"Glock, paper, scissors. I win."
"You are an a.s.s," Julian muttered.
"Ty, put your gun away," Zane muttered, less sarcastic than his partner. "To Gettysburg, then?"
"Fine. And when we get there you can shave that f.u.c.king ferret"s nest off your face," Ty said to Zane as he shoved the gun back into his coat.
"And on the way we"ll get some Cheetos and Dr Pepper for Ty"s blood sugar," Zane added, unperturbed.
In the front seat, Cameron clapped a hand over his mouth so no one would hear him snort.
Chapter 12.
C AMERON looked up at Julian as they rode the elevator in the Gettysburg Hotel up to the third floor. "Do you think this man you used to know is still here?"
"I"d like to think so. If he"s not, he"s dead, and that would distress me a little," Julian answered, deadpan.
"Did you know him well? He was a friend?" Cameron asked.
"More an acquaintance. A coworker." Julian glanced sideways at Cameron and smiled. "He retired of his own volition. That doesn"t happen often to people I know."
Cameron rolled his eyes and smiled as the elevator doors opened. "I imagine not, though I like to dream."
"You talk when you dream," Julian said in a low voice, fighting hard to keep the smile out of his voice. He took Cameron"s elbow and let his fingers drift down his lover"s arm as they stepped out of the elevator. Ty and Zane had let them go alone to scout the area. Julian knew they were testing him to see if they could trust him, and he also knew that Ty hadn"t made it out of that brawl as easy as he was leading them to believe. He was hurt, and Zane had sequestered him in the hotel room as soon as they"d arrived.
"We have a room to ourselves tonight," Julian murmured to Cameron with a smirk. "I"m quite looking forward to it."
"Ty and Zane will still be next door," Cameron said, but his smile didn"t fade. If anything, it grew wider.
"Like I care at this point." Julian allowed himself to grin as they came to the door of the first room. He gave Cameron a wink as he rapped his knuckles on the door three times.
"You never cared," Cameron murmured with a laugh. "About what they think, anyway."
"I maintain they"re both idiots," Julian muttered, albeit more fondly than he would have a day ago.
The door opened. "I heard that," Zane said as he stepped back to let them in the room.
"I know." Julian waved for Cameron to go in first, then followed with a smirk at Zane as he pa.s.sed.
Zane shut the door behind them a little harder than strictly necessary, and he stalked past them to thump down in the chair at the desk. His face was set in a deep frown as he glared at Ty, who sat sprawled in a wingback chair near the bed, bottle of water in hand. He"d been b.i.t.c.hing about the lack of Dr Pepper for a few days now. He was apparently going through some sort of caffeine withdrawal, and he refused to drink c.o.ke or Pepsi or even Red Bull. They were going to have to force something caffeinated down his throat soon, or he was going to kill them all.
Julian raised one eyebrow at Zane but didn"t comment on his crankiness. The room was thick with tension that almost buzzed between the two FBI agents.
"What"d you find out?" Ty demanded of Julian.
"Well, dinner is quite pricey in the tavern downstairs, there"s a ghost walk that begins at eight o"clock a few blocks away, and the young lady at the front desk is unnaturally friendly. I believe her to be a clone of some sort."
Ty pinched the bridge of his nose, as if desperately trying to keep himself from shooting Julian where he stood.
Cameron thumped Julian"s arm. "You"re not helping."
"That"s all we found out," Julian said with a shrug. "There"s a great deal of construction in town. And it"s been a while since I"ve been here, so it will take me some time to orient myself. I"m afraid I was confounded when I arrived at Nestor"s shop to find that it was no longer Nestor"s shop. He"s moved location, and while I did find the new building and leave him a message, it will be morning before we hear anything from him."
"Morning. Great," Ty said as he stood.
"We could all do with a night to sleep," Zane said.
"I"m antsy, Zane."
"You"re high on exhaustion and Cheetos."
"One walk around the block isn"t going to kill any of us."
"We don"t know who"s looking for us out there."
"Am I allowed to interject an opinion yet?" Julian asked with a frown.
"No. Shut up," Ty snapped.
"We need more information and more sleep before going back out. You can"t just run around blind," Zane stated, his voice dropping into an angry growl.
"You"re one to b.i.t.c.h at me about running blind," Ty muttered as he sat back down with a thump.
"Ty, put on your big girl panties and stop b.i.t.c.hing, okay?" Zane growled, sitting up straighter. Julian noticed one of his hands clutching in and out of a fist. "There"s no way in h.e.l.l you"re leaving this room tonight."
"Guys-" Cameron started. Julian reached out to touch Cameron"s shoulder and stop him. He"d seen discussions like this in his line of work, and they sometimes ended b.l.o.o.d.y. With these two it seemed prudent to stay out of the argument.
"No way in h.e.l.l?" Ty repeated incredulously. "What are you now, the stroll police?"
"We wait for Cross" contact and at least wait until dark to go wandering around," Zane said with finality. "And that"s still a bad idea."
Julian cleared his throat. "Really, we won"t hear from him until morning. Until then...." Julian shrugged and trailed off as he tried to gauge the tension between the two men. Zane"s back was ramrod stiff as he sat unmoving, and he hadn"t taken his eyes off Ty. Ty was the exact opposite, antsy and agitated, appearing to be moving even as he sat relatively still.
Cameron shifted closer to Julian, taking his elbow as he waited for the ensuing fight.
"I hate it when mother and father fight," Julian said under his breath.
"Shut up," Ty snapped at him, then turned on Zane, who stood to meet him. "Sit down, take a bubble bath or something. I need to take a walk."
"G.o.ddammit!" Zane lashed out without warning and hit the water bottle, sending it skidding across the carpet and splattering at Julian"s feet. "I"m gonna end up in the f.u.c.king madhouse because of you!" He reached out and grabbed Ty"s wrist, pulling him closer. "Loving you is going to make me f.u.c.king insane! I said no, and I mean it!"
Ty froze. Julian could only see half his face, but he appeared to be staring at Zane, mouth hanging open.
Julian realized he was doing the same thing. After several heartbeats, Zane closed his eyes and exhaled.
"I"m sorry. Did you say loving him?" Julian blurted incredulously. He pointed at Ty. "Him? You and him?"
"Julian...." Cameron tugged on his arm, trying to get him to leave the room, and Julian went along as he continued to gape at them.
Ty and Zane just stood there, frozen, Zane with his head bowed, Ty staring at him.
"I did not see that coming," Julian said to Cameron under his breath.
"Good to know you can still be surprised," Cameron whispered. "Now come on."
Julian nodded and turned with Cameron, glancing back at their companions. "We"ll just be...somewhere else," he told them as he reached for the door.
There was no answer as Julian closed the door behind them.
"Wow," Cameron said quietly.
"Indeed," Julian murmured. He looked at Cameron speculatively, not sure how to pa.r.s.e the information they"d just been made privy to and not certain what to do now that they had an entire night to themselves.
Cameron looked back at the door. There wasn"t any sound coming through it. "Come on. Let"s go downstairs."
"And drink," Julian added, nodding. He smiled suddenly, giving Cameron a sly sideways glance. "Or. We could just turn in for the night. In our own room."
"Which is next door, and you"ll be tempted to eavesdrop," Cameron said, waving at the room down the hall. "Compromise," he said, looking up to meet Julian"s eyes with an answering smile. "Drink, then room. Just...give them a little time."
Julian gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes as he slipped his arm around Cameron"s shoulders. "You"re an insufferable romantic, you know that?"
"And you love me for it."
"I do." He glanced back at the door. "I wonder if they"ll be done in time to realize joining that ghost tour is the best way to reconnoiter?"
"You"re an insufferable predator," Cameron said, tongue-incheek.
"And you love me for it."
"I do."
Z ANE squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for Ty to say something, but Ty smiled slowly and took a step toward him. "You totally just outed us to the criminals," he said as he pointed a finger at Zane.
"You make me insane, do you know that?" Zane blurted again with a wave of one hand. "Do you do it on purpose just to see me lose it?"
"Sometimes," Ty said with a smirk.
Zane sighed in utter frustration.
Ty bit his lip, watching his lover just because he could. He firmly believed that being able to rile Zane like he could was one of the aspects of their relationship that had saved Zane from tumbling back into his destructive past. Every now and then, Zane just needed to feel like he was alive. Everyone should be able to feel that. And if annoying him to the point of homicide was what it took, Ty was up to the challenge.
"What brought this on?" he asked after Zane was silent for a time. Zane shook his head, his eyes drifting to the door of the room. Ty gaped at him and pointed at the door. "From the criminals?" Zane snorted, caught Ty"s hand, and kissed his fingers.
"Apparently some "criminals" have better sense than I do." "You"re modeling your love life on that of a trained a.s.sa.s.sin," Ty laid out in disbelief. "I swear to G.o.d, if he pulled some Jedi mind trick on you and they"re off escaping right now, I will put a bullet in his Irish a.s.s!"
Zane laughed, the sound almost desperate as he swiped a hand over his face. "Well, now what do we do?" he asked, dejected. They had gone months without breaking their cover in front of anyone. It had almost been a source of pride for them. Just another undercover a.s.signment.
Ty shook his head, looking at Zane again as unusual warmth began to spread through him. "I don"t care if they know. I don"t care if anyone knows anymore."
Zane looked at him sharply. "You don"t mean that."
Ty shrugged. They both knew what their options would be if their relationship was discovered at work. It had nothing to do with them being gay and everything to do with the FBI"s unofficial policy on fraternizing. "I think we take our chances when we get home." "What?"
"They"d just rea.s.sign us partners within the work group. We"d still be working together. You"d end up with Freddy, they"d probably put me with Scott. It wouldn"t be too bad. We could actually... you could get rid of your c.r.a.ppy apartment and we could live together." Zane stared at him, his dark eyes taking on an almost molten appearance. Ty"s breath caught in his throat as he tried and failed to continue speaking. Deuce had asked him once what it was about Zane that had first drawn him in. He"d been a broken man, an addict who was hopelessly lost in the past, drifting through life alone with little purpose and even less faith that it could get better.
Anyone with any sense would have steered clear. But from the first moment Ty had really looked into Zane"s eyes, he"d seen behind them, into the man Zane was capable of being. He"d seen a phoenix waiting to rise from the ashes, and he still did. Every time he looked into Zane, he saw something extraordinary.
Zane shook his head, his breaths coming harder as they stared at each other. "What if you live with me and you change your mind?" "Zane," Ty said in frustration. He held up one hand. "In the time you"ve been with me, have I ever changed my mind after deciding something? Even when we both knew I was wrong?"
Zane smiled weakly and shook his head.
"I love you," Ty said, the quiet words devoid of any selfconsciousness or his usual bravado. "And I"ve never been able to say that before with such conviction. I can"t remember a time that you weren"t the first thing I thought of, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don"t care what stands in our way."
Zane"s breath hitched, and he reached out for Ty. He caught Ty"s face gently between his hands and kissed him, drawing it out until finally releasing his lips to run his nose along Ty"s cheek. Ty closed his eyes, feeling the calm that Zane"s touch always instilled in him sweep over him. He pushed his nose against Zane"s as he slid his fingers into his hair. If he and Zane had any say in the workings of fate, Zane would be the last person he ever touched like this.
Zane let out a shaky breath and whispered. "Will you... will you make love to me?"
Ty chuckled and took Zane"s face in his hands to kiss him.
"Baby," he started, a thousand things going through his mind to say, every one of them a typical smarta.s.s Grady remark. He looked into Zane"s sincere eyes and his smile softened. Zane"s occasional purple prose was all part of his charm. Sometimes Ty even let him slide without poking fun at him. "I"d like that."
Zane grinned and gave him another gentle kiss, lapping at his lips to get Ty to part them. His hands settled atop Ty"s shoulders before sliding down his chest, catching on the soft material of Ty"s T-shirt, and around his torso to hug him close. Ty gave him a gentle tug, trying to get him to swing around and lie back with him on one of the antique double beds. Zane pulled back from their kiss and pulled off his Henley, tossing it to the floor, before reaching to slide his hands under Ty"s T-shirt to strip it off him. There were two soft thuds on the carpet-Zane toeing off his shoes-then he shifted onto the mattress, pulling up his legs as he lay on his side alongside Ty.
"Baby," Ty whispered against Zane"s lips. He had never felt this sort of heat and longing for another person. He didn"t know how Zane did it, but Ty knew that there would never be anyone else for him. He wanted Zane to feel that too, to have that a.s.surance both physically and emotionally. He would do whatever he had to do to make sure that Zane knew he was his.
He slid his hand into Zane"s hair, gripping the curls at the base of his neck and using them to pull Zane"s head back, just to be able to kiss him harder. Zane"s lips were soft and gave under his as he drove the kiss. They lay wrapped around one another, and when he shifted more, Zane broke off the kiss with a gasp and rocked their groins together despite the layers of thin cloth between them. The look in Zane"s eyes told Ty that he was on the right path. Zane"s reply was lost between Ty"s lips, but he dragged his legs apart so Ty could settle between them.
Ty groaned as Zane wrapped around him. He broke the kiss and pushed himself up, bracing himself with one hand as he used the other to tug at Zane"s undershirt. "Get these off," he snarled.
Zane didn"t hesitate. He pulled the shirt off as Ty pawed at it, and started unfastening his pants, hurrying to arch his back and start shoving them down over his hips along with his briefs. Ty had to crawl backward to let him get them off, and he pushed his own jeans and boxers down his thighs and got rid of them before he knelt between Zane"s legs.
"Come here," Zane invited, holding out one arm to pull Ty back close against his warm skin.
Ty took his hand and kissed his fingers, then his palm, then his wrist. He tugged at Zane"s hand, trying to get him to sit up instead.
Zane did, sucking in a breath and sitting up without pulling his hand away, and it put him right in the circle of Ty"s arms. Ty slid his fingers between Zane"s as he kissed him. He had to lean over him to get closer, raising himself up on his knees. Zane spread his legs wider, propping up his knees and moving his feet out as Ty moved closer to him. A new wave of possessiveness and desire swept through Ty as he looked down at his lover. He ran his hand through Zane"s hair, gripping the curls again to yank his head back and kiss him.
It only took a few seconds for him to tighten his grip and force Zane back down to the mattress. He used Zane"s body to pull himself up and closer, settling between Zane"s legs, pushing his hips against Zane"s inner thighs, rubbing his hard c.o.c.k against Zane"s with a groan.
Zane exhaled harshly as he shifted his legs further apart, making room for Ty as he slid both hands over Ty"s shoulders and down his back and all over what skin he could reach. Not gripping or pinching or squeezing, just touching. He was murmuring too, desperate words that sounded like I love you.
Ty"s hand went to the back of Zane"s thigh, pulling at it to settle Zane"s raised leg against his hip. He kissed him languidly, taking care to slide his lips and tongue against Zane"s, wanting to give them both the chance to taste and feel each other before they lost all self-control.