The Man Who Hated Ned O'Leary (Dig Two Graves 2)

“It’s… it’s a good friend of mine. So nobody but her gets to see it.”

“Oooh… a memento.” Adam sighed and hugged Jan’s neck. “I want one like that.”

His lover smirked. “Maybe you already have one and don’t know it.”

Terje stepped into Cole’s line of sight, obscuring Ned, and it felt like a peek into his future. From tonight on, he wouldn’t get to see Ned whenever he pleased.

In fact, he wouldn’t get to see him at all once he left, but at least he’d know Ned was with people who cared for their own. And if Cole came across Jan’s show at some point, he’d get to see Ned too. Hopefully—thriving and way better off than when he’d followed Cole like a kicked dog that still loved its master.

“I’m glad to help you. Perhaps a joint portrait of you two would be in order,” Gavin hummed, only encouraged by the sour expression on Jan’s face.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Adam pouted and put his hands on Jan’s cheeks. “Wouldn’t it be marvelous?”

Their loving chatter blurred in Cole’s head when Terje put his hand on Ned’s shoulder, laughing about something. The itch to slice the fingers off that warm, freckled shoulder started in Cole’s stomach and rose all the way to his throat. Maybe Terje had been the wrong choice after all? Didn’t Ned deserve someone steadier in his affections? Terje wasn’t a bad fellow, but he’d likely bedded more people this year than Cole had in his entire life, and didn’t seem capable of developing feelings beyond friendship.

Cole’s ears buzzed as if he’d gotten smacked on the head, so he rose, struggling to stand still as the world revolved around him in a drunken haze.

“Ned, why don’t you come sit with me?”

The green eyes glinted with so much hope Cole wanted to cradle him like a kitten that needed safety. “Tommy’s asleep?”

Terje cleared his throat. “Thought you had things to discuss with Roger.”

Cole could sense Roger’s eyes on him, and he offered the poor victim of Terje’s deception a small smile. “You must have misheard me.”

Terje frowned like the lion he used to train when Cole had still been with the show, and drank some booze straight from the bottle. “No, I recall that we had an understanding. You have places to be.”

“What’s he talking about?” Ned asked.

A cold sensation clawed at Cole’s back and dug in its fingers, but it wouldn’t stop him. How dare Terje confront him like this? “I think you already had too much liquor, friend.”

Terje shook his head and drank another gulp of gin while a hot flush trailed up his pale skin from underneath the skimpy animal trainer costume. “Christ! Make up your mind and stop wasting my time, then. You said I could approach him. Is that off the table altogether, or just tonight?”

Cole sensed the scent of gunpowder in the air before Ned’s mouth went off.

“What in all hells?”

“It don’t matter,” Cole said and reached his hand out to Ned, hoping Terje would shut his damn face before the situation got even worse.

“Anyone want more popcorn?” Parita asked in a bid to disperse the tension, but it was in vain.

“No, it most definitely fucking matters!” Ned spread his arms, rising from the bench like a lumberjack ready to defend his mother’s honor. “What is this game you think you’re playing?”

“There is no game,” Cole lied, fighting the buzz inside his head. It was as if hornets had made his skull into a nest and were about to sting him dead. “Please, come with me.”

Ned took deep breaths, as if his chest was bellows, but his gaze turned away from Cole, to Terje. “Tell me the truth. Did he set you up to this?”

Terje shrugged, crossing his thick, hairy arms over his chest. “He said you were fair game, but it’s my choice. Unlike him, I know what I want.”

Cole wished to gouge out all the eyes staring at him in accusation. This was not a matter he wanted discussed in public. “And I think it’s pretty clear I changed my mind, yet you can’t take it like a man and chose to mess with me instead,” Cole growled, stepping closer to Terje, whose brows lowered in warning. The tiger-stripes tattooed on his arms transformed him into a wild animal preparing to pounce.

“You’re the one who can’t make up his mind like some schoolgirl musing over two boys.”

Ned scowled. “You’ve got some nerve. I’m not yours to command or share!”

He’d been caught. Ned already knew what occurred behind his back, and clinging to the lie would only make things worse, so Cole let his hands drop and stepped close, wary of Terje, in case the man wanted to throw his fists around. “It’s not like that. Come with me. We’ll talk.”

“No! We’re talking here and now. You were the one to tell me these people are like us, so why the secrecy?” Ned looked around the illuminated faces and grabbed Cole’s nape. “In case anyone was confused, this man is mine.”