Havoc (Tattoos and Ties 1)

“Thanks for the business.”

Alec pushed his sunglasses up on his head. That unwavering stare landed back on Keyes. Keyes had to admit it was unnerving. He opened his mouth to speak, nothing came out, and Keyes gave a nod and started to turn away.

“Wait.” The command stopped him, and Keyes cocked a brow and turned back, curious.

“This might be…” Alec started, but then stopped and stared at him again for one long moment. “Have coffee with me. I saw a place nearby.”

“I don’t drink coffee,” Keyes grumbled, the intensity between them building. The draw was most definitely there, and as tempted as he was, anything with Alec screamed bad decision. Keyes’s breath grew shallow, his heart steadily drumming in his chest as he continued to stare at this stunning man.

God, he wanted to take him up on that offer and more. If he got caught with the lawyer, there was no telling what the club would do to him, let alone what they would do to Alec. But fuck, he sure wanted to give in to his feelings and see where this ended. Did Alec feel the insane connection? His gut said the guy did, but Key wasn’t ever going to find out or act on it. He couldn’t risk it.

Not to mention he didn’t have a clue how any of this shit worked. Most of the time, he didn’t bother with names, and he sure as hell didn’t go out with rich lawyers. Having coffee meant sitting down at the same table and getting to know another person. Getting to know someone left you vulnerable. So, for him it was best to keep everyone at arm’s length, especially this one.

“Then lunch,” Alec offered.

Oh hell no, an even scarier thought than coffee. Lunch meant longer moments of random conversation and more rope to hang himself with. Was that Alec’s true intentions? What other reason would someone like Alec want anything to do with him?

“Why?” Keyes questioned, wanting Alec to say something, anything to help him understand where Alec was headed in all this.

Alec’s chin lifted, his eyes not leaving Keyes’s. “Honestly, I’m attracted to you.”

Yep, okay, steadier ground now. Alec clearly liked to go slumming.

Fuckin’ hell. Not the first time Keyes had been in that situation. All the good vibes he’d had vanished. The mental lightbulb blinked on. A rush of icy cold water bombarded his dick. He now felt less than, maybe even dirty compared to the shiny, clean, nice-cologne-wearing Alec.

“So, you’re slummin’,” Keyes replied, not mincing any words. His jaw tightened. He’d never cared what anyone thought. Yet, for some reason, he hated what thoughts Alec might have about him.

Some rich guys had a bed-a-bad-boy kink thing going on, and he wasn’t interested in being a means to scratch some highbrowed lawyer’s itch.

His stupid heart ached. If he could rip the damn organ from his chest, he would. His heart had lain dormant for twenty-seven fucking years until this moment. What the hell? He was helpless against the longing building, amplifying in that empty space as the organ betrayed him. It was at that moment he realized he wanted something he’d never even considered before now. I am so fucked. What the hell was Alec doing to him?

“It’s not like that.”

“Yeah, it is,” Keyes said, forcing himself to turn away when all he wanted in the world was to take Alec up on his lunch offer and take him in the back of his shop and fuck him senseless. Instead, he walked away alone.

Always alone.

=?=

Alec moved on autopilot to the car, wondering what the hell had just happened. His gut told him it wasn’t an I’m straight rebuff. Something else had happened. If they hadn’t had a moment out on the street last night, they sure as hell had during the name exchange. So what the hell happened and when? Dammit. Key’s laugh was now etched in Alec’s heart, his smile something made for wet dreams.

He sat in the car, not wanting to leave. Steeling his spine, Alec forced himself to start the engine and pull away. He had to reevaluate this. Maybe he should take this as a sign. Keyes would complicate his life. What if anyone found out? Alec shook his head. Something told him Keyes was worth that risk. Even if it was just for a single night.

There had been attraction. He’d felt it. He hadn’t missed the desire in Keyes’s eyes.

Alec thought back over the conversation. Keyes had said slumming. Alec’s heart sped up when he realized the conversation hadn’t ended with a fist to his face, which would leave Alec certain Keyes was straight. Keyes hadn’t denied he was gay. Alec grinned. That meant there was still a chance. Damn…he felt like he’d just won a case.

Keyes opened the throttle on his Honda CRB1000RR, letting the scenery rush by as he sped down the road to his uncle’s old farmhouse. It wasn’t fair to call this suburb of Dallas straight-up country, although those were Keyes’s thoughts whenever traveling this far south. His maternal grandparents had bought this secluded patch of land in the early seventies before even the highway had been built. Since then, the city of Cedar Hill had grown. Now it was nearly bursting at the seams. Maybe as much as twenty years ago, his uncle had bought the family acreage bordering a massive church camp and kept this valuable chunk of land in its original state—very private, pretty remote, and far removed from the hustle and bustle less than five miles away.