Havoc (Tattoos and Ties 1)

Alec gave in to the morbid direction of his thoughts, fighting a shiver as he slid a finger across his phone. Mentally, he ticked off all the items with him right now that could be stolen. His Ferrari. His money clip. His black American Express. The Rolex on his wrist. His gaudy diamond-encrusted cufflinks. Honestly, he wouldn’t mind losing those. He swiped his phone screen and brought it to his ear.

=?=

The headlights on his company’s service truck illuminated the badass ride that was still sitting exactly where Keyes had left it less than twenty-three minutes ago. As he got closer, he spotted the destroyed tire lying just to the side of the car and wondered if the SUV he had passed might have been responsible for removing the wheel, or had maybe even taken the two guys with it as they sorted out how best to proceed.

He left the engine running as he got out of the truck. He surveyed the area and didn’t see anyone, surprised they’d opted to leave such a valuable car behind. He guessed that was all right. He’d still make the repairs then wait around for the tow truck. Make sure everything happened as it should.

Keyes lowered himself then bent at the knee, looking at the removed tire. Interesting. Neither of those guys had looked the type to get their hands dirty let alone get this far in the tire changing process. A rustling noise had Keyes pushing to his feet, looking over the top of the car as Alec appeared from a patch of brush. He was adjusting his slacks and looked startled, surprised to see him standing there.

“Damn, I’m bad at this,” Alec muttered. Keyes had no idea what that meant. Instead of asking, he watched as Alec came to a stop still several feet away, holding a tire iron. “You alone?”

Keyes furrowed his brow. First, he looked over one shoulder, then over the other, trying to see why Alec had asked such an absurd question.

“Blaine left a few minutes ago. You’d’ve thought I’d have heard your truck in all this quiet.”

Okay, the guy was handsome as sin, nothing had changed in the twenty minutes he’d been gone, but he was also naive. Did he really think he’d be able to fend off a would-be attacker with that thing? Hell, Keyes could have disarmed him in about ten seconds flat, and that would include the steps needed to get within arm’s reach. As if Alec knew his thoughts, he grinned, lifting his weapon.

“Blaine convinced me this had been a setup and I was the mark…” The stunning smile didn’t leave Alec’s face but shifted into something close to embarrassment, like he’d said too much. Keyes let out an almost silent, single laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Alec eased him. Keyes couldn’t remember the last time he’d smiled, let alone laughed at anything.

“You take this off?”

“I did. Quite possibly my first tire removal,” Alec answered, coming to stand beside him. He was so aware of Alec at that moment he couldn’t think of anything other than how tempting he smelled. Keyes nodded and gave in to his urges, greedily inhaling the spicy lure of Alec’s exotic cologne.

Oh hell no. He had to stop this. This guy was only being nice to him because he was in a bad situation.

Right. Keyes pivoted on his heels and went for his truck. No way should he linger in that scent. Bad things would come from something that smelled that good. Instead, Keyes flipped on the outside lightbar, illuminating Alec and his car before he started for the Ferrari’s hatch.

“The spare over here?”

“Yes. On the ground.” Alec followed, pointing to the inflated spare that lay just to the side of the trunk. An air compressor sat close to the wheel.

Keyes hoisted the tire up, trying to ignore Alec altogether. Nothing had changed, especially not with the lights from the old work truck now illuminating his handsome face. Alec was still just as hot and proved to be handier than Keyes had initially given him credit for. Something about the carefully rolled shirtsleeves and neck tie tossed over his shoulder was more intriguing than he’d have ever thought possible.

“What can I do to help?”

“Nothing,” Keyes said, aligning the tire on the bolts. His whole game plan turned out to be ignoring Alec, and that was incredibly difficult to do with the guy hovering over his shoulder. His intoxicating scent drove Keyes closer to insanity with every push of the night breeze. He’d been changing tires since he was seven years old, and suddenly, he was having a hard time focusing on his task. It took him longer than normal to finish the tire replacement. Alec stayed close, following him to the truck bed where Keyes pulled out his better jack and the new spare. Without being asked, Alec reached for the toolbox and grabbed his air compressor, so he didn’t have to use the wannabe compressor that Alec had, and followed him back to the car.