Fish & Chips (16 page)

98 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

“Damn straight,” Ty said almost angrily. “But I can"t drink because
who’s
an alcoholic?” he asked sarcastically. He was obviously frustrated, both by the role he had to play and by the lack of outlet for that frustration. He was tense despite all the “relaxing” he"d been doing, and Zane knew he"d be spoiling for a fight that was not of the good by the time they got to the cabin if he didn"t find something for him to get into first.

But this Ty not drinking thing? Zane needed to put a stop to that thought right now. He caught Ty by both shoulders, met his eyes, and spoke clearly but quietly. “Listen to me. You don"t have to quit drinking just because I have. Seriously.”

“I"m not that cruel,” Ty told him frankly. “I"ve seen the look in your eyes when alcohol is mentioned. It"s the same look you give me, so I know what you"re thinking.”

“It"s not cruel. And what do you mean, the same look I give you?” Zane asked, frowning a little. “Whatever look you"re seeing in my eyes isn"t anything other than me wondering if
you’re
wondering if I"m gonna ditch the wagon and drink up.”

Ty shook his head patiently. “It"s the look of an addict seeing something he wants,” he said without malice. He spoke with an almost-kind frankness that was rare for Ty, made even more surreal by the British accent he was again employing. He held up three fingers.

“Alcohol, drugs, me. You think of all of those things in the same way.

I"m the only one that won"t hurt you to indulge, and I"m not cruel enough to combine two of them in front of you.”

The surprise kept Zane quiet for a few moments, and he had to gather his thoughts before he could reply. Why he was constantly surprised by how observant and insightful Ty could be, he didn"t know.

“I do appreciate the thought. But really, I can honestly tell you that as long as you"re around, it"s no contest.”

Ty snorted and looked away, his eyes darting back and forth over the crowd of passengers shopping along the promenade. He came to some sort of decision, though, and he nodded and glanced back at Zane uncomfortably. “I"ll keep that in mind.”

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Zane nodded slowly and decided that was the best he could do for now, at least on that topic. He still had a cranky and worked-up partner who needed some kind of outlet. “C"mon.”

He pulled Ty along to a map of the promenade and looked at the entertainment choices while Ty fidgeted impatiently. It was past nine, and the dance clubs were rocking—Zane could hear the muffled music—but he wasn"t sure something more soothing might not be a better choice. Still, they"d walk past the clubs, check them out. He made note of a couple places and then steered Ty in the direction of the music.

“What?” Ty finally asked as Zane led him.

“Distraction for you and entertainment for me, coming right up,”

Zane announced as they descended a wide double staircase.

“What do you mean, entertainment?” Ty asked suspiciously as he looked back at the steps. “Are we headed down to the clubs?”

“Yes,” Zane answered as he glanced to his side to look at Ty. He still caught himself double-taking most of the time. That obscene bleached-blond hair.

“I don"t know, man,” Ty said apprehensively as he pulled Zane closer and lowered his voice. He was having trouble maintaining the nuances of the accent. Zane was surprised he"d managed to do it this long. “It"s usually all crowds and strobe lights and people touching you where your gun"s supposed to be in these places. I don"t go out dancing unless I know no one"s going to come out of the woodwork with a knife at my back.”

“Considering everyone had to go through a metal detector and X-ray to get on board, chances of that happening are lower than usual, despite me skewing the curve,” Zane said. He squeezed Ty close and smiled at a couple walking by. “And I"ll be watching your back,” he added quietly.

“
You
went through security, and
you’re
packing,” Ty reminded him distractedly. “You like dancing?” he added in a surprised voice.

100 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

Zane smiled genuinely as they reached the bottom of the staircase. “No,” he corrected, leaning over to bump Ty"s shoulder with his own. “I love dancing.”

He didn"t get to go nearly as often as he used to, and not at all since moving to Baltimore; he hadn"t had a chance to scope out the clubs since he was spending his evenings with Ty. When Zane had worked in Miami, he"d gone out almost every night, although he"d also had the excuse of working. Clubs in Miami were notorious for criminal wheeling and dealing.

“I didn"t know that,” Ty murmured, sounding oddly disturbed by the fact.

Zane shrugged. “I did tell you about the square-dancing,” he said under his breath. “Who in their right mind would square-dance if they didn"t love dancing?”

“That"s entirely different!” Ty laughed as they got closer to the pounding beat of the music.

Zane grinned, glad that he"d gotten a smile out of his partner. He felt the music reverberate through him as they neared the entrance of one of the clubs. The name Neptune was scribbled in purple neon over the double door, and velvet ropes blocked the entrance. The crowd beyond writhed in the dim room.

“So your plan is to liquor me up, get me all sweaty and worked up, then take me back to the cabin?” Ty asked him, his tone placid.

“Oh, it may not have been my plan before, but it sure as hell is now,” Zane agreed wholeheartedly. If he had a choice in his night"s companion, he"d much rather have the aroused and pliable Ty from this afternoon than the cranky, fractious man of this evening.

“I like it,” Ty said approvingly. He led Zane into the club, the bouncers letting them pass by the waiting line without a moment"s pause. Ty might argue differently, but he knew how to use his looks when he needed to.

He"d also been right about the strobe lights, but it wasn"t too bad.

The club was on the small side but remarkably full. There were tiered dance floors on three different levels and tables surrounding them. For Fish & Chips | 101

once, there was no sign of holiday decorations. The bar was with them on the ground floor, and Zane pointed Ty in that direction, hoping he"d get
something
, even if it wasn"t alcohol.

Ty didn"t hesitate, apparently having made his decision after his brief discussion with Zane earlier. He let go of Zane and cut his way through the crowd. As Zane watched him go, he could see people in the club, both men and women, turning to take a second look at Ty as he moved past them. It was difficult to suppress the urge to preen as people noticed, but then he remembered he didn"t have to stop himself—Corbin would flaunt his husband for all he was worth. So he just slid a hand into his pocket to wait, knowing full well Ty was coming back to him and
only
him. Oh yes, smug was a good word for it, Zane figured. And as he saw Ty making his way back toward him, he really couldn"t have cared less about being called possessive, either.

Despite his protests about the dangers of the crowd, Ty was already smirking, a drink in one hand as he moved through the mass of people. In order to do it, a person had to shift with the rhythm of the music or be knocked around for their efforts. Ty did this expertly. Zane suspected he"d spent his fair share of time in places like this. Only Zane imagined the type of place Ty would haunt would have fewer strobe lights and more peanuts on the floor.

Ty moving fluidly through the throng, shifting his hips or rolling his shoulders, was a beautiful thing, Zane reflected, and his body agreed. Ty would look even better dancing. His streamlined body was practically made for it.

When Ty reached him, he was grinning widely, holding his drink up out of the throng. Bodies moved around them in time with the beat of the music. It had no words that Zane could discern, drowned out by the bass. It was just as well. It made it easier to concentrate on the thump under his feet and deep in his chest, driving up his heart rate, and for now, that was what Zane was interested in. He jerked his head in the direction of the center of the dance floor and raised an eyebrow in question.

Ty took a long drink from the cup in his hand and moved closer, wrapping an arm around Zane"s neck to pull him close enough to speak to him. It was impossible for them to remain still in the sea of dancing 102 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

bodies, with the music pumping through the room, and they were moving by default. They didn"t actually have to move closer to the dance floor in order to dance because the mob absorbed them.

“This is a first for me,” Ty practically shouted in his ear. “Never danced with a guy before. On purpose, anyway.”

Zane smirked and slid his hands down Ty"s back to spread across his ass and subtly pull him nearer, not that anyone would see it for the crowd. Zane wasn"t missing out on this opportunity. He"d never thought he"d have a chance to dance with Ty at all; he didn"t exactly seem the type for a moonlit sway on the aft deck with the small jazz band they"d seen the night before.

And they certainly couldn"t do this in Baltimore.

Ty moved closer, as close as he could get, pressing his body against Zane"s as they moved together. People shifted around them, strangers touching and writhing indiscriminately along with the beat.

But Ty"s eyes and hands stayed on Zane and Zane alone.

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Chapter 6

THE line for the rock-climbing wall was a long one, and the wait even longer since there was a necessity to watch and linger for the intended victims. The cold was not a problem, but impatience was. He did not like doing what he considered such menial tasks as wet work.

The good weather and party-like atmosphere of the ship made his job somewhat easier, though. People were happy and oblivious, and he was able to subtly insert himself just in front of the two men when they arrived. It was a masterpiece of malevolence, making certain he was the one climbing just before them without anyone noticing what he"d done or what he was about to do.

He carried a small ceramic knife in a bag on his hip, one he"d been able to carry past the low-tech metal detectors, and it was innocuous enough if by some bad luck he was searched by security. It was also easy to ditch if necessary; all he had to do was throw it hard against something solid and it would shatter into a million pieces. On the cruise ship, though, that wasn"t really a problem with weapons. If he was close enough to the edge, he could simply toss it overboard and watch it sink into the dark blue depths.

He didn"t foresee needing to do that.

As he climbed the fake wall, he carefully pulled the belay line to him, collecting it at his belly so no one below or above would see what he was doing. When he came to the spot on the rope he thought would do the most damage, he slid the palm-sized knife from his fanny pack and quickly made a cut, almost a third of the way through the nylon line. It wasn"t much, barely noticeable to the naked eye since the knife 104 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

was so sharp. When given a cursory examination, it wouldn"t be seen.

Only when it reached the carabiner above and the weight of a human body was pulling on it would it become apparent.

After tucking the knife away, he waved to the attendant about three meters above him and slowly began to make his descent. He took care with the rope, mindful not to put too much weight on it and to let it play out at what seemed a natural rate. When his feet touched the padded ground at the base of the wall, he was content in the knowledge that when the rope broke because of too much weight on the compromised line, his quarry would be the one in the harness.

ZANE shook his head and sighed as he stood in the bright sun and crisp winter air, looking up the gray rock wall toward the clear blue sky. He was starting to wish Corbin was a supergeek weasel or an old, portly man who walked with a cane. These things were hell on his nerves.

He brought his attention to ground level, where Ty stood next to him, trying to stay still as a short and rather stout staff member named Manny checked over his harness. Their turn on the rock wall had been by appointment, another demand of their itineraries. The line was lengthy, and it wound around the platform and down the ramp passengers had to climb to get up to this point. The deck level made the lofty rock wall, perched near the stern of the large cruise ship, seem just that much higher.

Zane was now doubting his decision to eat a hearty breakfast. It wasn"t that he was
scared
, per se. He knew he could climb the damn wall and that he"d be fine, especially in a harness strung on a thick, anchored nylon rope. He wasn"t afraid of heights. It was just the whole falling thing that sort of scared him shitless.