Order (Tattoos and Ties Duet #2)(66)

“Oh yeah, I believe they have three more. They’re just six weeks right now. Kellus’s mom is having a hard time letting them go. She wants to ensure they’re going to good homes,” Arik explained.

“I’m interested in one,” Alec said, throwing caution to the wind. The pup seemed to move into his touch, causing Alec to smile.

“Here hold him. Just be careful, he’s particularly bad about wetting.”

Alec took the puppy whose little body quivered until he tucked him against his chest. He was adorable, and as sweet as he could be. Alec wondered if Key had ever had a dog of his own before. Alec never had. His grandfather had some, said one of them was Alec’s, but he only saw him a few times a year during school breaks.

“So how about an early dinner to celebrate?” Arik asked and clapped his hands together, startling the puppy who reacted with an adjustment in his arms and a solid round of yapping. Alec wasn’t sure what made Reed laugh, the dog, Arik’s eagerness, or Alec’s sudden need for a puppy.

“You gotta be careful of Layne, here,” Reed said to Alec and hooked a thumb in Arik’s direction. “He eats all the time. You’ll gain twenty pounds the first month working here if you eat every time he wants to eat.”

“I’m a food connoisseur,” Arik confirmed with all authority, but his focus remained on the dog until Alec relinquished Little Bit back to Arik who carefully placed him on the floor and followed behind him.

“He’s a garbage disposal is more like it.”

Arik looked down at his watch and lifted his gaze while lowering his voice as if he were afraid to be overheard.

“No, really, Kellus is due here any minute to get Little Bit, and he’s back on one of his strict plant-based diets. Let’s go to dinner. It’s close to five. We can be done by seven. Say yes.” As if on cue, the main door to Arik’s suite opened, and the newly quieted pup started yapping again, bouncing forward toward the sounds of people talking in the front room. “That’s him. My treat. The Iron Maya’s new menu is excellent,” Arik whispered, staring at both of them, nodding to encourage their agreement.

Reed laughed uproariously, looking over at Alec and stating loudly, “You good for dinner?”

“Sure. I just need to make a phone call.”

“Do that,” Arik said excitedly and maybe with a bit of relief in his tone. “Take whichever of these offices for privacy then come meet Kellus.” Arik was already scooping the puppy up while pivoting on his heels to head toward the main room.

“You’re his excuse, so make it quick,” Reed whispered, inclining his head before following Arik out of the office. Alec gave a nod while pulling out his cell phone. He looked around the office suite as Reed left. His hopes were so high at the opportunities being presented to him—maybe too high. But, man, this was coming together so fucking well… He grinned at how easily that word filled the inside his head. He’d need to be careful of all the swearing he had started. With the thought of Key, he quickly pulled up his contacts to call his mister.





Keyes yanked up the front zipper of his Carhartt and tucked his hands inside the coat’s pockets, staring out at the ominous clouds gathering above. A cold front, the first of the season, was expected—scratch that, a cold front had arrived, and it looked like rain. So much in fact that his parking lot had cleared out, not even a straggler left behind.

“Get everything inside, boss?” Louis asked.

“Yeah,” he answered and started for the row of lift jacks along the outside wall of the building. Louis immediately barked out orders to the guys, getting everyone moving as thunder rumbled in the distance. He barely heard the phone ring, and by the time he pulled his cell out of the back pocket of his jeans, it was on its fourth ring.

“Hello,” he barked over the rumble of the weather and started to grab the handle of one of the lifts when another of his staff came from behind him and took it from his hand.

“Hey, you,” Alec said happily which was an incredibly good sign for as low as his mister had been this morning.

“How’d it go?” he asked, stepping under the awning as the first fat rain drop hit his face. He surveyed the parking lot, making sure all his equipment was inside before giving the thumbs-up to lower the overhead door as he stepped fully inside the building through a side door.

“Really good. I informally accepted the job.”

That slowed his long stride to a stop.

“You didn’t expect an offer today, right?” he asked, surprised.

“No. It’s been a great meeting. I love this area. I think we could live out here.”

Keyes remained silent. If he hadn’t already known, he had learned since meeting Alec that he didn’t adapt super well to change. As all of Alec’s ideas and hopes firmed into reality, Keyes found himself unsteady. The silence he usually used whenever Alec talked about his plans proved ineffective at conveying his anxiety over such sweeping changes when they needed to keep their relationship hidden.

Keyes didn’t know much about Westlake other than Texas Motor Speedway was somewhere around there. He and Dev had gone to NASCAR events a couple of times, and it was fucking far, but he suspected distance wise that Westlake and McKinney were about the same amount of miles from his shop. Traffic sucked either way he went.