as he balanced himself on the door of the truck, his phone began to buzz in his pocket. His heart sped up, and then began to hammer as he saw Emilio’s name on the screen.
“I hope everything’s okay?”
There was a soft laugh. “Don’t panic every time I call, babe.”
Jude closed his eyes against the endearment. It was so…him. So common, but so intimate. “I can’t help it. Disaster seems to be around every corner.”
“Well, not here. We just got done with Jax. He took Hawke out to check out some of the property, and Rory went to ice his headache.”
Jude winced, and he waved his brother off when he saw Eliah was waiting for him. “The talks went well?”
“I think Jax has a boner for Hawke, which isn’t really a surprise. Weird, weedy little fucker has something about him.” At those words, Jude felt a pulse of jealousy until he remembered that Hawke was Emilio’s brother in all but blood, and that Emilio was coming home to him—because he’d asked Jude to stay. “Anyway, we’ll use it to our advantage.”
“Sounds a bit cruel.”
“Mutual orgasms are never cruel,” Emilio countered. “Where you at right now?”
“The bar,” Jude answered him. He took a couple of steps forward, realized he was steady, so he picked up his pace. “There’s a barbeque out back, at least according to Aaron. And the smell of cooking meat,” he added when he took a breath of wood smoke on the air.
“Aw, fuck you all,” Emilio groaned. “I’m fuckin’ starving, and these assholes ordered pizza.”
Jude grinned. “I’ll make it up to you. All you have to do is get home safely.”
“Babe, don’t make promises you aren’t prepared to keep,” Emilio said with a low growl. “I want to fuckin’ feast, and it ain’t at some buffet.”
Jude had to close his eyes for a moment to steady himself. “Please don’t make me hard right as I’m about to walk into dinner.”
Emilio laughed very softly. “I’ll go easy on you, but only because I like you.”
“Like me?” Jude pressed.
There was a long silence, then Emilio said in a begging tone, “Don’t make me say it here.”
His entire body rushed with something like numbness, but it wasn’t fear or apprehension. It was closer to pure joy, and no man on the planet had ever made him feel like that before. “Please hurry back.”
“I will. Got incentive now, don’t I?”
Jude only lingered on the call another minute before pushing his phone back into his pocket and making sure his half-erection wasn’t noticeable. He made his way through the doors and was mildly impressed with the inside. It smelled a bit like paint and varnish, but it was coming together. It almost looked ready for patrons, though the walls still had some patches, and the bar was only half-finished.
But he could see it was going to be a nice place—a good place. He could see Emilio here drinking after a long day, maybe in a booth. Maybe with his arm around Jude. It startled him how right it felt, how different from his former life, but his need for it was almost enough to choke him.
He pushed those thoughts aside and made his way out the back door and found Eliah and Aaron sitting at a long picnic table covered by a red gingham cloth. There were bottles of beer and water haphazardly resting across the spread, and in the far-off corner was a massive barbeque and smoker with a tall, broad-shouldered man bent over the flames. He was wearing a coral tank-top and black shorts, his dark brown skin shining with a sheen of sweat from the coal heat and humid air. His long dreads were tied at the nape of his neck, and when he turned, Jude could see his sharp nose, and his full lips that were half-curved into a smile.
He wasn’t alone—the other biker whose name Jude kept forgetting was there talking to him. He was leaning heavy on a cane, and it was obvious from the swell at his hip, there was a brace that hooked on the pole-like prosthetic that the leg of his jeans was curled around.
“Wanna sit?”
Jude blinked when he realized Aaron was talking to him, and he nodded, easing his way over. He sat on the biker’s other side, then reached for the water bottle the man offered him, taking a long drink to ease back some of the late spring humidity creeping in.
“It’s gorgeous out here. I think you’re going to be quite