Havoc (Tattoos and Ties 1)

He hated this fastidious side he had. Every one of the brothers would have just climbed onto the bed and gone to sleep. They’d tease him that he had OCD, but he called it a basic need for hygiene. Maybe he should have stayed at the club tonight. He’d washed those sheets himself. Tossing all the blankets in the direction of the laundry basket, he went in search of more sheets. In the end, he only found two blankets haphazardly folded in what was possibly the linen closet. He’d make do with those for now.

He had to tune out the mess of the apartment or he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Keyes undressed, turned off the lights, and put his wallet and phone on the nightstand beside the bed. He tossed his clothes on the end of the mattress and crawled under one of the blankets before reaching for the remote control that had fallen free when he’d pulled the sheets off the bed. Keyes flipped through the channels, but honestly, didn’t pay attention to what was on the TV. His thoughts lingered on the dinner he’d just had. What a serious game-changer to walk in and watch Dev with Holly. Hell, Alec and Holly made more sense together than either of them dating guys like him and Dev.

Could he and Dev have hit some sort of turning point in their lives? Did the club easing back on their business show Keyes there was more to life? He honestly had no answer, but that shit tonight shocked the hell out of him. Holly was as happy and as beautiful as a person could be. Dev’s little girls played in the small backyard while the grownups ate dinner outside just the way it happened in the sitcoms he’d watched as a child. Who knew that shit could really be an option for guys like them?

Instead of mindlessly channel surfing, Keyes reached for his phone. It was late. Well past midnight, but he hadn’t talked to Alec all night. Not really since lunch and that had been a quick exchange.

Alec silenced his phone while he slept, so there wouldn’t be any harm in sending a single text to check in. “You up?”

He stared at the phone, willing Alec to answer. Maybe as long as two minutes passed before he gave up and picked the remote back up. He got through maybe ten channels before the phone vibrated in his lap.

“Everything okay?” Alec asked. Funny how all the bullshit running through his head just lightened up with Alec’s simple two-word text.

“Yeah. Did I wake you?” Keyes typed back.

“Sort of. I was trying to stay up just in case you called. Can I call you?”

“Yup.”

The phone vibrated in his hand seconds after he pushed send. With a swipe of the finger, he answered, “Hello.”

“Have a nice time?” Alec’s tired voice, the one Keyes knew firsthand, sounded groggy. Yeah, he’d woken the guy up.

He waited to answer through Alec’s long, loud yawn. “I did.”

“That’s too short of an answer. I need more to know how to question you.”

Keyes chuckled. That revelation had come out this week. Alec had confessed to him how hard he was to read. He apparently perplexed and challenged Alec. His guy considered himself good at reading people’s actions and words, but Keyes always stumped him. He saw himself as such a basic guy. He wasn’t hiding anything but decided it might be in his favor to keep Alec guessing.

“Dev’s shacked up with some nursing student.” The idea sounded weirder as he said it out loud.

“And that means what?” Alec asked.

Keyes just silently shook his head, staring at the muted television screen. Alec truly didn’t see the world the way the rest of the folks on this planet did. His guy judged people on their merit, not the way they looked or where they came from. Keyes stopping the night they met and helping Alec change those tires had put him in the worthy category for Alec no matter his social rank. Now, though, as he’d gotten to know Alec, he suspected that as caring and giving as Alec was, he’d be every bit the force against those he didn’t find quality in.

“I don’t know,” he finally answered instead of trying to explain things. “Whatever. One good thing… Dev’s apartment’s empty, so I’m takin’ over the lease.”

“I thought you were staying at the club.”

“There’re rooms there, but it’s not permanent. I need a place of my own.” As filthy as it might be… He refused to let himself look around at the mess of Dev’s room. He’d clean it up tomorrow, and it would be fine.

“You can stay here,” Alec offered, causing Keyes’s heart to fall and his mind to suddenly spin with all the possibilities of what that meant.

“I can’t stay there.”