Page 57 of Bull's Boy

Guilt tickled at him. How long had he been waiting?

Six, Rooster, and Tank had taken off from Marv’s a few hours ago, but Houston’s boy had been working a sixteen-hour shift, so he’d ordered the three of them some pizzas and hung out around the bonfire Marv had started.

The guy didn’t have a couch but had a neatly stacked pile of wood, just in case?

Houston had done the familiar pitch about Bull joining the MC but had let it go easily enough. He’d shared about some of the trouble his partner’s siblings had gotten into recently and then asked how things were going for Bull. He followed up each of Bull’s answers with another question, seeming genuinelyinterested in the restaurant, his and Marv’s moms, and, after some gentle coaxing, Bull’s worries about the future.

But if he’d known Malcolm was waiting for him, he would have left hours ago.

Climbing out of his truck, he checked his phone to make sure he didn’t have any missed calls or texts but didn’t find anything. Frowning, he crossed the front yard, worried something had happened. His porch light was on, but it was the only illumination since the rest of his house was dark. Where Malcolm sat in one of the Adirondack chairs at the other end, he was mostly in shadows. There was just enough light for him to see his eyes were closed, and there was a black shopping bag next to his feet, the silver lettering of the nameMonique’scatching the dim light.

“This is a nice surprise,” he said softly as he approached. “But did you fall asleep, baby?”

Malcolm’s eyes peeled open, a soft, tired smile on his lips. “No, I was just resting my eyes.”

“Everything okay?” Bull asked, closing the distance between them.

“Everything’s fine.”

Crouching next to the chair, Bull studied Malcolm’s face before nodding, accepting that answer. “Well, you should have told me you were coming. I would have come home sooner.”

Malcolm yawned and stretched, then leaned over the arm of the chair and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to Bull’s mouth. Fuck, that was a nice way to be welcomed home.

“I haven’t been waiting very long,” Malcolm murmured, rubbing his lips against Bull’s a couple of times and then relaxing back against the chair again. “I spent most of the evening with Ollie and his friends.”

Bull raised his brows. “Really? I was with Six, and he didn’t say anything about it.”

He pushed to his feet, then held out a hand. Malcolm accepted it and let Bull pull him up from the chair. Pressed close together, he couldn’t resist leaning down and stealing one more kiss. Malcolm hummed, smiling against his lips.

“Now that I know him a little better, I feel confident saying it is entirely possible he didn’t mention it to Six,” Malcolm said, shaking his head with a fondness Bull had seen others have regarding the brat.

“Sounds about right. What did you guys do?”

Malcolm’s face flushed, his eyes darting away. “Well, we had dinner at Bo’s and then did, uh, a little shopping.”

Bull led the way to the door, unlocked it, and then stepped aside once he opened it so Malcolm could go in first. “Shopping for what?”

He was more than a little surprised his budget-conscious boy had done some impromptu pleasure shopping. His curiosity grew when Malcolm’s blush crawled down his throat, and he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times without saying anything.

Before Malcolm could figure out what he wanted to say, Sophia jumped onto the back of the couch and yowled at him indispleasure. A second later, the kittens came scampering into the room, more interested in getting attention than food.

“Shit, hold that thought, baby. Let me feed them first.”

He quickly did, checking to make sure she and the kittens had what they needed and giving their box a scoop. He hesitated a second, then dipped into the bathroom to shower really fast, rinsing off the sweat from earlier in the day.

After pulling on a pair of shorts, he headed back out to the living room and paused just inside, smiling at the sight of Malcolm curled up in the corner of the couch, the TV on one of his home renovation shows, and two beers on the table in front of him.

He really could get used to this.

He settled himself on the couch next to Malcolm, snagging his beer on the way down, and admitted that he might have already. He’d been off all day, thinking he wouldn’t see Malcolm when he got home, and now that he was, he could truly relax finally.

“Thanks, baby.” He took a long swig, then set the bottle back down, eyeing the shopping bag near it on the table. He nodded at it. “Did you guys have fun?”

Malcolm glanced over at Bull, his teeth nibbling at his bottom lip and cheeks flushing.

Bull really wanted to know what was inside that bag to cause such a reaction.

“Yeah, they were all really nice,” Malcolm said, his voice low and a little hesitant. “They helped me figure some stuff out. Stuff that had been bothering me.”

---