Havoc (Tattoos and Ties 1)

The people who knew him best were doing a double take any time they crossed his path. Usually Keyes tried to blend into the background. He’d learned that trick years ago. It was a remarkable feat for someone six-four and two hundred ten pounds, but whenever possible, he always melted away. Not today. Keyes nearly groaned out loud. And the day had started so damn good.

“Yep,” Keyes finally answered. He made his facial features as neutral as possible and tilted his head to snag the bartender’s notice. It wasn’t a few seconds before Ace placed another beer in front of him. Everyone, even the club whores, continued to stare at him. Damn, he fucking hated being on display.

Luckily, the door burst open, and Dev walked in, drawing all the attention. Keyes breathed a sigh of relief. He looked around and took the opportunity to roll off the stool and walk toward the back of the bar. He grabbed a galvanized bucket, pushed it through the ice maker, and filled it full of longneck beer bottles before heading to the back of the compound for the vacant room he’d claimed as his own. No one paid attention to him leaving as Dev started his animated tale, sure to make heroes of them both.

Keyes kicked the door to his temporary bedroom shut and finished off the open bottle before tossing it across the small room to the trash bucket on the other side.

He stood there, leaning against the door, staring at the small space. All right, he’d made some necessary changes today. Maybe things would get better. Keyes’s eyelids slid closed, and he took a steadying breath. What was he going to do to shake this bad mood that had set in? Visions of Alec filled the dark screen behind his eyes. He was beautiful. He envisioned Alec in white, that charming smile in place. Keyes’s lids popped back open, his shoulders slumped, and he went for the only chair in the room. Defeat swamped him.

Whoever ran the universe had done their job stunningly well today. No fear in hoping for more. Keyes’s place in the world was cemented. He got it loud and clear. From this point forward, he had to stay with his own kind. For some reason, the blows were harder to absorb after spending last night pretending he was just a regular, normal guy. Casual sex needed to stay casual. No sleeping in the same bed. No dinners together, eating from the same utensils on soft, comfortable sofas. No intimate conversations that laid the groundwork for getting to know one another. No soft, meaningful kisses goodbye.

No sex that was so hot he couldn’t wait to get the twenty feet to the bedroom.

No more men who could match him move for move, begged for more, and gave him mind-blowing orgasms. Being inside Alec… It was hard to describe. The feeling so intimate yet foreign he didn’t understand it except that he felt whole for the first time in his life. How the fuck was that even possible?

With a shake of his head, Keyes expelled the breath he’d been holding and put the bucket on the floor by his feet before grabbing a bottle. He twisted off the cap and downed the contents. He was holding on by a thread. He couldn’t do that again. Whatever the fuck Alec had done to him, all this fucking emotion he evoked, Keyes wanted no part of—he’d never thought less of himself in his whole shitty life. The mental image he kept conjuring said it all. Alec was light, and Keyes just…wasn’t.

Besides, based on the rowdy war cries coming from the front of the clubhouse, he couldn’t risk those guys ever finding out about Alec. A harsh laugh erupted from his chest. Those guys would beat Keyes’s ass and strip him of his colors if he managed to live through all their vengeance. The humor fled as he thought about how they would target Alec. An instantaneous protective rage filled his soul. He’d kill any one of those motherfuckers who touched Alec. The anger was so bitter it was hard to control, demanding an outlet.

Keyes was up off the chair, prowling the small room, trying to calm his ass down. He drained the beer, letting the cool liquid soothe his angry heart. It didn’t work. The empty bottle went flying and crashed against the cinderblock wall behind the trash can.

The knock on the door had him turning toward the sound. The knob twisted, and Fox shoved his head through the opening. “Dressed? Cover anything that I can’t scrub from my brain later.”

Keyes drew in calming breaths.

“What happened? I heard glass break.”

Keyes said nothing. His heart stung at the unexpected revelation that he’d never see Alec again. His anger eased and pain took over. His heart vehemently rejected that notion, but his head—no, not just that—his whole entire emotional state required Keyes to distance himself from Alec, keep him from bringing anymore false hope to his already battered soul.