Hyde and Seek (33 page)

“Why?”

“So I can thank you properly.”

“Christ. How’re you plannin’ on doin’ that?”

“It’s a surprise. Ready?” I rubbed my fingertips across his stubble.

“No. I wanna go back to your place.”

“Hey, I offered to stay home and let you eat off me.”

“I’d rather eat you off,” he growled. “Fuck.” His curse echoed around us as he pulled away and unlocked the entrance. The lobby was dark with only a glow coming from the garage. “I’ve gotta see if Kase is still back there.” He put his arm around me as we walked.

Maybe this will be fast and I can still convince him to just take me home. At the very least, maybe we’ll have time for a desk quickie.

“Surprise!” I heard several voices scream, scaring me as they pulled me from my incredibly inappropriate thoughts. I burst out laughing and my heart pounded as I looked around to see a lot of my favorite people.

With everything hidden away and decorations in their place, it barely looked like a garage. The work benches were overflowing with food and a thrown together, though very well-stocked, bar was in the corner.

“Happy Birthday, sweets,” Jake whispered, squeezing me to him.

“Can I get a hug from the birthday girl?” a voice behind me asked.

“Daddy?” I whipped around to see my dad and Nat.

“Happy Birthday, Lil’ Rock,” Dad said, calling me by the nickname some bikers had given me when I was younger.

I threw myself at him and hugged him. His arms wrapped around me just as tight.

I pulled away and looked at Jake. “Jake, this is my dad, Floyd, and his girlfriend, Natalie. Dad and Nat, this is my boyfriend, Jake.” Without giving them the chance to say anything, I turned back to my dad. “What’re you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming until next month.”

“When I got a call from Jake, how could I resist the chance to see my girl?”

“So I guess those introductions weren’t needed,” I muttered up at Jake.

He winked at me before looking to the side and giving someone I couldn’t see a chin lift.

“Happy Birthday, Piper!” Nat said, her valley girl lilt more pronounced in her excitement. She grabbed me in a hug. “You look gorgeous. The wild hair is totally rocking.”

“I’m so happy to see you!” I squealed, bouncing as I hugged her. “You look fabulous, as always.”

At five foot eight, with gleaming, chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes, Nat was gorgeous. Dad introduced her to me when I was twelve and I’d been sure she was a model or actress. Almost ten years later, she still looked like she could be.

He was my dad and all, but I knew he was good-looking. Even if I hadn’t noticed, enough of my friends had had the hots for him to clue me in. He was six feet tall and still fit from being on the go at work all day. There was a lot of gray growing into his black hair, but it worked.

From the stories I’d heard, Nat had come into Dad’s restaurant on a date. Dad had taken one look at her before literally jumping over the bar to talk to her. Fifteen minutes later, the other guy was out the door and Nat’s ass was planted on a bar stool. That was the power of my dad’s looks and charm. A week after that, Dad moved Nat in with him. And now, almost a decade later, they were still going strong.

“And, oh my God, those shoes!” Nat nudged my leg so I’d stick my foot out.

I did, twisting it slightly so she could see the pumps better. “They’re Jimmy Choos. Jake’s surprise. Well, one of many, apparently. But he has no clue what a big deal that is.”

“It’s
killer
. And, oh my goodness, look at that watch!”

“I get the feeling now’s a good time to go grab a beer. They can talk for hours. You with?” my Dad asked Jake.

“Yeah. Beer or mixed drink, sweets?”

“Beer, please.”

“Natalie?”

“Beer sounds good, thank you.”

Jake nodded before walking away with my Dad.

“How’re—” I started.

“Okay, they’re gone. You were way holding out on me, girly.”

“I told you about Jake.”

“Yeah, making it seem like he was no big deal. That conversation about him should’ve lasted like three times as long.”

I looked over and caught Jake’s eyes on me. I smiled at him before turning back to Natalie. “Probably longer than that.”

“How serious are things?”

“Very.”

“Since he hasn’t looked away from you yet, I was guessing that.”

I looked over, wiggling my fingers in a wave and watched as his lips tipped up.

“You owe me the full talk. But here comes your man.”

Jake handed us our drinks.

“I’m gonna go see what your dad is up to,” Nat said with a smile. After giving my hand an affectionate squeeze, she headed towards the bar.

Jake slid his arm around me. “Surprised?”

“That’s the understatement of the century.”

“Hungry?”

“Not right now. I wanna see everyone.”

The next hour and a half passed in a blur of birthday hugs, wishes, drinks, and shots.

While I’d never been big on my birthday or surprises, Jake had worked miracles. He was thorough and everyone I’d want invited was there. My boys, Ray and Edge, plus Rhys, Harlow, Gia, Melanie, Lily, and Marcy. Even Gage and Jet showed up, though they couldn’t stay long.

“Where’d you meet these people?” Harlow asked as she pulled me aside. Since meeting officially at lunch, we’d become fast friends. “Everyone is flippin’ beautiful. Even your dad is a total D.I.L.F. Dad I’d like to—”

I covered my ears. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don’t go there. I don’t wanna hear it. La, la, la!” I yelled over her.

Ick!

She pulled my hands away. “What? I was just gonna say he was a dad I’d like to be friends with because he seems like a cool guy. Sheesh, perv!” she said as we erupted into giggles. “Seriously though, I feel like I crashed a flippin’ Hollywood party. Oh wait. Some of the X-ers are here. So, yeah, total Hollywood party!”

“Hey, my life was boring a few months ago. You know me, half-robot and all,” I teased.

“I need my own badass. Is Gage available? No, Jet. No, who’s the dude with the dreads? He gave me a chin lift earlier, which I took to mean he was declaring his undying love and inviting me to spend years getting lost in his eyes. Goodness, he’s gorgeous!”

“That’s Kase. I’ll introduce you.”

“Maybe later. Right now I’m thirsty, and wow, talk about coincidence; Gage and Jet are over there. I’ll just fangirl squeal in my head.” She lowered her voice into her version of a whisper. “If I pass out, promise to make one of them give me mouth-to-mouth.”

“I promise,” I vowed, trying to keep a straight face.

The night progressed with everyone talking, laughing, and drinking together like they’d all been friends for years. Nat and Harlow bonded over fashion and talked at speeds that only they seemed able to understand. My dad, my man, and my boys got into an in depth discussion about cars and bikes.

The only dark cloud in my birthday brightness was Rhys’ date.

At first I thought she was keeping to herself because she was shy. After trying to talk to her, though, it became obvious she was just a bitch.

A big one.

I liked Rhys a lot. We were still close and he was genuinely happy for Jake and me because that was the kind of guy he was.

I didn’t have the details, but I knew there was something dark he’d been through. The longer I’d been around him, the more I saw the shadows that lurked in his blue eyes and the pain he hid behind a dimpled smile.

He definitely deserved better.

“Happy birthday, darlin’,” he said with a hug.

“Thanks. How’re things going?” I glanced meaningfully towards… whatever her name was. Something fussy and she’d spelled it out. I was honestly expecting a Batman symbol to be in the middle of it.

“She pissed Damon and Tito off right before we were leaving. Went to grab my coat from my office, was gone all of two minutes. She said something, I have no fuckin’ clue what, but it pissed them right the fuck off.”

“To upset them it’d have to have been awful.”

Damon was six foot five, two hundred and fifty pounds of dark chocolate muscle. He was also one of the sweetest people I’d ever met. His boyfriend, Tito, was a DJ that worked at both Rye and Voodoo.

Damon grew up in a rough area. He’d known he was gay his whole life and had a rough go of it. As in, he barely made it to adulthood.

Tito hid the fact he was gay and ended up hating himself and those around him. He started injecting, smoking, popping, and chugging anything he could to get through the day. His addiction was so bad he’d started selling himself to anyone, including men. In a moment of lucidity, he realized he was doing the very thing he’d been afraid to do. Only now, he was doing it in order to almost kill himself with drugs. He got himself clean and eventually hooked up with Damon.

After all they’d been through, they were both thick-skinned. No one who made it through all of that would bother to sweat the small stuff.

“Yeah. As payback, Damon made sure to tell her that I had feelings for you. Deep ones. She started bitching in the car right away, demanding we skip your party. Like I take orders.” He shook his head slightly, an amused smile pulling at his lips.

“What’d you say?”

“I offered to drop her home. Volunteered to get her a taxi. I may have even said that one of the other guys might be willing to give her a ride, in whatever way she might want one. And yet she’s still here. Glaring. Yeah, ‘cause that’s gonna stop me from having fun.”

“Did you tell her your feelings aren’t like that?”

“Nope. As soon as Jake pulled his head out of his ass, it was clear he’s the one for you. He’s like a brother to me, so I was fuckin’ thrilled he found a good woman to give him what he needs. Never have I heard him laugh so much, or seen him smile so easy. Because of that, my feelings for you might not be romantic, but they’re still to the bone deep, darlin’.”

“Oh, Rhys,” I whispered, hugging him as I tried not to cry.

Hmm. Harlow’s single. Oh, so is Melanie. No, wait, maybe Lily?

“I better let you go before Jake throws a beer bottle at me. He might’ve won, but he still doesn’t look too happy.”

I pulled away and laughed up at him. “So you know, there’s a blond over there—”

“Lily?”

“Yeah.”

“Not happening, darlin’.”

“I think you two would have a ton in common.”

“We do. Which is why it’s not happening. Anyway, your dad said he doesn’t have your Ace Frehley picture, which is disappointing. He does, however, have one of you dressed as Freddie Mercury.”

“Oh God, I forgot about that. I was like eight or nine. That was a fun Halloween.”

“I’m gonna go see if I can get him to show it to me.” Rhys headed towards the bar, lifting his chin at Z as they passed each other.

“Happy birthday, Doll Face.” Z dipped to hug me and kiss my cheek.

“Thanks. Having fun?”

“Yeah. Watching Rhys’ date has been entertaining as fuck. Well, until she came over and hit on me.”

I burst out laughing. “You’ve gotta be kidding! That’s hilarious.”

“Yeah, it was a barrel of laughs. I’ve gotta head out soon. Enjoy your birthday, Doll Face.”

“Thanks for coming.” I went up on my toes to kiss his cheek.

“Anythin’ for you.”

“Sorry, brother, gotta steal my woman,” Jake said from behind me as he grabbed my hand.

“What else is new?” Z joked.

Still holding hands, Jake and I walked over to Ray.

“Hey, hot stuff,” she said, smiling huge at me.

“Yo. Having a good night?”

“Yup, and the best is yet to come.”

“What?”

Instead of answering, Ray jerked her head towards Jake.

“I still have one more present for you.” Jake’s hands shook slightly as he began unbuttoning his shirt.

“Uh, baby, I’m
totally
liking where this is going. But not in front of Ray.”

“Oh no, he promised I could watch,” Ray said.

“Kinky.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “At least let me do some stretches first so I can bust out my best moves.”

Jake’s shirt gaped open to reveal a bandage on his chest, sobering me instantly.

“What happened?”

“Lift it off,” he whispered.

Moving in front of him, I carefully peeled it away.

“Oh my God, that’s totally badass.”

Under the gauze and tape was a fresh tattoo. Similar in style to the one on his arm, it looked like the skin on his chest was tearing away to reveal a mechanical heart.

“Check out the center gear.”

“Oh, Jacoby,” I murmured, my eyes filling with tears.

In the middle of the tattoo was a gear that connected the other mechanisms. Interspersed with the regular square ones, were five block letters made to look like gear teeth.