=?=
Instead of sitting outside, letting sweat create pit stains in his new shirt, Keyes sat on one of the barstools, staring at the entrance to the hall leading to Alec’s bedroom. His elbows rested on his knees as his gaze stayed fixed on the reflection of the walls, waiting for Alec’s shadow to appear. There was hesitation and insecurity in him. This time might even be worse than the last. Alec had been weird about his clothes. Of course, he’d been weird. He liked the grungy biker, not the cleaned-up biker, and that had Keyes clasping his hands together, looking down at his feet, feeling like a dumbass.
They weren’t right. There was a butt-load of tension between them. Every morning Alec asked him to come back in the evening, and every night, he did, but it wasn’t right. That fluid way they were together seemed strained, and he didn’t know how to fix it. Alec wasn’t having sex with him, but he wasn’t pushing him away either.
From his position, Keyes could see enough to take in several stacks of legal looking documents scattered across the living room floor. Maybe ten different piles of various sizes. The television was on, but muted. His gaze moved back to the hall when he heard the bedroom door open. He waited, letting his hair fall forward, an old defense mechanism he’d developed as a child, and he watched Alec round the corner. He was dressed casually, but put together, gorgeous as always. He’d matched Keyes’s style, except Alec wore his clothes far better. He fixed his blond hair, that longer on top bit flipped back perfectly, and he wore jewelry too. He looked like a million bucks, which might be close to the cost of the jewelry, and Alec smiled when he spotted him.
“I pale in comparison, but I tried.” The perfect ice-breaker. Keyes laughed, leaning back in the seat as Alec came to stand in front of him.
“If that means you’re hot, then you’re right,” he added.
“So the grocery store—”
That made his smile vanish as he quickly cut Alec off. “Is not a good idea.” Keyes shook his head as Alec nodded.
“Sure, it is. I promise the members of your club aren’t hanging out in the grocery store in McKinney, Texas.”
“I’m here,” Keyes stated the obvious as Alec went for his key fob.
“And the way my HOA freaks out with every rumble of the pipes, I’m certain they’ve never seen the members here before,” Alec said, going for the door separating them from the garage. Keyes heard the outer garage door lifting.
“What’s that mean?” he asked, not moving a single muscle to follow.
“I’ll explain in the car.” Alec’s head cocked toward the garage in a clear get your ass up and come on.
“Alec…” He still didn’t budge. He might agree that no one would see them in the grocery store, but this broke a major rule. First this, then what?
“We won’t touch. We’ll walk in, go to the meat counter. I’d like a salad of some sort…” Alec patted his belly, grinning at him. “I’ve been trying hard to tone this back up.”
“You’re toned,” he said and finally rose to his feet. When had he lost his balls? Alec had him so whipped.
“You’re biased. We’ll pay and leave and come back here. No one the wiser.” Alec walked into the garage, saying, “Alexa, we’re leaving.” When Keyes still didn’t follow, Alec came back through the door. “We have twenty seconds. Whatever that look on your face means, you’ll have to tell me in the car.”
Keyes gave up and followed his pushy lawyer-man. Alec’s whole setup was planned to the second, and the car was already out of the garage, idling, waiting for Keyes. He barely got outside before the garage door lowered and the alarm stated clearly it was initiating.
He went to the driver’s side window, motioning for Alec to roll the window down. “Alec, if they see us together, they’ll find out who you are and jump to conclusions. They won’t ask questions, and your body won’t be found.”
“That’s very dramatic. We’ll talk in the car.” Alec’s window rolled up in his face.
Man, he didn’t want to do this. This was risking so much. He slowly went around the hood and slid into the passenger side. It smelled like rich leather, things he couldn’t afford, secrets he couldn’t reveal, and hopes he should walk away from.
“Babe, you need to listen to what I’m sayin’. They’d fuck me up, but they’d kill you. They hate your boss.”
“We’re not going to be seen. You leave the car after me. Whatever. I’m confident we’re a world apart from your biker brothers,” Alec said, pushing the remote as he pulled out into the street. “I was also thinking we could go to the movies together.”
“Have you lost your fuckin’ mind?” Keyes asked as he swung his head Alec’s direction.