Ball & Chain(20)

Kelly barked a laugh. He placed the cap on the tube and shook it vigorously. The same persistent liquid shot out from under the tightened cap, hitting Nick in the face.

Nick howled and flopped to his side, covering his face and laughing raucously. Kelly pitched forward, cackling so hard he had to rest his head on Nick’s hip. Zane practically guffawed.

“You got it in my mouth!” Nick finally cried. He rolled to his back, pawing at his face.

Kelly was hooting and snorting and wheezing too hard to answer. He buried his face against Nick’s stomach and shook his head, holding the dripping tube of cream up.

“In my mouth! Is this shit poisonous? Am I going to die?” Nick fumbled on the bedside table for his water bottle, gulped it down and wiped at his face frantically with a pillow.

Kelly brought the tube of cortisone cream up again, and when Nick caught sight of it he rolled out of bed and thumped to the hardwood floor. “Don’t fucking come near me with that shit! I’d rather be itchy!”

Kelly tried to argue, but he still couldn’t catch his breath.

“I’m taking a shower,” Nick cried, distraught. He pulled his shirt off and wiped his face with it, then disappeared into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Zane was holding his stomach, trying to sit up and laugh at the same time. Kelly chuckled. He quickly capped the tube then tossed it toward the trash can. He looked around for something to wipe his hands off on and Ty backed away from him.

“There were so many things wrong with that,” Ty told him, close to giggling.

Kelly snorted. “What did you guys need?”

Ty shook his head. “I don’t even fucking remember.”

Zane cackled. “I feel like I just watched free porn.”

“Oh, look at this shit we found earlier,” Kelly said, grinning like a little boy as he hopped past Ty toward the fireplace. He reached up to one of the carved angels on its knees with its hands clasped. A chain ran through its broken wing and attached to a ball higher up the corbel. He pulled the angel’s head.

Nothing happened.

Ty and Zane shared a glance, and Ty put two fingers to his lips to indicate Kelly may have been toking earlier rather than resting. Zane snorted.

“That’s weird,” Kelly said. He tried again, tugging at the angel’s head. Again, nothing happened. He glanced over his shoulder at them. “I swear to God this thing opened a door earlier.”

Ty snickered.

Kelly looked it over with a deep frown, pushing on the wall next to the fireplace. “No, seriously.”

“We believe you, Doc,” Zane said kindly.

“No! There was a door here! The walls are hollow, and there are stairs and everything,” Kelly insisted. He glanced at the bathroom door. “Nick!”

“No!” Nick called from the bathroom. The water shut off. “No, no, no.”

Zane began to laugh again.

Kelly put his shoulder into the wall, leaning against it. He reached up to tug the angel’s head again. “Damn it!”

Nick came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. He watched Kelly for a few seconds before saying, “Pull its wing.”

Kelly glanced at him, then up at the carving. He pulled the fragile-looking wing and something clicked within the fireplace. The wall gave way against Kelly’s shoulder, and he stumbled sideways before catching himself.

Zane stood, and Ty took a step forward, eyes widening.

“That’s so cool!” Zane cried.

Ty took another step, peering into the dark passageway. “How the hell did you find that?”

Kelly glanced at Nick, opening his mouth and closing it like a fish.

“He, uh,” Nick said quickly. “He tripped over the wood holder down there. Grabbed at it when he fell.”

“Did you follow it?” Zane asked, his brown eyes gleaming.

Ty was struck speechless for a moment, just staring at him. Good Lord, the man was beautiful. He didn’t know if it was because he’d just missed Zane so much, but he was pretty sure Zane had grown even more attractive while he’d been deployed. The sprinkling of silver in the hair at his temples had increased, and the light in his eyes was there more often than not. He’d slimmed down, losing a little of the bulk in his muscles, but he was still trim, and his suits seemed to fit just a little better than they had. There was a weightlessness to him now as well that hadn’t been there before, like the burden of his past had finally been shed.

Not lifted, no. No one had lifted Zane’s burden for him; he had shed it himself, like a caterpillar unfolding its wings to become a butterfly. Ty would never tell Zane he thought of him like a butterfly, of course.

“We followed it a little way,” Nick answered, reminding Ty that no one else in the room was smitten and they were still talking. “Down to the study. We saw you two in there with Deacon.”