11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

The house was full, but it was a nice full. The bikers in the place took up in the basement, Binx and his partners were given the bigger of the spare rooms, and even though he fought it, Selestino was given the smaller one…all to himself.

He knew that would make Indio snark him all over again, but he was trying to pull on a thick skin where the man was concerned. Still, he wondered how much ribbing his father or uncle would have dealt with before they would have shot the guy in the head. It probably wasn't half as much as he'd taken already, but he wasn't the boss yet.

With the mafia guys sleeping all over the living room, the place felt safe, though. Even Binx's two "Sirs" were satisfied. They'd been planning on heading home because of the threat, but none wanted to leave Travis and Lonnie.

For breakfast that first day, he stumbled into the kitchen, smelling coffee, but what he found was so much better. There were freshly baked Danishes, of all flavors. Blueberry, apple, chocolate, cherry, the fluffiest scrambled eggs he'd ever seen and stacks of blueberry waffles.

"What have you done?"

Binx laughed and said, "This is nothing. I rarely make so much bread, my poor Sirs were getting spare tires around the middle. I was strictly ordered to do protein heavy meals, light on the carbs."

"We're feeding an army, literally. I think the carbs will be welcomed. I'll take one of those waffles, as a matter of fact, and some eggs. And did I smell coffee?"

"You did. I made espresso and regular."

"Give me the hard stuff!"

Binx and Sel enjoyed one cup alone before the others started waking in sporadic sections. Everyone moaned so much while eating, it was as if the kink club was already open for business. Binx glowed at the praise of all the men, but when his partners came into the kitchen, he was hugged, kissed, and Sel watched him swooning over his men.

That was hard to watch. He was so happy for Binx, and for his other new friends, but out of the four of them, he was alone. The only one that had to watch from the sidelines as other guys were loved.

No, he was the hated one, if Indio's nasty glance at him was any indication. The guy barely ate, and took the rifle out to relieve his friend Rico.

Rico ate enough for both of them, but Sel was busy watching Indio from the window. That's where Ruben caught him. "Hey."

"Hey. What did I do to him?"

"You're good looking and rich. That's enough to piss people off, Sel. And really, unless you like him, like, you know, like him, what do you care?"

"I do not like him. Not in any sense of the word."

"Mmmhmm. I can tell," he said, then left Sel alone at the window.

Later, he went outside for some air when the mafia men and bikers started talking about skinning Alex Brooks alive. Binx, Prince, and Ruben followed him and together they enjoyed the air on the porch. "This may become like a clubhouse for us," Prince commented, then looked around to assure he wasn't overheard.

Binx told them, "Well, all those dominant, macho men, they can spit and scratch themselves all they want. We have a nice little group here. If my Sirs okay the move, we can get together like this once a week or every two weeks at least. I have done that with my friends back home for years now."

"Like, what do you mean?" Sel asked.

"Well, we need a break from the Doms, frankly. Even out of scene they can get bossy, cranky, you know? We get together, eat, have some wine, or even coffee, and just talk major shit or watch a movie or whatever."

Prince reached for Sel's hand. "You can bitch about whoever you want."

He was being sweet, but Sel knew he was the odd man out. "I just like hanging with you guys. I don't mind. Really."

"No…prospects?" Binx asked, then looked pointedly at the man twenty yards away, walking one way and the other, and occasionally casting a glance at them over his T-shirt clad shoulder.

"Definitely not him," Sel spat. "He's a total dick."

Ruben moved over to the couch and scrunched in between Sel and Prince. "He's not very nice, but there are about to be tons of great guys coming here. You'll be up to your neck in hot dicks."

Sel laid his head on Ruben's shoulder. "Up to my neck in dick?"

"He'd rather be up to his ass," Prince said with a giggle.

"Okay, this cutesy thing you've got going masks a total dick slut," Ruben teased.

"Dex likes that about me."

"I bet!"

Mal and Kirk pulled up on their motorcycles, along with a man Sel had yet to meet. He was a hot Latinx man with slicked back hair and a short beard. He got off his bike and moved to Indio, talking to him while Kirk and Mal climbed the stairs to the porch.

"Mal, come sit with us, unless you're busy," Sel said.

"Naw, not busy. We're camping here tonight. We have some business with the other club members, so it's best we stay together. I guess we're all down in the basement."

Ruben nodded and told him, "Dante sent a bunch of cots and blankets."

Kirk leaned down to kiss Mal before he went inside and left Mal to sit in the only free chair on the porch. "This place is gorgeous. I could ride here for weeks. We just took a ride on all the roads that were passable for a bike, looking for that killer guy. Man, it's hard to look for him when there's so much to see."

"I bet it's nice on a bike, but I'll take horses," Ruben said. "I miss working. It's only been a couple days but being home all the time is weird for me."

Sel looked at Indio and the mysterious biker talking, wondering how it would be to ride around with him, holding onto him while they took turns on the road, the smell of his leather vest, the sight of his arms outstretched to the handlebars…

"Hello! Sel!"

He shook his head and looked around to see them all staring. Mal asked, "Eight or Indio?"

"Huh?"

"He's asking if you're staring at Eight, the guy who just pulled up, or Indio. He doesn't know about you and Indio yet." Prince said.

"There is no me and Indio."

"Oh, I get it," Mal said. "I don't know him that well. He came up from New Mexico last year to join the Denver chapter of the Aztecas. I know Eight asked him to head up here and get a feel for Montana for Carrillo."

Prince asked in a whisper, "What is it…I mean, do you guys do…like on those shows and stuff?"

Mal laughed sweetly. "I guess we used to, yeah, but we wanted to be legit. Kirk went to prison when we first got together. We never wanted that to happen again. We got together with the Aztecas a few years back, getting together in Denver, when Colorado was still one of the few states with legal pot.

"Eight's husband is a farmer; his whole family is. They needed help keeping the big farming corporations from taking all the farms in his area, and we needed the legal trade. We now run fifty grow houses, in a co-op thing with the farmers, and we have legal stores all over the state. If we expand up here, we have a guy to be the president of the new chapter, and Eight's asked Indio to be theirs. We're all meeting with the clubs up here to see if we can work with them to start chapters of our clubs up here."

"Oh! Oh, good. I watched those shows. I'd never want anyone shooting at you."

Mal smiled and said, "Thanks. But aren't you with a…"

"Mobster," Ruben said. "Yeah. He's with a big ol' mobster."

Sel groaned and said, "Ruben!"

Binx and Mal were both giggling, and Prince stuck up for Ruben. "Well, it is true."

Mal asked Sel, "What's your deal with Indio?"

"Besides the fact he hates me? There isn't a deal."

"Oh, don't mind him. He comes off as a prick, but he's not a bad guy."

Binx whispered, "Maybe he acts like he hates you because he likes you."

"Too bad. I don't like him."

They all looked at one another, trying and failing to hide smiles.

"Well, I don't! Do I have to shoot him?"

Mal rolled his eyes. "God, you sound like me when Kirk bought me from my stepdad."

They all stared at him like he was crazy, but when he didn't add that he was joking, they had to hear all the details. They couldn't right then, however, as Eight was climbing the stairs. "Hey, Mal, who are your homies here?"

"Eight, this is Binx, Ruben, Prince, and this is Selestino, Dante's nephew."

As he shook all their hands, he said, "Selestino, right. I heard you had some good ideas for meeting the clubs up here. Thanks, mano ."

"Did my uncle already talk to you?"

"No, man, I gotta get over there. I just wanted to stop and get my bed set up. Long ride from Colorado, you feel me?"

The man was smooth and fucking hot, but Sel knew he was also married. That was a shame. The curiosity got to him though, and he asked, "Then how'd you hear?"

"Indio. He said you're smart. Should be, being that man's relative. I gotta get going to see that man, so we'll talk laters, huh?"

"Sure."

As soon as Eight disappeared into the house, Sel's eyes landed on Indio, who was standing there, staring at him with that smug smile. "Well, what the hell?"

"He called you smart. That's something," Binx said. "Now, who else around here is hot, gay, and available?"

Mal asked, "Why?"

"We're going to have Sel do some flirting and see what jealousy Indio has in him."

"Abso- fucking -lutely not, Binx! You don't play those kinds of games with guys like that, for one, and for another I don't even like him!"

Mal waved him on as he explained, "I did it to Kirk when he tried to break up with me. He was going to prison, and didn't want me waiting around for him. Yeah, the poor guy almost died, but it worked. I'm with Binx."

Before Sel could argue against it again, Ruben was on board with them. "There are a couple of hot ranch hands that are gay. Sam Hill Rustin, he's funny, cute, a great hand, does rodeo…"

"Rodeo, mmm, sexy," Prince said. "Chaps?"

"Yeah, chaps and all," Ruben purred.

"Excuse me! Don't I get a say in this?"

Prince patted his leg. "Honey, you're younger than all of us, so respect your elders. You're not the don yet, so you have to do what we say. At least until you can rightfully shoot us."

Sel sat back while the group planned, unable to close his mouth as he stared at them in awe.

When lunchtime came, they went to help Binx cook, and wouldn't let him come along. Binx explained, "Sit out here a while longer. We need to discuss some things that don't concern you."

"Excuse me? You mean you're going to talk about me."

"Of course!"

Sel was still laughing as the screen door slammed and they were all inside, leaving him alone on the porch. That was when Indio started slowly up the stairs. His eyes narrowed, but his full, dark lips pulled up at the corners. "Your friends already ditching you? What will you do without your entourage?"

"This coming from a guy who runs around with a pack of other guys that ride bikes. You're such a lone wolf."

"The difference is, we don't sit around giggling and drinking tea."

"Oh, I'm impressed. Guzzling beer and talking about pussy is the more manly thing to do, right?"

Not a word passed his lips, but he didn't need to speak. His eyes were set on Sel like they were cemented there. Sel moved to him after slowly rising from the rattan couch, taking cool, gliding steps.

As he invaded the man's space, he spat, "What is your problem with me?"

"I don't like spoiled rich boys that think they have some power over me."

So much was said with that one statement that Sel knew how insecure Indio really was. "You're about to be the president of a bike club, right? No one will have power over you."

"Still taking orders from a fucking mob boss, and that'll be you one day. Unless you are too scared to take the family business and you sit in some penthouse, living off your family's money."

"Before I ever take control, which is likely going to be twenty years or more, you hate me for having power over you. You're like a little child, having a tantrum for his daddy giving him a bedtime."

Indio moved even closer and Sel smelled sweet cigar on his breath, felt the heat of the man's body. "Watch it, baby. You want to watch that pretty mouth before you get hurt."

Sel's entire body lit into a raging fire, and he wasn't sure if it was from anger or need of the man. That was something he hated, to ever be unsure of his feelings. He decided right then and there it was anger. "Go ahead and hurt me. I'd love to be the one to put you back in your place. That place being far, far below me."

"Hey," Eight said from the house before he pushed the screen door open and emerged onto the porch. "Everything okay here?"

"Yeah, Eight," Indio grunted. "Fine."

Indio left the porch and Eight stayed to speak to Sel. "Is he giving you trouble?"

"Not a bit," he lied. "And I can handle myself, thanks," he said, moving past Eight into the house.

The guys were in the kitchen, and he told them what happened. Binx shivered, and said, "He wants you so bad."

"How the hell do you figure that? He's just confirmed he despises me!"

Mal whispered, "There is a very fine line between love and hate, Sel."

"Speaking of which," Ruben said, remembering their earlier conversation. "What the hell were you saying about how you and that huge hunk of man meat met?"

"Man…meat?" Mal started giggling and Sel quickly looked around to make sure Indio didn't hear that. He didn't need to give that asshole more ammunition.

"Tell the damn story," Binx said as he started making a fruit salad.

"Well, it went like this. My stepdad was a Devil's Rebel. He'd been in a club a long time, and my mom…she was…an addict. When she died, it was me and him, and we hated each other. Come to find out he owed Kirk a bunch of money he didn't have. So Kirk took me in trade."

Sel felt like the others did, ready to go into the other room and take on Kirk, no matter how big and tough he was. "Please tell me you're kidding, or I'm going to get Bennie's gun."

"Settle down, future boss of all bosses. He did it because with him, at least, I'd be okay. At first, he just wanted some help around the house. He fucked with me, sure, like he was gonna take what he wanted from me, whether I liked it or not, but he didn't. He took care of me, better than anyone had since my mom got addicted. I fell so hard for him, it was pitiful, but he fell for me too. We went through a lot, sure, but it just made us stronger."

"The moral of the story is, you never know what can bring you together with that one special, or two, in my case, and Ruben's case, person or persons," Binx said as he sprinkled sugar on the berries. "Sel, that hatred, it can turn on a dime."

"I'd like to turn him, but only so I could laugh in his face."

Prince said, "Whoa, you're really mad. What did he say to you?"

"He's mad that I'm a rich guy, like you guys figured."

"Makes sense. He's from a really broken home, like me. He never talked about it, but one brother knew him from a long time ago," Mal explained. "One of my brothers, that is. Indio didn't want to be Devil's Rebel. So, Doggy introduced him to Eight, and he prospected for the club for a year. Now, he's so respected he is up for president of the new chapter, if there is a new chapter."

Despite what he felt about the man, that was impressive. "That's not normal, is it?"

"He's shown himself to be loyal and a good person to have in our corner. Eight didn't think twice when Indio asked for the president patch if we get a chapter here in Montana. Not to mention, there weren't many people wanting to move up here."

Sel felt like shit, saying what he'd said. "I was a dick."

"So was he," Prince soothed. "Don't feel bad. Dex could have been really mean to me too, Sel. A lot of people have been. I can't exactly feel sorry for myself. I've had every advantage in the world. Still, it hurts when people don't see me. They only see my money."

That tight rope the rich kids walked. They could realize their privilege and be humbled by it, seeking people that differed from them, or they could embrace it, become trust fund assholes that accomplish nothing except scandalous headlines.

"I didn't have to say what I said. He just made me so angry."

Binx came around the counter and hugged him. "Shh. We misstep sometimes, and then we have time to make up for it. Be kind to him next time, no matter how shitty he is to you. Show him you aren't defined by your money and your family."

The thoughts went through his mind, all the ways he could do just that. But then again, he'd have to be let loose from the cage where his uncle had firmly placed him. "Maybe I shouldn't have come here at all. At least around school, there were similar jerks to me."

"We could be jerks, if you like," Prince offered with a laugh.

"I was from a rich family too," Binx said as he went back to work on lunch. "Never fit me."

Mal and Ruben shrugged before Ruben offered, "We could teach you to be poor. Give me all your money, and we'll have a crash course."

Finally, Sel laughed. "If I thought that could help, I would."

Movement outside caught his eye, and he went to the kitchen window to see Indio doing his perimeter check. The rifle was slung over his shoulder, his slow pace making him seem like he was just taking a stroll instead of keeping watch for a serial killer.

The cigar smoke swirled around his face as he turned to the house and caught Sel watching. Sel tried his best to put a friendly smile on his face, a small gesture of truce, and for a second, he thought Indio was returning it with his own warm smile.

Then the hand that held the cigar rose to his mouth, and as he took a puff of the cigar, his middle finger raised and his smile grew wider as smoke billowed from his mouth.

So much for the truce…