Chapter 3 #2
The six foot-four brother with muscles, tattoos, and a face like a Greek god.
When Keys had first joined the club, Cage had been a total womanizer.
He hadn’t just been sleeping with the Honeys, but also any hang-arounds or random hookups he met.
A nineteen-year-old Keys had thought him the coolest, while also being extremely jealous of Cage’s seemingly effortless ability to talk a woman out of her pants.
Then it had come to light that Cage was sleeping around to mask the pain of being rejected by the woman he was in love with: Angel, the Via Daemonia’s only female member.
It took a lot of trial and error, along with the heartbreak of a miscarriage, for the two of them to come together and find their happiness.
And if Keys thought he was jealous of Cage when he’d been a womanizing scoundrel, it was nothing compared to when he saw the pure happiness on Cage’s face the first time Angel publicly claimed him.
“Nothing that I can think of,” Keys answered, attempting at innocence.
Cage snorted. “Don’t leave your day job, kid. Hollywood’s not calling your name with that piss-poor talent.”
Keys flushed, but dropped the act. “I’m just as surprised as you are about…” He waved his hand towards the stage he’d just exited. “Whatever that was.”
Cage approached him, his expression calculating. Like he was trying to decipher if Keys was lying or not. “Fifty thousand isn’t pocket change, kid. If you were going to fake out your own date, you probably should have gone with a lower amount.”
Keys’ cheeks went from pink to flaming red. “I didn’t do that!” he insisted again. “That wasn’t me!”
He knew exactly who it was, too. But how could he possibly explain his relationship with Glitch to Cage or the club?
Hell, he couldn’t even explain it to himself.
They were friends, sure, but there were so many secrets between them.
How was it that he trusted her so completely when he had no idea who she was?
It wasn’t just because Poison trusted her.
That had been the reason he’d been willing to work with her in the beginning—but it certainly wasn’t the reason he stayed in daily contact with her.
Why he hated going to sleep, because it meant stopping talking to her.
Why he gave her access to his new code. Why he kept debating on asking her if they could video chat, but didn’t want to frighten or push her away.
He respected her desire for anonymity, but that didn’t mean he liked it. He wanted to get to know her on a more personal level.
Keys wasn’t ashamed to admit—at least to himself—that she was the reason he hadn’t yet quit his daily workouts with Jigsaw and Chip.
And there were a lot of times he wanted to quit.
Like multiple-times-a-day wanted to quit.
But he didn’t. Because when they did finally meet in person, Keys wanted to be someone she could be proud of.
Realistically, he knew he shouldn’t be changing himself for a girl. And he wasn’t, he wanted these changes for himself. But he’d found a motivator in the thought of Glitch, and he wasn’t going to waste that.
Ghost and Steel hadn’t come out and said anything to him, and Keys wasn’t sure they ever would, but both had come by Keys’ new building across the street to watch his workouts.
The pride in both their expressions was intimidating as fuck.
Steel had become like a father-figure to Keys and Ghost was the big brother he’d never had.
He didn’t want to disappoint or let either down.
It was also because of that that Keys had asked Angel and Cage to train him in hand-to-hand.
Ranger, Ghost, even Bulldog, could have.
Hell, a number of his brothers could have, but Keys didn’t feel judged by Angel and Cage the way he did with the others.
Angel certainly wasn’t gentle and Cage enjoyed putting Keys on the ground way too much, but they were patient and they gave him instructions rather than throwing him in the deep end to see if he could swim.
While Keys had no illusion that he would become the next Jet Li, he still wanted to be useful beyond a computer screen.
Especially with opening a security business.
Two brothers who were both former SEALs were coming in to be interviewed before Thanksgiving, and Keys didn’t want either of them to look at him like some weakling nerd.
From the backgrounds he’d pulled, he was a dozen years younger than one and almost fifteen years younger than the other.
It wasn’t just that he wanted to be respected by them. He wanted the confidence to stand tall next to men like that, men like his club brothers.
Cage’s eyes narrowed on him even further. “You’re telling me that you didn’t have some fancy-ass computer program simulate a bid so you could get out of a date?”
Keys shook his head vigorously. “I didn’t! Promise.” Although, he kind of wished he’d thought of it. Standing up on that stage with a silent audience staring blankly while Louisa looked at him with such pity, trying to talk anyone in the crowd into bidding on him… Yeah, talk about humiliating.
He didn’t know if Glitch actually had fifty thousand dollars.
Even if she did, he didn’t want her paying that sort of money for him.
The implications would be hard for either of them to ignore.
He’d transfer the funds from an anonymous source so no one could trace it back to him and renew his humiliation.
Cage nodded once. “I believe you. But look me in the eye and tell me you don’t know who did.
” Cage must have seen something in Keys’ expression, because he suddenly laughed.
“You do! Way to go, kid!” Before Keys knew what was happening, Cage grabbed him up in a bear hug and started slapping him on the back.
“Good for you.” Stepping back, Cage grabbed Keys by the shoulders.
“Who is it? Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone? ”
Keys stared wide-eyed at his club brother for a solid minute before he managed to stutter out. “I’m not. I mean, we’re not. I don’t… She’s… We’re just friends.”
“She?” Cage’s eyebrows lifted and he squeezed Keys’ shoulders tighter. “Brother, I seriously have the wrong friends if you’ve got one who would dish out that sort of cash. My wife wouldn’t even pay that to save my life, let alone go on a single date with me.”
He said it like a joke, but Keys knew that Angel would do anything for her man.
“I don’t… I mean… I just… I didn’t know she was going to do that.” Jesus, he sounded so ridiculous.
Cage, thankfully, backed off. “Deep breath, kid. I’m proud of you.
I’m sure you want to run home now—which is fine—but I’ll leave you with a bit of advice.
There weren’t any open bids for you. She didn’t have to go that high.
If I were you, I’d be questioning that friendship.
Maybe this is her way of showing you she wants to be more than friends and take that next step with you. ”
Keys watched Cage walk away, rejoining his family who was waiting for him by the churro cart.
Next step? No… Really? Keys’ heart hammered in his chest at the possibility.
What if Cage was right? What if Glitch wanted to be more than friends?
The thought was…intoxicating. At the sudden tightness in his pants, Keys glanced down at his groin.
Oh shit! Well, clearly more than his heart liked the idea.
Fuck, he needed to get out of here. Quickly untucking his shirt, he tried to hide his erection as he scurried away from his club brothers and that godawful stage.
There was a lot of work he still had to do.
Steel was in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, and Keys was working with Toni Anderson, the club’s criminal defense attorney, to make sure they had all their ducks in a row come Monday to get the charges dropped.
He shouldn’t be spending his time worrying about dates and romantic relationships. Not when his club needed him. He couldn’t let Steel down.
* * *
It was three in the morning, and Keys couldn’t take it anymore. He reached for his phone.
WiseWave620: You still up?
Gl!tch.OS: You act like I should be sleeping right now.
WiseWave620: A normal person would be.
Gl!tch.OS: What does that make you??
WiseWave620: Very, very NOT normal
Gl!tch.OS: Wow, and here I thought I was the only one.
WiseWave620: You really aren’t going to talk about this?? I expected a message or something tonight but you’ve been quiet.
Gl!tch.OS: It’s no big deal. Just forget about it.
WiseWave620: Forget that you paid $50k for a date with me?
Gl!tch.OS: I did it for charity. Not for a date with you.
Ouch. Well, there went Cage’s theory.
Gl!tch.OS: We’re friends, Keys. Let’s not ruin that.
WiseWave620: You say that like I asked you out. You didn’t have to do what you did. I just want to make sure I’m reading the situation correctly.
Gl!tch.OS: There is no situation. I did it for charity, nothing more. I apologize for getting your hopes up.
WiseWave620: My hopes? Hell, I don’t even know what we are to have had any hope. What would we have done? Had an online date? Gone virtual bowling?
Gl!tch.OS: Exactly. So let’s just forget about it. Okay?
WiseWave620: Fine.
Gl!tch.OS: Fine.
WiseWave620: I’m going to sleep now.
Gl!tch.OS: Way to shoot for normal.
WiseWave620: Yup.
Gl!tch.OS: Night.
WiseWave620: Yeah.
Gl!tch.OS: You’re supposed to say “good night” back.
WiseWave620: If you say so.
…
WiseWave620: I apologize. That was rude. I do hope you have a good night.
* * *