Page 11 of Hidden Desires
Whenever Ace got sick, Marcus was always the one who made him soup and wrapped him in blankets whenever he was cold.
When Ace had nightmares and was afraid of the monsters under his bed, Marcus would always slide over and let him sleep in his bed.
To say that Marcus was a pseudo-parent to Ace was an understatement.
While Ace would never admit it, he really did admire his stubborn big brother. Somehow, even though the guy had been a kid himself, Marcus had managed to take care of them both. He kept them fed, made sure they had clean clothes, hell, he even tried to help Ace with his homework from time to time.
Calling Marcus his big brother was an understatement. The man deserved to be called so much more.
“Can you pass me the red wine?” Ace asked, adding the chopped oranges and frozen cranberries to the cranberry juice and orange liqueur mix he had already sitting in a glass pitcher.
“What are you making again?” Lucas asked, stepping up beside him and passing him the wine.
“Cranberry-orange sangria.”
Ace added the wine and then stirred the mix with a large ladle.
“Mmm, sounds delish,” Lucas said, adding two more glasses to the tray and following Ace out the side door.
Rock music blared from the stereo as Ace and Lucas rounded the corner. It was another hot day, so Marcus and the guys decided to work on their bikes on the driveway in front of their garage.
Ace and his brother both lived together in the house where they grew up. Marcus decided to purchase the place from their parents when they decided they wanted to hit the open road and explore all that America had to offer—in other words, they were tired of being parents and wanted to run off together before they got too old to function.
At that point, neither Marcus nor Ace really cared about their parents. They had gone their whole lives without either one of them, so who cared if they moved out of the house as well? Ace was sixteen, and Marcus was twenty-nine at the time. Since then, they have seen their parents maybe a handful of times.
“You sure you idiots know what you’re doing?” Ace asked, trying to annoy his big brother and his goonish friends. “I’m seeing a lot of parts that I shouldn’t see lying on the ground.”
Marcus tossed a greasy rag at his brother. It landed on his head, nearly causing him to drop the tray.
Soft chuckles emerged around him.
Ace shook his head until the rag slipped off and he could see once again.
“Don’t be throwing your cum rag at me. Lord knows how long it’s been since you washed the damn thing.”
Ace placed the tray down and poured himself a glass of sangria.
“Come help yourself if you guys want a glass. I’m not your maid or your mother,” Ace announced, holding his glass and taking a seat in the lawn chair next to Lucas.
The day was too nice to be cooped up inside. Plus, out here, the guys were tuning up their bikes and getting all…hardandsweaty.
Ace’s gaze drifted over to where Blade was crouched down, inspecting something on his rear wheel.
The man was incredibly sexy. He had short brown hair that appeared almost reddish in certain light, a rugged scraggly beardthat contributed to his brutish caveman appearance, and, of course, he had a light dusting of chest hair over his pecs that screamed,Fuck me, Daddy.
Taking a sip of his drink, he watched the muscles on Blade’s bare back contort and flex as he tightened each bolt on his bike.
There was something hot and sexy about watching the man work—using his hands to fix something that didn’t quite work and put it back together without batting an eye.
Swallowing hard, Ace stared at the large demon tattoo on Blade’s back as it seemed to come to life with every move of his body.
The image was inked in various shades of black and gray, depicting a fallen angel who had ultimately transformed into a demon. His wings curled around his kneeling body, as if ashamed of the monster he had now become.
Was Blade’s tattoo a reflection of how he saw himself, or was it simply a cool design that he had chosen to have placed on the top of his back?
“Want a drink, babe?” Lucas asked, shouting over the sound of his man revving up Marcus’s bike.
“In a few minutes. Just let me finish helping Marcus with his bike,” Caden responded, stopping his revving and checking on one of the bolts.
