Fish & Chips (26 page)

“Well, I"ve always been a whore,” Ty said wryly.

Zane looked down at Ty in surprise, and his comment popped out before he thought about it. “Wow. I am so true to form.” Ty still razzed 164 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

Zane for fucking around with prostitutes-turned-informants on the job, even though it had happened way before they ever met. Zane had been a serious mess at the time, but he sure wasn"t now.

Ty glared up at him briefly, but he didn"t take exception to the comment. Not vocally, anyway. He just pointed at the screen and wagged his fingers urgently.

Zane turned up the volume as the players lined up. “There you go,” he said, happy with himself.

Ty patted Zane"s knee, appearing just as pleased, and he left his hand resting there as he watched the screen devotedly. Zane smiled and spent just as much time watching Ty as he did the game and the minimized tab.

They were partway through the second quarter before the little tab started flashing.

“About damn time,” Ty said as he pointed at the flashing icon.

“Click it, click it!”

Zane paused the video and clicked over to the e-mail. He opened the RE: and started reading:

Thanks for the update. The Punch and Judy show’s still on.

“That"s it?” Ty asked incredulously. “I"m gonna kill Mac when we get home.”

Zane leaned back and rubbed his eyes. “I"m certainly starting to feel like a damn puppet,” he muttered.

Ty sighed loudly, and his shoulders slumped. “Well,” he drew out reluctantly. He looked up at Zane with a shrug. “I guess we keep going.” His fingers tightened against Zane"s knee as he pushed himself off the floor.

Zane watched him stand. “Aren"t you forgetting something?”

Ty looked down at him with wide eyes and patted his pockets absently, then nodded as if remembering what he was forgetting. He bent over to kiss Zane squarely. When he stood back up, he said,

“Saints win it 17-9. Come on.” And he turned and started toward the exit.

Fish & Chips | 165

It took Zane ten keystrokes to shut down the terminal, and he was on Ty"s heels out the door.

Ty led the way to a lounge some ways from the promenade. It wasn"t as busy as many of the bigger restaurants. Zane glanced around at the low lighting, leather couches, and tiny tables, and he wondered what Ty was thinking.

“Are we having a snack?” Zane asked as Ty walked to a grouping of overstuffed armchairs in an out-of-the-way corner.

“I am keeping away from places I know Armen might be right now,” Ty answered as he raised his hand to get the attention of a waiter. “And….” He hesitated and looked at Zane worriedly. “I told you I"d go over some tricks with the drinking on duty. I figure now"s as good a time as any. Because I sure as hell need a drink.”

Zane raised a brow, then shrugged, and sat down. “Sounds good to me.”

“What can I get for you, gentlemen?” a waiter asked as he appeared at their chairs.

Ty held up two fingers. “Two glasses, bucket of ice, bottle of water, and a Scotch, please,” he rattled off quickly before Zane could even open his mouth. The waiter nodded and moved away.

Ty appeared unsettled, so Zane decided to sit close to him. He settled in the chair next to Ty, crossed his legs easily, and leaned toward his lover. “We"re not in view of the door,” he pointed out. “You can ease up a little.”

Ty glanced at the entryway, then met Zane"s eyes. He appeared somber and worried, the odd look in his eyes one that was singularly arresting. Zane held his gaze for a long moment before reaching out to touch Ty"s forearm and rub it gently as he waited for Ty to calm. His partner was usually pretty laid back—despite his innate twitchiness—

but when Ty got riled up, it could be a difficult proposition to gear him down. Zane was all too aware of how he"d been contributing to Ty"s most recent stress.

Ty took a deep breath and leaned closer to him. “You still want to do this?”

166 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

Zane frowned a little. “Why wouldn"t I?”

Ty smiled slightly. “Okay. We both know you have to drink sometimes to sell a cover. And I think we"re in agreement that you shouldn"t. At all. A friend of mine taught me some tricks years ago for those situations. I… didn"t really handle them well at first.”

Zane thought that sounded a bit ominous. “Okay,” he replied, dragging the word out a bit.

Ty continued to look at him guardedly.

“What?” Zane asked, a bit exasperated. “I"m not going to make fun of you. I"ve certainly got no place throwing stones about this.”

Ty worked his jaw back and forth and then snorted. He was smiling as he looked away. “I"m a goofy drunk,” he admitted.

Zane didn"t see what was so bad about that. “That would affect work, yeah, but why is that so awful in general?”

Ty laughed. “One day I"ll show you,” he promised, looking back at Zane with a hint of that old mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

That was promise enough to make Zane smile and relax. “All right. On with the lesson.”

“First: always order extra ice. Let it melt in your drink and dilute it.” As Ty talked the waiter returned with a tray and the requested items. The tiny table at their knees was more for show than anything, but he managed to fit the three glasses on it. Ty placed the ice bucket and the carafe of water on the ground. Once they were alone again, Ty said, “And order the next round before you"re done. The waiter will clear out your old drink when he brings your new one.”

“Makes sense,” Zane commented as he watched Ty move things around.

Ty took the glass of Scotch and wedged it into the seat beside his leg. Then he moved the remaining two glasses around on the table and poured water into both of them, filling both almost to the brim. He picked one up and mockingly toasted Zane with it.

“The best way to stay sober is to be a sloppy drunk,” he said under his breath. He jerked his hand to the side and sat forward Fish & Chips | 167

suddenly, as if he was excited about what he was about to say. Water sloshed out of his glass onto the floor. His eyes were bigger as he grabbed for Zane with his free hand. “Be very excited when you talk,”

he said emphatically, waving his hand again.

Zane tried to hold back his smile, because really, this was supposed to be serious. He nodded piously instead. Ty held his glass up to show him that nearly a quarter of the water was gone already.

He drank down a few gulps of the water until only a third of it remained, then he set it on the table. “Best way to drain your glass is to spill,” he said as he reached for the glass of Scotch and took a sip of it.

He set it on the ground at his feet. Then he looked up at Zane. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Porter,” he said suddenly, half standing and sticking his arm out as if he was about to shake Zane"s hand. He knocked the water glass over with his hand, sending it skidding off the table into Zane"s lap.

Zane could only flinch as the water splashed over his pants and the glass thumped to the floor. “And hope the guy doesn"t want you to pay for his dry cleaning,” he said wryly as he brushed at his thighs.

“Effective, though.”

“Sorry about that!” Ty exclaimed, moving closer and grabbing for the nearest napkin and helping Zane dry his lap. Zane noticed he"d even added a slur to his words as he mumbled apologies.

“You can help me like that as long as you want,” Zane drawled as Ty dragged the napkin across the front of his pants. “And I"ll order you another drink,” he pointed out.

“Clumsy, clumsy,” Ty muttered with a sad shake of his head.

“I"ve probably had enough,” he claimed as he sat back in his seat. He smiled slowly and held up Zane"s key card. “It"s useful for other ventures as well.”

Zane hadn"t even noticed. “Well, that"s embarrassing,” he muttered as he shook his head. But he still smiled.

Ty handed it back to him. “That"s a different lesson.” He took another sip from his glass of Scotch and then picked up the glass he"d dropped and set it on the table again. He dropped a few ice cubes into 168 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

it, then poured out some of his Scotch into it. Then he added more ice.

He gestured to the glass. “One drink is two.”

“If I let that much ice melt into it, there"s no way I"d get even a remote buzz,” Zane observed.

“And that"s the point,” Ty murmured. He gulped down what he"d just poured into the water glass. “Now I"ve ordered and, in theory, consumed three drinks. Still only half a glass of Scotch is gone. You get the drift?”

Zane nodded. “Yeah, no problem,” he said quietly as he studied Ty"s face. He still looked worried. It was a simple set of ideas, but Zane figured he could put them into use without much trouble. The poker room was busy enough for him to move drinks around undetected.

“Sometimes, if you get there first, you can get an empty glass.

Switch them out somehow, like I just did, or dump drinks under tables or in plants or decorations. A lot of it"s situational. Your best friends are extra ice and clumsiness.” Ty shot back what remained of the Scotch he had ordered. “Okay, let"s go find you some dry pants,” he said in a hoarse voice as he set the glass down on the table with a clank.

“I"m thinking you"ll feel better behind a locked door,” Zane agreed as he stood up. “And then tonight I get to practice my lessons.”

Ty stood and stepped over to Zane. He slid his hand around Zane"s waist and pulled him closer. “I know it"s hard,” he whispered.

“But next time you think you might need a second glass, just remember that I will kick your ass when you get home.” He punctuated the threat with a forceful kiss.

The words flowed over and into Zane and sank in deep as he gave in under Ty"s lips. He"d already known he"d answer to Ty, anytime, anywhere. But now Zane believed, for the first time in so long, that he had someone who truly cared about him.

AFTER the climbing wall scare and the Del Porter nonemergency, Zane had been sure they would be plagued by other accidents and loudly insisted they should avoid excursions that involved gravity. But Fish & Chips | 169

the past three days had been oddly threat-free, enough so that Ty had started wondering if the rope at the rock wall had really been an accident after all. If it hadn"t been for that visit from Armen, Ty might have been able to convince himself.

After Armen"s little “discussion,” though, neither Ty nor Zane could relax. It made what might have been an enjoyable few days tense and frustrating.

Among other activities on their itinerary, they went waterskiing and kayaking off a private island near Haiti, one owned by the cruise line. The first was not to Ty"s tastes, but Zane had called it exhilarating and said he wouldn"t mind trying it again. The kayaking was enjoyable for no other reason than Ty could begin humming “Dueling Banjos” at Zane whenever he wanted, and Zane couldn"t manage to smack him with his paddle without tipping the kayak over.

Zane played poker with Armen, Bianchi, and some other high rollers every evening for an hour or two. He was able to pry a few vague details out of Bianchi about his part of the business, but Armen remained close-lipped. So Zane contented himself with winning modestly, and Ty had been honestly surprised when Zane had handed him a $10,000 poker chip one night. Apparently 10K was modest for the Porters. It wasn"t likely they"d get to keep it—the FBI had a way of collecting everything it could get after an assignment—but the money wasn"t the point. Ty knew that Zane just liked the rare moments when he succeeded in surprising him. And he had.

On yesterday"s excursion, they had hiked for five hours through a rainforest in Puerto Rico to the “Exciting Jungle and Zip-line Adventure,” which really wasn"t all that exciting or adventurous, since it turned out to be a thirty-minute harness ride through the treetops. The hike itself had been more fun. Ty would have preferred to have kept on into the dense tropical forest, but he"d been assured the jungles weren"t safe for going out on his own. Ty had barely restrained a snort when the serious young guide had said those words. Ty was pretty sure he could have shown the kid what an unsafe jungle really looked like.

On today"s agenda was the “thrilling cliff diving experience for swimmers young and old,” a chance to plunge fifty-five feet from a natural rocky cliff into the protected cove below. Now
this
Ty could get 170 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

behind. He seemed to be among the few, though, because there were a lot of people going to the top of the cliff and almost as many walking back down.

Looking up at the height from which the few brave souls were leaping, Ty had doubts that Zane would be able to handle it.

“It"s a long hike up there,” Ty tried casually, glancing sidelong at his partner. “Been a long day too. We can skip it and head back to the ship if you want.”

“I don"t mind hiking up there,” Zane answered with a shrug. “I know you"ve been looking forward to this all week.”

Ty snorted. He"d known Zane would pass on the easy out if he offered it. “It"s a long climb, darling,” he said in a low voice, still mindful of those around them who could overhear. “No need for you to make it if you just plan to walk back down.”

Zane studied him for a moment before glancing up the cliff. “I"d rather have the company for at least part of the time, doll.”

Ty looked him over carefully for a long moment before nodding.

“If you insist,” he said with a smile, then began making his way toward the narrow trail.