Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

Ty was in some of the pictures, and he could see what Chance meant when he’d said that Ty looked young and carefree in all of them.

Ty clearly remembered his parents, Tanner, Dylan…but he could barely remember the man he—Tyler—had been back then. That smiling, happy, young man who had loved life so much.

For the first time in too many years, he recognized how much he missed that guy. He missed the practical joker he had been, missed the way he’d interacted with others, missed the way he’d cared about people, causes, animals, life…

He sank down onto his sofa and stared at The Wall, for once not focusing on his lost loved ones. Instead, he scrutinized his own image in each picture. Wondering where that guy was. Did some semblance of him still exist?

Would Vicki have liked him?

“Ready to get back to work today?” Chance asked Ty, doing cross-body triceps stretches while he spoke.

The men were in the cool-down phase of their morning run. They had come to a standstill outside Chance’s and Colby’s townhouse.

“Yeah.” His response was low key, but the truth was, Ty had been champing at the bit to get back to the job.

No…the real truth was, he couldn’t wait to see Vicki again. This week had been fucking interminable. He hadn’t asked Chance about her. He hadn’t called, texted, or been to see her. And he had hated it.

He’d spent every hour of every damned day thinking about her. Wondering how she was doing. Hoping that she was taking care of herself and healing. It had been hell knowing that she was just an elevator ride away, and he had spent a large portion of every day reminding himself how inappropriate it would be to visit her.

“How did the week go?” he asked. He strove to keep his voice nonchalant and pretended not to notice Chance’s knowing glance.

“Pretty uneventful. That Teddy guy showed up to take Vicki to lunch a couple of times.”

Ty’s head jerked up. He glared at his friend, who lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Just the messenger, mate.”

“I thought he was allergic to pollen. He actually came to the shop?”

“Yeah, Vicki was similarly surprised by that. I heard him tell her he was taking antihistamines. I guess he’s smitten.”

“And she took the time off to go to lunch with him?”

“It was a slow week. She’s been a little subdued, and what can I say? The guy seems to cheer her up. She laughs a lot in his company. I even overheard him saying he would take her to the London Eye. I hope they don’t go on my watch—it’ll be a fucking nightmare with those crowds.”

Ty knew he was scowling but couldn’t seem to control his reaction. All he could think of was how he had wanted to take her there.

“Sonofabitch,” he seethed. “That was my idea. Why would she talk to him about it?”

Chance raised his eyebrows. He folded his arms over his chest—tucking his hands into his armpits—rocked back on his heels. “Maybe she got tired of waiting around for you to take her.”

“Fuck off, Chance. How the hell was I supposed to take my principal on a fucking date?”

“I dunno, mate. The same way you managed to shag her, maybe? With a great deal of tact and secrecy and fuckin’ clandestine shenanigans.”

“Shit. I don’t know what I’m doing, Chance,” Ty admitted wearily, knuckling his eyes.

“You’re waking up, Sleeping Beauty. Finally. There are bound to be pins and needles as the feeling returns to your atrophied heart. So I expect this will be a painful process for you.”

“Jesus, when did you get so goddamn poetic?” Ty asked with an exasperated laugh.

“I have layers. Like an onion,” Chance said with a serene smile, and Ty rolled his eyes.

“Right now, you’re about as pungent as one too. Go grab a shower. Tomorrow, same time?” It was the first time he’d ever confirmed their morning run with Chance. The other man had always just shown up, while Ty had grudgingly accepted his presence. But he wanted Chance to know that he looked forward to their runs and enjoyed the conversation that usually followed it.

Skoobs had been encouraging him to take steps to make people feel valued and included in his life. At least that was the bit he had said in plain English. He’d then followed it up with something along the lines of, “Dude, look within to recreate yourself”. And had added in some other gibberish about becoming one with the path to enlightenment, which Ty assumed was a New Agey way of saying be the change you want to see.

It was gratifying to see Chance’s eyes light up with surprised pleasure at his words. Ty was heartened to know that—despite his rather unconventional demeanor and methods—Skoobs knew his stuff after all.