Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run 6)

“He will never be part of my family, Harrison. I won’t allow it. He can stay here and fight the good fight all he wants, but I won’t allow my only son to be brainwashed like this.”

Harrison scratched at his chin, pursing his lips thoughtfully. “If that’s the way you want it.”

“It most certainly is,” Beverly snarled. She spun on her heel and stomped off.

Harrison pursed his lips and finally nodded. “What do you think, Bullet?” he grumbled to the Australian Shepherd at his feet. “Think you can dig us a hole deep enough nobody’d find her?”

The dog answered with a wiggle of its docked tail. Harrison grinned and rubbed the dog’s head.

There was a knock on the doorframe, and Zane stepped into the room, smirking. Harrison put his paper aside.

“Don’t get up,” Zane said quickly. “We’re not staying long.”

Ty leaned against the doorframe and didn’t come farther. He was wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses, and the way he held himself made it look like he was being careful with how he moved.

“Morning, Ty.”

“Good morning, sir.”

“How you feeling?” Harrison asked as he eased back down.

“Still a little hungover, to be honest.”

Harrison laughed and nodded. “And sore?”

“That too.”

“What are you two up to today?”

“Oh, I just figured I’d show Ty some more of Texas. Head down to San Antonio and visit the Bureau office there,” Zane said. He shot a sideways look at Ty. “Maybe spend a night in Beaumont.”

Ty smacked his forehead and turned his head away.

“Not much in Beaumont to see,” Harrison said with a frown.

Zane grinned. “Even so, we’re going to try to get it in.”

Ty had his hand over his mouth, his head down. He was either going to throw up or he was laughing. Harrison felt he’d missed a joke, but he thought maybe he didn’t want to know.

“You planning to miss the barbeque?” he asked Zane.

“No, sir. We’ll be here.”

“I know what you’re doing, Z. It ain’t a good idea.”

Zane just raised an eyebrow.

“You two are traipsing down to San Antonio seeing if anything comes out of the woodwork to follow.”

Zane just laughed. “It kind of crossed my mind. Spread the word around that we’re leaving, huh? Call me if anything happens.”

Harrison nodded. “You boys have fun.”

Ty smacked Zane in the arm as they walked out of sight, Zane’s laughter echoing off the marble hall in the foyer.

Harrison nodded. It was soothing to his soul to see his son happy again, and to know that he might come back more often now that he’d gotten so much off his chest.

If Beverly wouldn’t allow Ty to be part of her family, then she might just need to find herself a new one.

They checked into the Hyatt on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Ty realized that he had revealed one of his hidden passions to Zane, and Zane was exploiting his love of history for everything he was worth. Just like the battlefield at Gettysburg months ago, Ty went completely crazy over the Alamo.

They spent a solid hour exploring the tiny footprint of the famous mission, and then they strolled along the Riverwalk hand-in-hand. They finished their foray with a candlelit dinner, and as Ty gazed across the flickering flame at his lover, he could tell there was something Zane wanted to say. It was almost fun to watch him try to work up to it and then chicken out and back down. Ty was curious, but he’d found that sometimes it was better to let Zane make his own way though his mind. How long would it take him to finally get it out?

Dinner ended with Zane in an atrociously good mood and Ty just buzzed enough to be malleable as they wove through a celebratory crowd on the edges of the Alamo. Zane had Ty’s hand in his, leading him somewhere. They found their way into the Alamo Gardens amidst a few dozen other people. The crowd had a feeling to it, like everyone was waiting for something to begin.

“What’s going on?”

Zane gave a shrug, but turned to look back at Ty with a half-smirk. Ty narrowed his eyes.

“I know a good spot,” Zane told him.

“For what?”

“You’re not triggered by fireworks, are you?”

“What?”

“Fireworks. Do they . . . trigger flashbacks or anything?”

Ty shrugged. “Only happened once. It was right after I got home, though.”

“Good.” Zane’s hand tightened in Ty’s and Ty had to laugh as he dodged a low-lying oak branch and tramped along in the moonlight and flickering light of the lanterns that lined the Alamo. It wasn’t hard to see, but it was hard to keep up with Zane and his excitement.

Ty couldn’t help but smile as Zane led him toward the massive, sprawling oak tree that stood as the centerpiece of the gardens. Ty had marveled at it when they’d visited earlier. They passed by it, heading for another of the trees near the perimeter of the walled courtyard. A low branch hung out over the grass, and beneath it, a blanket had been laid out.

“You sneaky bastard,” Ty said as Zane laughed.

“If you tip high enough, the concierge will do just about anything for you. I figured we could watch the fireworks from here.”

“When you go for romantic, you go all out, don’t you?”

“Only way to go.” Zane knelt and crawled onto the blanket, straightened the edges out where they’d blown over, then turned around, still on one knee, and held his hand out. Ty took it, meeting Zane’s eyes in the flickering light. Zane hesitated, looking up at him with brown eyes that seemed to have gone liquid in the low light. Time seemed to slow.

Ty found himself short of breath, and he had no idea why.

Zane bent his head to kiss Ty’s fingers, breaking the little spell he’d cast, and then he tugged Ty down to join him on the blanket.

They stretched out on their backs, looking up at the velvet sky and holding hands.

“Thank you, Ty,” Zane whispered.

Ty turned his head to look at Zane’s profile. “For what?”

“Everything.”

Zane pushed up onto his side. His face was shadowed, but Ty knew every inch of it by heart. He saw those eyes in his sleep. He reached to slide the tips of his fingers against Zane’s lips, and Zane bent to kiss him, his hands tucking under Ty’s body.

The first pop of pre-emptive Fourth of July fireworks over the Alamo made them both jump, and Zane turned so they could watch the fire rain down from the sky through the branches of their oak tree. Another shot soared into the air, bursting into flickering flames of red, white, and blue. People began to hoot and holler. No one was paying them any attention.