Page 40 (1/2)

Alston"s s around

The sound of lanced over to see the silver band finally being pulled off his aching finger The sight of the sliced ring and the impression it left on his skin was more painful than he"d anticipated

"Thank you," he muttered to the tech Theband Ty pallad McCoy didn"t deive it back

The intervieent on for another hour or so, the questionsthat could have been e Ty"s attention was only half there, though

The other half was on Zane and the ring burning a hole through Ty"s pocket

ZANE forced hiested holiday traffic

He was behind schedule, but at this point all he could do was drive He drulanced in the rearview ain His tri was gone, though Zane had caught hi the past week Not his style, though He wore his own tailored gray suit, a crisp white dress shirt, and a red and silver silk tie All nice, but not pricey like Corbin Porter"s extravagant wardrobe Under the suit, the tattoo was now fading Zane had considered having it actually inked, but then he"d thought about what Ty would say and abandoned the idea It wasn"t really his style either

Zane had ree of his fake persona four days after they returned from the cruise--this afternoon, actually He was so accustoht about re the silver one provided for the case until he"d been washing spaghetti sauce off his fingers after lunch and noticed the ring was the wrong color

He had stood there at the sink looking at the ring for severalthrough his er Zane re together, relaxing The heady, sultry sexual tension thru between thehter and the dancing and the banter and just being together

With all that on histhat connected hi to the bedroom and the wooden keepsake box on his dresser He opened the top with a soft snap of theinside, with all its dings and scratches Zane slowly set the nearly pristine silver ring next to it before sliding his fingertips over the gold ring

When he thought about Becky, it was more difficult to call her face to es, faded with time It had been h he still missed her, it didn"t hurt like it used to

Zane had closed the box, leaving both rings inside

Then he"d looked at the shtly He"d bought the coive it to hiht when he thought about Ty"s declaration of love, and compared to that? The pendant seemed pedestrian Plus they"dcell, and now just handing the necklace to Ty felt silly

Zane had left it behind as hen he grabbed his suit jacket and walked out of the apartating through traffic into a s lot Zane squeezed the truck into a spacethat he could have ridden the Valkyrie despite the cold but dry weather that would have nearly frozen hih town Not only was the motorcycle more maneuverable, but it was ed a space and a third of stingy parking at full restaurants in Baltimore

He hadn"t ridden it because it was hard to keep a suit and tie tidy while doing so

The popular privately owned steakhouse that was located in two old renovated row houses near Fell"s Point was always jalad he"d thought to call and get reservations as soon as they"d gotten hoot in the door fifteen minutes late--not the best of ideas for a dinner reservation on a regular night, much less a holiday, but he was sure Ty would have been on time It was one of Ty"s favorite restaurants After all the fish on the cruise ship, Zane figured a high-grade piece of beef would endear him to his carnivorous partner

In a couple minutes one of the hostesses led hi the side wall ran a whole line of booths for two to four, and as he expected, Ty was facing the restaurant proper Zane had given up the fight over ould sit with their back to a full roouht

Ty sat diligently tearing a piece of paper into thin shreds, his knee bouncing under the table as he tried to keep hilanced up when he saw the hostess leading Zane toward hi the pieces of paper and crureeted, handing the hostess his heavy, waist-length wool coat, unbuttoning his suit jacket, and sliding into the booth across froht and tall, well-fitted suit actually pressed and his stylishly narrow tie straight, the bleached-blond hair shaved almost completely off in as practically a scalp trim, Ty looked more like a Jarhead than Zane had ever seen hiood And he looked one somewhere and rolled around in the otten home from the cruise ship That would have made him feel better

Now Ty seemed nervous, which wasn"t like him While apart the past few days, back to their nor as it felt--Zane had worried Ty"s confession of love and his conspicuous lack of response would ot back together So Zane drew a settling breath as he sat on the bench and offered Ty a smile

"I"m sorry I" his elbows on the table

"You all right?" he asked with a frown

"Yeah," Zane said, trying not to wince "I didn"t think I"d be this late or I would have called"

"It"s okay," Ty told him easily as his eyes traveled carefully over Zane, as if checking him for injuries or any undue wear and tear Ty didn"t trust Zane"s motorcycle any further than he could throw it, and he knew Zane usually rode it With that look, Zane felt a lot war into a heated building from the cold weather outside He tried to catch Ty"s eyes It was a little weird, this new dynamic to their partnership Maybe he should call it an actual relationship now Yeah Weird But Zane really liked it, and he smiled slowly

"What?" Ty asked hi He groaned "What have you done now?"

Zane shook his head, just looking at his lover across the table "I didn"t do anything," he protested, amused by Ty"s reaction Now Ty kne he felt every day when he woke up or ca

Ty narrowed his eyes and pointed a warning finger at Zane, obviously not believing that he wasn"t up to so from Ty"s hand, and he found hier was still noticeably swollen, and Zane could guess what had happened "They had to cut it off, huh?"

"Cut what off?" Ty asked, shoulders squaring as he sat back, al"

Ty looked down at his hand "Oh" He nodded "Yeah, no as it coer with it"