Red Hot(Sex & Mayhem #5)(19)

There was a sudden thickness in his throat, choking him and making the cake look appalling on the paper plate. How did he deserve this? And why had he of all people gotten sick in the first place? Was it because Mom had silenced him with booze when he was still a baby? He clawed his nails into the flesh of his other hand and endured the pain.

“Are you all right?” Candy petted his back with her slim fingers. “It will work out. Don’t worry.”

Loki squeezed his jaw tightly shut. “Dunno. My family doesn’t want to see me. My boyfriend doesn’t care, and the guy I wanted the most to understand what I’m going through is ashamed of me,” he uttered, surprised how his own words got to him. He blinked away the beginnings of wetness in his eyes and squashed the empty plastic cup he was holding. “Fuck that. Feels like I’m dying, and no one will even notice.”

Candy sighed. “Once Jack understands your situation, I’m sure he’ll let you stay at his place. The guys in the club can be a bit bullheaded. You’re such a handsome guy, you’ll find someone to cheer you up in no time, forget all about the dickhead ex.”

Only Loki didn’t have much time left. His life had started out shitty, and that was also how it was gonna end. “I really looked up to him when we were kids,” he lied, convincing even himself that it had really happened

“Oh yeah? How come?” Candy smiled at him. “I know he has brothers, but that’s about it. He never talks about his family.”

“We’re a bit scattered. My mom’s his dad’s sister,” said Loki before digging into the cake. When would Jack be back? He wanted to see him again. Now though, the one source of information he had at hand was the lovely, trusting Candy. He glanced at the patches on the back of her vest. They read Property of Samson. Loki had seen similar garments on some other women present at the party. As happy as Candy looked, declaring yourself someone else’s slave was a strange thing to boast about. And with all those people wearing a lot of leather, was there some kind of S&M component to the relationships? Would this be what Jack wanted? Loki was all for rough and dirty, but he was not down with being in pain. A sudden flood of memories made him stiffen, and a deep, violent shudder went through him all the way to his bones.

Candy straightened and smiled at him, sipping from a bottle of some kind of mixed vodka drink. “What’s up?”

Loki cleared his throat, slowly breathing in and out to chase away the cold at his core. “I was looking at your vest. I mean... are you and Sam in a master and slave sort of relation—”

Candy snorted, though her cheeks went up in flames. “Oh, my God. Where did that come from? Of course not. I’m not into that kind of stuff.”

Loki chewed on his lip. “Then why do you call yourself his property? Isn’t it kinda...”

“Degrading?” finished Candy, rolling her eyes. “I suppose that’s how it sounds. Depends on the club, but the guys here give those jackets to their steady girlfriends and wives so that every other biker knows which ladies are taken and shouldn’t be bothered.”

Loki frowned, unsure what to think of it. “So it’s like an engagement ring?”

Candy laughed out loud. “Don’t tell Sam that. I do want a ring sometime in the future.” They both grinned, and she drank some more alcohol. “Anyway, when you get your vest, it means that the guy’s gonna take care of you and protect you. It’s a pretty big deal.”

Loki nodded and looked at his shoes, wondering whether Jack ever had someone wear his patches. If there were female bikers, did their boyfriends wear property vests? What about gay bikers?

Loki’s eyes fell on the hot pole dancer Jack had talked to before. Her show was about to begin, and she ascended the small stage with the background sounds of catcalls and howls. Jack was there as well, his bright red hair easy to spot in the sea of other heads. He pushed through the crowd, closer to the stage as the main lights went off.

“Who is that?” Loki asked Candy, slowly walking up to the doorway that separated the pleasant, almost domestic peace of the kitchen from the crowded biker club lounge. Jack had pathetically tried to flirt with the girl earlier, and just seeing him follow her like a pup made Loki’s stomach twist.

Candy drank some homemade lemonade. “That’s Lucy. Just watch. She’s such an amazing dancer. I tried to do pole dancing a few times when no one was looking, but I suck at it. She has this… I don’t know. It’s like gravity doesn’t exist for her.”

As the cheering grew louder, Lucy took off the halterneck top and skirt on stage, and stayed in just shiny black bikini bottoms and a push-up bra. In that moment, with the music changing its tone to something louder, with a powerful base line, all eyes were on her.