Order (Tattoos and Ties 2)

“What day are you off this weekend?” Alec asked, leaning against the kitchen sink, twisting the top off his bottle of beer.

“Probably Sunday,” he answered, tracking everything about Alec, trying to understand what had happened between them.

“A friend of mine from work’s having a get-together at her place tomorrow evening. I thought I’d go. She’s announcing her engagement,” Alec explained, pushing off the counter and rounding the bar to take the barstool next to his.

“Go,” Keyes encouraged, turning to face Alec as he took the seat. “I can stay on my side of town tomorrow night.”

Alec took a drink of the beer, before reaching for Keyes’s hand. He gave a squeeze, and that gentle smile that Keyes loved so much tugged at the corner of Alec’s lips.

“I’ll swing by for a few minutes then come home. I’d rather spend time with you.”

Keyes scanned Alec’s face. The lawyer seemed completely unaffected by his presence, which was in direct contrast to the raging hard-on pulsating behind the zipper of Keyes’s suddenly too tight jeans. Was Alec intent on driving him mad?

“Are we still good?” Keyes asked, his voice softer than normal, uncertainty had his hand twisting in Alec’s, threading their fingers together.

“Absolutely,” Alec said, looking as if the question were ridiculous. “I’ve loved you being here so much.”

“All right. And you’ll tell me when it’s not good for you anymore?” He asked the words that hurt his heart to say.

“I’ll always be honest with you.”

Keyes nodded, watching Alec take a swig from his bottle.

“Your hair’s an incredible color now.”

“The sun bleaches it and the beard.” It was this right here—Alec mentioned his hair without reaching out and touching it. Something had changed. They were weird now. Right when Keyes had decided to ask what the hell was going on, the doorbell rang. Alec turned away, sliding off the stool, and grabbed his money clip off the counter. He came back a few minutes later with a box of pizza. That was new too. Alec always texted him to ask what he wanted for dinner. They had grown into a habit of cooking together. It was rare to even order out anymore.

“I ordered while I was running. I hope it’s okay. I ordered you a meat lover’s supreme, right?” Alec asked, absently tossing the pizza box on the counter while going to the cabinet for the plates and napkins.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, tracking every one of Alec’s moves. He grabbed two water bottles from the refrigerator, placing those on top of the plates and napkins then started for the back door. “Grab the pizza and come on. You like the patio better.” Alec left him there, walking outside, managing the door while Keyes carried the pizza and both their beer bottles.

“Alexa, play If Our Love Is Wrong by Calum Scott,” Alec called out, reaching to shut the door behind him. Keyes stopped in the middle of the doorframe, crowding Alec.

“Are you sure we’re okay?” He tried again, staring intently at Alec, needing to find the answers to all the questioning nagging at his heart.

“I haven’t been happier. Just tired. My legs feel like noodles. I’ve been bad on my workout.” Alec lifted to kiss him. Keyes wrapped his arm around Alec, wanting to believe Alec and needing the moment to help ease his worried heart. Alec grinned up at him, gave his normal wink, but left his hold almost immediately. Keyes watched Alec go straight to the patio table, setting the plates in each of their spots. He didn’t scoot their chairs closer together like he normally did.

Something was off between them.

Saturday Night

Alec couldn’t lift another weight or run another mile. His body fucking hurt. Dammit if the curse words weren’t streaming in vivid clarity through his mind, damning his traitorous dick. He wanted Key so badly. Sure, he’d gone weeks without sex before, usually a hand job had done the trick. Yet, now, Alec couldn’t seem to jack himself enough to calm his greedy dick, and Keyes Dixon wasn’t helping matters at all.

Of course, he’d been overly attracted to Key’s whole look the moment he laid eyes on him—Alec had never pretended otherwise—but something had changed, and now only this specific bad boy did it for him. The sexy head of hair and beard that had turned every shade of color between honey and blond… Oh man, his biker was one hot guy. Even Key’s long eyelashes were multi-colored wisps of sexy.

They rarely spoke about Key’s work except to say business had gotten better and he’d struck a deal with his right-hand man to close the shop in the evenings, letting him get on the road to Alec’s place a little earlier. By the look of his biker’s hard body, with all those toned and defined stomach muscles, Key did a lot of the physical labor himself. And dammit, Key had gotten used to going shirtless around Alec’s house. The mental image of Key’s hard chest caused Alec to trip over his feet in the cool-down portion of his treadmill run. Luckily, he caught himself the exact same moment his home security system alerted him of the backdoor opening. Shit, Key was already home. Alec was past the point of exhaustion, yet his dick tented in his shorts, jutting straight out like a fucking heat-seeking missile.