Rampage (A Night Fire Novel Book 4) (13 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Evan grinned as I sat down beside him. It was a relaxing afternoon on the second floor of the clubhouse. I had been out during the morning and selected a dress, thanks to the wife club and Kaylee. We had slipped back undetected, setting our little joke into play.

It was quiet even though the wives were here but that was because the children were at their grandparents, giving their mothers a well-earned break. I felt sorry for Frankie the most, it was like Curtis only had to look at her the wrong way and she'd be pregnant.

There was a unanimous struggle with the women in the room, barely containing the mirth as we waited. My heart was racing with anticipation. I'd never been the kind of person to play a practical joke, it was Goose that was the joker of my family. But the girls were so eager to give them a taste of their own medicine.

“What the hell is this shit?” Jaxon yelled from the depths of the kitchen.

Giggles erupted.

Jaxon stalked out of the room with a piece of paper in his hand, the glossy centerfold spread and ready for his love.

“It's just a few naked bodies queen bee, don't get your knickers in a twist.”

I repeated his statement from yesterday, his eyes narrowed at me.

“It's not just a few naked bodies, they're...”

Evan frowned and took the picture from him, laughing hard.

“Oh that's just so wrong. Burned by queen bee. Dang, glad I got to see it.”

Jaxon huffed, unimpressed that we had both repeated his words from yesterday. Rather dramatically he dumped himself onto the lounge beside Kaylee. Evan leaned closer to whisper in my ear.

“When did you go and buy a gay magazine?”

“While we were out.”

His eyebrows raised a little astonished but he said nothing. Leaning over to dump the picture onto the coffee table, he stopped. I could see he was thinking about something. Casually he pulled a magazine from the stack and opened it.

“Oh my god Harmony.” he groaned and then grabbed another one.

I grinned hard as he hastily flicked through the stack, searching out every single one of them to check them.

“What's wrong?” Fraser asked rather concerned.

“They're all gone.”

None of them believed him, considering that they were still filled with pages it seemed he was mistaken. Austin picked one up and looked at it, his eyes averting rather quickly with a slight groan.

“Knitting.” he groaned. “How rude.”

I chuckled and enjoyed the show.

We had removed the covers from the original magazines and used them as the covers for the new ones. There had been a wide variety that we had picked from. Everything from body building, home crafts, general interest aimed at women, gardening and cooking magazines. Not satisfied with that selection, Eden walked into an adult store and got some pretty hard core gay magazines.

“You girls are so evil.”

Curtis swiped it from his hands and laughed.

“I think we should bow down to their mighty fine win lads. Accept when we are beaten and offer our kudos.”

“You just want to stay out of the dog house.” Jaxon stated.

“Or maybe I can accept when I've been pranked and that it was a great job. You just can't accept that you've got a hard-on because you're aroused by all these buff naked men.”

“Fuck off.” Jaxon snarled. “I do not.”

I snuggled into Evan's arms, watching the playful banter. This was fun.

Surprisingly they seemed to levitate towards the magazines with naked images rather than any of the others. Fraser tilted his head with a frown as he checked out the images, Eden was laying back against him. He wrapped his arm around her to settle her in better and turned the page. An eyebrow raised at whatever the image was. But the pages were turned over again and again, slowly looking through the entire magazine.

It was curious to watch the different dynamics. Jaxon was a little annoyed but with Kaylee's teasing he settled down and got over it. Austin was whispering something in Abbey's ear as she read one of the magazines. Curtis and Frankie had a magazine each and were comparing images.

I had to say, I was impressed. Peoples acceptance of this subject were always hard to pick. I'd known people that to look at them you'd think they were accepting yet they weren't. Then there were people like my father, from the exterior you'd think he was a prude, living a buttoned down life and wouldn't accept anyone if they didn't confirm to what they thought was right. But he was so vastly different, he was accepting of everyone and I knew that came from having a gay brother.

My uncle had been brave in his teen years, he'd come out to his parents and my father in one sitting. Neither of my grandparents accepted it and fearing what the neighbors would think they told him to marry a nice girl and forget about the wrong thoughts in his mind.

Bravery comes in so many different ways. My uncle had stood up and said this is me, accept me and love me. He thought that it hadn't worked in his favor. It had worked but not the way that he had expected it to. After my grandparents rejecting his admission my father calmly stood and walked to his room, packed his things and then did the same for his brother. He walked out to the lounge room where they had been sitting, two bags in hand. He told them to accept their son for who he is and love him regardless or they would lose both of them.

His reasoning was simple. Nothing about Tom's personality had changed. Deep down he was still the same person, still their son. One simple statement told them all that they needed to know about their son.
A personality, not a sexuality.
Faced with losing both of their sons over something so ridiculous as their inability to accept, they chose put aside their fears and to love him. Last year they walked proudly beside him in the parade, wore shirts that said
proud parent
and hugged Tom and his partner.

I had been there, watching from the sidelines with my parents. My father shook his head as they passed, shocked at his own father. On the back of his shirt it said,
fuck what the neighbors think.
My grandmothers shirt had on it,
they're just jealous.

For me to see these guys so easily accepting of this world, it came as a relief in a way. I didn't want to be involved with people that couldn't accept one of my loved ones.

“Wouldn't that hurt?” Evan mumbled as he looked at an image.

“You'd get used to it.” I grinned. “I could go and get a strap on if you want to give it a go.”

He looked at me, confusion ripping through him.

“Uh, maybe not thanks.”

“Suit yourself. Though if you ever change your mind, don't be frightened to suggest it.”

His cheeks went a little rosy, I could hear the chuckles from the two near us.

“Go on Evan, give it a go. Maybe you might like it.”

Eden smiled at him as her eyes widened and her eyebrows raised suggestively.

“Start small and work your way up. If you want a suggestion for small, maybe Jaxon could give you some pointers.”

“Piss off.” Jaxon growled. “It's fucking huge. You couldn't handle it. You'd be crying because you'd be in so much pain.”

“So...” Curtis chipped in. “You're saying that you want to fuck Evan, is that right Jaxon?”

“Oh my god. Go to fucking hell Curtis.” he groaned. “You might eat dude ass but I don't. God, can we stop talking about this?”

He flopped back into the seat, scratching his hand through his hair.

“You need to go jerk it out buddy?” Austin pouted at him.

“What is this? Pick on Jaxon day?”

“Well you are the last one left now, no woman hanging off you, no wife or kiddies running around. We're just basing it on the facts man.”

Curtis gasped, wide eyed at the picture in the magazine he was holding. Frankie leaned in and grinned madly. He passed it over to Austin and Abbey and after they chuckled at it the sent it onward to Fraser and Eden.

No one said a word about it and I wondered what all the fuss was about, when it came to our turn I understood. The guy looked so much like Jaxon it was crazy.

“You don't happen to have a half-brother by any chance Jaxon?” I asked.

I knew it wasn't him, having seen parts of him without clothes I knew he had bare skin on his back where this guy had a mole.

“What?” he frowned.

Evan passed the magazine over, Kaylee took it. Her eyes went wide and she quickly passed it over.

“That's not me!” he protested. “This really is pick on Jaxon day.”

“Your mom could have had another kid, when was the last time you spoke to her?”

“The day she dumped me on my aunt. I was ten.”

Well isn't that just the shit?

The mood died after that, all mirth making was over. Jaxon appeared rather lost now, it was highly likely that he had a half brother. Worse than that was that the guy probably knew. It wasn't as if Jaxon was unknown. He was famous, his face was plastered across the internet, magazines and television shows. I'd be hurt to know I had a brother and he didn't want to contact me.

“How about I do some research?” Kaylee offered as she took the magazine from him.

He nodded and with a lot of curiosity, I watched as the mood around me lifted ever so slightly. Amusement was in their faces. That is except for Jaxon who was over thinking the possibility that he had a half brother and me who had no clue what was going on.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, a message that filled me with concern. It was from my father, a man that never messages anyone. It was phone them or nothing.

DaddyCool: Just arrived in this odd little town called Las Vegas. Do you know where a good hotel is?

I gasped as I sat up, looking at Evan.

“My parents are in town.”

A round of oohs broke out from the hecklers. Evan frowned at the message.

“You're not going to send them to a hotel, are you?”

“It's not my place to say yes or no Evan, it's your house.”

“Our house, we married each other, remember?”

I shrugged, still feeling rather unsure about it.

“Would you rather I sell it and we get one together?”

“No.” I gasped. “I like it but it just feels a little odd, that's all.”

Evan rolled his eyes and tapped out the message on my phone, telling them where they needed to go.

“I guess we're leaving. Later losers, enjoy your naked men.”

“Oh we will.” Eden said and grinned darkly.

The paparazzi were at the fence line as we walked out to the car, I'd seen a few pictures hit the internet overnight. Someone had been at our fence line and saw the discussion we had at the car. Now rumors were rife that things weren't so good between us. Evan was adamant to prove them wrong.

He opened the door for me which earned him a kiss of gratitude. They followed us the entire way back to the house and then set up camp at the fence line. It was ridiculous but I was used to it.

Ten minutes later the buzzer for the front gate went off, Evan strolled to it and pressed the button to let my parents in. After the endless hugs from my overbearing mother and hesitant father, we ventured into the lounge room. Zeke was wide eyed as he stared at the gold records that lined the walls.

Seph hadn't come with them which was no surprise. I couldn't imagine her wanting to come in contact with Jaxon so soon after their fling had ended. Goose was here and between him and my father they were set, thumbing through the script and the contract.

The afternoon slipped away and dinner was fast approaching. My mother took over the kitchen, which was no surprise. It didn't matter that this wasn't her house, she was a mother hen when it came to all things domestic. This was a woman who idolized Martha Stewart. She loved to fuss over anyone that stood still for long enough. And of course, she was in her element with five people to fuss over.

I looked at Evan who was sitting on the lounge beside me. He was so accepting of the sudden influx of people into his home. Complete strangers have been accepted without complaint. He turned to me, offering a smile. I leaned over and kissed his cheek, moving to his ear to whisper.

“I love you.”

The grin got wider, the hand that had been on my leg squeezed the flesh as he returned the sentiment.

“I love you too.”

With the fall of night came the eventual silence that marked bedtime. My family was happy to see to their own needs, all they wanted was to be shown to their rooms.

Evan and I had retreated to our bedroom, christened the shower and continued the slow and needful love on the bed. There was no flurry of frantic movements, no shouts or loud moans of euphoria. Just quiet love that fulfilled our need in a romantic way.

I was still stuck with insomnia, finding a path to the s lounge again. Minutes later Evan found me, rubbing his tired eyes as he yawned.

“It's three am Harmony, what are you doing out here. Bed's cold, I miss my naked wife.”