“Oh fuck no,” Zane blurted. “No way.”
“He can make it,” Ty assured him.
“Yeah, but will he, is the question.”
Liam grinned wider. “Do you trust me not to hit your heart, Grady?”
“Ty,” Zane hissed, reaching for his arm.
Ty tore his eyes away from Liam and met Zane’s. “I swore to protect you from them,” he whispered. “I was already willing to take a bullet to do that. After everything that’s happened . . .” He shook his head, unable to finish.
Zane looked stricken, and he wasn’t able to form words before Ty looked away.
Liam was rubbing his hands together. “Let’s go practice!”
Nick slumped in his chair and rubbed his hands over his face. “This is a horrible plan.”
“Before we get too excited, where the hell would we set up this meet?” Digger asked. “We’d need an open area free of bystanders, with somewhere high enough to clear a line of sight. There’s nowhere in the city like that.”
Liam thumped his back against the wall and sighed. “Damn.”
The room fell silent.
“The river?” Owen suggested.
Liam made a derogatory noise. “With the wind and distance, there’s no way in hell. And if you cut the distance and make it a ferry, that’s even worse.”
“The amusement park,” Ty said suddenly.
“Are you shitting me?” Liam laughed. “There are way too many variables. Crowds, ride interference, not to mention security as you try to walk in with a very large weapon.”
But Ty was shaking his head. “The Six Flags park was drowned by Katrina. They never reopened it. You can see the roller coaster from Interstate 510.”
“The rides and stuff are still there?” Nick asked.
“For the most part, yeah. It’s completely deserted, only patrolled by a private security company.”
“That could work,” Nick said. “Roller coasters in the air, wide thoroughfares laid out in a predictable fashion, no bystanders, and plenty of cover if things go to shit.”
“Can you draw a map of it?” Liam asked Ty.
“What do I look like, an Etch A Sketch? I don’t know the layout.”
Zane stood and went to his suitcase, digging through it to bring out an iPad. “If it was ever on the internet, I’ll find it.”
Nick rested his elbows on his knees. “We’re really doing this?”
“Unless you can see another way that doesn’t involve a full-blown war,” Ty said. “We’ve already lost Doc; we won’t make it out alive if we go toe-to-toe.”
Nick was silent, nodding.
Ty sucked in a shaky breath. “We’re going to need some supplies. We might as well start now.”
“We’ll need fake blood,” Nick said. “Lots of it.”
“Oh, I can do that.” Digger hopped to his feet and grinned, rubbing his hands together.
“There’s a mom-and-pop store down on the corner,” Ty said. “The back door only has bars for security.”
“Got it.”
“We’ll need something for camouflage too,” Nick told him.
“Got it!”
“No peppers!” Ty added urgently.
“All right with your damn peppers! One little anaphylactic episode and he’s freaking out about the peppers.”
Digger turned to get his jacket, and Owen began to gather his things as well.
“Owen,” Ty said. Owen turned, and Ty shook his head. “He’s got to go it alone.”
“What? Why? No one should go anywhere alone right now.”
Ty winced. “Quite frankly, he’s the only one who can walk around in this neighborhood and not stand out.”
Digger poked a finger in Ty’s face. “That’s racist.” Ty rolled his eyes. Digger smacked his cheek gently. “That’s okay. I still love you, hillbilly.”
He turned to leave, a hop in his step. Nick didn’t know if it was the prospect of action or of cooking up fake blood that made Digger so happy. And frankly, he didn’t want to know.
Liam thumped his bag of supplies down on the coffee table, and everyone looked to the door, where Digger’s canvas bag sat.
“Who wants to go through his fun bag?” Owen asked.
“Guarantee you he has it booby-trapped,” Ty muttered.
Ty and Owen shared a glance. Nick held out his fist and the other two followed suit. “Two out of three.”
Ty slapped Owen on the arm. “Close your eyes, man.”
“Why?”
“You got a tell.”
“I have a tell at Rock, Paper, Scissors?”
Ty and Nick both nodded.
“And you tell me ten years later? You’re both assholes!”
Zane chuckled from across the room, but Liam walked away in disgust. “You’re all bloody idiots.”
Zane lay on one side of the full-sized guest bed, unable to sleep as the plans for the next day ran through his analytical mind. There was so much that could go wrong. Too much. People would probably die tomorrow. He might be one of them. Ty might be one of them.
Ty had set up a staggered watch so no one would be on together too long. He obviously didn’t trust Liam, but with a man down, they had to use him. Zane could hear the occasional creak of steps as Digger and Liam moved about, taking their turns.
Owen and Nick had argued over going to the hospital to check on Kelly. Nick insisted there was no way to connect Kelly to them, and the best way to keep him safe was to stay away from him. Owen seemed almost desperate to get news, though, and Zane’s heart went out to all of them. Not knowing if Kelly was alive or dead had to be driving them all crazy. Nick and Owen had moved to the larger bedroom, still arguing, leaving Ty and Zane to share this tiny bed in awkward, weighted silence. Ty had retreated to the shower with very little to say, and Zane had crawled into bed with a heavy heart and mind.
Now, Ty curled in the bed beside him. His back was to Zane and he had a pillow over his head so it was impossible to even see him. But Zane watched him anyway in the moonlight that filtered through the window.
He couldn’t get over the fact that he’d met Ty years ago. An introduction so fleeting he hadn’t even remembered what Ty looked like. When tragedy had struck Zane’s life, that simple meeting had influenced him in ways he had never truly pondered. Ty had done that, touched his life even before he knew him.
Ty had said it was fate. But Zane didn’t believe in fate.
Zane reached across the bed and poked him.
Ty jerked, and the pillow moved as he raised his head. “What?”
“How’d you know he was here?”
“What?” Ty asked. He rolled enough to be able to see Zane.
“Liam. You hallucinated him in the hospital before you found the note in my pocket. So how’d you know he was here?”
Ty settled onto his back, rubbing at his face. “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it.”
“Yes you have, Ty. You think about everything.”
Ty turned his head to look at Zane.
“How’d you know he was here?”
Ty’s focus drifted until it was on the wall over Zane’s shoulder.
“You think it was magic, don’t you? Voodoo. Fate.”
“I don’t know.” Ty sighed and pushed the pillow away. “You don’t believe in any of it, so what does it matter?”
“I believe in you,” Zane whispered. Ty looked at him sharply. “I believe you used to be one scary son of a bitch, Ty. Everything I’ve been told, the glimpses I’ve seen from you. What I’ve heard from Miami.”
Ty was hoarse when he spoke. “What’s your point, Zane?”
“I think you put that person behind you because you hated him. Because it scared you.”
Ty swallowed hard and snorted.
“You’re not a coward, Ty. I know what it takes to scare you. And I think the thing you’re afraid of more than anything in the world is yourself. But when Richard Burns told you I was in trouble, you brought that man back out. For me.”
Ty stared at the ceiling, unwilling or unable to meet Zane’s eyes. He was holding his breath, and as Zane’s eyes adjusted to the dark, he could see Ty trembling.
“I’d still do it again,” Ty finally whispered.
Goose bumps rose all over Zane’s body. He wondered what it would be like to see the man Ty was so frightened of showing him. He could see Ty closing off, so he switched directions. “When did you learn to speak Russian?”
“I can’t.”
“Liam said something to you today. He spoke in Russian.”
Ty sighed. “I can understand it okay but I can’t speak it. I could never get the hang of it. He tried to teach me.”
“What did he say?”
Ty licked his lips, staring at the ceiling. “He told me there was no use in getting hurt in a fight for a man I’d lost.”
Zane pushed onto his elbow, his eyes raking over the shadows that made up Ty’s face. “He’s you, isn’t he?” A frown marred his features. “He’s what you were like ten years ago.”
Ty took a shaky breath. “Yes.”
“What changed you?”
“Richard Burns gave me a cause.” He closed his eyes and turned his head away.
Zane fell silent, trying to connect the new pieces of the man in front of him. Nick had said the only thing keeping Ty on the ground was a sense of purpose. A cause. Now that Burns had turned his back on him, what would happen to Ty when this was over? Would he spiral away? Zane remembered the piece of silver Ty had melted down for him, the anchor etched into it. Pain and fear flooded him, squeezing his chest.
The only thing he could make of it was that, tomorrow, Ty intended to risk a bullet to the chest for him. Zane wanted to shake him, to scream at him. As angry as he had been, as willing to walk away as he’d thought he was, the thought of never finding all these pieces to the puzzle, of losing Ty now, setting Ty adrift in that big sea of his mind, was terrifying.
Zane reached out, sliding his hand over Ty’s waist beneath the covers. Ty tensed under his fingers, but Zane scooted into the neutral territory of the bed anyway, wrapping his arm over Ty’s waist, pulling himself closer. He shoved his face against Ty’s cheek and inhaled deeply. Ty’s shoulder was rigid against him.
But then, Ty reached up for him. His fingers brushed through Zane’s hair. His hand was cool against Zane’s skin when he placed it on Zane’s ribs.
He pushed his forehead against Zane’s lips. Zane kissed his skin. “You’re still,” Zane whispered. “That means you’re expending so much energy worrying, your body doesn’t need to fidget.”
Ty laughed, but it was a hollow sound. “I love that you know that about me,” he said sadly. His fingers tightened against Zane’s back. “I don’t know how to make this better, Zane.”
Zane closed his eyes. He didn’t either. The words settled in the room like fog rolling in off the Mississippi. Zane’s mouth went dry. “It can’t be over,” he whispered. “Right? Not when neither of us want it to be.”
Ty lifted his head, and they lay facing each other in the dark.
“We’ve never made it simple,” Zane finally said.
Ty laid his hand on Zane’s cheek. “I swear to you, Zane. I thought what I was doing was right. I searched for you after I left New York. You were out of my reach. When Burns read me in, the only thing I could think of was that it was the only way of getting back to you. Being partnered with you full-time, being able . . . being able to see you every day, to have you in my life. When he said you might need protecting, it was the only thing I heard. I swear to you. All I wanted from the day I left you in that hospital was you. To be back there with you.”
Zane throat tightened. The sincerity in Ty’s eyes, the desperation in his voice, those weren’t things he could fake, were they? “Ty . . .”
“What do you need me to do? I’ll do it, Zane, whatever you need to save us.”
Zane swore before he captured Ty’s lips in a desperate kiss. When he pulled back, it was only barely, and their lips brushed as he said, “Goddamn you, Ty.” By the time he got the last word out, Ty was pulling him closer by the back of the neck to kiss him again. “Feel like I’ve been on a goddamn seesaw,” Zane growled, his fingers dragging over Ty’s skin.
“I’m sorry,” Ty breathed. His hand trailed along Zane’s hip, fingers sliding under his boxers. He pulled away from the kiss and pressed his face against Zane’s, sliding his nose against Zane’s cheek.
A shiver ran through Zane. Ty’s hands were warm against the goose bumps. Zane kissed him again, leaning back so Ty would have to roll on top of him to continue the kiss.
“You were worth it,” Ty murmured.
That jolt of intense arousal and connection made its way through Zane’s body. The effect Ty had on him was something he would never find anywhere else, he knew that much. He shivered again as Ty’s fingers brushed his skin.
Ty slid his hands under Zane’s shirt, pushing the material up. Zane sat to help him get the shirt off, wrapping his arms around Ty’s waist lifting his head for a kiss. Ty’s hands cupped his face. The kiss was gentle and tentative, so unlike what Zane was used to.
“You were right, you know,” Ty whispered.
“About what?”
Ty swallowed hard. “I sold my soul a long time ago.”
Ty gripped Zane’s shoulder and pressed him down, laying him out again, then stretched out over Zane, his hand dragging down Zane’s body to push at his boxers.