Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

Ty asked
    with a snort as he reached out and grabbed Nick‟s elbow to steady him.
    He slapped a few bills on the table and waved at the waitress to let her
    know they were leaving.
    “And you know what else?” Nick went on without answering. Ty
    began to lead him toward the door, his arm around him to guide him.
    “This Garrett character? He‟s lucky to have a guy like you for a
    partner, much less have you in love with him. He can‟t find it in
    himself to return the feeling? Can‟t even fucking fake it for you? Well,
    fuck him too!”
    Ty cleared his throat and tightened his grip on Nick‟s shoulders,
    pulling him closer in case he decided to continue ranting and get
    louder. They didn‟t want any trouble from the irate Orioles fans. “I
    think we need to take a little walk home,” he muttered as they stepped
    out the door into a brisk wind off the harbor. They turned toward Fleet
    Street, cursing at the cold. But it was only a four-block walk, and Ty
    wasn‟t exactly worried about the two of them being mugged.
    He stuffed his hands in his pockets and tried hard not to think
    about anything as he and Nick started off. He wasn‟t sure what
    bothered him more, that Owen was so utterly disgusted and pissed off
    because he was in love with a guy, or that his talk with Nick had left his
    best friend with all this anger and worry over his relationship with
    Zane. Nick wasn‟t the first person to question it. Deuce had repeatedly
    expressed his concerns: what would happen when one or both of them
    got tired of the other, what would happen when someone got their heart
    broken? Except Deuce had been worried about Zane‟s heartbreak. Nick
    seemed to think it would be Ty‟s, in the end.
    As they were passing the darkened side of the Broadway Market
    building, Nick suddenly reached out and took Ty‟s shoulder.
    “Ty,” he said urgently.
    Divide & Conquer | 219

    Ty turned to look at him in bemusement, expecting more drunken
    rambling. Or, God forbid, another near-breach of national security. But
    despite the ranting, Nick‟s green eyes were clear and his voice sounded
    steady. Ty realized he wasn‟t sloppy drunk, after all. Not impossibly so,
    anyway. But Ty couldn‟t quite decipher the look in his friend‟s eyes.
    There was sadness there, and anger. And something else he didn‟t think
    he‟d ever seen. Longing.
    “I wish you‟d trusted me with this earlier,” Nick muttered to him.
    “If I‟d known, all those years….”
    He opened his mouth to say more, then closed it again with a
    frustrated sigh. Before Ty really registered what was happening, Nick
    had taken his shoulders in both hands and was kissing him soundly,
    right there on the street in the middle of Fell‟s Point.
    Ty flailed, gripping Nick‟s elbows for lack of a better place to put
    his hands. His natural instinct was to pull him closer and deepen the
    kiss, but this was Nick! This was perhaps his oldest and dearest friend,
    kissing him without a hint of warning. The most disconcerting thing of
    all, though, was that it wasn‟t Zane pressed against him. Ty found
    himself returning the kiss tentatively, regardless, as Nick held him
    tightly and pushed him against the brick wall behind him. Guilt and
    shock warred for priority over the pleasure of a really amazing kiss in
    the brief seconds it took for it to end.
    Nick abruptly stepped away from him, inhaling sharply. Ty found
    himself gaping at the man, unsteady as he leaned against the wall and
    unable to speak or even breathe.
    “You ever get tired of waiting for him to come to his senses, you
    know where to find me,” Nick told him breathlessly.
    “Nick,” Ty whispered in supreme confusion.
    “I‟m sorry. That was a shitty thing to do,” Nick muttered. He put
    his head down and started walking.
    Ty stared after him for a moment before lurching forward to go
    after him.
    “I should probably go back to the hotel instead of… you know,
    home with you,” Nick said as soon as Ty caught up to him. He was
    holding out a hand at the row of taxis waiting to take people home
    220 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    when the bars closed down. One of them turned on its lights and began
    rolling forward.
    “O, wait,” Ty pleaded as he grabbed at Nick‟s elbow. Nick turned
    and pulled him closer, kissing him again before Ty could anticipate it.
    He could feel his body reacting, though, whether he wanted it to or not.
    Nick delved into Ty‟s mouth with a swipe of his tongue