Ball & Chain (Cut & Run)

by Roux, Abigail

  “Was it nice?” Ty asked carefully.

  Zane snorted. “It was way overdone. My mom did the whole thing because we were living in Dallas at the time. But I guess it was okay. I don’t really remember much about it.” Zane made a noise in his throat.

  “What, too much bachelor party?”

  “No, it’s just . . .” Zane waved his hand around. “You stand there in this important ceremony, nervous as hell because everyone’s watching you and you don’t want to trip on the steps, and then it’s over and you don’t remember a single thing and it seems like such a waste of all that time.”

  Ty snorted and shook his head. They walked hand in hand down the beach, the cold waves lapping at the rocky sand near their feet, the lightning highlighting whitecaps on the water.

  “Care for another waltz in the rain?” Zane asked, his voice gone lower.

  “Always.”

  Zane stopped him as the thunder rolled, and pulled Ty to him. They began a slow box step, taking note of the rocks and their footing.

  “Have you ever done the sex-on-the-beach thing?” Ty asked as his fingertips played over Zane’s palm. Zane shivered.

  “Yeah. Once. I kind of enjoyed it, but she was complaining about sand in weird places for days afterward.”

  Ty gave a surprised laugh.

  “I always thought it sounded sort of uncomfortable, when you got down to the logistics of it,” Ty mused. He began to hum as they danced. The skies rumbled and lightning flashed almost on top of the sound, meaning the storm was almost upon them.

  Ty gazed up at Zane, his stomach fluttering. Rather than illuminating the warm brown of Zane’s eyes, the night seemed to sap all the color from him, leaving them a luminescent gray. He couldn’t help but stare at his lover, wondering how Zane just got more and more attractive to him as the days went by.

  “You’re the only person I’ve ever been with who made me want to try things like that.”

  Zane grinned, and their dance slowed to a stop. “I make you want to roll around in the sand?”

  Ty shook his head. “That came out wrong.”

  “No, it didn’t,” Zane murmured, still grinning as he ran his hand up Ty’s arm.

  “I just mean . . .” Ty held a pent-up breath as he met Zane’s eyes again. Zane’s face was so sincere, looking at Ty in that way that always made Ty feel warm and loved. “I mean that all the experiences I’ve ever heard of in life . . . I want to have them with you.”

  Zane’s smile grew more tender. He ran his knuckles down Ty’s cheek. “Ty—”

  “Marry me, Zane.”

  He could feel Zane’s heartbeat quicken. Every part of him tingled where Zane touched him. He held his breath.

  “Nope,” Zane whispered.

  Ty grinned, laughing silently. Leave it to Zane to reject him and make him laugh at the same time. “You don’t want to at least consider for a minute this time? Run the numbers a little?”

  “Ty, shut up,” Zane murmured, and pressed his lips to Ty’s, wrapping around him in a passionate embrace and kissing him for all he was worth.

  Ty’s arms tightened on him, fingers gripping. The sound of the tide and the approaching rain became a backdrop to the sound of Ty’s heart pounding in his chest. He wanted Zane to know he’d thought this through, that he wanted them to spend the rest of their lives together. But he also kind of liked the idea of Zane making him ask until he got it right, making him work for it. Ty needed to work for it. They could play this game because in the end, Ty knew Zane would say yes. He just had to find the perfect time, the perfect place, the perfect way.

  “I love you,” Ty whispered against Zane’s lips.

  Zane smiled and pressed his nose against Ty’s cheek. “I love you, too.”

  “I’m going to keep asking until you say yes.”

  Zane smiled against his cheek. “I know.”

  Zane took his hand and began to lead him toward the path again. Ty glanced up at the lights ahead of them and squinted. “Please tell me you know which freaking haunted room in the freaking haunted mansion is ours.”

  “Yes, I know which one is ours,” Zane assured him. The thunder crashed behind them and they quickened their pace. “This is nice, that Deuce and Livi get to do something like this. Wedding and honeymoon all in one, stretch it out and take their time. I would have gone tropical maybe, but still.”

  “Yeah, well, Deuce is terrified of airplanes, so I’m guessing he only had enough tranquilizers for one trip,” Ty said. “You didn’t get to do the honeymoon thing?”

  “We were both working, and neither of us wanted to take time off right then.” He didn’t sound put out about it. “That stuff wasn’t really our kind of thing.”

  Ty just nodded. They walked in silence for a while. When they came closer to the house, they hit a stone walkway and Ty stumbled on the unexpectedly hard ground.

  True to his word, Zane caught him around the middle and steadied him. Ty snorted as he wrapped an arm around Zane’s neck. Zane squeezed Ty close as they started up the stairs. Flickering hurricane lamps lit the hallway, though Ty suspected they were electric. But it was dark inside their room, with just the moonlight filtering in the ancient windowpanes. Muffled sounds of laughter came from Nick and Kelly’s room. It kind of sounded like someone was getting laid in there, and Ty idly wondered which one had gotten lucky with which bridesmaid and which one was sleeping on some sofa downstairs.

  He stood motionless near the doorway to his and Zane’s room, letting his eyes adjust and knowing he would wind up face-planting onto the floor if he tried to walk. The thought made him snicker quietly, and he clapped a hand over his mouth. Then Zane’s arms slid around his waist from behind, followed by his warm, hard body.

  Ty tilted his head to the side, biting his lip in an attempt to stop the laughter. He calmed briefly, but then another fit overtook him as Zane’s stubble tickled at his neck. He closed his eyes and shook silently at the absurdity of the romantic location. He and Zane were definitely more of a backseat-of-the-Mustang kind of couple. The thunder rumbled outside.

  “All right, funny guy,” Zane said. He smacked Ty on the hip. “You’re clearly entertained without my help.”

  Ty reached out for his wrist. He pulled Zane toward him in the dark. “No, don’t. I’ll be good.”

  “You being good isn’t a problem,” Zane growled. “Focused, yes. Good, no.”

  Ty nodded determinedly and cleared his throat. “I’ll be focused.”

  Zane leaned forward, his lips skimming from the corner of Ty’s mouth, along his cheekbone, and to his ear. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  Ty tried to meet Zane’s lips with his own, but Zane moved away too quickly for a kiss. Ty wrapped his arms around Zane’s shoulders. “I think you should do something I’ll be ashamed of in the morning.”

  Zane gripped his hips and pushed their groins together. He hummed thoughtfully. “What could I do that would make you blush if you thought about it tomorrow?”

  “If I don’t get a kiss soon, I’m going to hit critical mass, understand?”

  Ty barely got the last word out before Zane’s mouth was on his, hot and hungry. He groaned and let Zane take control of it, hoping his lover knew which way the bed was. Zane ran one hand up his back to cup his head as he deepened the kiss, his other hand moving between them to pull at Ty’s shirt, drawing him into the darkness.

  “So, how embarrassed would you be if Nick and Kelly mention hearing screaming through the wall tomorrow?” Zane drawled.

  “Just tell them I saw a ghost; no one will ask questions.”

  Zane pulled his shirt over his head, and then he was right there again, all defined muscles and warm skin. After another long kiss, Zane asked, “What’s your pleasure, doll?”

  “You know exactly what I want,” Ty answered breathlessly. He pushed Zane toward the bed. They could see it when lightning struck outside, the pale gray bedcover practically glowing blue as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. Ty pu
lled Zane closer to kiss him as he fell back onto the soft mattress.

  It wasn’t until it was too late that he remembered the gauzy rings of decorative netting that hung from the four-poster bed. The clingy material wrapped around them as they fell into it, getting caught up between them and around their limbs and tightening as their weight pulled the netting.

  “Hell.” Zane pushed off Ty and batted at the netting, trying to find his way out of it. “Shit, I can’t see. Quit moving!”

  Ty shook his head and broke down all over again. He held his hands up obediently, trying not to move. But he was hopelessly encased in netting. He laughed harder, until he could barely catch his breath, and the sound went from loud and ringing off the rock walls of the suite to nearly silent as he tried and failed to pull in air. Zane’s cursing and struggling just made it funnier.

  Finally Zane got loose and rolled away.

  “Get some rest,” Zane said quietly as he moved around the dark room and out of Ty’s visual range. He sounded disgruntled. “You don’t want too much of a hangover tomorrow.”

  “Wait, Zane, don’t go.” Ty tried to go after him but wound up tangled even more in the netting. “It’s not funny, I swear,” he tried, even as he snickered.

  He heard Zane snort from the foot of the bed. “Be careful.”

  “You’re seriously leaving me here?” Ty asked, his voice a higher pitch than it usually was.

  Zane was quiet for a long minute. He finally sighed. “No.” He moved, and a light flipped on, blindingly bright.

  Ty winced away from it and tried to cover his eyes, but that only served to tangle him further, which was for some reason wildly funny.

  Zane threw up his hands. “I am not even dealing with this,” he said, his voice trembling with amusement. He turned the light back off. “You’re a mess.”

  “No, Zane! Don’t leave me here!” Ty said in the most pitiful voice he could muster, which was ruined by the continuing peals of laughter he just couldn’t stop.

  “Good night, Ty.” The bed dipped as Zane got in on the other side.

  After long moments of trying desperately to calm down, Ty finally managed it and came to terms with the fact that Zane probably wasn’t going to fuck him tonight. He probably wasn’t even going to untangle him, and Ty was much too drunk and pleasantly sleepy to try to do it himself.

  “Well,” he sighed, his movements accompanied by the creaking of the canopy above him. “This was not what I had in mind when I told you I wanted to be ashamed of myself in the morning.”

  Zane watched the sun rise out of the distant horizon and shimmer on the water from where he lay sprawled on the bed. He’d slept some as the storm raged through the night, although not as well as he would have while holding Ty, who was still encased in a protective roll of netting. And if he were honest, he’d been a little too edgy to sleep deeply after the discussion they’d had with the Stantons. Expecting trouble or not, Zane felt like it was around the corner.

  He’d also spent much of the night thinking about Ty. He knew Ty had meant every word of it when he’d asked Zane to marry him. And Zane might be wrong, Ty may have thought about it every night while he was gone and played through every possibility in his mind before he asked the first time. But Zane knew Ty pretty damn well, and he wanted him to think about it again and again. And again. Then one last time, just to be sure.

  He also knew he had made some pretty drastic changes to himself. He wanted Ty to see those, to know those changes were permanent and to make sure he was still what Ty really wanted. Ty hadn’t come back the same person. The more time they spent together, the clearer that was to Zane. He smiled less, he joked less, he was quicker to strike. Zane was almost afraid Ty’s proposal was just another quick strike. They just needed time.

  The canopy above the bed creaked as Ty moved within the netting. He groaned and rolled, only to have his progress halted by the gauzy, tangled material. He stopped, one hand actually suspended above the mattress by the netting as he lay flat on his back. He mumbled something in a language that may or may not have been foreign and tried to move again.

  Zane half wanted to laugh, but waking Ty up that way might kick him into a full-blown, flashback-induced panic attack.

  The bed groaned, and Ty shot up with a gasp, still wrapped in netting.

  Zane rolled off the bed, out of reach. “Ty,” he said carefully. Sometimes even when Ty’s eyes were open, it didn’t mean he was there with you.

  Ty responded with a nearly panicked few words in Farsi, but he wasn’t flailing or fighting. Not yet. He spoke again, rapid fire as he gave his arm a good yank. “Where’s O’Flaherty?”

  “Ty, you’re awake and you’re okay.” Zane moved into Ty’s line of sight. “Nick’s asleep next door. He’s okay too. Everyone’s okay, doll. Let me help you.”

  Ty watched him, his breathing slowing as reality seemed to soak through to his brain. His hands still shook with adrenaline and probably an ounce or two of fear, but he was silent and still as he let Zane untangle him.

  “Worst morning after ever,” Ty said, almost calm enough to fool Zane into thinking he was okay with waking up to a full-fledged flashback.

  Almost. Zane continued to untangle the netting, trying to move Ty’s arms without holding or clasping them. He got one loose, but the other hand was really caught up. How had he even done this to himself? “I can cut it loose, doll.”

  Ty shook his head. “It’s okay.”

  He began using the hand Zane had freed to disentangle his other leg, taking long, slow breaths to try to calm himself. As soon as Zane managed to free his other hand, Ty clambered out of the bed like it was on fire. He used Zane to pull himself out, practically climbing up and over him to get away from the netting. Zane sighed and let him do it; to try to hang on to him or stop him would have been a mistake.

  “Thanks, Zane,” Ty whispered, rubbing at his chest.

  Zane’s heart swelled with a confusing mix of love and pity and anger for the things Ty had been put through. He knelt on the mattress and reached out, brushing Ty’s cheek with the tips of his fingers. He smiled wryly when Ty met his eyes. “At your service.”

  Ty managed a weak smile. “My hero.”

  Zane flattened his palm against Ty’s cheek. “Come here.”

  Ty promptly stripped off the clothing Zane hadn’t gotten off him last night and crawled back into the bed beside Zane. Zane scooted and laid himself out, reaching for him. Ty pulled the covers over both their heads and Zane gathered him up to hold him.

  “Sorry I ruined the night,” Ty offered. “I’m really sorry.”

  “We’ll laugh about it later,” Zane said, skimming one hand through Ty’s hair.

  Ty snorted. “Don’t be nice to me when I’m hungover.”

  “Quit being an ass.” Zane poked him hard in the side, and Ty chuckled against his chest. Zane hugged him tighter before loosening his grip again. He’d learned that at times like these, Ty wanted to be held but sometimes couldn’t tolerate it, so Zane let him decide. Ty rested his head on Zane’s shoulder, his fingers playing with the hair on Zane’s chest.

  Zane was desperate to know what Sidewinder had gone through to make Ty’s nightmares so devastating, to make Digger and Owen walk away from the Marine Corps, and to make Nick look positively haunted when he thought no one was watching. But the only thing Zane could do was offer his shoulder. Literally.

  Zane tapped under Ty’s chin and got him to raise his head, then leaned in to steal a kiss. “You okay?”

  Ty wrapped his arms around him and threw a leg over him to pull him closer. Zane closed his eyes, his chest aching. It was moments like this that made dealing with the shit of their pasts worthwhile, that made their future seem possible.

  He pressed his lips to Ty’s temple. “Love you,” he whispered.

  Ty smiled and snorted against his neck. “I know.”

  They were both silent, soaking in the peace and quiet. Then Ty narrowed his eyes at Zane. “I proposed on a
moonlit beach in Scotland. How do you just say ‘Nope!’ to that?”

  Zane laughed. “I’m surprised you remember it.”

  Ty muttered some more as he cuddled back down. Zane began to relax again, allowing Ty’s weight to push him into the bed. They were both almost asleep when something thumped from the room next door, followed by boisterous laughter.

  “Assholes,” Ty said. He raised his head and banged on the wall above the short headboard. “Assholes!”

  A few seconds later, someone banged back. If they said anything, the thick walls drowned it out.

  “What the hell are they doing up this early?” Zane asked.

  “Screw early, what the hell are they doing, period?”

  “Sounded like someone fell out of the bed. I’m putting money on it being Kelly.”

  “Me too. Nick shares a bed well, but Kelly spreads like a fucking puddle of Jell-O. Forces you to fight back.” More laughter came from the other side of the wall. Ty rested his elbow against Zane’s chest. “Want to make some noise on our side?”

  Zane slid his fingers down Ty’s defined arm, stroking the marred face of the bulldog tattoo. A bullet had ripped through the ink and formed a jagged scar, but that just made it look tougher. Zane tore his eyes away from it to look up into Ty’s. “What’d you have in mind?”

  “The kind of noise that you have to hold on to the headboard for.”

  Zane’s body was instantly interested in this new proposition, and the predatory look in Ty’s eyes said he knew it.

  Ty leaned down and gave him a slow, sensual kiss. Zane dragged his hands up Ty’s arms, over his shoulders, and down his back to hold on to his trim waist as they kissed. Ty smiled against his lips and climbed over him, staying on his knees and straddling Zane’s thighs, putting both hands on Zane’s shoulders. Zane tipped his head back, more than happy to give in to Ty’s attentions.

  Ty’s hands plunged into his hair, and his scruff scratched at Zane’s chin and lips. It stirred the warmth inside Zane, and his skin heated with each stroke of Ty’s tongue against his. When their mouths parted, Zane whispered, “Let’s make some fucking noise.”