“Garrett,” Ty tried.
Zane held him down and stroked him, riding out the rhythm of Ty’s body seeking release. “Tell me what I want to hear, Grady.”
Ty gripped Zane’s shoulders, pushing his c**k into Zane’s hand. “I need you,” he gasped.
The words tore through Zane with the precision of a scalpel. He kissed Ty greedily one last time, pumping him until Ty’s entire body trembled with impending release. Then he let go and backed away from the bed, leaving Ty on the precipice without any stimulation to push him over. He nodded toward the door as he met Ty’s eyes. “Go on. I’m betting Nick’s f**king waiting for you with a nice warm bed.”
Chapter 11
Zane woke with a splitting headache, cotton in his mouth, and a back that burned like he’d been dragged across gravel. He sat up carefully, waiting to see if his stomach would rebel. His head pounded, but thankfully nothing else protested.
He looked around the room with a growing frown. He didn’t remember getting into bed. He didn’t remember falling asleep. Pages and pages of old books were plastered to the walls of his room. The same room Ty had been in. The bed beside him was cold and obviously hadn’t been slept in. His clothes were neatly folded and piled on the table, sitting beside a bottle of whiskey and an empty glass. Zane stared at the glass, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach finally making him nauseous.
The night came back to him in a jumble of words and smells, of demanding kisses and rough sex. The scratches on his back were from Ty. He remembered shouting at him. Telling him they were done. He remembered taking a swing at him. Had he thrown a chair at him? Oh Jesus, what else had he done? He knew he could be violent when he was drunk and angry. His only comfort was knowing Ty would have fought back, and from the bruise he could feel on his face, Ty had done just that.
He carefully got out of bed and shuffled to the table for his clothes. The glass wasn’t empty after all. It was full of water, and two pills sat beside it. Zane’s stomach lurched again. Ty had left ibuprofen for the hangover he knew Zane would have.
“Goddamn you, Ty.”
He got dressed quickly, downed the pills, and very carefully avoided making eye contact with the label of that bottle. He could hear the murmur of voices downstairs, and he hustled to join them.
He stopped short at the head of the steps. He could hear Ava speaking, but she was speaking over the murmur of male voices. She wasn’t involved in the conversation the others were having. She sounded like she was on the phone. He strained to hear what she was saying, but he couldn’t make out the words. She was speaking in hushed tones, and something about it pinged Zane’s alarms. He searched all over the hallway, trying to figure out where her voice was coming from. He finally found a small air vent in the ceiling. Was she upstairs? Or was she down? Was there even an upstairs?
Zane waited a few more seconds, trying to make out anything she was saying. The conversation had stopped, though. Zane ran a hand through his messy hair and took a deep breath, trying to talk himself into going downstairs.
Flashes of last night were coming to him, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to face Ty after what he’d said and done.
“We have to go on the offensive here,” Nick said as Zane made his way down the steps. “It’s the only thing they won’t expect.”
“How?” Owen asked.
“Ambush them,” Ty said. His low growl sent shivers up Zane’s spine. “Set up a meet with bait. Scout out a meeting place, take them out when they show themselves.”
“Just like that?” Kelly asked.
“Just like that.”
Zane moved around the table to one of the empty chairs. He sat opposite Ty and crossed his arms. Everyone was silent and tense, glancing at Zane as if they expected him to blow up like he had last night. Ty narrowed his eyes at him. Zane had to avert his gaze, examining the tabletop instead. In the periphery, he could see the remains of the barstool and table he had destroyed, neatly swept into a corner.
If Zane had to guess, Ty had stayed up all night cleaning up the mess.
Digger finally grunted to break the silence. “That’s all great, in theory. But how do we contact them?”
Ty tore his attention away from Zane and gestured at Liam. “Can you get in touch with them?”
Liam gave a curt nod. “Sure, Grady. I’ll just call them up and explain to them the situation. That I f**ked off on their job because I found a pissed off Recon team instead of one easy target. And then I’ll ask them what hotel they’re staying at. Just for shits and giggles. It’s flawless.”
“All right,” Ty grunted.
“Flawless, I say.”
“All right! Do you know how to get in touch with them or not?”
“You’ll get yourselves killed.”
“Do you really care if we do?” Nick asked.
“If you’re going to bugger off and get yourselves killed, it might as well be me doing it so I can collect the bounties.”
Zane snorted. “Maybe if you’d help us, we wouldn’t be as likely to die.”
“You’re pretty, Garrett, but my heart ain’t that soft. As soon as you lot are gone, I’m out the door.”
“Always the hero,” Ty muttered.
Ty and Liam shared a hateful glance before Ty pushed away from the table and stood.
“So, let me get this straight,” Liam said, loud enough for his words to be aimed at Ty. “You want to call up the crew who wants you dead, tell them you’re the man they’re looking for, and then lure them into a kill zone?”
Ty met Liam’s eyes. Then he sought out Zane for his opinion. Zane stared at him, feeling sick. Ty had looked to him still—not his former second-in-command, not one of the men he’d known and worked with for decades. Zane’s mouth was too dry to even swallow.
“Yeah,” Ty finally said.
“They think it’s one man they’re after. No way they’d expect six,” Nick added.
“I have a bunch of ear buds, a few other things,” Digger said. “Sniper rifle, a couple smoke canisters, Kevlar vest.”
Kelly leaned forward. “A Kevlar vest?”
Digger nodded.
“You travel with full assault gear?” Ty asked.
“You don’t?”
Everyone stared at him. Ty began to massage the bridge of his nose.
Liam stood and smoothed his hands over the front of his shirt, then walked away. “You’re all criminally insane.”