Page 21 of Baiting Kong

“I said, ‘Fuck off with that, goddamnit!”

“Fine!” Axel snarled as he finished shoving the contents of his bags in their proper places before turning to deal with the trash. Maggots wriggled around among the overflowing mess at the top. Axel’s eyes started to water as he scrunched up his nose and tried to hold his breath while he dealt with the mess. He cringed when something wriggled beneath his fingers as hegathered the edges of the bag together, tied them off, and lifted the plastic from the can with a wet, sickening squelch. Revulsion shot through him as he carried it outside, dripping stinking refuse across the kitchen floor.

“You bring supper?” The old man hollered after him.

“I brought milk and syrup,” Axel hollered as he headed out the door. “You can either have cereal or pancakes.”

“Some fuckin’ dinner!”

Axel chose to ignore that and closed the door behind him before carrying the bag to the dumpster, having to heave it over the top to get it in. Of course that meant a spray of nastiness splashed across his hand and chest, soaking through his t-shirt and leaving him more pissed off than he already was at having to deal with it after the day he’d had. It was an old shirt, and he really couldn’t afford to replace it, but the closet washer and dryer unit was on the fritz again, and his usually handy old man hadn’t lifted a finger to try and get it working right again. With no idea of when he’d have the time to take their clothes to the laundromat, he saw no point in hanging on to the shirt and letting it stink up his room.

As it was, he was going to have to mop before they tracked garbage slime all through the trailer, imbedding the stench for good.

“Hey, grab me a beer, will ya?” his father asked the moment he stepped back inside.

“Why can’t you get it yourself?” Axel asked.

“You’re closer.”

Throwing up his hands, Axel headed for the fridge, being careful to step over the mess.

“You ain’t got anymore beer!” Axel snapped after a glance inside the fridge revealed that there wasn’t a bottle or a can to be found.

“Then why the fuck didn’t you bring any!”

“How was I supposed to know you were out?” Axel asked.

“Ya could have texted,” his old man bellowed. “You could have come home on time instead of staying late to help out at the gas station. How about helping out around here for a change? How about thinking about your old man instead of everyone else?"

A glass whizzed past his head and shattered against the wall beside the fridge, and something in him snapped.

“Why is it always my fault!” Axel yelled, grabbing a mostly empty jelly jar and hurling it back at his old man. Unlike his father’s, Axel’s aim was true. His old man let out a grunt and a large, disgusting belch, not that Axel paused to try and rein in the fury swirling like a massive tornado inside his head.

He grabbed the first thing his fingers brushed against and whipped it at his father even harder. A glass pickle jar with sticky orange residue followed. Then the ketchup and mustard bottles. Soy sauce packets from an old takeout order made an unsatisfying splat against a cupboard when Axel missed, so he snatched up a plate with nothing but crumbs. He was screaming and yanking at a stuck metal shelf, trying to rock it free so he could hurl it at his father, when someone grabbed him from behind, shook him like a rag doll, and turned him away from where his dad writhed, groaning on the filthy floor.

His fingers scrabbled for purchase, looking to break the hold the person had on him. They slid over worn leather as he was physically lifted and hauled kicking and clawing over someone’s shoulder, while a deep, rumbling voice snarled at him to settle down. It wasn’t the words that finally got his attention; it was the sound smack on the ass the man gave him, harder than any his father had ever administered. That’s what got him to go limp and give up fighting, that and the fact that he recognized the voice and the massive Rollin’ Jokers MC member that carried him.

His name was Creature, and there was no way Axel was going anywhere except where the man wanted him to.

Chapter 8

(Creature)

“Go grab a shower, and I’ll hunt you up some clean clothes,” Creature declared as he locked the door behind a sullen Axel and pointed to the door across the hall from the kitchen. “Bathroom’s right there; use whatever you need. Clean towels are on the metal stand. I’ll drop whatever I find for you to wear on the top shelf, but I guarantee it’ll be too big for you. Not even sure how much a drawstring will help, so help yourself to one of the hair elastics on the counter if you need to cinch them tighter.

“Thanks,” Axel murmured, the first words he’d spoken since Creature had set him on his bike and told him tochill the fuck outandhang on. “Seriously, thank you. It was a shitty day. I didn’t mean to lose my shit like that. I’m usually a lot better at brushing off the crap my old man says to me. I didn’t hurt him, did I?”

“He might have a few bruises in the morning, but I could still hear him cussing you out all the way to my bike, so I’d say there was no real harm done.”

Axel made a half-hearted effort to smile before ducking his head and shuffling off to the bathroom. Christ, it had been like stepping into a time machine when he’d pulled up to that house and heard Axel’s old man ripping into him the way Creature’s had back in the day. It was only when he’d heard glass shatter that he’d rushed in, and it was a good thing he did, with howhell-bent Axel had been to hurl everything he could get his hands on at the man. There was no doubt in Creature’s mind that if he’d been strong enough, Axel would have thrown the fridge too, and anything else that wasn’t nailed down.

Meh.

Even nails wouldn’t have stopped him in the state he’d been in.

A crack on the ass had.

Creature was certain that if he got a peek at it now, his handprint would cover one whole cheek. He’d be wearing it awhile too. Creature hadn’t checked his strength when he’d smacked him. With the way Axel had been flailing around so hard, Creature had almost dropped him on his head. He was just glad he’d gotten there in time to keep him from doing any real damage. He could tell Axel still cared about the older man despite the hateful words and abuse he endured.

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