Order (Tattoos and Ties 2)

“No. Just hear me out. We meet inside the movie. No one will know. It’s dark in there—we sit together once it’s darkened. It’s perfect…”

Keyes was pretty damn sure that was the exact opposite of perfect.

“This whole week’s been fucked up. What’s wrong with you?” he asked, finally growing enough balls to ask his lover, hopefully getting to the root of the problem between them. Alec gave him a confused indulgent smile as he reached over, taking Keyes’s hand in his, bringing their joined hands to the gearshift.

“I’m showing you we’re not just sex. We’re more than that. And we are more than that, Key,” Alec stressed, splitting his attention between Keyes and the road.

“All this”—he couldn’t find the words, so he used his hand, motioning between the two of them—“is that?”

“Of course. You need to know you’re special to me. I wanted you to see we don’t have to have sex. We’re supposed to be happy with each other’s efforts in making this real between us. I’m happy with yours. You look incredible. You’re so handsome.”

Keyes was officially freaked out and stared out the side window, looking at every single car they passed. This whole week had left him second-guessing himself, and here they were in Alec’s fancy sports car for the world to see. Keyes’s heart drummed in his chest.

“I’d guess she used a flat iron on your hair.”

This whole week had been Alec’s attempt to show him they weren’t just sex… How had that never occurred to him?

“She did,” he finally answered after a long pause. “I felt like a fool with all those women watchin’ me.” He watched Alec pull into the parking lot of the store, parking in an unlit section to the side of the store.

“Are we walking in there together?” Alec asked.

Oh man, Keyes didn’t want to be there. He pushed open the door, got out, and carefully shut it behind him. He scanned the entire parking lot then did it again as Alec left the vehicle. Keyes tucked his fingers in the front pockets of his jeans and walked alongside Alec toward the front of the building. There was no question in his mind, he’d fight his brothers to the death to protect Alec. He just knew that wouldn’t be enough to stop them. Why had he come?

=?=

“They have a big steak section and a huge salad bar. They also have lobster. We haven’t had lobster before,” Alec explained, feeling as internally freaked out as Key looked. That badass bike club coming after them was an alarming thought, more so than he had considered when suggesting this grocery store run, but he did his best to hide his sudden fear.

“Whatever you want,” Key said, walking about three feet away from him.

Normally Alec would pause, let Key go first. He didn’t this time. He walked straight through the front doors, and thankfully, as suspected, the grocery store was close to empty. He saw a few employees, who did turn their way, but they were women and only seemed to have eyes for Key. Alec got it. There was something forbidden about the guy. The biker had swagger and sex appeal down to an art form, and Key put out an air of being off limits. And he was off limits. He belonged to Alec.

All those primal instincts kicked in, pushing him to remember his plan of attack. He was showing Key they were more than sex. They were a couple. He grabbed a small basket before starting for the meat counter with a renewed commitment in his heart.

“This way.” Alec pointed toward the far side of the store. “You look angry.”

“I am angry,” Key muttered, disgust in his voice.

Alec burst out in a sudden laugh and reduced the space separating them, bumping Key in the shoulder. “Lighten up. Act normal. How was your day?”

His biker didn’t respond.

“Okay, well that didn’t give me much to work with to start a conversation.”

The deep sigh, made louder to ensure Alec heard his irritation, had him grinning. Alec imagined Key rolled his eyes like a spoiled child before he spoke.

“I bought some things to leave at your place,” Key said so casually it took Alec maybe as long as two seconds to jerk his gaze toward his lover and slow his stride. That was a big step in the right direction of Alec’s goals.

“Did you bring your duffel bag?” Alec asked seriously. Did that mean Key planned to move in? Alec’s heart pounded wildly at the possibility. Was he even ready for such a commitment? Hell yes, he was. Right? Big step, yes, but he wanted everything with Key.

“You makin’ fun of me?” The corners of Key’s mouth inched up, but he never looked over at Alec as they reached the meat counter.

“Why would I make fun of you?” Alec asked in the way he did when his lover threw him a curve ball in the middle of a discussion.