Ty

 

He’d done it. Ty slumped back on the couch while Kell went to wash his face and get his things so they could get to work on time. He closed his eyes and thought of the way Kell had shaken quietly against his chest. Tears of pure elation. He understood, because he was just as overwhelmed himself. The relief that he’d done it had caused a weight to lift from him. That radiant smile that made Ty’s world brighter and the silent tears was a clear indication that Kell’s heart cried yes. He wanted to be Ty’s husband. Wanted him to be his king. And the fact that Kell had bowed in front of him and sat up with his shoulders back, rocking the chain with pride was another affirmative.

He hadn’t been worried about Kell refusing the gift, but he had been worried he wouldn’t get his proposal out correctly. When he’d mentioned the words ‘first wife’ and Kell’s smile fell, he’d wanted to kick his own ass. But thank shit, he’d been able to recover quickly. Ty’s eyes jumped behind his lids. He’d stayed on course after that slip-up. Would Kell always be able to flip his mind or would he grow immune? He figured Kell’s shy, slightly innocent smile would always make him stammer and lose his train of thought?

Kell came into the room and set his small messenger bag at his feet. His face was no longer flushed pink, but his eyes were still a little red. He had his hair pulled back and wrapped in a messy bun at the base of his neck. “We better get going.”

Ty stood and put his coat on. Kell watched him hungrily. Damn, he knew the feeling. Now that he knew what was sure to happen in less than four days, his dick was settling into a permanent state of semi-hardness. “Okay,” he rasped.

Kell paused at the door with his hand on the knob. “Tyrell. There is something I want.”

“Name it.”

“I want to kiss you.”

Ty’s chest expanded. Kell was giving him his gift in return. His thank you for the rare gold lying against his skin.

Ty didn’t stop walking until his entire body was pressed against Kell’s from thigh to forehead. He bent down and placed his lips where he always did. Needing to make eye contact, he brought one hand up and caressed Kell’s cheek tenderly before reaching around and releasing his hair from the messy bun. Kell swallowed loudly. Ty grazed his lips across Kell’s temple and lingered there as he slid his hand into that thick mane, burying it deep until his palm cradled the back of Kell’s skull. His partner whined and rubbed his body against him. So pliant and at his will. Kell smelled like fresh soap mixed with the ginger and apple from whatever shampoo he used. Ty pressed in harder and plunged his other hand in, watching the long strands thread through his fingers. Kell’s hair felt like plush down feathers.

Ty’s joint was ’bricker than brick.

Kell lifted his head higher, aiming those pretty lips where he wanted them to be. Ty hovered his mouth just over his and paused there, inflicting a few more seconds of torture before giving in to what he craved. Kell rose onto the balls of his feet and took their suffering away. He touched their lips together, gently at first, before moaning deeply, tilting his head and flicking his warm tongue at Ty’s lips.

Ty’s composure shattered.

He pushed Kell back against his front door and devoured his mouth with an animalistic passion he didn’t know he had. Kell’s mouth was just as juicy and flavorful as the peach it resembled. So damn supple, and moist with just a hint of fuzz tickling his top lip. Ty groaned loud enough for the neighbors to hear and drove his tongue inside again. The taste of Kell’s mouth was so much better than he’d dreamed. He tasted clean, citrusy.

He took every one of Kell’s whimpers and whines for himself. Licked and swallowed them away. They were his now. Bringing his hands down to Kell’s cheeks, he tried to wind their kiss down, but it was still blazing hot. Ty bent at the knees and ground his hard erection against Kell’s, making them both cry out in ecstasy. Hell, if he didn’t end this, he’d go back on what he’d promised and take Kell on the floor in his living room. That wouldn’t do. He was too good for that.

He pulled back slightly, his ego rejoicing when Kell strained to get more. He was greedy for him, his body begging. Kell grabbed at the back of Ty’s neck, pulling him down, while nestling his head into his neck. When Ty felt Kell’s hot tongue lick across his Adam’s apple he slammed his hand against the door to steady himself, his hips picking up an erratic rhythm all their own. Ty’s eyes rolled in the back of his head as Kell placed, sexy open-mouthed kisses all over his throat. Oh, that mouth. Ty stood to his full height, leaving his forehead resting on Kell’s. They were both quiet, trying to catch their breath from their first kiss. Some things were truly worth the wait.

Earning Kell’s gifts the same as he was earning his was the way it should be.

Ty had placed the purest gold in the world around Kell’s neck and in return he’d gifted him with a kiss that made him see the stars.

“All right guys. Everything has checked out on you two. Background check, physical, permits are all clean, so Georgia says you’re qualified,” Duke said, standing in the middle of the office.

All of them were at their desks. Ty and Kell now had their own large office chairs and executive-style desks that were pushed up against each other like Ford’s and Dana’s.

“Now that you’ve observed for weeks and you’ve seen the right way to do things and even a couple instances of the wrong way to do shit.” Duke cut his eyes to Dana.

Dana threw his hands up. “Come on! We were supposed to be doing non-violent only. That guy bit me hard as hell, I had to drop the arm I was holding. He should’ve ate the asphalt… he tried to eat me.”

“Shut up,” Duke continued with his spiel. “I must admit that I had my doubts with you guys. Especially after you started acting like teens in puberty. That’s why I gave you an extra few days of observing, so I could keep observing you.”

Ty knew that was bullshit, because he and Kell had never been inappropriate at work. Maybe a few longing gazes from across the room but that was it. Nothing like what they’d caught Ford and Dana doing in the breakroom two weeks ago. Or while Quick was in court all afternoon, what Ty had heard Duke doing with his partner, Vaughan, in his office last week. He wasn’t fooled by the muffled grunts and sounds of jarring furniture. Out of all those grown men, he and Kell were the youngest and yet the only ones able to control their bodies.

“But there’s been no drama or silliness, so you’ve shown that you can keep your personal lives out of the office and I appreciate it. Ya’ll have been instrumental in helping out with the day-to-day duties in the office while we kept up with our priority cases also. So, thank you. We make an even stronger team now. I like that. It’s not a secret that all of us are ready to retire out of the field and let the new guys come in, learn and potentially take over.

“Now, I’m not talking about us retiring to shady pastures or no shit like that. I mean we’re gonna be doing the in-house tracking, while the next generation does the recovering. That’s the new vision for Duke’s. Veterans operating behind the scenes with a new powerhouse apprehension team on the streets.”

Ty liked the sound of that. He and Kell were definitely a powerful couple.

“With all that said. You are no longer trainees.” Duke reached out and took the manila envelope from Quick. “These came in on Friday.”

Ty grinned at the two, gleaming silver badges with the fugitive recovery bail agent star in the center. Kell was reclining back in his own chair with the same excited gleam in his eye.

“This does not mean you got free rein. You are now bail recovery agents on probation. You’ll be in the field, but you’ll have strict limitations. Basically, only what I allow you to do.” Duke picked up two file folders off Ford’s desk. “Quick and I came up with a test for you guys, if you will. I have two cases here that are medium priority. Potential violent. Both felonies. Before you two are allowed to put on those badges, I want you to review the files and come up with a plan to track and apprehend those two jumpers. You both will take field command with us as backup. You can issue the takedown order, but you cannot engage.”

Ty took his boots off his desk and sat up straighter. Now, this is the action he was talking about. His ass was going flat from sitting in that backseat and observing for weeks.

Duke tossed the two files on Ty’s desk. Kell rolled his chair over next to his and began looking through one. “Grand larceny?”

“Yep. Craig Morrison,” Ford started. “We contracted him out on a twenty-five-thousand-dollar bond for two counts of grand larceny. He stole five thousand dollars in lottery tickets from a QuikTrip.”

“Wow,” Kell mumbled, still reading over the guy’s rap sheet.

Ty turned to Ford. “What’s his story?”

“Craig, aka, the dreamer. He’s not the smartest guy in the world. The lottery tickets weren’t valid without the barcode being scanned. Said he needed the money to pay for some studio recording time for a rap demo he was working on.” Ford rolled his eyes, “Anyway, he was caught on tape. Never went to court, three months ago. We got a hit on the Sheriff’s system that another warrant has been issued for his arrest for assaulting a popular radio personality for not playing his CD at a showcase. Apparently, he really, really wants to make it big in the industry.”

Ty rubbed his hand over his fade, mumbling to himself. “Is that right?”

“He’s a damn ditz but he’s smart at being slippery. He has a boost phone that’ll take weeks to track, no employment, no credit cards, bank accounts, nada. He’s been bouncing from house to house, relative to relative, to neighbor to friend. No one sees him for more than two days at a time. Then if any acquaintances do answer our calls on his whereabouts they all say the same thing… he’s hard at work on his rap demo.”

“I’m sure he is.” Ty laughed. There were plenty of guys in Atlanta who wanted to make it in the rap game. But that was a dirty, cut-throat, dog-eat-dog world and it looked like their jumper, Craig Morrison, already had the chops. He was a straight up hustler who didn’t mind breaking laws, contracts, backs and necks to make his way to the top. Ty already knew what to do for that clown. Closing the file he said, coolly, “Next case.”

“This is a contract we accepted from Athens Freedom Bonds. They don’t have the guts to go after Alexander Donovan again after what he did to them last time.” Duke folded his arms over his chest. “This guy got popped in August last year with over ten kilos of cocaine bagged up for distribution. Athens contracted him on a fifty-thousand-dollar bond. When the owner of Athens sent his hunters for Alexander for his failure to appear, it turned into a huge mess.”

Ford tapped a few keys on his computer and one of his four monitors started playing a grainy black and white video. At first it showed a noisy club parking lot as people filed out at closing. The timer ticking on the security camera said two thirty-five a.m. People stood around a parking lot pimping, cars zoomed and swerved out of the small lot, showcasing their drunk driving skills. Then Ty saw two burly men approaching a man walking with a large group. He couldn’t discern what the men said, but when they pulled out the obvious warrant, all hell broke loose.

The man screamed “Danger!” and tried to run, but one of the men caught him in a thick arm. The group with Alexander Donovan attacked. Throwing wild punches, bottles, bags, shoes and anything else they could to help their friend, who was constantly yelling at the top of his lungs he was being gay bashed. At hearing those riot-inciting words, more people started joining in, forcing the hunters to retreat… without their bounty.

“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.” Kell tried unsuccessfully to keep his laugh in.

“You’re laughing, but I want to see what plan you two can come up with to get this guy. Someone let it leak on social media that Donovan will be MC’ing at a hole-in-the-wall club in Midtown on Thursday for their Pride night. It’s the only place we know he will be, but it’s also an intimately crowded place with the guy’s own personal army on site,” Duke told them. “You know my rules. Don’t be seen. No press, but especially no negative press. I need a plan on how to get inside that club unnoticed and extract the bounty without his posse catching on.

Doing it in the parking lot is too risky. That video almost put Athens out of business when gay rights groups got involved. Now I don’t know if the owner thought we’d have a better chance against the backlash because we’re gay, but I couldn’t explain to the jackass that it didn’t work like that.”

There was more laughing and joking before Duke brought it down. He stood next to Quick and asked them, “So, you two think you can do this?”

“There’s no thinking,” Ty answered without pause.

“We can do it,” Kell finished.

Quick’s green eyes radiated pride when he looked at Kell. Ty noticed Brian watching him in the same light. He realized that he’d wanted to make Brian proud. Wanted him to know he hadn’t wasted his time tracking him down and saving him from the streets. Or more accurately. Saving the streets from him.

“That’s it for ya’ll for the day. We’re not doing any retrievals this week. You two got a couple days to brainstorm and give us your strategy. We’ll meet back here at noon on Wednesday,” Duke said and clamped them each on the shoulder. “I’m looking forward to this.”

Then he and Quick were gone.

Ford and Dana got up next, both of them putting on their coats. “If you need anything from us while you’re planning, just text.”

“One thing.” Ty stopped them. “Can you get me some more club footage so I can study this guy and a layout of the place the bounty’s MC-ing at in Midtown on Thursday?”

“Oh yeah. That ain’t nothing. I’ll email it to you when I get home,” Ford said, moving quickly through the doorway, Dana right on his ass, barely remembering to say goodbye.

Kell mumbled, “Those guys are insatiable.”

Ty chuckled next to him. He didn’t think he’d be able to talk soon. By next week, Kell might be the pot calling the kettle black. Speaking of next week. Ty had some plans to put into action. Now that he had another work task, he need to reprioritize. With no one but them in the office, and Brian, Ty took Kell’s hand and led him into the breakroom.

“What’s up?” Kell asked.

Ty pressed Kell against the counter while he reached into the refrigerator and got them both a bottle of water. “I got some errands I want to run and I’ve asked Brian if he can help me with it. Then I want to go see my mother before the rest of the week gets busy.”

“Okay.” Kell smiled. “There’s a lot I need to get done at my place—”

“Like packing,” Ty quipped.

Kell shuddered when Ty bent and grazed his lips against his. “Packing? Where am I going?”

“Wherever I go.” Ty covered Kell’s sweet mouth with his own. He was already addicted to his flavor. Ty usually wouldn’t indulge like this at work, but he was leaving, and he wasn’t going to see Kell until tomorrow. After a few more seconds of partaking he reluctantly pulled back, “I want you to come to my room tomorrow morning. We’ll have room service and get started on the cases.”

Ty pecked Kell’s cheek, then his forehead, he couldn’t keep his mouth to himself. “Does that sound good to you?”

“Sure. I’ll be at the dojo this afternoon after I finish my stuff at home.” Kell smiled. “I miss my students.”

Ty took his fingertips and ran it across the shiny necklace around Kell’s neck before tucking it inside his tunic, so it couldn’t be seen. “When you’re out. Keep this covered. I’d hate for someone to try to take and I have to spend the next twenty years in prison for killing a motherfucker.”

Kell smoothed his hands down Ty’s chest, gazing up at him. “Or maybe, I’ll kill the motherfucker for trying to even touch it.”

Ty drove his hands into Kell’s hair and just barely tugged so his mouth was at the perfect angle he wanted. “My knight.”