Ball & Chain

Zane seemed to struggle with that piece of news. “She did?”



“It’s not supposed to still be a secret, is it?” she asked worriedly. Ty shook his head. She rolled her eyes in relief. “That’s good, ’cause everyone knows.”



“Awesome,” Ty grunted. He’d known his extended family would all find out sooner rather than later because that was how his mother rolled, but it still caused butterflies. He winced at Emma. “Good or bad?”



“I’d say mostly good. Pretty much nobody gives a shit because they all expected you to be dead by thirty. Actually, Elliot won like three hundred bucks on a bet he made with Tag back in high school that you were gay, so Tag’s still kind of pissed at you.”



Ty barked a laugh.



Zane shrugged and smiled at Ty. “Hell, your opinion’s the only one that matters anyway.”



“Aw, that’s sweet,” Emma said as she looked Zane up and down. She glanced at Ty. “Yeah, they’re going to eat him alive.”



“I know,” Ty agreed with a long-suffering nod. “And seriously, where’s the rest of your dress?”



“Shut up, I’m flaunting it while I’ve got it.”



Nick sat in the chair next to Ty, holding a glass of champagne he’d been nursing. He put his feet up on the fire pit, setting them next to Zane’s. “Emma was telling us about what she does. I still haven’t decided if she’s messing with us or not.”



Emma laughed. “I’m not messing with you.”



Kelly repositioned the last stray chair next to Nick and sat down, and Emma perched on his knee for lack of anywhere else to sit. Ty narrowed his eyes at them.



“Emma has a degree in underwater archaeology,” Deuce provided.



“That sounds like it’d be interesting. What do you do with that?” Zane asked her.



“Not what most people do. I’m a member of a team of researchers who investigate cryptozoological anomalies, historical mysteries, and natural phenomenon.”



“Cryptozoological?” Zane repeated incredulously. “That’s . . . animals that aren’t scientifically recognized, right?”



“Like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster?” Livi asked.



Emma laughed. “Among others, yes.”



“Seriously?” Zane asked.



Emma laughed harder.



“I think it’s fucking cool, man,” Kelly said, peering through the darkness at Nick. Nick raised both eyebrows but chose to take another sip of champagne rather than comment.



“The team’s sort of on hiatus right now,” Emma admitted. “Marley, our camera specialist, came with me to film the wedding. We’re going to make a side trip and see if we can head over to Loch Ness after.”



Ty frowned. “Why are you on hiatus?”



Emma sighed. “Our expedition leader had a little disagreement with the producers of the show they’re trying to get off the ground, and then he went on strike. They’re trying to find someone to replace him so they won’t have to deal with him.”



“So you’re without a team leader?”



“Pretty much. And those are some weird resume requirements, know what I mean? Not only did he have the skills to keep us from getting maimed in the Amazon, but he also had the degrees to qualify as an expert in the fields of history and anthropology. He filled two posts despite being kind of an arrogant asshole. Then our medic went and got pregnant, so we’re down by three spots.”



“Kelly’s a medic,” Ty told her. “And Nick’s currently being a jobless bum, plus he knows everything about history there is to know. He could lead your expeditions.”



Nick grunted.



“Really? You were both Recon like Ty, right?”



Nick shook his head, but Kelly’s eyes lit up. “What kind of expeditions are we talking about?”



“The kind with really big snakes to poke,” Emma answered, glancing sideways at Nick.



They all laughed, and Nick shook his head harder.



“I’ve been getting a little restless where I am,” Kelly admitted. “I wouldn’t mind finding out more about this.”



Ty chuckled as Emma sank her teeth in and started talking up the open positions on her team. He could see Kelly fitting in with a bunch of adventuring whackos like Emma and her crew. Nick would go nuts, though.



Deuce brought the blunt out again, leaning forward to light it. He was able to take a long drag on it before Nick reached over the fire pit and plucked it out of his mouth.



Livi laughed. “You’re being oppressed by the Man.”



“Damn it.”



Nick gave the blunt a sniff. “Medical grade?”



Deuce smirked and shrugged. “I have a bad leg.”



Nick laughed, and to Ty’s surprise he took a short hit before handing it over to Kelly. “That’s better than your other stuff,” he told Deuce.



“Tell me about it,” Deuce said, chuckling.



“How do you know about his other stuff?” Ty demanded.



Nick and Deuce both laughed at him.



“Please, you think I sucked snake venom out of his leg because he’s a nice guy?” Deuce asked. “I’m just glad he hasn’t turned over any new leaves since then.”



Ty gaped at Nick, who was snickering and sipping his champagne. “Like I don’t even know you,” Ty said to him.



Nick merely shrugged.



They passed the blunt around, Ty and Zane both refraining. Ty didn’t really have any objections to marijuana, but if he didn’t like the way a contact high felt, he knew he wouldn’t like anything stronger. He’d never tried it and didn’t intend to.



Emma passed the blunt back to Deuce and turned to Livi, her eyes shining. “I want to see your dress tomorrow. I can’t stand waiting any longer!”



Livi’s laugh was light and carefree. “I haven’t gotten to show it off to anyone yet, so I’d love that. Bring your bridesmaid dress so I can see if it’s horrible!”



“Oh, fun! I will!”



Because of the restricted guest numbers, Deuce and Livi had filled in the ranks of their wedding party with family. Livi’s brother Theo was a groomsman, and Emma was one of Livi’s bridesmaids, even though the two had never met before this week.



As they continued talking about the wedding colors and the cakes and the dresses, Kelly groaned and rubbed at his eyes.



Livi settled into the crook of Deuce’s arm, smiling kindly at Kelly. “You’ve been through this, huh?”



“I have. I’m sure this won’t be as big a disaster as mine was,” Kelly assured her.



Nick and Ty both made noises of agreement. They’d barely gotten Kelly to that wedding alive, much less gotten him out of the marriage.



“I remember the tales of that bachelor party,” Deuce said. “Which is one reason I’m not letting Ty plan mine.”



Ty grunted. “Hey, that wasn’t me. I was an innocent victim. Mostly. Sort of innocent.”



“It was me,” Nick confessed.



“I woke up the morning of my wedding on the front lawn of the church, tied up, with my tux covered in sequins they’d taken from stripper outfits.”



Nick grinned. “We Bedazzled him.”



“The minister told me I was the shiniest groom he’d ever seen.”



Nick burst out laughing, slumping further in his chair.



“It took a long damn time to collect those sequins, too,” Ty added. “We had to beg every dancer in Jacksonville.”



“Why didn’t you just buy a bag of sequins from a craft store?” Zane asked.



Ty and Nick shared a look, both of them frowning. Nick took a drink as Ty muttered, “Wow, that would have been easier.”



“Not near as fun, though,” Nick added.



“Have any of the rest of you ever been married?” Livi asked.



Zane raised his hand. Nick shook his head and took another sip of his champagne, but Ty was already snickering and pointing at him. Nick narrowed his eyes as he swallowed.



“Nick’s been married,” Ty drawled.



“What are you talking about?” Kelly asked. Then his eyes widened. “Oh! Oh my God, I’d forgotten about that!”



“There’s nothing to forget,” Nick insisted. He glared hard at Ty. “Why the hell would you bring that up?”



Ty laughed harder.



“O’Flaherty, you’ve been married?” Zane blurted.



“Not . . . no. Sort of,” Nick stuttered. “Not like they’re getting married, though.”



“Hitched is hitched, man,” Ty said.



“Shut up! I can’t believe you’re bringing this shit up!”



“The ten-year statute of limitations has passed.”



Nick made an insulted sound that came out squeaky.



Deuce leaned forward. “Did you get drunkenly married in Vegas?”



Nick rolled his eyes and slumped in his chair. “Yeah.”



“Interesting.”



Zane threw his head back and laughed. Ty pulled him closer. He loved it when Zane got loose and started enjoying himself.



Ty reached out to pat Nick’s shoulder. Nick shoved him away and shook his head. “Don’t touch me, traitor.”



“What happened?” Deuce asked.



“We were on leave before deployment,” Nick answered. “We headed to Vegas because none of us had ever been before.”



“The six of you?” Zane asked.



Ty grinned and nodded. “We had two days. And we all thought we were going to die on our next deployment, so we went all out.”



“I remember that,” Deuce said. “You told Ma and Dad you were going through extra training or some shit.”



“Yeah, and if you tell them different, I’ll ruin your wedding.”



“Hey!” Livi cried.



Ty shrugged, completely unapologetic. “Nick went on this craps run. I’ve never seen anything like it. Just roll after roll of winners. He won over five hundred thousand dollars in like three hours.”



“At craps?” Zane asked, impressed.



Nick nodded and took a long drink. “Pure luck, no skill.”



“Casino security frisked him three times looking for loaded dice,” Kelly added.



“The next morning we all woke up in the honeymoon suite with six women we didn’t remember meeting,” Nick said. “Heart-shaped bed, champagne, confetti everywhere. Digger was wearing this powder-blue tux with tails, and Johns had nothing on but a cummerbund and a fuzzy tiara that said ‘bride’ on it.”



Ty began to giggle uncontrollably. “It was instant mass panic.”



Nick tried to add something, but he was laughing too hard to speak. Zane was shaking beside Ty, and Ty could barely breathe as he remembered the scene of that morning. Each man had been trained to deal with life-or-death situations; they were all cool as could be when on the battlefield. But faced with the prospect of one of them having married someone the night before, they had all panicked like a bunch of new recruits tossed into a hot zone.



Ty and Nick were both laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe. Kelly had to continue the story for them. “We started checking our fingers for rings. It was like the scariest game of drawing straws ever.”



“And I had this beautiful engraved gold ring on my finger,” Nick said bitterly. He held up his hand to look at his ring finger as if the memory lingered with him. Knowing his fear of commitment like Ty did, he could imagine Nick literally having nightmares about that morning.



“He started cussing and kicking things,” Kelly wheezed. “I mean, just months before this, he’d helped me salvage all my shit from my crazy ex-wife, so it was doubly traumatic for him.”



“Hey,” Nick grunted. “Marriage is just a word for some people, but for others it’s a fucking sentence, okay?”



Zane was holding his side. “Oh my God, marriage puns! Oh my God . . .”



Nick was trying not to grin, but he finally couldn’t help himself. “Once we established I was the victim, then we had to find a girl with a ring on her finger to figure out which one I’d fucking married.”



Ty leaned against Zane’s arm, laughing so hard he could no longer sit up straight. “The look on his face!”



“He made a marriage pun,” Zane gasped.



“So we’re mostly sober,” Nick continued, getting more agitated the harder the others laughed at him. “And I tell the girl, look, we need to get this thing annulled fast. Clock’s ticking.” He tapped his watch. “And the chick said no!”



Ty and Kelly both howled, and Nick glanced at each of them with renewed indignation.



“She wouldn’t give you an annulment?” Livi asked.



“No! She refused, said she liked soldiers. I told her we were Marines, and she said, ‘Same thing!’”



Ty snorted. “We had to hold Digger back.”



“Never call a Marine a soldier,” Kelly said seriously.



“Then she fucking asked me what her new last name was.”



“So wait, did you have to get a divorce?” Zane asked.



“No, I gave her half of what was left of my winnings from the night before, and carried her ass down to the courthouse to sign the annulment.”



“You paid a woman not to be married to you?” Deuce asked.



Nick nodded solemnly. “Worth every penny.” He raised his champagne glass to Livi. “No offense.”



She giggled and shook her head.



Zane hid his face behind his hand as Ty finally wound down from his fit. “How much did freedom end up costing you?” Zane asked.