Ball & Chain(115)

Nick took a deep breath. Ty could tell he was nervous. Probably close to just throwing himself overboard rather than doing this. He finally looked at Deuce and Livi and gave them a signature O’Flaherty grin.

“Deacon Grady,” he started. “Do you intend to spend the rest of your life with this woman? Love her, cherish her, let her pick out the curtains, and shield her body from any future bullets?”

Deuce chuckled and gazed at Livi, reaching to take her hand in his. “I do,” he said softly. He slid a ring onto her finger, never taking his eyes off her face.

Nick turned to Livi.

“Olivia Stanton,” he said.

“I do,” she said before he could continue. She wrapped her arms around Deuce’s neck and kissed him. The boat erupted in cheers and applause, and Deuce took Livi in his arms and turned her, dipping her for a kiss. Amelia grabbed onto Livi’s train and slid across the deck as it moved, laughing gleefully.

Nick stood with his hands spread, incredulous. “Why am I even up here?” he demanded.

Livi and Deuce laughed merrily, kissing again before Deuce set her on her feet once more.

“Only other part of this thing I know is ‘you may now kiss the bride!’” Nick told them, clearly offended that he hadn’t been able to at least do that part.

Livi laughed again and stepped forward to give him a kiss on the cheek, and then she and Deuce turned to their family and loved ones and raised their joined hands. Everyone clapped for them, some people giving off whistles and howls. Deuce bent to pick Amelia up, and he wrapped his arm around his wife, walking into the crowd with his family. Ty stood to the side, still clapping, watching his brother with a smile on his face. Zane was next to him, brushing against him as he clapped.

He glanced up at the bow of the boat only to find Nick watching them.

“Anyone else want to get hitched while I’m up here?” Nick asked, staring at Ty and Zane pointedly.

Ty swallowed past the sudden knot in his throat and turned to Zane, warmth spreading through him. Zane’s eyes had widened, his mouth parted but no words coming out. Ty grasped his hand and kissed his fingers. “Will you marry me, Zane?” he whispered.

Zane looked from him to Nick and back, a grin spreading across his lips. Then he shook his head. “No,” he answered, laughing.

Ty huffed and fought not to smile.

Nick walked past them, shaking his head. “Damn, son.”

“That’s cold,” Kelly added before they were gone.

Ty and Zane both watched them go, then turned back to each other, both of them smiling. Ty pulled Zane to him and kissed him, holding him by a handful of his hair so he couldn’t get away. “I’ll get you eventually, my pretty,” he whispered.

“And I look forward to it,” Zane mumbled against his lips.





Ty, Nick, and Kelly were still in their dress blues. Zane had loosened his tie and removed his suit coat because he refused to be in a funeral suit longer than he had to be. They’d retreated from the graveyard and taken up residence in a local tavern, one Ty had apparently frequented when he’d been based in Washington, DC.

Zane was drinking Coke. Ty had ordered a scotch to toast Richard Burns, but after that he’d stuck to Dr Pepper. Zane had caught a glance between Ty and Nick that spoke clearly to the fact that Nick had read Ty the riot act at some point about drinking in Zane’s presence.

Nick and Kelly were drinking water. Zane didn’t know whether to be grateful to them or to be pleased that these men, men who reportedly had always been hard-drinking, hard-partying hooligans, would refrain for him.

Either way, he’d given them each a nod in recognition of what they were doing.

“I can’t believe all this shit circles back to me,” Zane said, staring at the tabletop.

“If you pull one of those ‘everyone I love dies, let me disappear’ moves on me, I’ll hunt you down,” Ty told him.

Zane laughed sadly. “Noted.”

“This is the mole,” Ty told him, almost growling. “He knew Burns was closing in on him. He’s the only one could have known enough information to feed to de la Vega and pull this shit off.”

“This the same mole who made the mess in New Orleans?” Kelly asked.

Zane nodded, still staring. “This isn’t going to end until the cartel is gone. Or I am.”

The table fell silent, and the sounds of the noisy tavern began to fade until Zane was sitting in the silence of his own head, staring at the wood grain of the table.

“So this de la Vega guy,” Nick finally said. Zane raised his head, blinking away the deep reverie he’d been lost in. Nick was lounging in the corner of their booth, his arm around Kelly’s shoulder, his other hand on the table like he was accustomed to sitting with people he didn’t hide his hands from. He tapped his fingers and met Zane’s eyes. “How do we take him out?”