Touch&Geaux (26 page)

the difference.”

“You want to run,” Zane repeated.

“Yes,” Ty said. “We’re not equipped to handle this here.”

“We’ll never have a better chance against them. There are

seven of us.”

“Six,” Ty corrected.

Liam counted the men around the table. When he got to

seven, he pointed to himself and shook his head. “This is not

my fight,” he said. “I don’t plan on dying for any of you.”

Ty and Zane locked eyes again. Nick sort of wanted to

lean away from the line of fire.

“You know damn well we will never have another

opportunity like this one,” Zane said through gritted teeth.

“We know they’re coming. Even if this isn’t their fight, it’s

yours and mine.”

“Garrett, we are outgunned,” Ty said, his voice getting

louder. He pressed a finger against the table. “We know

they’re coming, but we don’t know how or when. And in case

you’ve forgotten, there is a city full of cops hunting us down

right now. If there’s trouble, we’re just as likely to end up in jail

as we are dead, and either way ends bloody for me.”

Zane crossed his arms and huffed. “I never thought I’d see

the day I wanted to call you a coward.”

“Whoa,” Owen whispered.

Nick sat straighter and put both hands out. “Okay, slow

down.”

Ty stared at Zane, not moving, not blinking. He didn’t

even appear to be breathing. Nick tensed, preparing to grab

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Ty when he lunged. Zane returned the stare, unwavering.

Across the table, Liam whistled softly.

Ty stood as if the noise had propelled him, his chair

scratching against the wooden floorboards. Nick stood with

him, but Ty didn’t attack.

“Where are you going?” Kelly asked.

“To get a drink,” Ty spat. Nick sighed as Ty stalked toward

the bar.

“Well that was productive,” Digger muttered.

Nick sat again. Digger and Kelly were both shaking their

heads, looking to Nick for guidance. Owen had his arms on

the table, resting his head on them. Liam was sitting with his

lips pursed, and when Nick made eye contact, Liam grinned

and winked. Zane was still leaning back in his chair, but his

body wasn’t relaxed. He was resting his mouth against his

hand, elbow propped on the arm of the chair. His hard eyes

followed Ty’s movements.

“Okay,” Nick said. “Nothing good is going to come of us

sitting here sniping at each other. We’ll call it a night, come

back with clearer heads at dawn. Keep watch in shifts of two.

Bell doesn’t take a turn.”

“You’re putting a guard on me?” Liam asked.

“Yes. Would you like to tell me why I shouldn’t?”

“I’d like to tell you where to go, do I have permission to

do that?” He stood, muttering under his breath as he walked

away. He said something to Ty as he mounted the stairs, then

ducked and covered when Ty chucked a heavy glass at him.

It shattered against the wall and rained shards over Liam’s

shoulders.

“Excellent idea, Grady!” Liam shouted. He stood from

his crouch. “Lace the steps with glass so we can hear them

coming, good thinking.”

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“Keep running your mouth, you bastard, you’ll wake up

bloody!” Ty shouted.

“Yeah, in my sleep, that’s the only way you’ll ever get the

upper hand.”

Liam hustled up the steps before Ty could reply, taking

them two at a time and narrowly avoiding the second glass Ty

threw at him.

Nick chewed on his lip for a few seconds, then turned to

glance at the others. “Who wants to volunteer for first watch

with Ty?”

The bar felt heavy when it was deserted, as if the music and

smoke and drink had all risen to the top and begun pressing

down on everyone below. That had always been Ty’s favorite

time of day. The memories weren’t so sweet now, though.

“Drew the short straw, huh?” Ty said as Zane came up

behind him. Ty couldn’t look him in the eye now, not even

through the mirror that hung over the back of the bar. The

last time he’d been called a coward, Zane had been the one

defending him. It was dizzying to see how all they’d built

could unravel so quickly.

Zane slid onto the stool beside him. Ty doggedly stared at

the bar top. He didn’t want to look at Zane right now, didn’t

want to feel the pain that came with those dark eyes.

“I was out of line, saying that in front of everyone,” Zane

said. His voice was soft, but still cold.

“You wanted to take me down a peg or two in front of the

boys. You did it. Congratulations.”

Zane sighed, and Ty felt the gust of his breath against his

cheek. “This is where you’re supposed to apologize too, and

we start trying to make sense of what we have left to us.” 200

Ty glanced up sharply. “What we have left to us? Why are

you so ready to walk, Zane? I was doing my job. You of all

people should understand what that means.”

Zane grunted. “Don’t you dare throw that in my face. You

know as well as I do that whatever you’ve been doing the past

two years was anything but your job.”

“Please,” Ty sneered.

“How about apologizing for lying to me? For spying on

me? Using me?”

Ty slammed his hand on the bar. “I never lied to you,

Garrett, not about us! Never once did I tell you anything that

wasn’t true, not when it came to you and me. And I sure as

hell didn’t use you for anything.”

“Well forgive me if I don’t believe a goddamn word you

say. The only way I hear the truth from you is when someone

has a gun to your fucking head. Or mine!”

“Someone did have a gun to your head!” Zane started to

get up, but Ty reached out to grab him. He didn’t dare let

him turn away, afraid Zane wouldn’t ever turn back again.

“After everything we’ve been through, why the hell can’t you

believe me?”

“Because you lie.”

The words hit him in the gut, and he gasped for air.

The curtain rustled and Ava came through carrying three

reservoir glasses. She set them on the bar, looking between Ty

and Zane with a raised eyebrow.

“You two going to sit there glaring at each other all night?”

she asked before ducking below the bar to retrieve a wooden

box from underneath.

Zane didn’t flinch. He continued to glower at Ty, the

anger and betrayal roiling in the air between them. They were

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both frightened, and the only thing they knew to do when

they were scared was lash out.

Ty leaned closer. “You can be angry for as long as you

want, Zane. It doesn’t change what’s happened, and it doesn’t

change the way I feel about you. Remember that, if nothing

else.”Ty left it at that, turning away from Zane to take one of

the glasses. They were specially made for preparing absinthe;

thick and heavy, with a wide mouth and a small reservoir in

the stem. They were quite beautiful, as drinking glasses went.

Ava pulled three ornate spoons from the wooden box and set

them on the bar.

The silence stretched thin. Ty had tried every avenue.

He’d explained himself, pleaded, reasoned with Zane, and

professed his love over and over. None of it had made a dent

in Zane’s armor. Ty peered sideways at Zane. There wasn’t

much else he could do, and Zane seemed just as willing to toss

it all away now as he had earlier. “This is the part where I drink

and don’t give a damn if it bothers you,” he whispered. “Feel

free to look away.”

Zane’s lip curled and he narrowed his eyes. “No need to

be concerned about me. Maybe a stiff drink will settle your

nerves.”

“My, my,” Ava said. “I see that gris-gris is working already.”

Ty snorted. He didn’t know if it was the gris-gris, but he

and this town sure as hell were cursed.

“Thank you for throwing the cheap glasses instead of

these,” Ava said as she poured a reservoir full of light green

liquid into each glass. The bottle was labeled Vieux Pontarlier.

It was the very best absinthe you could buy, made exactly the

same way it had been two hundred years before and imported

from France.

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He knew Zane had delved into all manner of chemicals,

legal and illegal. He wasn’t sure absinthe had made it to the

Miami scene, though, and he wasn’t sure Zane would know

what Ava was doing.

Zane glanced from the spoons to the dark bottle she set on

the bar, then back to Ty for a moment. He looked suspicious,

as if he thought Ty was about to do something dangerous or

illegal.

There was a completely mistaken aura surrounding

absinthe as that of a mysterious, addictive, mind-altering

substance, giving it a gothic horror sort of taboo. It was all

completely unfounded, of course. It was just about the only

thing Ty could drink while on the job, because while absinthe

did get you drunk, it also made you unusually lucid, creating

the illusion of a waking dream. He functioned well. It was all

he had drunk for nearly two years while undercover.

He set the spoon on his glass, making sure the special lip

underneath caught the edge of the glass to keep it in place.

Then he plucked a sugar cube from the bowl Ava had set

down and placed it on the center of the spoon.

Ava turned to fill a pitcher with water.

“What is this?” Zane finally asked, sounding annoyed to

have to ask.

“Absinthe. The real stuff, not the tourist trade.”

Zane frowned but didn’t say anything. Ty didn’t try to set

any of his preconceptions straight.

“We’d sit and do this every night,” Ava told Zane as she

returned with the pitcher full of ice water. “You should try it.”

“Garrett’s got poor impulse control. Don’t you, Garrett?

Has to stay away from the cocktails.” Ty poured the water out

over his sugar cube. The water and dissolving sugar mixed

with the green absinthe below, turning it a weak, milky green.

203

“That’s right,” Zane snarled. “Maybe you should learn a

thing or two about it.”

Ty removed the spoon, shaking his head.

“Every night after we sang, we’d go sit in that corner there,

pour a glass of la fée verte, and laissez les bon temps rouler,”

Ava told Zane with a hint of bittersweet irony. She leaned

her elbows on the bar and took a sip of her drink. “And every

Saturday night,” she continued, voice lower, growing huskier,

“we would pick a plaything to join us. You would have been

chosen, no doubt.”

“He was,” Ty muttered.

After what felt like a drawn-out moment of silence, Zane

said, “Let the good times rol , huh?”

Ty focused on his drink, watching the green liquid swirl

and mix. “When in Rome.”

“Rome wasn’t the only thing that burned in a day,” Zane

replied evenly.

Ty met his eyes for a long moment, for the first time seeing

distrust in them. He lowered his head, closing his eyes, then

took a drink.

Ava reached beneath the bar again and pulled out a little

homemade voodoo dol , made with sticks and a piece of

burlap. The eyes had been drawn on, and the hair was bundled

sage. She set it on the bar.

“What’s this?” Ty reached for it, recognizing the ring

around its neck. It was his, one he’d thought he’d lost years

ago. His confusion turned to outrage and he grabbed the dol .

“This is me?”

Ava shrugged. “I had some free time. It’s served its purpose.

I guess you’ll be wanting it back. I’m going to bed.” She picked

up her glass to take with her. “You boys play nice.”

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“You voodoo’d me?” Ty gaped at her as she left, the

voodoo doll still in his hand. “You bitch!”

Her laughter reached them from the back.

Zane plucked the doll from his hand. “You told me

voodoo dolls were good luck.”

“They are,” Ty answered, still scowling at the curtain.

“She’s got a lot of pins in you.”

Ty glanced at him and yanked the doll out of his hand.

The pins were mostly in his head, blue ones, meant to draw

love. But there were also white, red, and black pins scattered

over the dol ’s torso, hands, and groin, symbolizing positivity,

power, and repelling evil.

“There’s one in almost every place you’ve been hurt the

past few years.”

“None of them mean bad things,” Ty insisted, though he

was flustered by the coincidence of the locations. He started

yanking them out and tossing the pins on the bar.

“I thought you said they meant good things.”

“Shut up.”

The silence began to stretch, growing more unbearable by

the second. Ty could feel Zane’s eyes on him. He glared at the

doll for a minute before taking a deep breath and looking at

Zane. “What now?”

Zane still watched him intently. He shook his head. “You

think you did no wrong. And I can’t trust you.” He shrugged.

“What else is there?”

Ty held his breath for a few heartbeats, just to see if his

heart was actually still beating. Zane couldn’t have crushed