Chapter Five

Alec

December

The workshop behind Keyes and Alec’s home had become the regular Fox-James/Dixon-Pierce hangout. Both families spent an enormous amount of time in this large rectangular metal building together among the new machinery and work bays, ready to churn out new bikes.

This evening, Dev’s Harley had all the attention. Keyes was lost in finding whatever problem Dev experienced. Dev was bent down on one side, Keyes on the other. Dev’s only job was to provide moral support to Keyes. Dev’s strength was in the arts. Mechanics, not so much.

“Is there anyone else we need to invite?” Alec asked from his perch on top of his regular barstool. He had a pad of paper in one hand and a pen poised to print the names suggested for their first annual Christmas Eve bash.

“Who you got so far?” Keyes asked distractedly, never lifting his head.

“We can’t come to your party,” Mae piped up, running in circles as the dogs chased after her. “We’re spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Mama. Daddy’s letting her have Christmas at our house, so we don’t have to move around so much.”

Abi sat against the outside shop’s wall next to the door. She was on the ground, sitting crisscross with her cell phone stuck to her hand.

As much time as the girls spent there, it was apparent Abi was becoming increasingly detached from everyone. The phone was her life source, much to Dev’s repeatedly stated aggravation.

“Mae, take the dogs outside. You’re gettin’ ’em too riled up. They’re botherin’ everyone,” Dev said, his head bobbing up over the top of the seat as the dogs began to bark.

“Who’s on your list?” Cash asked as Mae ran outside. Cash generally followed along with Dev but rarely participated in anything more than dinner, where he shined, and gave Alec hope. He’d never tasted a healthy dinner so good.

Cash’s recent new employment as a hearing officer for Judge Sawyer’s court, a position Alec had provided a reference for, kept Cash occupied. The guy was rarely seen without his iPad and briefcase, studying, or working all the time.

“Well, we’ve become quite the party since we originally only had you and Dev and Keyes’s uncle on the list,” Alec said and flipped the first page over to read from the top of the list. “Besides you and Dev, Arik and Kellus are now coming.” He didn’t know if Cash knew Arik, and quickly explained. “Arik owns the company I work for.”

Keyes gave a humph. “Arik’s somethin’ else. Everything’s a negotiation with him. If he doesn’t get what he wants, then he wages a secret battle of manipulation until they cave. And some people seem okay with it. Like it’s perfectly normal to stage a war against the company you hired to handle your legal shit.” Keyes’s head popped over the bike. “Alec and his team now work for Arik instead of the outside company. Alec handles every legal issue the guy has, whether it’s personal or business. And since he steamrolls over everyone, there are plenty of legal problems.”

Alec nodded and grinned. Everything Keyes said was true, and it regularly amazed him that Arik retained any friendships. His previous employer, tired of the fight, had thrown his hands in the air and given Arik an obscene price to release Alec from any non-compete clauses and to cover the firm’s lost revenue. Arik paid it and gave Alec a significant monetary raise to switch companies. All parties were happy in the end. He’d never met anyone like Arik before.

“Arik does have a way of retaining friendships that might otherwise be destroyed with his bulldozing ways,” Alec agreed and nodded then continued to read from the list. “We have Shanna, Trace, and Joe confirmed. Connor, who’s part of my staff, plans to come for an hour or two. So that’s ten people? Maybe not as much as it seems. I changed the number with the caterer to cover fifteen people. Should I invite more?”

“How many beds you got? I don’t think anyone plans on bein’ sober enough to leave,” Dev said.

“Right now, we have enough beds,” Alec said. “Arik and Kellus are leaving early. If I invite more, we’ll need people to bunk together. I thought about inviting Blaine…”

Keyes gave an audible cough that said, no fucking way . Alec immediately laughed. Keyes had never gotten past his and Blaine’s first meeting.

For all the hell Keyes gave Alec, he should invite Blaine to watch his husband be forced to get along with his nemesis. Alec’s laughter grew, maybe sounding borderline psychotic. As far as he was concerned, it wasn’t an awful idea.

“I have a cinnamon roll bar planned and a mimosa and Bloody Mary station for the next morning…”

Cash kept his gaze on the pad in his hand and added, “With all the alcohol we picked up today for you, I’m not sure anyone will be able to eat a cinnamon roll the next morning.”

There was no lie there. He’d been surprised when they unloaded the boxes. “I had asked the IV Therapy Company to come by Christmas morning to pump hydration and vitamins into our systems, but then I canceled. I wasn’t sure if we were taking someone from their family on the holiday morning.”

“Maybe they don’t celebrate Christmas. You’d be givin’ ’em somethin’ to do,” Keyes added, which was technically the way his husband used to celebrate the holidays before they got together.

“That’s a good point,” Alec said and wrote a note to call the company on Monday morning. Ask their opinion on the matter.

“What do we bring?” Cash asked.

“Nothing. I have a catering company bringing appetizers and doing the setup. Olivia’s setting up the bar. I have an ice machine behind the bar and a freezer full of ice in the garage. The bedrooms are ready. Decorations are up…” Alec was going down his checklist, feeling the whole party coming together nicely, when Keyes interrupted.

“Yeah. DFW Airport called and asked if we’d be willing to be an overflow landing strip…”

“Hush your mouth,” Alec said, raising a critical eye. This was a conversation they’d had over and over, but since word had gotten out in the community of how decorated the house and property were, they’d had a steady stream of vehicles driving past each evening. Keyes was certainly going to have something to say when he learned they were adding a hayride around the property into the mix. “I enjoy decorating. I like the lights.”

“You aren’t gonna like that electric bill when it comes in,” Keyes stated matter-of-factly. Alec couldn’t argue that point, so he’d give the win to Keyes for this round.

Alec dropped his attention back to the pad and continued reading. “We’re doing a white elephant gift exchange with a fifty-dollar limit.” Alec paused and watched all the heads nod their understanding. He made a note to reinforce the gift exchange to those not there. “We’ll handle the upkeep and cleaning ourselves…”

“That says a lot for the pampered guy,” Keyes drawled.

Reasonably, he understood Keyes was teasing him, but as far as he was concerned, Keyes had met his quota of making fun of him. The rawness in his heart blistered, causing Alec not to like the comment at all.

“I clean up after us all the time,” Alec shot back, his tone as forceful as it was crisp.

“I clean up after us,” Keyes said distractedly, not looking up. “You do the takin’ care of us.”

Alec mashed his lips together, staring laser beams at the top of Keyes’s head. His guy wasn’t wrong, but the argument they were having shifted to motorcycles in Alec’s head. A source of severe contention between them, at least where Alec was concerned.

Keyes seemed to have no problem keeping all the secrets in the world from him.

“Okay,” Alec said and placed the pad of paper on his lap. “So, you’re saying you’ll handle all the cleanup for the party? That’s your contribution because I haven’t seen you participate in the planning.” What a ridiculous thing for Alec to say. Keyes actively listened and encouraged wherever Alec needed. Alec’s tone brought Keyes’s glance from over the bike as if he were trying to catch up with how things had gone south so quickly.

He blinked several times as he stopped himself from calling Keyes a liar and a fat mouth about the bikes he was secretly building.

“Sure. I’ll handle the cleanup. That’s fine. Not a problem,” Keyes answered, his brow wrinkling as he seemingly understood that wasn’t the correct answer but had no idea why.

“You know that’s not what I want,” Alec bit out, his back stiffening as he crossed his arms over his chest.

The tool in Keyes’s hand clanked to the ground. His guy’s hard tone cranked up an octave. Alec suspected this had become their new way. He put Keyes on the defensive all the time. “Then I missed somethin’.”

Since Alec refused to give in ever again, he and Keyes began an angry stare-off at one another.

After the last time Keyes had told Alec to stay out of his business—at least, that was the way Alec interpreted the remark—Alec had sworn he was never asking about the bikes again. Then he’d tried not to care. Neither option had been easy, especially since four large deposits had hit their business account, and Alec knew nothing about the projects.

Alec shot out a dismissive hand wave as he said, “You know what you missed.”

“No, I don’t. But you’ve been a borderline jerk to me for the last week. Now you’re doin’ it in front of my friends. What’s up with you?” Keyes used the seat of Dev’s bike to help lift him off his knees to his full height. His face turned as fierce as his voice.

Being intimidated wasn’t in Alec’s wheelhouse. Besides, Keyes would never use force with him. He rolled his eyes at the aggressive display. The hurt inside him didn’t give a shit who was there to watch the scene.

“They’re my friends too, and I know you’ve been working on new bikes,” Alec accused as he got to his feet. The pad of paper and pen dropped to the polished concrete floor. He splayed his hands around the fancy garage he’d built for his mister. “Where are they? They aren’t here, in the shop that cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars to build.” Alec shouted the price point, saying each word with more emphasis.

“We should leave,” Cash said, getting to his feet.

“No. Stay,” Alec and Keyes said in unison. If it wasn’t such a touchy subject, he might have laughed as Dev looked at Cash and shrugged. Uncertain what to do, Cash lifted his leg back over the stool, but hovered there, not fully sitting. He was ready to bounce on a second’s notice.

“You’re the one who insisted on all this equipment. I didn’t ask you for it,” Keyes argued with the truth. He hadn’t asked for anything. Nothing. A man unto himself. Alec didn’t need to exist in Keyes’s life, he’d do just fine on his own. “Don’t throw the money in my face. I hate that shit.”

“How do you know you hate it? I’ve never done it before.” A silly argument but still valid. “Have you seen the bikes?” Alec demanded of Cash, piercing him with a look that wouldn’t allow him to lie. Since Alec was an expert at reading expressions, Cash’s stare begged him not to ask that question. “He’s seen what you’ve done but I can’t? What the hell?”

Alec threw his hands in the air and stormed out of the shop. Each of his footsteps sounded louder than the last. Hurt washed over him, fueling the fast pace past the girls who both quietly stared at him. They heard the exchange. Even the dogs settled down and stared, unsure what was happening.