Dev looked past Alec to see Cash leaning with his back against the hall wall, his arms crossed over his chest, his head tilted toward the bedroom. He lifted his chin Dev’s direction. Their gazes locked.
“So you’re playin’ both sides,” Keyes said to Dev. “If the club finds out, you’re dead.”
“It’s complicated.” Dev paused then shook his head. “It’s not that complicated. You’re pretty much right on.”
“Those drug runs were always sketch to me,” Keyes said, looking past him to Alec who had come inside the room, but stayed at a distance. Cash had taken Alec’s place in the doorway. “I never understood what we were doin’. The loads were always different but large. Not a few crates here or there but a substantial load. Eighteen-wheeler size hauls.”
“Right,” Dev agreed. “Even with what the Disciples kept and sold on the street, it was too large. They never made much sense, but I also never questioned it. I’m gonna tackle it soon. I’m goin’ in as second.”
Keyes jumped to his feet. “What?” he bellowed, anger clear in his tone. Pretty much summed up the way Dev felt about it too. His friend threw his hands in the air and began to pace the small room. “That’s a bad fuckin’ idea. Especially after everything you just fuckin’ said.” Keyes turned abruptly toward Cash, unafraid of any potential consequences. He pointed a stern, menacing finger at the agent. “That’s a bad fuckin’ idea.”
“Cash didn’t ask me to. I made the decision on my own. We need answers, so I gotta get in on the inside,” Dev said quietly, staring down at the pattern in the carpet. “But I honestly have a strong sense of retaliation aimed at hurtin’ my old man. A serious need to wreak havoc on him.” His tone softened to almost a whispered hiss. His demons battled fiercely inside him. They were absolutely going to have their day at his old man’s expense, whatever that meant, damn the consequences.
He glanced at Keyes whose expression became concerned at whatever he saw.
“Well, ’course, if you’ve got solid proof about Abi and Mae then Fox needs his ass handed to him,” Keyes said, looking over his shoulder to Cash, nodding, giving his approval.
Cash stayed quiet, staring at Dev. The agent did passive so damned well.
“Tena confirmed it,” Dev said. “Shanna knew too. She’s the one who delivered the blow…” Dev abruptly stopped speaking. Goddammit, he knocked the butt of his palm against his temple. He hadn’t planned to bring Shanna up. “I suck at bein’ anything but honest. I figured that’s why you kept your secret from me. It was safer that way.”
Keyes’s sudden grin spoke to the truth of his assumption. “So what? Shanna’s in on this?”
“Yeah, she’s been undercover for a while. And the pretty boy over there and I are together. The air quotes I used earlier were a lie. Like we’re in a very dysfunctional relationship.” The air in the room shifted as all heads turned toward Cash. “He says he’s in love. With me. Just in case that wasn’t clear.” Dev snapped his fingers together to draw Keyes’s attention back to him. “Fuck. Remember that kid that got shanked in the street initiation when we were like ten years old?”
He waited for a second or two. Maybe as long as a minute for Keyes to remember. It never happened. Dev went to Keyes, wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulders, patting Keyes’s chest as he stared at Cash. “Me too, man. I didn’t remember either. Everybody in my life remembers him, but I didn’t for a long time. He’s got a badass scar from his lower back all the way up his side. You ran for help. I jumped in the fight. That’s the kid we tried to help. Cash puts up with an infinite amount of bullshit from me even though he threatens to shove me in witness protection about every other day.”
Keyes brows raised as he nodded at Cash, most likely commiserating with the infinite amount of shit remark. “Alec and I started fuckin’ and it was the best of my life. I couldn’t stay away. I just kept goin’ back, over and over. Even through all the raids with the club and everything else goin’ on, the miles on my Harley kept risin’ to get back to him. I figure I’m goat-fucked without him now.”
“I feel the same way. Although I wish you had said it differently,” Alec added. “For me, it was love at first sight. Instantly in love and I had to find a way to make him love me back. It took quite a bit of effort and persuasion…”
Keyes barked out a genuine belly laugh and shrugged out of Dev’s hold. Keyes and Alec were drawn together, Alec sliding underneath Keyes’s heavy arm as if he belonged there. Seeing the truth of their attraction did wonders for Dev’s heart.
Dev nodded, his gaze shifting to Cash who continued to stare at him. The sudden emotion building inside Dev was too raw. He couldn’t voice the depth with which he had grown to care for that secret agent man.
Chapter 13
“What else should we know?” Alec asked.
The young attorney impressed Cash. More than he’d been with anyone in a long time. Alec was sharp, easily processing the bullet points Cash gave while not losing his focus on his primary objective: how any of this affected Keyes.
“If something happens to me, I want you to raise the girls. Especially after seein’ how tight y’all are with each other,” Dev said casually. “They love you.”
Since Dev was watching Cash instead of the big guy, he missed Keyes’s initial reaction. Cash chuckled at the horror written all over Keyes’s face, lifting a finger toward Keyes to direct Dev’s attention there.
Alec cast a quick glance at his boyfriend too. It was the perfect comedic reaction to ease everyone’s tension.
“Well, at least we got one good night’s sleep last night,” Alec teased.
“Good luck with any more.” A rushed exhale spoke to the honesty of Cash’s flippant words, knowing his own plight with sleep over the last few days. Actually, he wasn’t sure he’d slept a complete night since he’d left his vacation in Arkansas to join this operation.
“It broke me to cut ties with the club,” Keyes confessed. “The only shit that got me through was this man right here.” For two men who had hidden their relationship for almost a year, they didn’t shy away from shared affection. Keyes casually returned the tight hold Alec had around Keyes’s chest. “And now I’m worried about Dev. If they find out what you’ve done, you’ll be unalived that day.”
“Nobody can fuckin’ know. You’re the only person I’ve told the truth to. Every department and agency in the government that knows anything about the Disciples thinks Cash fucked his way into bein’ my undercover boyfriend.” Dev lifted a hand, halting whatever Keyes planned to say with the questioning look on his face.
“Okay, listen. Truth is I fucked Cash. Then he fucked me into the mattress. I accidentally recorded it. You know how I take pictures of pretty things. Not much prettier than that man over there,” Dev said directly to Keyes, giving Cash a rare moment of praise. “He’s really fuckin’ beautiful when he comes. I’m gonna ink that look on my body, probably my belly. I gotta always remember how beautiful that moment is. But the videos were only a happy accident. And I didn’t know we were bein’ recorded.”
Heat crawled up Cash’s cheeks as Alec and Keyes stared at him in confusion.
