Page 13 of Courting Danger

Micha’s pup.

There was a place in town that designed and printed them all for the Jokers, along with the prospect patch sewn onto the back of Roan’s kutte and the rocker he hoped to earn in the future.Trudging across the gravel parking lot between the clubhouse and his cabin, Roan longed for a night in the dungeon beneath Joker’s Wild, that many of the members frequented. Private, protected, and filled with more toys, implements, and uniquely designed furnishings than Roan had ever seen, all he’d been able to experience thus far was what it was like to keep everything clean, sanitized, and well-maintained. Roan longed to know what it felt like to be restrained on a table and tormented by a Dom who’d make him soar and forget all about the crushing loneliness he’d been seeking to relieve for most of his life.

Couldn’t they see that he just wanted someone to take an interest in him? Tug him close, card their fingers through his hair the way Pope had done when he’d been kneeling beside his chair in the game room? The handful of hours he’d spent there with him was amazing. Not only had Roan picked up on bits of club history as the remaining founders shared memories with Ocean, but when he’d closed his eyes, Roan had been able to pretend Pope hadn’t just snagged him because he hadn’t been doing anything.

The praise he’d received from the man at the end of the night had left him grinning all the way back to his cabin, and in the shower, when he’d stroked himself beneath the spray, he’d imagined that it was Pope’s hand on his cock when he came. Unfortunately, he’d been sent right back to Danger’s side the following morning, and there had been no gentle caresses, no praise, even when he managed to keep his mouth shut and not get into shit with anyone, and no sign at all that Danger had any interest in him aside from training him in how a proper club submissive should behave so he’d stop pissing people off.

Inside his sparsely furnished cabin, which more closely resembled a motel room in its current state, Roan stripped off his clothes, grabbed a pair of swim trunks from the pile of clean clothes he kept forgetting to put away, and quickly pulled themon before heading for the beach. Sand squished beneath his toes as he wobbled over unstable dunes, sliding down several as he searched for the perfect place to sit.

In the distance, he spotted a rider expertly maneuvering their board over the waves, two others straddling their bobbing surfboards as they watched him. While he couldn’t join them out there, watching was just as good, so he made his way along the beach until he reached a spot where he had the perfect view.

Watching Ocean, it was like he was dancing on the back of the board. Every bend of his knees, every swivel of his hips was fluid, purposeful, like he and the board were one entity fused with a singular purpose in mind.

Conquering every wave he tackled.

Watching Kazzy catch the next one, Roan began to pick up on the subtle differences in their styles. While Ocean was more speed and flash, Kazzy was laid back, with a cooler sort of intensity. Then Pope caught one and, for a man who was pushing fifty, rode with a grace and poise Roan immediately found himself admiring. With a steady stream of waves, he had more than enough entertainment to fill the remainder of the afternoon, with a sea turtle sand sculpture slowly evolving over the course of the afternoon while watched them.

Of course, the moment they waded out of the water and started heading his way, he brushed his hands over the sand, easing all but a few lumpy bits of the turtle.

“Shocked to see you out here,” Pope said as he stuck his board in the sand several feet away. “Didn’t think Danger would have the insurance claims finished until Wednesday at the latest.”

“They’re not finished, but he kicked me loose since he was already in a pissy mood after Mz. Kat cut him off from the ice cream bars,” Roan explained. “No one is supposed to go to thegas station to grab him any either. She told me to make sure I passed it on, since he’s killed a box already today.”

“He’s in there smoking his ass off, isn’t he?” Pope asked, while the always silent Kazzy stood his board in the sand much the same way.

In the six months he’d been with the club, Roan hadn’t heard him utter a word. Whether it was by choice or because he lacked the ability to speak, he’d never heard anyone say, so the silent man remained a bit of an unnerving enigma to him and a mystery too. His piercing blue eyes resembled Pope’s, so much so that now that they were standing side by side, Roan began picking up on other similarities too, enough to leave him convinced they were related.

“Yes, sir,” Roan replied as Ocean, the last one out of the water, jogged over with his board. As soon as he’d situated his beside the other ones, he tugged the elastic from his hair and turned away from them to shake out some of the water.

“Hey man,” Ocean said, grinning down at Roan. “You should join us next time.”

Roan just glanced over at the boards and shook his head. “I’m not the best swimmer, so going out there as far as you guys do wouldn’t be a good idea.”

Ocean appraised him for a moment, and Roan could have sworn he saw a flash of disappointment before Ocean cocked his head. “No better place to learn than when you’ve got a private stretch of beach to play on and plenty of people willing to lend a hand.”

“S-seriously?” Roan stammered, shocked to his core at the offer. “You wouldn’t mind giving me pointers.”

“I hate being indoors,” Ocean replied. “Any time I get to spend in the water is time well spent.”

“Thanks. I’d like that.”

“Let me know the next time you’re free,” Ocean said before plopping down in the sand across from Roan and digging his fingers into it.

When he started scooping sand toward him, Roan saw the beginnings of a hole forming, made wider when Pope sat between them and lent his hands to Ocean’s excavation efforts. Roan reached forward, hesitant at first, unsure if his help would be welcome, but when no one said anything or cut him a scathing look, he happily dug the hole with them.

Every now and again, one of them would scoot back so they could widen it more until Kazzy returned with an armful of dry, sun-weathered driftwood and knelt across from Pope to begin arranging it in the hole they’d dug.

Oh, right on. A fire meant they’d be here a while instead of heading in the way Roan had expected them to do when they’d come out of the water.

“Did you grow up inland?” Ocean asked. “Is that why you never learned to swim very well?”

“Yeah, Durham, at least until the state sent me to live with my grandparents in Raleigh,” Roan replied.

“How’d you wind up all the way out here?” Pope asked.

Roan shrugged. “Wasn’t exactly intentional, more like I just picked a direction and drove. I didn’t realize I was headed for the ocean until I saw it for the first time. I just knew I had to get the hell out of there.”

“That’s how I felt about California,” Ocean admitted. “Too many ghosts. It got so the waves couldn’t gray them out anymore. When everyone I knew started gearing up to jet off to Newcastle Beach, I decided to end my season out here. Meeting you guys was the universe’s way of telling me I made the right decision.”