Ty

 

Duke and Quick decided to stop at a hole-in-the-wall rib spot in Wyngate while they waited on their next skipper to get off work. This jumper had the audacity to get a job and try to work while being a fugitive.

“You guys gonna eat?” Duke asked. “We got about another two hours before he shows.”

“No thank you,” Kell said, a little too fast. “I had a big breakfast.”

It was almost three. Any man who’d had breakfast at seven in the morning was more than ready for lunch by mid-afternoon. Quick gave Ty’s partner a look that he couldn’t interpret.

Brian had already dropped and processed their skipper and was back with them an hour and half later. “You coming in?” he asked Ty on his way past their SUV.

“I’ll be a second,” he told Brian. Ty waited until the three hunters were inside the Rib Shack before he turned his full attention on his partner who was staring out of the opposite window.

“You’re not being honest.”

Kell answered immediately. “I did not lie. I said no thank you I wasn’t eating here and that I’d had a big breakfast. None of those were lies.”

“Why aren’t you eating here with the guys? Do you not want to eat with me?”

“Everything isn’t about you, Tyrell,” Kell said drily. “I don’t eat a lot of beef or pork. Even the smell of it can make me nauseous. I can wait to eat when I get home.”

“I don’t eat a lot of meat either and I don’t eat any pork.” Ty nodded in the direction of the restaurant, which was packed with hungry customers. “Places like this aren’t always mindful of cross contamination.”

His partner absently hummed his agreement then fell quiet again.

“Kell your stomach’s been growling for a while, I think—”

“What the heck? Is it bothering you that much?”

“Yes.”

Kell sighed in exasperation. “Then get out the truck, go inside and eat and you’ll no longer have to listen to it.”

“I can’t do that,” Ty said, keeping his voice low.

Kell sighed. “You’re unbelievable. Do you really have to—?”

“I want to feed you,” Ty said, silencing his partner. “I don’t like it that you’re hungry and are not eating. I don’t like it that we came somewhere to eat that you don’t care for.” Ty lightly touched Kell’s hand where it rested on the seat between them. “There’s a Panera across the street. Their salads are good. Fresh.”

Kell was still staring as if Ty had two heads. His partner was probably getting whiplash with the back and forth between them, but Ty swore as soon as he got everything figured out, Kell would be the first person he spoke to about it. For now he’d go with what felt good between them. With the engine off, the interior of the truck was getting colder. The temperature was continually dropping, and the sun had disappeared behind large, gray clouds. Kell slid his black beanie over his gorgeous wavy hair and pulled his hood up. Ty studied his movements. Watched the muscle tic in his smooth jaw. Kell’s stomach rumbled again and Ty’s hand went instinctively to his own belly. The sensation he got wasn’t a good one. He kept trying… he wouldn’t stop. 

“Got good homemade soups too,” Ty said and got out of the car. “Come on, shorty. Eat with me. Please.”

Ty was almost to the crosswalk when he heard the SUV door open and slam shut. He let out his sigh of relief before Kell caught up to him. When they got to the restaurant, he held the door open for him and Kell’s eyes caught his as he walked by. The attraction in those blue-green irises were unmistakable. Attraction on both ends.

“I used to eat here a lot when I was younger. I can eat just about any kind of salad, the more stuff on it the better. Even at twelve I could eat it all.” Kell’s laugh lacked humor as if he was reflecting on a negative time in his life. He went quiet. Ty let him. He didn’t want to encourage bad memories.

As Ty stood in line behind the others with Kell to his right, he contemplated the new feelings he was experiencing for his partner. It felt good standing with him. Felt like he was right where he belonged. Never had anyone moved him so deeply. No female or male. He could admit he was fascinated by Kellam Knight, but did that equate to romantic fascination? Maybe he was just content with the able man he was partnered with. Ty was confused and that didn’t happen often. Kell threw him off his—typically relaxed—game.

“When I first met my heart, son, I was so tongue-tied and captivated by her beauty that I forgot how to speak, and how to behave. That’s when I knew. I knew she was my queen.”

Queen? For the first time in his twenty-eight years he doubted his father’s words. For years he’d looked at each suitable woman with an open mind, soul and open heart. None of them touched either of those things. Not even the couple of women that he’d lain with. There was no infatuation, no ache, no desperate urges to be with them. And certainly no crippling need to do things for them. Not like his need to feed Kellam when he was hungry. Not like his need to ease the hurt he’d felt this morning after their quarrel. Not like his desire to stand as close to him as he could so that no one else did.

Those were all feelings a husband felt. They were all things a good man was required to do… to provide and to protect.

He felt those drives for Kell already.

Perhaps my queen… is a knight?

Ty stood in front of Kell and ordered a turkey sandwich and a bowl of veggie tomato soup. When the clerk stared expectantly at Kell, he hesitantly pulled his scarf below his soft-looking lips.

“I um. Just a water and…” Kell paused again, glancing back up at the menu. Ty knew instantly what the truth was.

Kell didn’t have a lot of money for eating out. How could he have missed that angle? Ty put his hand on the small of Kell’s back. He stiffened momentarily before relaxing and leaning a little into the touch. Ty lowered his mouth to Kell’s ear hidden beneath his hood. “Do you mind if I order for you?”

Kell cut his eyes to Ty’s again and held him there. Time stood still. The other customers faded into the background and nothing mattered at the moment except Kellam. He appeared to contemplate Ty’s request, then turned his head toward him, the soft material of his hood brushing against Ty’s cheek. “Yes, please.”

Ty rose back to his full height. Satisfied to have this task. “He’ll have the green garden cobb salad with no bacon and a bottle of the Dasani, please.”

“Sure. Dining in?” the cashier asked pleasantly.

“Yes, thank you,” Ty answered, handing the woman the money for their meals before Kell could even reach in his back pocket.

“Here’s your number. You can wait right over there for your order to be called. It’ll only be a few.” She pushed a tray with the bottle of water and some utensils at them then quickly turned her attention to the next customer.

Ty took Kell’s elbow and led him to a vacant spot away from the crowd to wait for their food. He was making up all kinds of reasons in his mind why he kept putting his hands on his partner. To usher him across the street, to lean in to whisper something in his ear, or even to lead him to a table for lunch, he touched him. Now it felt like he couldn’t stop.

Kell put a few more inches of space between them and Ty understood. Kellam was gay and he wasn’t sure if he was. Or if Ty was simply making things confusing and complicated for no reason. He wanted to assure Kell that that wasn’t the case, either. Kell flipped his hood back and slid his beanie off. Ty wasn’t the only one riveted to Kell’s thick locks. A male counter clerk on the other end was damn near breaking his neck to get a better look, now that Kell was revealed. Another woman stopped on her way to refill her drink.

“Oh my gosh. Your hair is beautiful. It looks so soft.” She appeared as if she was about to try to run her hands through it. “Can I touch it?”

Hell no. Ty gritted his teeth, keeping his mouth shut. He had no right.

Kell casually turned his head away from her hand. “You don’t wanna do that. I haven’t washed it in a couple days.”

The woman gave him a confused grin. “Oh. I wish mine looked that good after two days. It’s usually an oily mess by then.” She waited as if Kell was about to give her some hair tips.

Instead, Kell moved closer to Ty. He didn’t know if it was to deter the woman from reaching again or if he naturally gravitated toward Ty now that he was uncomfortable.

“I thought you were a woman from behind.” She laughed, then moved on to the beverage area. “Have a good day.”

Did she think that was a damn compliment?

Kell still nodded politely and told her to do the same. Ty rolled his eyes when she was gone, making Kell smile for the first time since that morning. A man in a business suit stood next to them. He glanced at Kell’s hair then did a double take before schooling his expression. Now Ty knew what Kell was talking about when he said people, especially men, looked at him differently when his hair was out. However, Ty didn’t believe they stared because they didn’t approve, he felt they gazed in envy. The prematurely balding man in the suit stared at Kell’s hair probably wishing he was that blessed.

Ty leaned against the wall, and without much thought he reached out and gently pinched the material of Kell’s hoodie in front of his navel, and used it to pull him closer. He was standing too far away. They weren’t touching, but their body language didn’t scream friends. Over Kell’s head he spotted a group of college-age females staring in their direction. Correction. In Kell’s direction. Staring down at Kell, he could see why. He was exotically beautiful. He could admit it. Everyone in the restaurant noticed him. Noticed his smooth, angular face, his strong, but lithe physique beneath his all-black outfit. When he’d first stepped in the door out of the cold winter air he’d looked like a dangerous ninja, an assassin, until he’d unveiled himself and transformed into an angel right before their eyes. He leaned forward and draped Kell’s hood back over his head.

Kell’s twisted his small mouth, “I told you the hair is… It gets attention. Am I embarrassing you?”

“No,” Ty said honestly.

“Then what is it?”

“I only want one set of eyes on you.”

Kell’s breath shuttered at Ty’s serious expression. Being out in public with Kell awakened a territorial spirit inside him that was both confusing and exciting.

“Mine.” Ty said, keeping it ’a’ hundred.