Four weeks later
“You talk allot,” Key texted, making Alec smile. True to Key’s word, the guy had been texting and talking by phone with Alec every single day. They hadn’t increased their weekly visits. That had stayed the same—Friday evening into Saturday morning—but the communication helped the long week between go by a little faster. It also helped with all the extra hours he put in with the caseload from hell he had been assigned in the CPS division.
Within seconds, Alec got another message, “I mean a loy.”
Then another, “Fucker. A LOT.”
Alec barked out a laugh when Key had to type so many extra words just to clarify his short, simple sentences. It tickled Alec to no end, knowing his big biker guy was most certainly verbalizing a hearty string of curse words every time he texted and messed up the spelling.
Alec simply texted back, “This qualifies as texting. No talking at all.”
“Same thing. Hate texting. My fungers are too big.”
Alec sat back in his chair, phone in hand, and grinned at the screen. That mistake would require several more texts to correct.
“Dinget.”
Alec laughed, imagining the newest round of foul language Key spewed over that last mistake. He certainly hoped no one was around. He’d only seen Key in full-on biker mode one time. His guy had paced his back driveway from garage to fence, walking the length of his house. Key spoke on the phone to a club member while Alec watched from the kitchen window. Much like the Key he’d first met, he’d been silent through the call, not saying one single word as he kept his head bent, listening to the caller. The only thing that had come out of the biker’s mouth was at the end of the call when he let fly some of the dirtiest language Alec had ever heard in his life, loud enough to be heard through the closed windows of his home. Alec had gotten so turned on, he had dropped to his knees and sucked Key the second he’d stepped through the back door. Apparently, he really liked a filthy mouth. Who would have known?
Alec looked down at the vibrating phone in his hand and laughed out loud at the next text he received. It seemed Key must be reading his thoughts. Alec read each word out loud. “Motherfucking piece of shit.”
“You spelled all those words correctly. It’s an accomplishment in itself. What do you want for dinner tomorrow?” Alec asked, moving the conversation along. He loved talking to Key, but he had more than he could do, and clearly, the work wasn’t going to do itself.
His office door opened, and Alec lifted his gaze to see Jacob, his new assistant, sticking his head inside his office. Jake wasn’t a knocker, nor did he like being called Jake.
“Rosa Daly and her granddaughter are here. Her caseworker has just unexpectedly gone on maternity leave, and I need you or someone in authority to hear this.”
The happiness he managed anytime Key intervened in his day took a dip. Alec reluctantly ignored Key’s incoming text and reached for his portfolio while rising to his feet. “Okay, brief me on the case.”
“We haven’t gotten that far, and it’s not assigned in criminal yet,” Jake explained and grabbed Alec’s suit jacket off the hanger by the door.
Brilliant. It didn’t seem to matter how many long hours or seven-day workweeks he put in, he was always two steps behind.
“What about her investigator?”
“Out for the day.”
“Where are they?” Alec asked, taking the jacket, shrugging it on.
“Room number one. They’re aware they’re being recorded and I’m grabbing the file,” Jake said, leaving him. Alec went toward the meeting rooms and pushed through a side door to enter the restricted space. The hustle and bustle of such a busy office faded as the door shut behind him and his gaze landed on a little girl sitting respectfully in one of the hard-plastic chairs they offered.
She couldn’t have been more than four or five years old, and she sat on the edge of the chair, hands together in her lap with one leg moving, kicking back and forth. Her long chestnut ponytail swayed in rhythm with her foot. Her keen stare took in everything around her, landing on him within seconds of the door opening.
Alec’s heart tripped, and he gave her a small smile when her blue gaze fixed on him. For the briefest of moments, so fast he almost didn’t recognize it, he suspected Key would have been just like this as a child—not really childlike at all. She had a maturity about her, older than her years.
“Rosa Daly?” Alec asked a wearied-eyed woman who looked like she might be in her early fifties. She nodded and rose to her feet, the little girl staying in her seat. Alec traded the portfolio he carried from one hand to another to extend his hand for a shake. “I’m Alec Pierce.”
“Thank you for seein’ us. Donna Smith’s our caseworker, and I don’t think we’ve been assigned a criminal attorney. The police said I should tell y’all, but I guess Donna’s out and I wanted someone to hear what Keely’s sayin’.” Rosa’s hand came protectively down to the little girl whose hand automatically lifted to clasp her grandmother’s.
Alec nodded, looking down at the little girl again. “And you’re Keely?”
She nodded. Well, of course that was her name, the striking similarities between Key and this little girl continued.
“Jacob’s on his way back. I understand you’ve spoken with him already?” Alec asked, taking a seat directly across from Rosa, who nodded. The buzzer on the door alerted him to Jake entering the room. His assistant placed his laptop on the table, turning the screen toward Alec so he could quickly scan the page, reading the basic facts of this case.
Keely’s father was currently incarcerated for a probation violation. Keely was in the vehicle when he and her mother were arrested. The authorities found a sizable amount of methamphetamines in the backseat where Keely sat with a firearm in her hands that had discharged. Alec’s gaze narrowed as he turned back to the little girl. She didn’t appear maimed, and the case file didn’t list any fatalities or injuries.
He’d study the case more fully later. But he took another moment to scan to the most current note, dated two days ago, where the caseworker had recommended termination of parental rights and listed Rosa Daly as Keely’s guardian.
“Okay, what can I do for you today?” he asked. Turning his gaze back to the little girl, in a calm voice, he said, “Do you have something you want to tell me?”
“Keely, tell this man what you told me,” Rosa said, and those sharp eyes darkened.
Keely looked up at her grandmother who smiled and nodded. The little girl took a breath and turned that piercing stare to Alec. “My daddy’s going to Mexico when he gets out of jail, and if I tell, I’m getting a spanking, but Gramma said he can’t hit me anymore.” Keely glanced up at Rosa again in silent confirmation of her words. Rosa continued holding the little girl’s hand, her thumb caressing over the top. He saw genuine love between the two.
“Finish, Keely. Tell them about that night,” Rosa encouraged.
“My mama and daddy were being yelled at, and a mean man that’s friends with my daddy put a gun in my mama’s face when they didn’t have enough bags.” Keely again looked up to get encouragement from her grandmother. “Oh yeah, my daddy hid a bag in the backseat. That’s why they didn’t have enough bags, and he pulled a gun on the bad guy when the bad guy pulled a gun on my mama, and they all yelled at each other, then I yelled, ‘Stop yelling.’”
Alec looked over to see Jake taking notes then looked up to see the camera in the corner, the green light indicated it was recording. “Where were your mother and father when you yelled?” Alec asked Keely.
Keely shrugged. “It was too dark outside. I don’t know. We passed a McDonald’s.”
Alec gave her a small smile, and she smiled back at him. Her leg moved back and forth again. “How did you get the gun you were holding?” Alec asked, with no clear direction to his line of questioning. He’d keep the little girl talking until the story came together more clearly.
“My daddy was reaching for it to yell at the policeman like he yelled at his bad friend, so I took it to keep it safe so he didn’t shoot the policeman.” Keely explained all of this so simply, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary for her. “My finger made the gun go off, and the gun hurt my side.” Her free hand went to the side of the body.
“You’ve never told me that before,” Rosa said, concern evident in her voice.
“Because he said he was going to give me a spanking if I say things, but you said he can’t spank me anymore,” Keely said. Unable to argue with her logic, Alec nodded once at her explanation. Children were incredible little people.
“You’re brave to tell the truth,” Alec said to Keely as his phone chirped, alerting him it was time for his next meeting. “Jake, we need to get this in an affidavit.” He decided then, he’d have to ask Janice to take this case. Since Alec had been moved into CPS, he’d been treated like a leper in the office. No one other than Janice spoke to him for fear his reprimand—aka demotion—might rub off on them. Alec pulled a business card from the front pocket of his portfolio and handed it to Rosa as he got to his feet. “Can you stay for a bit longer?”
Rosa nodded, looking relieved. “I knew I should come.”
“Yes. We always need to know these things. Hang tight for me.” Alec turned to Jake at the closed door. “Can you stay with them until I get someone in here to help?”
Jake nodded, his fingers moving efficiently over the keyboard. Alec turned back to Keely. “You did good today.”
Keely nodded her agreement.
Alec left the room, shoving his notepad under his arm, and reached for his cell phone to call Janice. This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted CPS. In less than a ten-minute conversation with the child, Alec was ready to promise the moon and the stars to get Janice to handle this case—nothing ever got past the woman. She wouldn’t allow Keely to slip through the cracks. As he lifted the phone to his ear, he wondered what he’d have to promise to get her to stop everything and handle this matter.
=♥=
After a quick rap of his knuckles against the brightly painted wood, Keyes took a step backward, staring speculatively at the front door of a fancy apartment building in Uptown Dallas. It had taken him a good fifteen minutes of driving through the neighborhood, then another five more of checking the address, walking the length of the whole building, looking for Dev’s bike to prove he’d come to the right place. He hadn’t found the bike but went ahead and knocked on the apartment door. Worst thing that could happen was that he’d freak the shit out of the tenants with his scary biker exterior, and while they shrieked their horror, he could bounce, get the hell out of dodge, and call Dev the pussy he was for setting him up on this weird, not funny, practical joke.
A cute little blonde opened the door, and Keyes prepared for the inevitable fear to manifest in her eyes. Instead, he got a genuine smile. Though a good sign, it still didn’t answer whether he had ended up in the right place, so he stayed quiet and waited, ready to bolt if need be.
“You must be Keyes.”
His brows lifted. Okay. Keyes nodded and looked past the woman to see Dev walking toward the front door holding a blonde child in his arms. She couldn’t have been more than three years old and had her arms wrapped tightly around Dev’s neck.
Dev was easily six foot to the woman’s maybe five foot height. She reminded him of sweetness and sunshine. Keyes knew firsthand that Dev was covered in tattoos, neck to waist. His legs were his newest canvas, and his dark hair was a short, tousled mess that somehow looked naturally styled, but not by anything Dev did himself. The contrast between the two people standing before him was stark and made little sense. They were as opposite as two people could be.
“Come in, brother,” Dev said. The child actually fought to stay in his arms as he handed her over to the blonde, before moving past the woman and giving Keyes their standard slap hand greeting.
“You guys have that cool hand tap thing,” the blonde said, beaming up at Dev. Keyes watched in amazement as Dev added his seldom used sincere grin, the one very few people ever saw, as he beamed back at the woman and took the child back when she reached out for him.
Keyes was so confused he found himself taking a step backward while Dev and his girlfriend were moving aside to let him in.
“We made it up when we were five. It’s stuck, actually added to over the years. Right, man?”
Keyes’s brows slid together at the look of awe stuck on Dev’s face as he spoke. He loved Dev like a brother. If he trusted anyone in the world, it was him, but this guy wasn’t Dev. Dev put himself first in everything. When he fought for Keyes’s honor, it was because Dev was offended, not for any reason to build Keyes up. He couldn’t ever remember watching Dev hold his own children, little alone cuddle any child. Dev used to purposefully step on his sister’s crayons just to watch her freak out.
This made no sense at all.
“You’ll have to teach me some time,” she said. Dev’s arm came around her, and they both moved more fully aside. “I’m so glad you came, Keyes. I’m Holly. Dev’s told me a lot about you.”
“Call me Key,” he said as he walked in, his very clear what-the-hell gaze focused on Dev who never looked his way.
“Keep going, Key,” Holly said from behind him. The entry was a long narrow hall, so he walked toward the sound of the television. “Around the corner.”
He turned the corner to find what he’d call a totally female room—flowers, lots of flowers. The room was white, even the hardwood floors were stained a lighter whitewashed gray. This would stay clean all of about thirty seconds in his life, but the more startling point was that Dev’s daughters sat on the sofa, the oldest had the remote control in hand. The littlest one jumped up and ran toward him, beaming brightly as she wrapped her arms around his legs. “Uncle Key!”
He didn’t know May, Dev’s youngest, very well. He hadn’t seen her a lot. Dev and her mom fought more than anything else, but Keyes cared for these girls. They were family. He extended his arms, hoisting May up to where she sat on his hip, her grin growing.
“Hi, Uncle Key,” Abigail said, but remained on the couch. They had grown so much. Abigail had to be ten by now, so that made May five.
“Did you get my birthday present?” Keyes asked her as Dev and Holly came around him farther into the living room.
“I did. I wanted to wear my dress, but Mama said it was too dirty,” May explained.
“Which dress is that?” Holly asked.
“Uncle Key got me the Elsa dress from the Amazon on Christmas,” she explained, nodding as if to affirm the statement.
“Ah, you love that dress,” Holly said.
“It’s not the Amazon. It’s Amazon the company,” Abigail corrected, never looking up from the television. May went ramrod straight in Keyes’s arms in all her indignation of being corrected by her sister. He set her on her feet and watched her fisted hands go to her hips as she stomped toward her sister.
“I can say it however I wanna say it!”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Dev said when Abigail cocked her head in May’s direction as if ready to blast her little sister. “No fighting tonight.”
“Why don’t y’all come watch TV in Millie’s room? I have the popcorn and juice boxes ready. Coco is ready to play.” That seemed to make them all happy. Even Abigail jumped up, stopping by Keyes to give a side hug as she followed Holly out of the room.
That left Keyes and Dev alone in the living room, Dev grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Let me have your cut,” Dev said, and that made shit weirder for some reason. Keyes didn’t move a single muscle. He just stared at Dev who finally busted out with a laugh. “Give me the fucking vest.”
“What the hell’s all this?” Keyes questioned, shrugging off his cut. He watched in disbelief as Dev hung the thing in a hall closet. Up until right this minute, he wasn’t sure Dev even knew how to use a hanger.
“I honestly don’t know.” He shrugged it off like it was nothing. “I just really like her.”
Dev was like him in the fact they were twenty-seven years old and had never done this relationship shit before. They actually rebelled against the idea of monogamy and being tied down to one person. They’d set their courses together. They were wild and free. Dev fucked who he wanted, whenever he wanted, and that sometimes included the skanks who hung out at the clubhouse.
“You look hilarious. It’s not that weird,” Dev said, patting his shoulder as he walked past Keyes into the kitchen.
“That’s the only word to describe all this,” Keyes said, watching Dev grab two beers from the refrigerator.
Dev laughed and walked straight past him again, handing over a cold beer while heading toward the small patio right off the living room. “Come on. We’ll talk outside. I was about to add steaks to the grill. Come out here.” Dev went through a patio door out into a small backyard, big enough to house some bikes, a couple of scooters, and a small dog that nipped at Dev’s feet.
“That’s Precious.” The small dog attacked his boot with a vengeance, showing she may have more of Dev’s true nature at heart. “They named her that because she’s anything but. She bites all men, all the time, and guards the girls like she’s a pit bull. She never touches any of them. So, don’t stick your hand down there.” Dev moved the yapping dog away from him with his foot. The dog didn’t give at all. She hung on to Dev’s boot as he tried to walk toward the grill.
“Where’s your bike?
“In the garage.” Dev used a thumb over his shoulder to point to a small row of garages directly behind the apartment building. “Dude, really, it’s not that big a deal. You ain’t the only one who can smell all happy. It’s that good lovin’, and don’t act like you’re not doin’ it too.” Dev’s fist popped out for a knuckle touch. Keyes obliged, but that took his thoughts in a whole different direction.
“Mine’s slummin’ it for a few fucks. She slummin’?” Keyes hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward Holly still in the house.
“Maybe. But I moved in,” Dev said, waggling his brows like he had accomplished a magical feat.
“You moved into that flower house?” Keyes asked incredulously. No way had his filthy friend lived in a house that clean. Dev’s name had to mean tornado in some foreign language.
“Hell yeah, I did. The girls love bein’ here.” Dev added the steaks to the hot grill, drawing Keyes’s gaze down to the immediate sizzle. He saw several foil-wrapped potatoes lining the top rack. That meant preparation, and that was something Dev didn’t do either. “I’ve been gettin’ May and Abby every week. Got my support caught up. Me and Holly are movin’ to a bigger townhome when her lease is up to give all three of our girls their own rooms.”
“Do the brothers know?” Keyes asked, opening his can of beer. He handed his to Dev and reached for Dev’s still unopened can on a small patio table.
“Nah, not really. Just you. They know I got some regular pussy. That it’s one of Shanna’s friends, but that’s it. You know their shit freaks with anything remotely normal.” Dev looked over at Keyes. They both nodded at the understatement of Dev’s words.
“I haven’t seen you at the clubhouse. I just figured you were stayin’ at your place,” Keyes said, opening his can of beer.
“I’ve been tryin’ to get you over here for a month then you just ghosted on Friday. You’ve been different. I know you’re hung up on someone—a guy, right?” Dev asked, looking over at Keyes who nodded before taking a gulp. “You’ve been real resistant to relationships. I figured you were strugglin’, figurin’ out your place. You gotta have time to think through your shit. He ain’t one of us, is he?”
“Nope. Nobody you know.” He went for a patio chair, dragging it closer to Dev before he took a seat.
“Yeah, Holly’s gonna be a nurse practitioner. She won’t be hangin’ out at the club either.” That was what he liked so much about his buddy. He just knew shit without Keyes having to explain.
“What’re you gonna do about that?” Keyes asked, after taking another drink. The only part that now made him nervous about Alec centered on when his brothers would start noticing his absence and start sticking their noses in why he was gone so much. His only hope was Alec would tire of him before his brothers got into investigation mode.
“Deal when we get there. No sense rushin’ it, you know. Timin’s right. Everybody’s lyin’ low right now anyway.” Dev’s fist came out, and Keyes obliged the knuckle tap but wasn’t entirely certain what Dev said that needed the emphasis.
“Key, you like Budweiser, right?” Holly said, sticking her head out the open patio door.
“Sure.”
“He speaks,” she teased, grinning while sliding the door back in place and disappearing back inside the house.
“What’re you plannin’ to do with your apartment?” Keyes asked, tipping the can, drinking the rest of the beer down.
“I still got it. I have like ten months on the lease. I had just signed a year lease. Need to use it?” Dev asked, hopeful. With the eagerness on his face, Dev clearly thought that was a great idea.
“Yeah, I do. The clubhouse’s shit to sleep at. I could take over the payments,” Keyes offered.
Dev dug into his jeans pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He wiggled one off the ring. “Cool. Rent’s due by the third. When the lease runs out, we can decide what to do with my shit. It’s mostly junk, but I got some things in there I still want.” Dev tossed him the key. He caught it midair before leaning back in his chair, tipping the seat back on two legs to pull his keys from his pocket. “So maybe we could go out on a double date?”
That thought horrified Keyes so much that he jerked in Dev’s direction as if Alec was standing right there ready to go, then he had to hurriedly lean forward to keep the chair from tipping backward. Keyes busted out a laugh at his idiocy. Alec and Holly might actually get along, but there was no way even Dev would think the DA connection was a coincidence.
Dev had an instant look of hurt feelings. “You can trust me. I’d keep it on the down low.”
“Nah, that’s not it.” Except that totally was exactly it. “Mine’s not gonna last. We ain’t got nothing in common. He’s slummin’ it.”
“You never know,” Dev said, his expressive face turning doubtful.
“I fuckin’ know.”
Luckily, Holly came through the back door, holding two cans of beer in one arm and a glass of wine in her other hand. She left the door open.
“I wanna be able to hear the kids,” she said, moving close to Dev so he could take the cans from her arm. Dev extended one to him as he bent down to place a sweet kiss on her lips.
“Thank you.” He was back to feeling like he’d landed in the twilight zone. He wondered if anyone in either his or Alec’s life might think the same thing after watching the two of them together like that, because that was the way they were. Lots of touching and kissing, all those shared quiet looks.
When Dev tried to deepen the kiss, Holly moved away, patting his ass before turning back to Keyes. “I thought we’d eat out here this evening. We have about an hour before they’re out here, so enjoy the quiet. It won’t last.” Holly moved a chair closer to Keyes’s and took a seat. “Dev’s told me all about you, but I can’t imagine all those great things are real.”
“I called you a thug,” Dev stated quickly, lifting his fist for another bump. Keyes laughed and shook his head to refuse that tap. “Listen, you might as well talk. She’s persistent.”
“Damn,” he grumbled playfully.