard wet footsteps slapping against the tiles.

“Thought you guys headed to the house,” Danny said.

The quiet man was related to Creature and as steady as they came. When the ruthless cousins had chosen to remain behind, he’d stepped up and volunteered to fill one of their vacant spots. At no point had he treated Sinn like he was different from any of the other riders, which Sinn was grateful for.

Sinn was certain that was why Cody had welcomed him onto the crew that escorted him back to North Carolina. Kyle and Cain from the Outer Banks chapter had ridden back with them too, though Cain hadn’t been too pleased about leaving his partner, Thorn behind in Texas. He intended to hug Cody when he saw him next, Bellamy and Wreck too, and not just for the escort, but for verbally smacking some sense into him when he’d been down on himself.

“There was a toxic entity stinking the place up so we decided to come down here,” Sinn replied, prompting laughter from Danny and Night.

“Bet it was pretty rank too,” Danny remarked. “The guys and I were going to wind down with a few games of dominoes if you wanna join us.”

“Ya know what, that sounds like a good idea,” Sinn said.

“Cool, we’ll add a few more chairs to the table.”

“Thanks,” Sinn replied, feeling himself relax more now that they were away from the house. His headache was fading too and when Night passed him a shower caddy, Sinn realized that he was eager to get cleaned up so he could join the others. That hot water streaming over his head felt a billion times better than the lukewarm shit at the rest stop that morning and as he spread the foamy body wash over his skin, he realized that Night had given him his own products to use.

Someone was humming, which morphed into song, and it took a moment for it to register that it was Night, and his voice was powerfully rough and perfect for the Metallica version of Turn the Page. He sang it with vigor, complete with every snarl and growl, leaving Sinn both achingly hard and feeling like he was front row at a concert. When he got to the line about walking into the restaurant, Sinn shuddered and let out a low groan as his hand slid down the front of his body to caress his cock, stroking to the cadence of the song.

God the man could sing.

Those rugged muscles had felt like steel beneath Sinn’s fingers last night when he’d glided his hand beneath Night’s t-shirt to stroke them over his abs. The prospect outweighed him by sixty pounds easy, and every inch of it was firm, but Night had laughed when Sinn asked how much time he’d spent in the gym and claimed to have never been inside one.

Good genes and plenty of backyard wrestling had been Night’s response, and when he’d gone on to talk about the number of siblings and cousins he’d grown up around, Sinn had easily been able to see how that would be the case.

Night had told him all about a badass cousin of his who wrestled throughout the Carolinas and Georgia too, the admiration in his voice unmistakable. That the cousin was a woman hadn’t been apparent until he’d said her name while recounting how many times she’d pinned him. Was refreshing to spend time with a man who was completely unphased about having lost to a female and didn’t give a damn about gender roles, but what had ticked off the final box on Sinn’s checklist of desirable partner traits was when Night admitted that he hated being perceived as a top and even a dominant simply because of his size. Ironically enough, Sinn had overheard Creature growling something along those same lines to Rabbit, complaining about how being verse wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be when no one would ever give him the ride he wanted.

As soon as the chance arose Sinn intended to show Night that he was fully capable of leaving him wrung out and mumbling incoherently, something he’d murmured in the man’s ear while he’d been caressing him. The moan of desire Night had instantly let out had only ramped up Sinn’s desire more.

God, just thinking about the possibilities left him shuddering beneath the shower spray with his head thrown back, balls tightening as Night drew out the final word. He came with the echo of Night’s voice in his ear and the shock of the shower room water heater finally giving up the ghost after so many of them had used it. Even in his post orgasmic haze he found himself chuckling at the disgruntled yelp Night let out before he cut off the water in his stall. Sinn did the same a few minutes later, after he”d cleaned the cum from his body and finished rinsing off. By then he was shivering and whishing he’d grabbed clothes from Saint’s room at the house, since everything he’d worn home had been borrowed from someone else.

Hell, everything he’d worn back at his childhood home had been too, mostly his brother Dougie’s since they were the closest in size. Stepping out of the stall, he reached for the towel he’d hung on the hook outside the door, only to discover that Night had already delt with the issue of clothing for him, by leaving a t-shirt and sleep pants beneath the soft cotton towels. It didn’t take him long to dry off, get dressed and join the others at the table, soon followed by Night.

Sinn was blown away when he touched the dominos and discovered that the dots were raised instead of sunken, and for the next few hours was able to lose himself in the flow of the game, until the door to the bunkhouse swung open, accompanied by a flash of lightning so bright even Sinn winced a little.

“Thought you two would be up at the house in my bed waiting for me once you found out we were only a few hours behind you,” Saint said. It was one part statement, one part question, and one hundred percent filled with annoyance.

“Would have been if Teddy wasn’t his usual prickish self,” Sinn declared.

Saint’s boots crunched against the wood as he stalked over, no doubt leaving a trail of footprints for their scut puppy to clean up.

“Oh for fuck’s sake I should have figured,” Saint groaned, dripping water on Sinn’s head when he rested his hands on Sinn’s shoulders.

“How’d you guys get around all the detours from the bridge getting washed out?” Night asked at almost the same time as Sinn asked, “How’d the raid go?”

“We came in from the west instead of the south,” Saint explained. “Tried to tell Cody to do the same but cell reception was spotty and the message never went through.”

“Yeah, we lost GPS several times, so Cody took the route he was most familiar with, even if it meant adding an extra day,” Night explained.

“Was a smart move on his part,” Saint replied. “We’ve got family along that route. They might not be fans of our way of living, but they’d have let you guys in if there was a need. As for how the raid went, the Disciples won’t have to worry about anymore threats out of the Serpents. Bikes, buildings, and bodies were in flames by the time we tore out of there. We’ve finally got the funds to set up a proper shop for the custom builds and tackle a few other projects that have been on the backburner for a while.”

“Any casualties?” Sinn asked.

“Not on our side,” Saint replied. “Your family went home intact, if a little bloody, same as us.”

“You okay?” Night asked.

“I’d have been a lot better if you two were where you were supposed to be, now get moving. I’m not sleeping in here and I’m not sleeping without you,” Saint instructed as he gave a little tug on Sinn’s collar.

That was all it took to get him on his feet, even as his brain registered an absence of sound from Night’s direction.

“There a problem?” Saint asked, voice having gone low and snarly.

“No sir,” Night replied, chair finally scraping the floor as he scooted it back.

His tone said otherwise though.

“Soon as we get settled we’re gonna talk about why you hesitated,” Sinn hissed as they headed for the door.

At least Saint had the foresight to bring the UTV around. The trip back to the house was a dry one, but the moment they stepped inside the house, via the mudroom entrance inside the garage, he started bellowing for Teddy.

The man didn’t appear until they were halfway up the steps leading to Saint’s room and when he did, Saint barely gave him time to squeak out a I’m right here before launching in on him.

“I don’t care what you did or why you did it, apologize, fuck off, and don’t speak to them while they are in this house again!” Saint bellowed.

“B-but…” Teddy stammered.

“Apologize!”

“No! It wasn’t…”

“What did he just tell you to do!” Mark snapped from somewhere to the right of them as they reached the landing and headed for Saint’s room.

“Fine, I’m sorry! And I hate every last one of you!” Teddy yelled, footsteps retreating at a rapid rate and punctuated by the slamming of a door.

“I’m running out of patience with him,” Mark sighed.

“Yeah, well I hope you catch up soon,” Saint said. “‘cause I’m all out!”

Saint slammed the door as Sinn flopped across Saint’s bed and tugged Night down to join him. The ghostly echo of his headache had returned along with a slash of irritation at what Saint had done. Sometime very soon he was going to have to remind the man that he didn’t need anyone to fight his battles for him.