Chapter One

Dev

September

With his signature wicked smirk in place, Dev “Devilman” Fox sat on top of the conference room table with his weathered boots planted firmly on a plastic chair. He leaned forward with his elbows propped on his knees. His eagle-eyed stare fixed on the towering drop-down screen taking up most of the back wall of the meeting space. A screen so big, it was hard to think of anything else and it definitely threw off the balance of the room.

At least that was his opinion that no one asked for.

So he kept his mouth shut.

Holding his tongue while keeping all the wild craziness leashed up inside his head was a new development in his life. Cash, the guy who owned his heart, called it maturity. Dev suspected it had more to do with the properly prescribed—from a real medical doctor, ADHD medication he popped on the daily. Like as in every morning. Cash lovingly placed a pill on the counter before leaving for work with a sweet note of encouragement to have a good day.

Damn, he loved that man.

Another bonus, Cash had medical insurance that he shared with Dev. It really made a big difference in the medical care he received.

Dammit, Dev. Focus.

He may have exaggerated the claim of being eagle-eyed. As he gripped the presentation remote tighter than any game show contestant he’d ever seen, anxiety and pressure pumped through his veins. He had one job. To click the button to turn the pages of the PowerPoint presentation Keyes Dixon was giving.

And since he was telling the truth, he’d go a step further. His ass hurt from the uncomfortable seat he’d chosen when he first arrived. Hopping up on the table? What was he thinking? There were ten padded leather chairs in the room.

Lesson learned.

But no lie, his assigned job was challenging. It might be the hardest of his entire life. And with what he had lived through, that said a lot.

The preparation for today’s presentation had taken weeks, maybe months, to nail down. Keyes had done all the heavy lifting in organizing the content, taking this as seriously as he had ever taken anything.

Their audience consisted of one person: Alec Pierce. Keyes’s new husband.

And their sole potential investor.

Months ago, when he and Keyes began to revive their childhood dream of building custom bikes, Alec had guided them to the Small Business Administration. The SBA had then sent them to SCORE Business Mentoring to help mold their dream into a potential professional moneymaker. After all their help in learning what it takes to start a business properly, they were now ready to secure financing.

The kicker, Dev could single-handedly finance the whole operation without an investor. But how did he explain where the money had come from without raising more questions than he was prepared to answer.

“Devilman, what the fuck?” Keyes barked, drawing Dev back into the here and now.

“Shit. Sorry,” he murmured and pushed the button.

Dev stared at the new slide, trying to judge their performance to this point.

Maybe Keyes wasn’t the right person to spearhead this presentation.

This time, Dev caught Keyes’s cue and pushed the button, changing the slide at the right moment. He let go of a pent-up breath. The pressure was off him for at least the next few seconds.

As Keyes continued to speak, Dev cast a sly glance at Alec. He lounged in a leather conference room chair, shifting his attention between Keyes and the screen. He was focused and attentive, with a manila folder open on the table in front of him. He leaned on one elbow with his hand partially covering his mouth.

They were in Alec’s swanky offices in the headquarters of Escape Resorts.

Dev had never seen Alec’s professional side. Keyes’s husband had always come off as pretty arm candy, devoted to Keyes’s happiness. Today, Dev understood it was all a veneer. Alec was a force who challenged everything, grilling Keyes with a barrage of questions as the presentation dragged on.

From this angle, Dev caught a glimpse of Alec’s lips pressed into a tight frown. Huh.

What if he decided to pass on the investment?

He suspected Keyes couldn’t see the frown from his position, facing Alec directly.

Regardless, Dev caught another one of Keyes’s cues and clicked the remote for the win.

The screen changed. With a nod, Keyes silently acknowledged a job well done.

Damn, Dev was crushing it like a boss.

“Why do you insist on doing this?” Alec asked, interrupting Keyes.

Keyes clamped his lips together. His furry, manicured brows dropped into a severe V, giving his most fierce glare, which meant one of two things. Either, Alec risked being tackled into a fistfight. A place Dev had found himself in a time or two when he’d pushed Keyes too far. Or the other, which was more likely, Keyes was contemplating Alec’s question.

Either way, the big giant’s stare usually frightened anyone in the vicinity but had zero effect on Alec, who responded with his own stern stare.

“You need to see that your investment’s a sound decision,” Keyes finally answered.

Alec’s chair quietly squeaked as he sat forward.

“I know it’s a sound decision. I’m the one who asked you to keep the investment opportunity in our home. We’ll make a lot of money.” Alec’s voice rang with certainty. His hands splayed out as if to drive the belief home. There might have been an unspoken dumbass implied in the tone.

Alec’s declaration was new information. He hadn’t known that Alec actually wanted to be their only investor. To set up a proper machine shop would take hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.

Now, he wondered if he should have figured out a lie and tossed in some of his own cash. Play the investment game that he didn’t understand, but with a smart guy like Alec seeming so sure of their success, maybe he should invest too.

But first things first. Dev needed to participate in all this attitude bouncing around the room. He dropped his brows, shifting his expression to irritation. He directed his question to Keyes. “You made me do all this crap, spend time away from my family, and you knew for sure he was ponying up all the dough?”

“It wasn’t a bad idea to put your plan to paper,” Alec started, circumventing the impending argument between Dev and Keyes. “It’s what I asked you to do. The focused planning helps propel the shop forward while anticipating any obstacles that might arise, but I personally don’t need this style of presentation. Send me the business plan, and I’ll forward it to Larry Sprung, my financial guy at Miltin. You’re familiar with him, Keyes. He’ll make sure the right team’s in place and the plan is properly executed.”

Alec seemed to believe that was some form of an answer. It wasn’t.

Dev swung his head toward Keyes. “What the fuck, Dixon? We could already be turnin’ our blueprints into sleds.”

Keyes slanted his head toward Dev and muttered, “We gotta do this right...”

“You have blueprints already?” Alec interrupted, confused, staring between the both of them. “Why haven’t I seen them?”

Shit. He’d said too much. Keyes was really going to be pissed off.

After the briefest pause, Keyes continued as if Alec hadn’t spoken. “I’m not takin’ money from Alec until I know we have it all down and ready to go. He’s too important to me.”

“What if Alec loses his money?” Dev and Keyes said in unison. He’d heard Keyes’s mantra so many times over the last few months that he repeated the question verbatim.

This time, there was no question in Keyes’s expression. He was angry.

Of course Dev didn’t give a single shit. Most people looked at him that way.

As he opened his mouth to pop something harsh and crude off, Alec took the curve, swerving the argument off course. “How about I look over the business plan before I send it off to Larry tonight? If I have questions, I’ll ask.”

“Ask me,” Keyes said a second faster than Dev. If Alec did ask Keyes, it’d take days for Keyes to comb through every piece of gathered data to ensure his response was consistent with their plans.

Consistency and preplanning weren’t Dev’s way. He wanted to get this bitch underway already.

“Will do,” Alec said, getting to his feet. Alec fastened his suit jacket then reached for the paperwork and folder on the table. “Have you decided on a name for the shop?” Even as proud as Dev had been while printing the PowerPoint materials, he had to admit, they appeared amateur at best.

Neither he nor Keyes had spent much time in front of a computer screen. Typing the business plan and resulting presentation had taken so much longer than necessary with the way one of them pecked at the keyboard while the other watched for misspellings and errors. The latter had honestly been the most difficult job.

“Yeah,” Dev said, tossing the clicker back on the table. “The one I think we settled on is The Devil and The Key.”

“When we get to the point of mass producin’, we’ll name the different frames after different demon names. At least that’s what we think right now,” Keyes added, shutting the lid to his new laptop. The presentation screen went dark.

Alec started around the table only to stop and question that decision. “You’ll be limiting your customer base with such a name.”

“Thought about that,” Keyes answered confidently. “Then we decided they’re not our target audience, so it shouldn’t impact anything.”

The explanation must have made sense because Alec nodded and started back toward Keyes again. “Okay then, give me a kiss goodbye.” Alec tucked the folder under his arm and lifted his lips, coming to stand within an inch of Keyes’s broad chest. Alec was taller than Dev but still inches shorter than Keyes. “I’ve got a meeting. I’m late.”

Keyes raised a single eyebrow and hesitated on the offering. “We’ve still got another twenty minutes. I don’t need the screen. Dev printed the presentation. Let’s just talk it out.” Dev fully understood that Alec didn’t want to hear another word. Apparently, Keyes hadn’t gotten there yet.

Man, they must have really tanked to have someone as devoted as Alec, preferring to ditch his mister than hear more.

Probably something they should work on.

Or not.

When were they ever going to need this skill again in their lives?

Whatever.

“You convinced me and I’m in. Good job,” Alec said with a smile, lifting a hand for a high five. “Now kiss me goodbye. I have a long rest of my day. I might be late getting home if I don’t get going.”

Keyes didn’t relent and left the high five hanging in the air. “You’re the one who said we’ve gotta find our professional voice. We’re tryin’ to do that. What if we have to find another investor? We gotta know what to do.”

“That was a solid first try, but I’ll handle any future financial presentations. I’ve met a venture capitalist in Dallas who invests in green projects. He’s interested if we need him. We’re not there yet. I want to fund us for as long as I can. You watch my dollars closer than I do so we should be fine.” Alec explained, glancing over at Dev, including him in the conversation.

“Why didn’t you tell me we had someone else interested?” Keyes asked.

“Because we agreed that I handle the finances. We each have a job. Yours is to build, Dev’s is to design, and mine is to manage the finances. We stay in our lanes of responsibility. It’s also the best approach to handling such a partnership to keep the infighting at bay. It’s how business works best,” Alec explained, taking a step back to ensure he saw both his and Keyes’s nods of acceptance. “Now kiss me. I’m feeling insecure. Every time you walk into the building, everyone stares. Kiss me to help my insecure heart.”

Keyes barked out a harsh laugh right in Alec’s face. “They’re not into us. They’re wonderin’ why the poor side of town showed up on their doorstep and what violence we brought with us.”

Dev huffed out a bark of laughter because Keyes was dead on.

Alec shook his head, disagreeing, and puckered again. After a short pause, Keyes finally bent to place his lips on Alec’s. They didn’t linger. Thank Buddha.

“I can see you still have more to say, and I want to hear it. Let’s do it tonight when I’m in the right mental state to listen. I’ll click the button for Dev. It seemed his only participation.”

Dev barked out a laugh at the truth of Alec’s words.

“You’re gonna listen to me while you’re runnin’ on that machine or when you’re cookin’ our dinner,” Keyes said doubtfully.

“It’s called a treadmill, and it’s good for my heart and the housekeeper’s making dinner. I’ll dedicate all night to listening to you,” Alec replied.

Keyes smirked, Alec smiled, and Dev bounced off the table to his feet. Something was happening between the two that he might be unable to scrub from his memory. Those two did that cuddled-up shit all the time.

Dev cleared his throat to gain their attention. “I’m out. Get your crap, Dixon, and meet me in the car. Five minutes max or you’ll have to take Alec’s car home. See you, Alec.” He tossed the deuces over his shoulder as he went through the conference room door.

He felt the success of their new venture in his bones, but he had a thriving business of his own already. A new tattoo parlor where he was booked solid with appointments from now until he died. He had to head back to the parlor so he could finish and get home to his family early tonight.