by Layla Wolfe
He chuckled. “Oh, don’t I know it. I offend countless people night and day. I think it’s in my job description.” Patting me lightly on my sore ass, he pulled out and left the bed.
No matter which way I craned my neck, I couldn’t see what he was doing. He was directly behind my back, first peeing in the bathroom, now rustling around with something metallic. I nearly bowled over when he kneeled on the mattress behind me. A cold blade touched my shoulder, and I knew he was knighting me with my katana sword.
To my shock, he said something in Japanese! I can’t replicate it here, but it was very impressive. Of course, I asked, “What does that mean?”
“Something like ‘I want to be with you forever.’”
Warmth actually flooded my heart. I wanted that, too. I could see him over my shoulder, tall and noble in his clerical garb, wanting me forever. My eyes hurt, and I realized that hot tears were flooding them. That would not do, so I said offhand, “Hey. Release these cuffs.”
He was in the process of doing that when a little knock came on the door. “Hellooo?” sang a woman’s voice.
“Who is it?” I sang back, lightly, as though I wasn’t just tossing handcuffs on my bed and reaching for my jeans.
“It’s me, you dork,” said Ariella.
“And me,” said Galileo. “But I’m not calling you a dork.”
“Aw, shit,” I breathed, heading for the bathroom. “Noel, can you let them in? You’re dressed.”
I had to listen from the bathroom while Noel met my sister in the flesh for the first time.
There were the usual niceties, but I could’ve swore I heard Ariella say, “You’re much handsomer than your photos.”
Much handsomer? She made it even worse by adding, “I just couldn’t wrap my head around my brother with such a handsome guy.”
What, like I was accustomed to butt ugly guys? But then I realized. She wasn’t accustomed to seeing me with any guy, much less a gorgeous priest. So maybe I hadn’t accidentally offended anyone . . . yet.
Galileo said, “He is a handsome devil, isn’t he? Ariella, is that your name? Ariella, right. You wouldn’t believe his sermons. Women come from far and wide just to sit there and ogle him. I believe only half of them are listening to his words.”
I was finally able to bust out of the bathroom. Thank God I could save the day from these awkward bumblers. “Galileo! That’s not true. People adore his sermons. He’s one of the most intelligent priests around. He doesn’t drone on and on—“ I stopped because Ariella was hitting me up with a giant bear hug.
“No, it’s true,” Noel admitted mildly. “I’m used to it. Women stand in line afterward to shake my hand but it’s clear they don’t have the foggiest what the service was all about.”
Galileo “tsk-tsked.” “That is a sad day in hell indeed.”
I put my arm around Galileo and steered him out the door, to the dining table where people had set up snacks and drinks. I left Noel and Ariella to fight it out among themselves. If Noel would be my family, he was stuck with my other family.
“What’re you doing here, Galileo? I thought you needed to run your dog grooming business.”
“I have an assistant now,” said Galileo. “I wanted to come back for a couple weeks to show my fellowship with you guys. After what we went through in Quartzsite together, I feel oddly bonded with you."
"Well!” I cried, falsely cheerful. Klah Biakeddy, Toby and a few of their classmates were piling in the back sliding glass door, grabbing handfuls of nuts and chips. I, too, took a handful of almonds and shoved them into Galileo’s palm. “Take some nuts!”
“What happened in Quartzsite?” bellowed Klah. He may have cut back his bullying ways, but he still stuck his nose into everything.
“We went to the movies!” I declared, idiotically.
“Oh yeah?” asked Klah. “What did you see?”
“Paddington,” I said, the first moronic thing that came into my mind.
Klah frowned. “You bonded over Paddington?”
Galileo said obliviously, “Oh, isn’t that the most adorable movie? I particularly like the part where he grabs the barber shop electric razor and is buzzed all over the room.”
Klah snorted. “I’d like to be buzzed all over the room.”
Toby said through a mouthful of chips, “I’ve got some Young Man Blue.”
“Do it outside,” I said, like a father.
Galileo and I took our handfuls of junk food outside, too. Galileo wanted to participate in building the deck, but I told him he could help string up the netting. Being a sheepherder, he was used to clambering about on tall things.
I watched Noel and Ariella chatting, Anson and Ormond gardening, Twinkletoes backing up a truckload of sandy soil. Ahiga and several of Joe Bloodgood’s friends, Manygoats and Cecil Blackmountain, had been instructing Anson and Ormond where the optimum position for each plant would be.
I realized I had a house full of friends. Being a homosexual man in love with a priest had not alienated anyone. We had not sinned. The misfortune of true sin is that we establish for ourselves a state of agony and torment. No one has inflicted this on us from outside. It’s a result of our own decisions. Once we decided there was nothing wrong in what we did, everyone else started treating us the same way.
I fit in here, Noel fit in here. Our goofy quirky friends like Galileo and the Bent Zealots were here to stay.
Everything was right in the world.
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About the Author
Bestselling author Layla Wolfe likes to bring you alpha males—sometimes two at a time—and the kick-ass women who love them. Her BARE BONES MC series explores the dark, disturbing life of the biker club in Arizona. Her spinoff series THE BENT ZEALOTS MC is a gritty MM saga. She is currently back to working on the next BARE BONES book.
Layla Wolfe is the pen name of multi-published erotic romance author Karen Mercury.
You can find her at:
www.laylawolfe.com
facebook.com/layla.wolfe
twitter.com/LaylaWolfeAutho
goodreads.com/author/show/8072579.Layla_Wolfe
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/layla-wolfe
More Books from Layla Wolfe
The Bare Bones
Book #1 in The Bare Bones MC series
https://www.amazon.com/Bare-Bones-MC-Book-ebook/dp/B00J7A68VE/
If you ain’t living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.
The rose-colored illusion of Madison Shellmound’s girlish crush on biker Ford Illuminati is stomped into smithereens by his crude father Cropper, Bare Bones motorcycle club President. Fearing Ford will kill Cropper if he finds out, Madison flees, becoming an upstanding cardiology nurse.
Madison and Ford have an ill-fated, star-crossed love that will last their lifetimes. Ford is a lifer in a different sort of enterprise, the gritty full-throttle club of guns, blood, and allegiance to his brothers. Twelve years and several tours of SEAL duty later, Ford is thrust back into Madison’s arms on the worst day of his life. Madison’s prospect brother Speed has screwed up big-time and owes the club his life. She offers herself to Cropper as a sacrificial lamb to save Speed.
But how long until the fiery, full-on outlaw Ford discovers that the woman he loves was treated like a degraded slave by his own father? Well, meet the new boss. He’s not the same as the old boss.
Stay Vertical
Book #2 in The Bare Bones MC series
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KKTMGR6/
One two three four five six seven. All good sinners go to heaven. Peace Corps volunteer June Shellmound returns to Arizona to care for her dying mother. At the clubhouse of The Bare Bones motorcycle club, June is swept into the drama when half-breed Lytton Driving Hawk barges in and demands recognition as president Ford Illuminati’s half-brother.
Hot enough to melt steel, Lytton has forged a lif
e apart from the reservation as a brilliant chemist, living the high times at his pot farm in the mountains. Lytton is no fortunate son, though, and the mortal secrets Ford’s been hiding about their father drive the last nail into their brotherly coffin.
Lytton turns his back on the Bare Bones and sweet bleeding heart June. Blinded by vengeance, Lytton becomes ruled by his own demons, raising hell alongside Ford’s mortal enemies, The Cutlasses. Alliances are torn apart within the club, loyalties are divided, and everyone’s true spirits are tested. When the dust clears, Lytton and June find themselves running for their lives just to...STAY VERTICAL
Bad To The Bones
Book #3 in The Bare Bones MC series
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O2IRLB2
Knoxie Hammett has been The Bare Bones’ tattoo artist for years. He’s just drifted through life, living it large and performing in their Triple Exposure films, recovering from a divorce he never wanted. Suddenly Knoxie has a reason to live and to want to prospect for The Bare Bones outlaw motorcycle club.
He’ll need their help to rescue the lovely Bellamy Jager from the jaws of the cutthroat, warped cult leader who has been holding her hostage all her adult life. To the neglected, abused Bellamy, living in the desert canyons off stolen food and time, the sanctity of the ashram looked like a safe zone. But her haven turned to hell and she was drugged and abused, ignorant of any other way of life.
Knoxie will need every one of his Bare Bones brothers and every ounce of bravery he can muster. To save Bellamy and her white slave sister from the twisted swami, he’ll need to pull off the most daring job of his life to prove to the club and the world that he’s...BAD TO THE BONES. Don’t ride faster than your guardian angel can fly.
Playing with Monsters
Book #4 in The Bare Bones MC series
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WDT2FOU
Roman Serpico has abandoned a thriving rock star career to prospect for The Bare Bones MC. His goal: revenge on the cartel for his father’s murder. His black soul is a writhing mass of venom and rage, and joining the club fuels his ability to wreak havoc. His stepfather, the club’s lawyer Slushy, calls on him to save a stepsister Roman barely knows. Nurse’s assistant Gudrun McGill has fallen in with a bad crowd and needs an emergency extrication...now.
Roman believes he’s killed Gudrun’s assailant, but the loathsome, murderous fugitive Riker has nine lives. He lives to traffic in human flesh another day, and Roman is hell-bent on tracking the bastard down. But The Bare Bones votes to place Gudrun into custody with her stepbrother as her bodyguard. Things heat up between them when they hide in plain sight in the ghost town that surrounds The Citadel, their clubhouse.
Roman has vowed celibacy to fixate on vengeance. Gudrun wants nothing to do with men after losing her husband in a horrific car crash.
The terror of their situation brings them too close for comfort. Walls must come down. Barriers must be broken. Taking risks is in the nature of their new MC family. Roman has to roll the dice, to hit fast against Riker and the Chinese cartel. To preserve his newfound family, he has to roll like thunder and be gone like smoke.
Have Gun Will Travel
Book #5 in The Bare Bones MC series
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0106QC4JC/
The sun never sets on a Bare Bones patch.
Beatrix Hellman has reunited with her Bare Bones sweetbutt friends from high school. Her isolated life in a mountaintop convent has ground to a sudden halt, her faith dashed against the rocks. She needs something else to believe in, and her old friends become her new family. But a sadistic cartel associate of the club has maimed one of the whores. Bee and the women put a bounty on Tony Tormenta’s head. And they think they know just the man for the job.
Zane “Sax” Saxonberg is back from a different sort of exile. He was banished by his club Prez brother Leo a decade ago to ride the interstates of America as a nomad. Haunting back road BDSM clubs, Sax has a willing submissive in every state. He returns to the Bare Bones’ backyard to help the women and to check on his nephew Harte. Instead he finds a fiery slave in Bee—part camp counselor, part nun, part Force-Me Queen.
Will Sax’s bold heroics renew Bee’s faith in the world? She finds control and strength in submitting to the virile bad boy biker. With each power exchange, she is brought closer to a fresh hope and conviction, but tracking down the brutal Tormenta also brings fresh danger as they close in on his mountaintop hideout.
Shelter from the Storm
Book #6 in The Bare Bones MC series
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F0DFODY
A hitman on the run from his past.
A chemist with no past.
Their faith will be tested in incredible ways.
Alpha bad boy Fox Isherwood has crafted a new life for himself as a cartel hitman. To prove his loyalty, he is sent on the most impossible mission of all—to murder an innocent woman.
Pippa Lofting isn’t her real name. As a federally protected witness, she is a non-person, unable to contact any of her loved ones. She can’t send a text or even visit her dog. She’s created a new existence in Pure and Easy, Arizona, home of The Bare Bones MC. Caught up in the whirlwind thrill of their gritty, fast-paced life, Pippa believes she might be ready to love again when buff, inked ginger Fox appears in town. He is stunning, a macho man for all seasons, and he brings out the best in her—as far as she remembers.
But passion is the last thing on Fox’s mind. The Bare Bones has ordered him to investigate a rival pot plantation, find out why they’re sending spies. When a hitman starts tracking Fox, the heat is on. Will Fox become the hunter or the hunted? And Pippa’s going to need everything he’s willing to give, because she needs...
It Takes a Thief
Book #7 in The Bare Bones MC series
https://www.amazon.com/Takes-Thief-Bare-Bones-Book-ebook/dp/B0738LZYY9/
Great outlaws lost their lives to Ford. Great ladies lost their hearts.
Ford Illuminati, Prez of the famed Bare Bones MC, is in the crosshairs of Noodlum, a whacked thug recently joined with the Cutlasses. When Ford’s company steals some highway workers of theirs, Noodlum lashes out with subterfuge, placing fake news stories about the club and stealing their identities to charge Cialis and penis weights.
But the clincher is when Noodlum targets Ford’s old lady, Madison. His twisted obsession with Madison puts Ford on the alert, and Santiago Slayer on his trail. But things haven’t been going well between Ford and Maddy lately. His two jobs—Prez of the MC and his construction company—have got him working more than double time. Neglected and feeling unloved, Maddy has a meltdown when a patient of hers dies. She needs to do something different—something fulfilling.
When she works at a clinic on the Indian Rez, a heartthrob doctor catches her eye. But he’s not the real menace. Noodlum has come unhinged, targeting the light of Ford’s life—Madison Illuminati. Ford is forced to play along with the whacko’s games, step by step. It will take the combined forces of his club and his company to emerge triumphant . . . to save his one true love and reclaim their marriage.
The Bare Bones MC Box Set
Books 1–6 of THE BARE BONES MC series
Binge read the entire series of bestselling MC novels.
This collection includes the first six books from THE BARE BONES MC series. Daring readers will encounter themes of abuse, dubious consent, BDSM, drug running, and violence. No cliffhangers, and HEAs all around for everyone.
A Dangerous Reality
The Bent Zealots MC Book 1
https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Reality-Bent-Zealots-Book-ebook/dp/B00S4BZHZU/
Keep your lovers close—and your enemies in bed.
TURK. My club sent me to track him down. And when my mission was over, I never wanted another one again. When I found him, I kicked the crap out of Havelock Singer. I issued the mightiest beatdown of all time. Problem is, we’re evenly matched. We’re equals in every way, and when we finishe
d whaling on each other, exhausted, we fell into each other’s arms.
I’ve never regretted it for an instant. It’s been the ride of my life. But loving another man in the MC world is a risky business. As if our business isn’t already brutal and ruthless enough, Lock’s homophobic sergeant-at-arms Stumpy gets an eyeful of our lovemaking and blackmails us into doing some of his dirty work, or be exposed for what we are—a couple of deviants. This run into the Indian reservation is sleazy and beneath us, but now I’m cornered, and I’ll do anything to keep my sweet Master from being lynched by his club.
LOCK. When that kingpin Carmine Rojas got a load of my beautiful stallion Turk Blackburn, he’d stop at nothing to have him—and Rojas gets what he wants. It’s my fault we’re in this situation. I should’ve kicked Turk’s ass and sent him packing back to The Bare Bones. I wasn’t even close to being ready to come out, but now they’re forcing my hand.
I can hear my destiny calling me. Either I’ll slink back to my club like a hetero bounty hunter with no morals—and no respect from anyone in my own backyard—or I’ll step up to the plate and be the lion of the day. Either way, my lover and I are screwed. Our clubs are going to hound us underground or into another country before we escape this mess—if we don’t die trying.
“Living off the grid and being an outlaw brings a dangerous reality.” –Ron Perlman
A Gorgeous Mess
The Bent Zealots MC Book 2
https://www.amazon.com/Gorgeous-biker-erotic-romance-Zealots-ebook/dp/B00U0WHQOQ
Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.
