Havoc (Tattoos and Ties 1)

“No more pick-up-the-friend-for-me dates. I’m not doing that for you ever again. And before you regale me with all the reasons I should, let me remind you of New Year’s Eve. I had to buy a new car to rid myself of the smell of your vomit. I was just being gracious while agreeing that I owed you anything.” Alec gave Blaine a very pointed look before shifting his gaze back to the mirror and speaking directly to his latest toy, his Amazon Echo. “Alexa, turn off my bathroom lights.”

“I need you to do this for me. I’m into Steven. He’s worried about his friend and doesn’t want to leave him alone. You’re perfect to spend time with,” Blaine said as if Alec hadn’t just completely shot him down.

“You need to see the writing on the wall. Steven’s into his friend and you need to move on. I keep telling you that. Now, you need to listen to me,” Alec said, taking his wallet and his cell phone off the dresser then grabbing his suit jacket before again speaking to the Echo. “Alexa, I’m leaving.”

He listened for her agreement before using his finger to motion Blaine through the house toward the garage. His friend took several steps backward, giving his best beseeching gaze as the alarm began its forty-five second countdown to arming.

“Honestly, I haven’t told you, but I think Steven could be the one.”

Alec barked out a laugh while reaching for his key fob by the back door, listening for the roar of his engine when he pushed the button. “We’re far too young for you to always be so lovesick. Every guy you meet’s the one.”

“I keep trying to explain to you, it’s impossible to be lovesick if I’ve never found love,” Blaine said, going through the kitchen door straight to the garage.

Maybe Blaine had a point. His friend qualified more as lust sick than anything else. Instead of again going down that dead-end conversational road, Alec focused on the coolness of his new smart home device. Today, he’d figured out how to connect the garage door with the home alarm system, activating both with a simple “I’m leaving” command to his Echo. Just to add a cherry on the top of his big technological achievement, Alec still had twenty or so seconds before the alarm set. Good. Forty-five seconds had been enough time to get out the door. Probably best to keep it a secret how he’d done several practice runs, repeating his normal routine over and over this morning to get the timing just right.

“Yet somehow you always manage to be,” Alec said distractedly, adding salt to Blaine’s wound. Blaine lifted his middle finger high above the roof of the car as he dropped inside, then gave a disgusted dramatic sigh as he slammed the door, causing Alec to chuckle while climbing behind the wheel.

His phone chirped as he drove down the driveway, alerting him that the home security system had activated and the garage door had closed. Automatically, his front gate opened on his approach, never forcing him to slow as he took the curve out of his driveway onto his neighborhood street.

“I believe it’s the romance of finding love that seems so appealing to me,” Blaine finally explained, continuing this absurd line of discussion.

“Enjoy playing the field. Don’t force it. When it happens, it’ll happen,” Alec said, shifting gears, accelerating as he twisted through the tree-lined roads, heading for the highway.

“I’ll be thirty soon,” Blaine advised solemnly, cutting his pitiful gaze toward Alec. His always vibrant friend looked so forlorn that Alec almost felt guilty when he busted out with a laugh.

“That’s the point. Why tie yourself down? Give yourself some options.”

“What’re you saying?” The sass returned to Blaine’s voice. The friend he knew and loved shifted more fully toward Alec, adding the right amount of incredulousness to Blaine’s normally flamboyant style and making a show of looking at Alec as if he’d lost his mind. “You’re about to tie yourself down. When did you decide to have federal judge aspirations?” Blaine mocked.

Alec had known Blaine for the majority of his life. They’d been in the same all-male boarding school since their elementary days and among the brave few in their school to acknowledge the truth of their sexual orientation. For some reason, even though they had very little in common, they’d paired up while still in grade school, creating a lifelong friendship that made them as close as brothers.

“You’re being a dick now.”

“You’re becoming a douche kiss-ass who bought a house in McKinney fucking Texas. Why would you ever do that?” Blaine’s hands flew in the air in disgust as he righted himself to face forward in the seat. “What happened to my take-life-by-the-balls best friend?”

Dammit. Alec had opened the door, giving Blaine his chance to take a stab. Except his buddy was one hundred percent right, and if something didn’t change, Alec would end up appointed to a federal judge position, no doubt in some Podunk part of the United States, judging mediocre law, all to please his too politically motivated family.