Page 32 of Baiting Kong

Chuckling ruefully, Scout started to roll, instantly regretted it, and groaned instead. “Unfortunately.”

“You’re not in any trouble, are you?” Teddy asked, the note of concern in his voice almost leading Scout to tell him the truth.

Almost.

When it came to Teddy, he never quite knew what to think. Most of the club seemed to have turned their backs on him, which set off warning bells for Scout, especially after the whispers he’d heard about why. Had Teddy really turned his back as a club member was thrown in a van and kidnapped? If so, that was seriously fucked up. While he didn’t want to make an enemy of the man who’d brought him to the Jokers and helped him get a job that didn’t involve him being on his handsand knees, he hesitated when it came to trusting him after what he’d learned.

“No,” he said and left it at that.

Sighing, Scout tried rolling again and found that if he was careful and scooched down so an old spring wasn’t poking at his hip, he could attain a comfortable position that would allow him to see Teddy.

“Kong asked me about the scrapyard the other night,” Scout said.

The moment the words left his mouth, Teddy’s eyes narrowed. “Of course he did.”

“Why is it so important to them?”

“Like I told you before, they love to cut out the middleman,” Teddy said. “If they can buy direct, they’ll have no reason to keep you around any longer. That job you have at the clubhouse can easily be handed to a prospect when they kick you down the road.”

Sighing, Scout rubbed the back of his neck because Teddy did have a point about that. Ms. Kat and Mark, for as much as they praised his efforts now, hadn’t wanted to hire him. He knew how uncertain his position was, and hadn’t his old man always said that knowledge was power?

“They are buying direct,” Scout insisted.

“I know,” Teddy said. “But if they knew that, they’d just keep pressuring you to give them access so they can go traipsing through the place themselves.”

“Might make my life easier,” Scout admitted.

“And when has easy ever worked out for you?” Teddy asked.

His words hit home, though the man couldn’t possibly know just how spot-on he was. When Scout had signed that contract to shoot twenty videos, he’d done so thinking the job would be a quick and easy way to make some of the money they needed to get out of the hole. Sex was just sex, and if people were willing topay him just for fucking, well then, he’d take all the green they were willing to shove at him. Only there had been nothing easy about today’s shoot, or some of the others he’d participated in.

“Yeah,” Scout replied, sighing heavily and nuzzling the pillow with his cheek.

“Trust me, keeping your mouth shut is the best thing you can do around this place,” Teddy said. “And unless you want your heart stomped to dust and run over by a Fat Boy, don’t make the mistake of falling for one of them.”

As if it would take much effort, Scout muttered beneath his breath as Teddy turned his attention back to the food. Closing his eyes, he decided to slip in a power nap while he waited for the food to be ready, hoping his dreams would be better than his fuckin’ day had been so far.

Chapter 11

(Axel)

“How was your day at the shop?” Axel asked when Creature stepped through the door.

The man turned to throw the two extra locks he always kept on the door when they were at home, his voice filled with amusement when he spoke.

“Pretty damned good, considering I arrived to find a package in the delivery bin,” Creature admitted. “Turns out Scout had gotten his hands on the Knucklehead engine and transmission I’d been after, along with fenders and old-school springer front forks.”

“Are they hard to get?”

“Oh yeah.”

The timer on the oven beeped, and Axel grabbed a pair of potholders before removing the homemade deep-dish pizza he’d made for supper.

“Something smells amazing.”

“Thanks, it’s one of the few things I can make from scratch,” Axel admitted as he carried it to the table and set the pan on the two metal star-shaped trivets he’d placed on the table to keep the pan from burning it.

Heavier than he’d expected, Axel was almost certain they were homemade and made of bike chain, probably down at the shop when Creature had time on his hands.

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