Chapter 20

Waves of Truth and Rainwater

Grumbling, Haven rolled over, punched his pillow, and pressed his head against the soft, cool material, not that it, or the lavender scented lemur he was currently hugging, were helping him fall asleep. He was relaxed though, and the lavender was soothing. The scent reminded him of the field behind his childhood home, where he used to lay and cloud watch while writing poetry. He'd have given anything to hear his mother hollering for him to come in for supper, her waist length golden hair blowing in the breeze as she stood on the porch, little clumps of clay still clinging to her hands while she waited on him and his siblings. Even slightly crispy meatloaf would be amazing right now if it meant hearing her voice one more time and listening to her talk about whichever project she'd been so engrossed in she hadn't heard the timer go off.

He was the exact same way when he was elbows deep in the guts of a machine searching for the best way to get it running right. In those moments, he felt a closeness with both his parents and could almost hear his Pops' voice suggesting where to look. His phone trilled an angry bird sound, the one he'd attributed to Maddox's number and now, as he drew it out from beneath his pillow, he saw that it was three in the morning and wondered what the fuck he was doing up at this hour too.

Meet me downstairs, I need to talk to you, and hurry the hell up, we're getting soaked.

Really?

What if he'd actually been sleeping?

Yeah, fat chance of that.

Chuckling at his inner voice's snarkiness, he shoved the sheet aside and brushed a hand through his messy hair.

Hurry up, huh?

Fine. Whoever the we was might get an eyeful before the night was over.

He shoved his feet in Oscar the Grouch slippers and went down in boxers blinking at the brightness of the lights in the shop when he turned them on. A brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the window beside the rolling garage door, highlighting Maddox's face as he glowered through the glass at him.

Hadn't the man ever heard of an umbrella?

A puddle started forming the moment Maddox crouched low enough to duckwalk under the door as it rolled open, but it was the dog dashing in and shaking water all over the place that held Haven's attention.

"Holy shit, you got a dog! Awe, puppy, you're soaked. Let me find something to dry you off with."

"Go slow, he's skittish. He's a rescue who wasn't treated the best before my stepdad got ahold of him. He might not let you touch…" Maddox began, but Haven had already picked up on the dog's wariness and instead of approaching him, handed Maddox the towels to dry him while Haven closed the rolling doors to keep the storm out.

When he turned, it was to see the dog shake himself again, this time sending rainwater all over a soaked Maddox who laughed and rubbed his ears. Motion out of the corner of his eyes drew his attention and he glanced over to see The Notorious S.O.X. cleaning a white furred paw while watching the whole situation unfold. He didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed about the canine's presence and cleaned himself with lazy swipes of his tongue, a bored expression on his face.

Maddox straightened up, after rubbing as much moisture out of the dog's fur as he could, water dripping down his face as he did. Okay, so he did have an umbrella, but it was inside out and dripping as much water on the floor as Maddox was.

"Shower broken?" Haven asked as Maddox grasped the hem of his soaked shirt and peeled it off over his head.

"Funny."

"Sorry, that's about the only reason I could think of for coming out on a night like this, and with a dog, too. Poor baby."

"It wasn't part of my plan, but Archer's truck got a flat a couple blocks away and the shop was closer than the apartment, so we sprinted over here since I really needed to talk to you about a couple things."

"Okay, but you do know I have a tow truck, right? I could have come and got the truck, and you guys, so you didn't get soaked."

When Maddox groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, Haven knew he hadn't paused to consider it.

"I forgot."

"Now look where forgetting got you."

"Alone and getting naked with you," Maddox shot back. "I'll take that as a victory."

Snorting, Haven looked around for another towel while Maddox knelt and struggled to undo the laces of his boots.

"Funny, your text said you wanted to talk, not get naked."

"Oh, I do want to talk, but I see no reason to stand around in soaked clothes while we have this conversation, considering your own state of undress."

"I was in bed."

Maddox shot him a pointed look. "And I'm drenched, I'd say the two even out, don't you?"

Okay, he had him there. Besides, watching him struggle with the laces, muttering curses beneath his breath, was downright amusing. Haven finally decided to take pity on him and help with the boot he wasn't working on. Between them, they got his shoes off, but when Haven stood to step away, Maddox caught his hand, not tugging, but not letting go.

"Pretty sure I'm gonna need a hand getting these off too," he murmured, gesturing to his jeans.

Haven felt his cheeks heat up, but his hands knew just what to do, popping the button on Maddox's jeans and helping work them off his hips, revealing muscular thighs with water droplets running down them. Fuck. He licked his upper lip before considering how it might be taken, which, judging from sudden heated look in Maddox's eyes, was exactly how the man viewed the move.

Fine.

Ya know what. It was pouring and there was an empty worktable on the far side of the room that could easily support both their weights. Questions be damned, he wanted touch and to know if the man had been bluffing about what he could do with his hands.

"It's raining," Haven declared. "Wanna help me cash in?"

Maddox drew in a breath, eyes narrowing, but when Haven stepped closer, he put a hand on his chest to still his progress.

"If you still want to cash in after our conversation, then I'll take you up on it, but you need to hear what I have to say first."

"O-kay?" Haven said, stepping back and crossing his arms over his chest. Talk about mixed signals, now he wasn't sure what to think, or even feel after a move that felt like he'd just been rebuffed.

Maddox inclined his head towards the table where they'd shared several meals, so Haven headed that way, then paused and reversed directions, grabbing the huge cat cushion he'd purchased for S.O.X. that the cat still refused to use. It was easily big enough to fit the German Shepherd, so Haven lay it on the floor beside Maddox, who leaned and patted it, calling to the dog until he ambled over, circled around three times, then flopped, tail covering his nose, while Haven passed over the blanket he'd had folded in another spot S.O.X. constantly ignored. While Maddox spread it over his dog, Haven immediately spun the fidget spinner the moment he sat down.

"I went to talk to Chaos and Jeremy tonight, then I went to see my stepfather. He's been the Sgt-at-Arms of the Marauding Demons since before I knew him. He and Chaos know one another, they've probably already had a conversation about this by now, since it took almost two hours for me to get here after the rain started."

"Wh-what did you need to talk to them for?" Haven asked. "I just spoke to Cade about your parts this afternoon, he'll have one for us on Wednesday."

"I wasn't talking to him about the bike, I was talking to him about a conversation I overheard earlier today, right before I accidentally hit your brother with the door. It was the reason I tried to storm out without any regard for if anyone might be on the other side of it."

"I don't know what conversation you're talking about."

"You wouldn't. You weren't there. It was Archer's conversation I overheard. He was telling the person on the other end to keep Jeremy away from you before he was forced to make a bigger mess out of him than he did Andy Robles. He also said that you would never forgive him if that happened. Now, Chaos said you called him this afternoon, that you were stressed and you two had a very serious conversation that he couldn't tell me about. That pissed me off, by the way. You should have called me if you were stressed about something."

"You couldn't help Jeremy. I needed to make sure his old man knew what was going on so he could protect him."

"From what?" Maddox urged.

Haven flicked the spinner again and watched colorful flashes of metal flicker every time the light slashed over it.

"Talk to me," Maddox urged. "I'll help you if I can."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No. Not really. You act like you genuinely care about me and I don't know what to do with that yet. I want to fill out the questioner with you, but I'm scared that you won't want anything to do with me if it says we're not compatible which is why I keep coming up with excuses to push it off. I wanted to at least have a taste of what it was like to have you as my Daddy before you ended things."

Reaching out, Maddox slammed his hand over the spinner and drummed his fingers until Haven lifted his head and met his gaze.

"You should have told me that so I could tell you that the questioner isn't like some dating app. There are no totals or percentages at the end. It's just a way of seeing where our desires line up. After that we can put it through the shredder if we want, it holds no bearing on our relationship or my desire to have you in my life. In the future, you are to come to me whenever you are feeling stressed or insecure about anything, do you understand that? Because that is going to be rule number one and I expect you to obey it."

"Yes, sir," Haven squeaked.

"It's not your fault for misinterpreting what the questioner was about, I should have gone into greater detail when we were talking about it. That's my bad. I dropped the ball. I was too busy taking in the view and enjoying the feel of you in my arms so stop ducking your head and looking for a hole to disappear through, I'd just come in after you. You have nothing to be ashamed of. It just means that I need to slow down and do a better job of making sure that you don't have questions about something before we get too far into it."

Haven jerked his head up and met his gaze. "I don't want you to slow down if it means you can just start being my Daddy."

"Is that you officially saying yes to everything we talked about on the mountain?" Maddox asked.

"Answer something for me first."

"Okay."

"Why me?"

"Why not you?" Maddox shot back. "You appreciate a fine machine and what conversation we have is never boring. That works for me, because most words are pointless. In time my actions will show you who I am and what I'm capable of being for you if you'll let me. The choice is yours."

"I don't cheat," Haven blurted.

"Good to know."

"I want to be your boy."

"Also good to know."

"I'm also an asshole, kinda, I guess. I can be a bit of a dick when I get into a project so don't be surprised if I fuck up, lose track of time, and aren't ready when we're supposed to be someplace."

"Then it's a good thing I'm the same way. At least there will be a measure of grace between us for when we fuck up."

"True."

"Or we could figure out something we can get lost in together," Maddox offered. "Like wind therapy and teaching this guy to retrieve a frisbee. We can spend our mornings getting lost in the mountains, just us, a winding road, and Baby rumbling between our thighs, and our evenings playing fetch with him and letting him prance around in the sprinklers."

"You make the bike sound almost pornographic, while the rest just feels like home."

"Just consider her foreplay," Maddox reply with a little shrug.

Snickering, Haven was reminded of the first time he'd straddled a dirt bike and how horny he'd been afterward. Harleys had a different kind of power, and the image that popped into his head, of straddling Maddox on the back of that bike, suddenly left his thoughts in a very X-rated place.

"I can see I've lost you to what looks to be a very pleasant daydream," Maddox said, his words intruding on Haven's thoughts, leaving him confused for a moment.

"H-how do you know it was pleasant?" Haven asked.

Smirking, Maddox pointed to his lap and Haven looked down to see that a very happy part of his anatomy was poking between the slit of his boxers.

Blushing, Haven went to cover himself, only a pointed look from Maddox stopped him and when the man gave a slow shake of his head, Haven let his hands fall back on the table, where he reached to flick the fidget spinner only to see Maddox's hand was still covering it.

"Scoot your chair back a little," Maddox murmured, and Haven did it, even if that put him out of reach of the STEM toy.

His face heated up more when he realized exactly why Maddox had told him to do that. His eyes were fixated on Haven's lap and the hungry look on his face left Haven longing to plead for a blowjob.

"There's something else I don't allow if you're mine," Maddox said, eyes trailing up Haven's body until finally they locked on his. "I don't allow my partners to put themselves in situations that will lead to them getting hurt or getting taken away from me. Does this issue between Jeremy and your brother have the potential to do that?"

Squirming, all Haven could do was shrug. "I don't know. I'm scared for them. Archer came here this afternoon to talk to me, he locked the doors and scared off a couple of customers, it was that important to him that no one overheard the conversation. He was worried about me getting hurt hanging out with Jeremy. He claimed someone was looking to hurt Jeremy to get back at his dad and that if we were together then I might wind up collateral damage. I could tell that he didn't want to tell me that much and only did it because I kept pushing and refusing to agree not to hang out with my friend. The moment he left, I got on the phone with Chaos since I couldn't leave the shop, and I told him everything Archer said to me. I just wish he'd have told me who the threat was, but he didn't."

"Could it have something to do with Andy Robles?"

One moment his thoughts were on getting his dick sucked, the next it was like all the air had been sucked out of the room.

"See, in that conversation I overheard where your brother said that he didn't want to be forced to hurt someone, he made a comparison about what he'd done to Andy Robles. Now, no one could ever accuse me of being the brightest crayon in the box, but there are only three situations in which that makes sense. There's one Andy Robles and he has a bad habit of pissing people off, there are two Andy Robles, in which case it's just a bad luck name, or the one and only Andy Robles got his ass kicked by your brother and you took the fall for it."

"He was over eighteen," Haven blurted, then slapped a hand over his mouth ‘cause holy shit, that was the last thing he'd ever intended to blurt out.

"And you were a minor without a record," Maddox supplied before Haven could attempt to deny anything. "When the cops came sniffing around asking questions, did Archer tell you to lie, or did you do it on your own to protect your brother?"

"I should have told my folks he was gambling before it ever got as far as it did."

"Sounds like it, but that doesn't answer the question."

"Archer had a record. I was home when the cops knocked. I was the one who told Archer they were looking for him," Haven admitted. "When he freaked and begged me to tell them I did it, we both figured it would just be a slap on the wrist, ya know. Two teenagers fighting happens all the time, only when they read off the charges, it wasn't public brawling, it was aggravated assault. Archer wasn't even in the courtroom, and I didn't know what to do but keep going with the lie and follow through with pleading guilty."

"Tell me that you at least had a proper attorney?"

"I had a public defender. My folks were struggling at the time, and they didn't think I needed one when I was admitting to what I'd done. The only way out would have been to rat out my brother and no way was I doing that. I'm glad I didn't. Archer told me why he didn't come see me. He was protecting me the way I'd protected him, because that fight between him and Andy, wasn't by any choice of theirs."

"Archer? You were protecting Archer! I'm gonna fuckin' kill him."

Maddox's dog leapt to his feet and woofed at the noise, then started whining and crouched behind Maddox's chair as the man stroked his fur and tried to sooth him. Whipping around, Haven spotted River standing in the doorway, pink hair sticking up in all directions as his blackened eyes narrowed in outrage.

"How about we hold off on any bloodshed for now," Maddox suggested as River stormed forward and kicked Haven's chair, immediately regretting it when his bare toes made contact with the hard, heavy wood.

"Oh my fuckin' god, I hate this day!" River hissed, but he'd lowered his voice for the dog's sake and stage whispered as he hopped around. "I hate that chair, and I hate Archer's stupid face!" River grumbled, right before he tripped over an air compressor and landed on his ass.

At that point he forgot about keeping his voice down and yowled as he hit the concrete, causing the trio of dogs in the apartment across the alley to take up barking and baying like they were trying to sing down the moon. Maddox's dog stayed pressed against his chair, warily eyeing them all with his ears slicked back.

"And I'm sure your neighbors are hating you right about now so let's tone it down a little, okay," Maddox suggested. "You're making this guy antsy too, so I'd appreciate it if you'd calm down a minute and let your brother finish telling you everything. It seems like there are some extenuating circumstances that need to come to light so you guys can all put an end to this chapter of your lives and move on."

"I swear you were sent here to usher a plague into my life!" River grumbled as he gingerly climbed back to his feet.

Haven appreciated him keeping his voice down for the pup's sake. Poor guy was trembling a little and Haven wished he'd made friends with him already so he could sit on the pillow beside him and stroke his fur until he wasn't afraid anymore.

"I've been known to work a little magic," Maddox said. "But nothing of biblical proportions. Even my ego isn't big enough to let me claim something like that."

"Lovely," River growled as he carefully made his way to the empty chair, letting out a little eep when his ass landed in the seat. "Great, now my ass hurts as much as my face."

Snickering, Haven shook his head at his brother. "Your luck has been awful lately. We might need to invest in bubble wrap."

"I know," River muttered. "He's worse than Mercury in retrograde."

"Then I guess it's a good thing I was born in retrograde," Haven reminded him. "Mom always said it was the luckiest time of year for me."

For a moment, River eyed Maddox up and down, until Haven caught on to what his brother was doing and waved a hand through his line of sight.

"You know what always drove me crazy about mom and her astrology?" River asked as he rested his head in his hand.

"What?"

"She was always right."