“You probably shouldn’t cripple him,” Zane said in place of further caution.

Julian turned his head just enough to meet Zane’s eyes. For the first time since they’d picked him up in Chicago, the man looked worried. He didn’t look scared like a normal person would be in that situation, but he did seem to be acknowledging that Ty had reached the end of his rope and just might shoot him.

“He’d already freed himself,” Ty told Zane through gritted teeth. He was using his entire body to keep Julian pinned under him.

Zane glanced at Cameron, who gave him big, innocent doe eyes. “You’re next,” he warned the younger man. Cameron shrank back, guilt written all over him.

Ty gave the room one last scathing glance, obviously looking for something to secure Julian to that would keep him the entire night. But Zane knew there was nothing in the room that would alleviate Ty’s concern, or his, enough to let them sleep.

Ty knew it too. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his spare handcuffs, pushing into Julian from behind with the sharp part of his elbow. Julian winced but didn’t make a sound as Ty put the handcuffs onto one of his wrists. Ty yanked the arm behind him, and Julian did gasp in complaint as his arm was jerked around.

“You’re going to enjoy this about as much as I am,” Ty snarled at him. Then he slapped the other half of the cuffs onto his own wrist with a loud clink.

Zane’s eyes widened as he fought down a spate of hysterical laughter. What kind of fickle bitch was Karma that they kept getting these insane cases? He was about to comment when Cameron beat him to it.

“What are you going to do? Sleep with him?”

“No, Cam, we’re gonna slow dance!” Ty shouted. He tossed his gun to Zane, where Julian couldn’t reach it, and he took a step back and jerked Julian’s arm to make him stand as well.

Zane caught the weapon out of pure reflex. Out of all the things Ty could have chosen to do, this hadn’t made Zane’s top ten. He was about to offer a crass comment when the deep shadows under Ty’s eyes arrested him, and Zane just nodded his consent.

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The way Ty and Julian fought reminded Zane of him and Ty when they’d first met. What had sparked them to go from hating each other like these two did, to loving each other like they did now? Some random tumble of Fate, a fly-by jumble of chance. Zane didn’t know, but he thanked God for it every day.

Ty and Julian stood toe to toe, now locked together for the night. Ty held up the keys to the handcuffs so Julian could see them, then tossed them to Zane as well. Zane was tired of having things thrown at him. He pocketed the keys and shoved Ty’s gun in the back of his waistband.

“Unless you smother me in my sleep and gnaw off my arm, I don’t really see you getting out of this one,” Ty said to Julian.

Julian was breathing heavily, obviously trying to calm himself. Then his shoulders sagged, and he nodded minutely. “A truce for the night,” he said, voice soft. “I won’t break your arm to get away, and you won’t break my neck in the middle of a war flashback.”

Ty’s eyes narrowed. “Deal.”

Zane looked back to Cameron, still standing off to the side like a spectator at a cockfight. “I guess you two are taking that bed,” Zane said, hating the thought. He and Ty would barely fit on the double bed together, and they were friendly, to say the least. There’d be no way two big men like Ty and Julian could do it without contact.

When he looked back, Ty was staring at him. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, worse than he’d looked before he’d bolted in Baltimore just weeks ago. He hadn’t given details, but his trek through the snow to find a car had to have been harrowing.

Julian was messing with the sleeve of his shirt, and when he raised his arm, he pulled Ty’s hand with it. Julian looked at Ty and flailed his hands in a rare display of frustration. “I finally get to sleep in a bed, and I can’t even get out of my shirt now?”

“Shut up,” Ty growled, and he pushed Julian toward the bed. He gave Zane one last glance, and Zane met his eyes long enough to nod, hoping it conveyed his tacit acceptance of the situation. He didn’t have to like it; he just had to get to tomorrow.

CAMERON shot straight up, pulse going into overdrive, when a piercing alarm blared in the darkness now lit by red lights flashing from small boxes on the ceiling. It was so loud he had to cover his ears, and he panted for breath, trying to wake up and remember where he was and why Julian wasn’t with him.

There was a shout and a cry of pain from the next bed over, followed by a thump loud enough to be heard over the blaring alarm.

He saw a tall shadow move in front of him, and he relaxed. “Julian?” he called out, trying to be heard over the wailing alarm.

But it wasn’t Julian who Cameron saw when the shadow stopped at the foot of the sagging bed. Cameron’s brain finally kicked in with the details: it was Zane standing in front of him; they were in a scary-ass motel somewhere in Ohio; and Julian was in the next bed, sleeping while cuffed to Ty.

Cameron started trying to push himself out of the hollow in the center of the drooping mattress, but Zane was already flipping on the light. It took some wiggling and a push to get off the creaky bed, and Cameron was finally able to see Ty and Julian. Or at least see where they were supposed to be.

Ty was sprawled sideways across the double bed, lying on his belly, arm stretched over the edge of the bed to the point that his muscles were straining and taut under his thin T-shirt. Cameron could see Julian’s hand sticking up over the edge of the mattress, fingers limp and attached to the handcuffs on Ty’s wrist.

Cameron winced and hurried over to crouch next to Julian, who was sprawled on the floor, arm turned back at an awkward angle. “Julian, are you okay?”

Julian groaned and turned his shoulders, trying to get off the floor while still in that position. “I’m okay,” he muttered as he reached for Cameron.

Cameron leaned over to slide an arm around Julian’s waist and give him some leverage to clamber to his feet. When Cameron looked up, Zane was standing right there, looking at the cuffs.

“Careful,” Zane said, grabbing Julian’s cuffed wrist and holding it still, stopping the yanking motion. “Ty? You okay?”

“Yeah,” Ty said in a strained voice. He pushed to his hands and knees and shook his head. “Tried to go opposite ways.”

Julian rubbed his shoulder and winced. The chain between them clanked accusingly. “Apparently I either weigh more than he does or I got out faster,” he muttered with a hint of a smirk.




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