Keyes jerked his hand back at the sudden burst of pain and took a closer look at his knuckles.
“Goddammit.” Removing the dried and oozing blood hadn’t improved the look of his hand. And if his hand was this torn up, he must have done some pretty serious damage to Cummings.
“Let me get the first-aid kit.”
For Alec, Keyes suffered through the pain of washing his hands with antiseptic then wrapped the towel around his knuckles as Alec dumped the contents of a first-aid kit on the counter. Keyes gathered Nash up with his left hand, taking a barstool as Alec sifted through the small packages.
=?=
“Put your hand up here,” Alec instructed, his head reeling over the possibility of what this might mean for Key. He quickly scanned the directions on a can of antibacterial spray, not really seeing the instructions, his whole concentration demanding his internal panic stay at bay. It was damn hard to do. The word of Donald Cummings’s brutal beat down had gotten to Alec too fast. If the authorities didn’t already know about Key’s part in the incident, then they would as soon as Donald regained consciousness.
His heart started racing again, thinking over what would happen to Key. A premeditated fight with a state’s newest informant, granted full immunity for his willing cooperation. No right-minded judge would ever see the coincidence in a patched Havoc club member going after Cummings for any other reason than Cummings planned to rat the club out.
“Stop fussin’. I’ll be all right.” Key’s voice jarred Alec from his downward spiraling thoughts. He looked up to watch Key set Nash on the counter, boxed in with his arms, before he unwound the towel from his hand. The knuckles were still bleeding, and he quickly placed the towel over the cuts, adding pressure, trying to stop the flow as he rewrapped his hand.
“What were you thinking? He’s dangerous, Key,” Alec scolded, dropping his trembling hands to the counter, his shoulders slumped in uncertainty as he stared at his man.
“So the fuck am I, Alec.” Key countered with just enough force in his voice to drive the point home. They stared at one another until Key rolled his eyes and reached for Nash, putting him back on the floor. “I came home early after I got your text. Me and Nash were watchin’ TV and I saw you, and I saw him, and he used to hang out at the clubhouse. I recognized him. He’s a prospect, and I’m not entirely fuckin’ sure how that happened without my vote.”
Alec waited for several long seconds for more of an explanation, trying to understand what Key knew exactly. He had been careful to never give too many details away. Had Key snooped through his files, found the clues that Cummings could be granted immunity? Alec rejected the notion as soon as the idea crossed his mind. Key wasn’t the kind of man to rifle through Alec’s private belongings.
When Key didn’t say anything more, he took a deep centering breath, trying for calm as he questioned him. “Why did you go after him?”
“Dammit, Alec.” Key’s fist came down on the counter so hard the packages of the first-aid kit bounced. “All I was gonna do was tell him to stay the fuck away from his kid. I was gonna put some fear in him, then the fucker used my old man’s words. All I heard was my father’s constant badgerin’, and I lost my shit. He pulled a goddamn bat then a motherfuckin’ pistol, and I ain’t playin’ with that. My fuckin’ father used a bat to enforce his vile words. I lost it.”
Alec’s heart pounded so loudly, he was certain he hadn’t heard Key’s words correctly. “Cummings pulled a gun on you?” All the worry Alec had reined in settled on the glaring fact that Key could have been killed tonight, forever taken away from him. His heart crashed to his feet. His knees threatened to fail him.
Key just gave a huff and rolled his eyes at something he clearly saw as absurd. “Yeah, stupid fuck tried to pull it, but I used his bat on him.”
“Did the gun discharge?” Alec asked, carefully holding himself in check. He moved around the counter to stand beside Key, fighting his overwhelming need to reach out and touch his man.
“Stop lookin’ so worried. Yeah, the gun went off, but I was never in danger. I could wipe the goddamn floor with that motherfucker.” Key stated that with all certainty as he got to his feet, rounding past Alec. He watched Key carefully pick up Nash and nuzzle him as he went toward the living room. Alec stood there dumbfounded as Key looked back over his shoulder. “I was thinkin’ about how much bigger he’s gotten. He’s growing up so fast.”
“Key, are you telling me a gun fired at you this evening?” Alec asked, feeling the bile of panic clogging his throat. This was something Alec wasn’t prepared for, reality staring him in the face.