“About what?” he asked, sleepily. He should get up, otherwise he’d risk falling back asleep. Fifteen minutes wasn’t anything more than the amount of time he’d need to go back to sleep then be pissed off he had to wake back up.
“Anything. Why were you late getting home last night?” Alec asked on a yawn. Keyes smiled to himself. Alec was fighting sleep too. He bent to kiss the top of Alec’s head.
“I had a drive-by yesterday afternoon,” he answered, resting his chin against the top of Alec’s head, remembering a time when Alec would have played twenty questions to try to understand what he meant. It seemed they might have evolved until Alec’s head lifted, and the concerned look on his lover’s face startled him.
“Everyone okay?” Alec asked.
Keyes chuckled at the horror reflected in Alec’s face. Okay, maybe Alec still had a little trouble deciphering his comments.
“Not that kind. The prez and Mack stopped by the shop.” Keyes stared up at the ceiling while keeping a steady, comforting glide of his fingertips up and down Alec’s back. Funny, all the anxiety he’d carried all day yesterday had vanished. Even mentioning Fox stopping by the shop hadn’t caused the worry to return. Alec was fucking magic.
Where Keyes didn’t worry, Alec did. A warm hand slid across his chest, and Alec lowered his chin to stare up at Keyes’s face. He could see the questions forming in Alec’s intense gaze while his brow creased together with more concern than moments ago. “And?”
Keyes gave a long pause as he decided how much to say. He never spoke of his father—not at all—and he had said nothing to Alec about his cancer. Admittedly, their lines were blurring. They shared more and more with the other, but old habits die hard, and in the end, Keyes hesitated to say more.
“You can trust me, Key. I won’t ever repeat anything you say. I give you my word,” Alec assured, reading his silence with bullseye accuracy.
“The easiest part of the day was the tire shop picked up in a major way. I guess the local news reported on the federal raid bein’ dropped and the customers came back. I barely had a break for most of the day,” he said, lifting to move Alec off him. Keyes scooted across the mattress to sit on the side of the bed, stretching and letting out a long yawn before rising to his feet. Then he stretched again, wishing more than anything that he could climb back in bed with Alec.
“That’s great. Can you handle the extra workload?” Alec asked. All his guy did was roll from one side of the bed to the other to better face him as he walked toward the bathroom.
“I guess that’s the other good thing I did.” Keyes stopped at the bathroom door, turning back to the bed. “Louis is takin’ on more duties, and I hired one of his buddies. I can’t partner with him because I partner with the club, but he’s officially the manager and gonna close five nights a week. He’ll take all day Sunday. I’ll take all day Saturday so our day off together doesn’t get too fucked up,” he added, then pushed off the door, going for his toothbrush. By the time he finished scrubbing his teeth, Alec was there with a towel, leaning back against the counter.
“Keep talking. I feel like there’s more you’re not saying.”
Keyes rubbed the towel over his face and beard as he spoke. “I don’t know, but I suspect, even with the increase in business, that’ll help me get out of there a little earlier. I can roll by the club more than I have been and still get here by six thirty or seven.” Keyes pushed the edge of the terry cloth under the cold water, wincing as he then ran it over his dick. Not one of his better ideas. He sucked in a sudden breath as his balls and dick protested the cold cleaning.
“Sounds like a productive day. What does that have to do with Fox and Mack stopping by?” Alec asked, leaning his bare ass against the sink. Clearly, Alec’s lines were blurring too. Either he wasn’t picking up or didn’t care about the that’s-all-I-want-to-say vibe Keyes was laying down between them. He pinned Alec with a pointed stare, one that left his mister completely unfazed, before rolling his eyes.
“Bullshit with my old man.” His father was a downer and a deadbeat lowlife asshole. Keyes flat didn’t want anything that hateful man’s name conjured anywhere near this home.
“I’m not fond of your father. He’s not coming back to the tire shop, is he?” Alec asked, trailing behind Keyes as headed for the closet. “Alexa, turn on the bedroom lamps.”
The lights came on while Keyes pulled his underwear and socks from the dresser drawer.