Order (Tattoos and Ties Duet #2)(2)

And if that time came, how could he protect Key?

He’d had this internal conversation with himself dozens of times. He’d even considered hiring protection, but Key’s so-called brothers would spot a security detail in a minute, creating more questions than either of them wanted to answer. Plus, Alec had seen the DA’s surveillance photos of the biker club members. At six-four, Key towered over the next tallest member of the club by several inches. His sheer size dwarfed all his brothers. To say Key was a big guy with brute strength on his side put it mildly. Key would believe he could take care of himself. In most cases, there was little doubt he could, but not against the ten or twelve members of that club intent on causing him harm.

Stop, Alec. Have faith. It’s been your motto since you two met.

That was damn hard to do. The magic of the night faded under the heavy weight of uncertainty. Alec closed his eyes and tucked in around Key. Fate wouldn’t have given him this perfect man to just take him away. Alec had to believe that. There was no other choice.

=?=

The cell phone rattling on the nightstand caused Keyes Dixon to open his eyes and begrudgingly watch the device rumble against the polished wood. It stopped moving only to immediately begin again. Dammit, whoever was on the other end seemed determined to get his attention, but he was just that committed to ignoring them. The phone stopped buzzing, and he waited a second or two. Nothing more came through, and Keyes closed his eyes, mentally settling back against Alec’s comforting warmth. It wouldn’t take much to fall back asleep.

Keyes sighed as the fucking phone started again.

Goddammit, Keyes mentally yelled. He stretched an arm across the mattress only because the phone might wake Alec who had been up late, doing that weird middle of the night waking thing again. Not the first time Keyes had caught Alec awake at all hours of the night, but last night, Alec was right in his face, staring at him with all that doe-eyed, newly stated devotion in his eyes. Keyes’s heart twisted at the sweet sentiment on Alec’s handsome face, and maybe for the first time in his life, the ache in his chest was a good thing. At least it seemed good right now.

As Keyes moved, Alec followed. He grabbed the phone. Alec instinctively rolled with him until Keyes settled with Alec’s body curling back around his. They slept about the same way they were when awake, staying close to one another. It seemed an unconscious thing. Keyes hadn’t let himself question it before. Now, it seemed like a big warning sign, something he should have paid closer attention too if he had truly meant to keep himself at a distance.

He’d been such a dumbass not to protect his heart better than he had. Keyes knew the deal when he’d started showing up regularly at the attorney’s house. This was only supposed to be sex, nothing more, but the sexy, smart, up for anything Alec Pierce became sexier and smarter with each passing day. How had he managed that? Alec drew him in like a fly to some of the sweetest honey he’d ever known.

He guessed all that fell solidly into the best laid plans category.

What a joke.

The reality had Keyes serving up his fragile heart on one of Alec’s fancy silver platters, readily handing it over without a backward glance.

Keyes scrubbed a hand over his face, fighting a yawn, trying to adjust his eyes to the sudden bright light of the phone screen in his hand. The damn thing started vibrating again. With a press of the button, Keyes silenced the phone and stared at the screen. Six o’clock in the morning.

“Don’t leave yet. Another thirty minutes,” Alec murmured, moving them both to where he entangled himself around Keyes’s body, keeping him right there. It didn’t take long for Alec’s deep even breaths to again coat and caress Keyes’s skin, letting him know how tired his mister must be from staying awake so late last night.

Keyes slid his thumb over his screensaver. Seventeen missed text messages, but no missed calls. He pushed the messages icon, opening the text messages to see his father’s cell phone number. Anxiety double timed it throughout his body, waking his ass right up. Nothing good could come from looking at anything his shitty old man had sent. His father was a fuck-with-his-head kind of guy, and Keyes was already dealing with a growing mountain of emotional bullshit with Alec’s I-love-you confession last night.

Don’t do it. Do not open the messages.

Keyes pulled his finger away from the screen and lifted his gaze to the bedroom ceiling. His life was already so fucked with trying to balance the secrecy of Alec along with his responsibilities to the bike club and the day-to-day operations of the tire shop. He was seriously living on the edge all the damn time. He didn’t need any more baggage weighing his stressed-out ass down. And since his brothers would never understand his relationship with an assistant district attorney, one of Keyes’s biggest worries involved Alec’s safety.

But the texts could be a warning. No, his old man would never warn him of a pending strike, but that bad temper would get the best of him and he wouldn’t be able to hold back. He’d most definitely ridicule Keyes, and that would give him all the heads up he needed to keep Alec safe.

Keyes nodded to himself, lifted a finger, and swiped to open the message.

“god 4 nothing cocksuker cant keep me from a buiznes I fuckin started.”

Keyes let out a breath. Same old shit. He refused to read any more, not sure why it had taken his father this long to complain about being kept away from the tire shop. Instead, he went through the steps of blocking his old man from further text messages and deleting all the messages he’d ever sent. He should have done that a long time ago.