Claiming Cody and a little note about what's next

 

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An MMM Biker BDSM novel!

The final room they stepped into was filled with laughter. Three ladies around a table playing cards and swapping stories, until their eyes landed on Cody.

“Land sakes T, where have you been hiding this one. You’re supposed to let the candy out of the kitchen once in a while.”

Stammering, Cody looked around at the three, trying to figure out who to address first.

“Mrs. Monroe, would you like your meal on a tray, or will you ladies be dining at the table?” Cody asked.

“Oh, he called us ladies, bless his heart, isn’t he the cutest thing? If he’d known us in our prime, he wouldn’t call us ladies,” Mrs. Monroe remarked, drawing giggles from the other ladies. Each pushed the cards towards the center of the table, making room and answering Cody’s question at the same time. “And it’s Ramona, please, I haven’t been Mrs. Monroe in fourteen years, may the old fool rest in peace.”

Cody couldn’t help but laugh with them, it was infectious, and she reminded him of his grandma. Feisty as hell and unashamed of it. Was enough to make him wonder what Ramona was doing here. He brought their plates in one at a time, while Teresa arranged placemats on the table, beautifully quilted ones that looked like one of the ladies had made them.

“Thank you, dear,” Ramona told Theresa, who’d given each of them a gentle hug. “Do you think we could get a pot of tea down here?”

“Of course,” she replied. “With yellow sugars and a small beaker of milk.”

“That would be perfect. My nephew sent me a tin of those lovely little tea biscuit cookies and we’ve been dying to get into them.”

“Oh now, you can’t be using the word dying so freely in a place like this,” said the lady to her left, Sophia, he’d heard Teresa call her.

“Ain’t that the truth,” the third lady remarked as Teresa waved, heading for the door with Cody, who carried the tray covers from each plate of food.

“See how easy that was?” Teresa remarked.

Chuckling, Cody nodded. “They seem like awesome ladies.”

“They are. All our residents are awesome in their own ways. It’s up to you to see that and treat everyone the way you did in there.”

Cody nodded, uncertain if that was a challenge he was up to.

The atmosphere back in the kitchen was as light and effortless as before. Everyone had a task. Everyone knew which way to move. Cody knew it would be up to him to find his place in their rhythm so as to not throw anything off. Good thing Teresa was already focused on prepping for the next meals.

“Here’s a list of things I need from the pantry, in that order please,” Teresa said.

“On it,” Cody said, whistling as he headed to the back. He was still whistling and bringing out some hefty cans of cream of chicken soup when Wreck stuck his head into the kitchen. It took juggling and hella good reflexes for none of the cans to hit the floor before he could safely set them on the counter.

“Good to see the kitchen is still in one piece and not in flames,” Wreck remarked, locking eyes with Cody for a moment, the intensity of his stare making Cody gulp and head to the dishwasher to start running racks of cooking implements and cups through the machine.

“He’s doing just fine,” Teresa said. “The usual first-day struggles, but he handled them better than most.”

Whatever else they happened to say about him was lost in the noise of the sprayer and the clanking of the machine, but it felt good to earn that little bit of praise. He would do better tomorrow, now that the shock of the first day was through, though he did have twenty minutes left in his shift. At least the dishwasher did the bulk of the work. All he had to do was restack everything once it had dried.

“I will see you tomorrow, won’t I?” Teresa asked as he went to punch out.  

“If I wanna keep a roof over my head you will.”

“So if you don’t show, I should assume you’re living in a tent underneath an overpass somewhere.”

“That, or one of my folks dropped the house on my head.”

She laughed at that, shook her head, and moved out of his way so he could go. The clock would take some getting used to, but numbers had always been a strong suit, so he punched them in with ease and followed the other two instructions it gave him before signing out.

“Hey.”

Wreck’s rough, growly voice caught him off guard and he shivered, hating how easily the man affected him.

“What?” Cody snapped, refusing to turn around.

“Relax. Thought maybe you’d want some pizza after the first day.”

“No thanks. I can’t afford it.”

“Did I ask you to pay for it?”

“Can’t afford charity either,” Cody replied, shoving through the door to the outside and setting off the alarm in his haste. “Son of a…”

Hastily punching at the keypad, he got to the alarm shut off and slunk towards town with his hands jammed in his jacket pockets. He glanced up only once, and that was more than enough to see Wreck watching him tuck tail and scurry away. 

A little about what's next: When I wrote Burning Luck, I always had it in the back of my head to tell Cody's story, since his best friend from childhood had moved away and he was left adrift and a bit off balance. I never expected a trio of secondary characters to jump out and demand that they get a story too, but that's exactly what happened. There will be another book, titled Saint's Sinner, like the other two books it will also be a poly relationship set within the Rollin' Jokers motorcycle club. 

Burning Luck

Lucky Strike McAllister isn't very lucky. In fact, he isn't much of anything most days, to hear his MC tell it. Since the death of his father from cancer and the suicide of his pops, he's done nothing but find ways to get into trouble. He's talented with an airbrush gun and an amazing artist when he sets his mind to it, but more often than not, the things Lucky sets his mind to are pretty self-destructive.

When Thorn and his partner Cain, are forced to fish Lucky out of the ocean on a chilly fall night, both men decide he needs a keeper and who better than them to keep Lucky from destroying himself. Too bad Lucky can't see that they're trying to help. Bitter and lashing out, he does everything he can to sabotage the only chance he's ever been giving at truly belonging to someone.

Will Lucky be able to put aside his anger long enough to get to know the two men who have taken such an intense interest in him, or will he run from them, his club and everything he's ever known, and burn the last of his luck in the process?