Guardian (6 page)

A
lex had
to wait two days before he could see Ty again. It shouldn’t have felt like such a stretch, but he couldn’t deny that he was looking forward to it.

They’d chosen to meet at Ty’s apartment rather than have Ty come into the office. It meant that Ty could arrange a playdate for Phoebe with one of the neighbors and still be on hand if she wanted to come home early, but for Alex it had the added advantage that he could speak with his client in a non-threatening setting. The familiar territory should put Ty at ease, maybe help him open up a bit about things he obviously didn’t want to talk about.

Jesus, Alex really hoped Ty hadn’t done something stupid during his military life, or earned a dishonorable discharge. That could really screw them to the wall.

He parked the Corolla outside the small apartment block. It was only six stories tall and looked reasonably new. Alex switched Val from her seat harness to her leash. “Okay. You ready, baby?”

Val wagged her tail and grinned like a lunatic.

“You’re crazy,” he said fondly and petted between her ears.

Alex let her sniff around outside the building for a couple of minutes, since it was somewhere new, then he led her in and up the stairs to Ty’s third-floor apartment.

His insides wobbled when he pressed the buzzer. But they quivered more when Ty answered the door.

Alex had gotten used to seeing the man in that ill-fitting suit he owned. But of course Ty didn’t wear it at home. Nobody sat around their apartment in a suit all day long. No. Ty was back in jeans and a t-shirt, both of which seemed to buckle under the strain of containing the man’s muscles.

The sleeves barely covered his shoulders, then the ink sprouted from them like vines from a pot and snaked around his thick arms. Each and every feather was rendered with a skilled touch, and up close Alex could see that the artist had used the slightest touch of blue to complement the black ink and give his work extra dimension. Ty’s forearms seemed to be a cascade of feather-tips right to his wrists, as though wings encircled his flesh.

Val barked.

Alex startled out of his reverie. “Hey! Ty!”

Ty blinked sluggishly, then ran a hand over his close-cropped hair and stepped aside. “Alex. Sorry. I was miles away. Come in.”

“It’s fine. You don’t mind that I brought Val?”

“Naw.”

“You wait until she’s shed all over your carpets.” Alex snorted as he entered the apartment and looked it over.

It was small, there was no denying it, but it was neat. After the condition Ty kept his shop in Alex hadn’t expected anything else, but it would be useful to be able to prove that Ty kept a safe, clean household.

A short corridor led off to bedrooms and such. Alex passed three framed photos on his way through, all of a younger Phoebe and a young woman with a warm, honest smile and eyes similar enough to Ty’s for him to assume her to be Melanie.

He doesn’t want Phoebe to forget her mom.

Alex cataloged the thought and continued through to the living room. There was more color in here, with bright pink couches and a near-matching carpet. Thankfully the walls were white to stop the pink from overpowering the whole room, and more frames dotted the walls. Tae Kwon Do certificates, a photo of Phoebe dressed as a mushroom in what looked weirdly like it could be a school nativity, and a photo of a younger Ty in uniform with around thirty other men and women around the same age were the first Alex managed to identify on his way to the nearest couch. To the left of the TV was a shelf with three little trophies and a smattering of medals, though they looked more like Phoebe’s than anything Ty might have gained from his time with the Army.

“Can I get you a coffee or something?” Ty asked.

“Sure. Thanks.” Alex cast him a warm smile and sat. He unfastened Val’s harness and watched with almost paternal fondness as she waddled off to explore the room, her toilet-brush tail held high.

Alex sat his briefcase beside him and tucked Val’s leash and harness into it, then pulled out his laptop. He placed it on the briefcase without booting it, though. He didn’t want anything between Ty and himself as they talked. The coffee gave Ty an excuse to hold a cup himself so that he had a small barrier if he felt the need for one, but a laptop was too big, it created too impersonal a distance, even if only balanced on his knees.

“Cream and sugar?”

Alex twisted to look toward the kitchen door. “No thanks.”

Ty emerged with two good-sized mugs and set one down on a small table by Alex’s couch. The other he carried with him, and he settled on the second couch. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Alex left it where it was, and watched as Ty cradled his. “I wouldn’t think pink was your color.”

Ty chuckled. “I let Phoebe pick ’em. She wanted me to paint the walls pink too, but I had to draw the line somewhere.” He placed his own mug down at last, then seemed to remember something, and sprang from his seat. “Oh. Yeah. While you’re here.”

Alex watched, bemused, as Ty hurried to a shelf and plucked a box off it. It looked tiny in his huge hands, but as Ty came closer Alex saw the distinctive blue NASA logo emblazoned across one end of the box.

“I saw this,” Ty mumbled as he offered it over. “Thought you’d like it.”

Alex reached for it and, now that Ty’s fingers were out of the way, the box’s HotWheels branding sprang into view.

“Oh my God!” Alex laughed and bit his lip. He peeked in through the transparent window in front and almost squealed in delight at the small, white, six-wheeled vehicle inside. “Ahh, it’s perfect! Thank you!” The die-cast Curiosity Rover had everything. Drill, motors, even a tiny plastic camera mounted on the front, and Alex finally let out a squeak of pure pleasure.

Then he remembered this was a client, not a boyfriend.

“Uh, I mean, uh… You didn’t have to. But I
do
like it. Thank you!”

Ty’s smile was sheepish, but oddly proud too, and he sat back in his seat, quick to pick up his coffee and cradle it in both hands. “Yeah it’s nothing,” he said, feigning disinterest. “Just thought of all those little ships on your shelf when I saw it, you know?”

“Well, I like it. Thank you.” Alex placed the box on top of his laptop and grinned at Ty. “Though if this is an attempt to distract us from talking about you it isn’t going to work.”

“Urgh. Busted.” Ty swallowed a mouthful of hot coffee without even blowing on it. “What do you need to know?”

“Anything. Everything.” Alex checked on Val, then leaned back and watched Ty. “Did you go to college?”

“Nah.” Ty shook his head. “After high school I was straight into the Army. Tired of school, you know?” Then Ty smirked. “Well, you probably don’t know, huh?”

Alex shrugged. “I do understand, though.”

Ty’s head bobbed slowly. “Yeah. My dad was infantry back in the day. He suggested the Army. Didn’t push me into it, but he saw my grades weren’t anything to write home about and thought I might do better with hands-on learning like he did. And it made sense, you know? I do better learning on the job than I do in a classroom.”

Alex offered up a warm smile. “Classrooms aren’t the most
real
of environments, are they?”

“Hell no.” Ty snorted and swallowed more coffee. “In the Army they explained that a lot of us were what they called kinesthetic learners. We learned better by getting our hands dirty. And the Army was damn good at teaching us.” He sighed and stared into his coffee for a moment. “It was good,” he finally murmured. “They understood that average grades didn’t mean we were stupid. There were soldiers in my unit who were the smartest people I ever met.” He swirled his coffee thoughtfully, then drained the mug in three big gulps.

Alex maintained a relaxed expression, but he knew the sympathy he felt had to have crept into his eyes. There was a horrible certainty to Ty’s intonation of the word
were
. Ty had chosen past tense not because he was no longer in the Army, but because those soldiers weren’t around anymore.

He picked up his own coffee and blew on it until he could take a sip. It was strong, bitter, and he swallowed it just to get it off his tongue while he considered how best to handle Ty’s discomfort.

“Did you get your tattoos while you were there?” He returned his coffee to the side table.

Ty looked down to his forearms and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, not during basic, but yeah. After my first deployment. Went on leave, spent two weeks getting half a tattoo.” He chuckled at some memory. “Had to wait months before I could get it finished.”

“It?” Alex echoed as his eyebrows climbed. “Wait, that’s…” He gestured toward Ty. “That’s all
one
tattoo?”

“It is.” Ty’s eyes shone with amusement. “You wanna see it?”

Hell yes you bet I do!

Alex affected vague curiosity to the best of his ability and raised his chin. “Okay, sure. Let’s take a look.”

Ty put his empty mug down and stood. He seemed to fill the room, his immense presence occupying more space than his body possibly could, and there was no further warning, no hesitation from the man. He grasped the hem of his t-shirt and turned away as he pulled it up and over his head in one smooth motion.

Alex’s breath stopped. His pulse rushed in his ears, loud and fast.

A vast bald eagle was inked across Titus’s back. Its white head was turned to the right, bright yellow beak and intensely intelligent eye picked out in exquisite detail. Its wings rose and spread out along Ty’s arms as Ty held them out away from his body as though the magnificent bird were in flight. The eagle’s talons were splayed, sharp, and every single feather along its back was filled in with the same care and attention as those on Ty’s limbs.

It was an arresting sight, but not only for the work itself. The body it was indelibly painted onto was ripped with muscles which bulged at the neck and shoulders and coursed down Ty’s sides like corded steel. The valley of his spine was the core from which the bird sprang, and its white tail feathers disappeared below the waistband of his jeans.

Alex’s skin tingled. His chest ached. He took a breath at last, and his groin throbbed in time with the sound of his own heartbeat.

He didn’t care.

He sucked on his lip, then trapped it between his teeth to prevent himself from making any noise. His prick swelled with every thump of his heart and he didn’t care. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Titus’s perfect body even if he wanted to, but what he wanted was to get closer. To touch that smooth skin, to feel the heat of it beneath his palms. He wanted desperately to feel the power in Ty’s muscles, to know what it would be like to have this beast of a man on top of him, weighing him down, holding him helpless and compliant so that Ty could do whatever he wanted with him.

Alex was beyond all common sense. His cock was rigid, straining against his pants. His shoulders were taut and his fingers dug into the couch cushions. He could feel the weight of his shirt against his own nipples, applying a pressure he really could have done without right now.

Then Titus turned to face him, and Alex’s vision was one of pure masculine brawn. Some of the eagle’s feathers spilled over Ty’s shoulders to caress the expanse of his pectorals the way Alex desperately wished his fingers could. His nipples were hard and dusky pink-brown. It wasn’t possible to see his ribs because there was a goddamn
delicious
eight-pack in the way, and then there were the beginnings of the V of his obliques which led Alex’s eyes down toward the crotch of Ty’s jeans.

You’re staring
, squeaked a tiny voice in the back of his brain.

Yeah.

He can see you staring!

Alex took a sharp breath and felt the sudden rush of heat to his face as he tore his attention back up Titus’s Herculean body.

“Uh,” was all he managed to say.

T
y cracked
a lopsided grin at the sound Alex made. The man’s reaction wasn’t all that unusual; plenty of guys got rendered speechless at the sheer scale and skill of the eagle emblazoned across his skin.

He’d chosen the artist after hours of research. First he’d gone online and narrowed down what felt like hundreds of tattoo parlors to just a handful, and then he’d visited each in person, asked to see live examples of their work rather than rely only on photographs. And after all that he still had to wait months between sessions to get it finished.

It was a labor of love, that was for sure.

Still, people usually said something by now. He lifted an eyebrow and looked Alex over, only to find that not only were the attorney’s eyes wide as saucers, his cheeks were that gorgeous bright pink he came out in whenever he blushed. There was an odd tension in his posture, and as Ty’s gaze swept down he found the source of it pretty fast.

There was a distinctive bulge in Alex’s pants.

Ty’s breath rushed out of him.
Shit!
Was Alex gay?

Did Ty really go ahead and stand here flexing like a damn bodybuilder at a gay guy?

“Sorry,” he muttered. He turned to grab his shirt from the couch he’d tossed it onto and wrestled his way back into it as fast as he could.

He couldn’t be sure what he was apologizing
for
, though. If a pretty woman had asked to see his tattoo he wouldn’t apologize if she found him attractive, would he? No. He’d pulled more than a couple of girls that way while on leave. This really wasn’t any different. Someone thought he was hot. He should be flattered.

And maybe he was. Maybe that was why he’d said sorry.

I’m sorry your arousal makes me feel good about myself.

He snorted as he tugged the hem of his shirt into place. It didn’t matter whether Wilson had a hard-on. That wasn’t Ty’s problem. It was a bit weird to think that Wilson might have to go take care of it later, and he could potentially be thinking about what he’d just seen while he did it…

Just like Ty had been imagining Wilson’s spry little body writhing under him, his neat hair in wild disarray, his lips already swollen and pink from Ty fucking his mouth…

His cock swelled like a dragon slowly waking from slumber, and Ty grit his teeth.

“You want another coffee?” His voice was hoarse.

“Please.” Wilson’s response was that of a man snatching at a lifeline.

Please.

Ty kept his back turned as he scooped up his mug then strode into the kitchen. Only once safely hidden from view could he reach into his boxers and make himself more comfortable, and then he fussed around changing the coffee machine’s filter and grounds and starting off a fresh pot. There wasn’t anything wrong with the half-full pot as it stood, other than the fact it’d be too fast, and Ty needed more than ten seconds to give himself a mental cold shower. He grasped for memories which no sane man would find arousing, but the only image his brain flashed up was one he wasn’t ready to see. The one he was
never
ready to see.

Absolutely nobody could keep anything up after that.

He rubbed his cheeks and shook his head to clear it. The moment there was enough coffee in the pot to pour he filled two fresh mugs and carried them through, dumping one on Alex’s side table beside the old, half-full mug.

Val had finished her exploration and had settled by Alex’s feet, her chin on one of the attorney’s shoes. She turned her big brown eyes on Ty as he walked past, and her tail thumped quickly, but she didn’t lift her head.

Ty sat on his couch and gulped down coffee. Only then did he risk a look at Alex.

To his credit, the attorney was back to his prim and proper self. His pale skin was like cream, and his flaxen hair wasn’t remotely out of place. He had his laptop across his knees, whether to do real work or to help protect his modesty, and his fingers danced across the keys as fast as any secretary’s might.

Ty rolled his shoulders, then decided to just come out with it. “Are you gay?”

Alex’s fingers halted. He closed the laptop and set it aside, then adjusted his glasses before he raised his chin and looked Ty right in the eye. “Does it matter?”

“Yeah. Maybe. I dunno.” Ty frowned. “Why wouldn’t it matter?”

“Are you straight?”

Ty huffed. “Of course I am.”

“Why ‘of course’?” One of Alex’s delicate eyebrows quirked above the rim of his glasses.

“Well, most people are, right? It’s like the default…” Ty trailed off at the look in Alex’s eyes. They’d narrowed faintly, hardened a touch. “Isn’t it?”

Alex’s tongue darted out to wet his lips briefly. “There is a long answer and a short answer. Anyway, ultimately it comes down to this. If you are uncomfortable with having me represent you, please say so, and I will find a more suitable attorney for you.”

“I don’t
want
another attorney!” Ty leaned forward and perched his elbows on his knees. “I want you.”

Alex blinked slowly. The pretty pink flush began to creep into his cheeks.

“You’re a good attorney,” Ty immediately clarified. “You could be working on the Island, I dunno why you’re stuck out here in Queens when you could have a fancy office overlooking Central Park. Guys like you are rare. You’re sharp as a tack. You notice things. You care about people. I know you’re going to fight as hard as you can for Phoebe. Why the hell would I want a different attorney?”

“Because it isn’t unusual for men to dislike the idea of being in proximity to a man who might find them attractive,” Alex replied, his voice level.

Ty looked down to his coffee and frowned. “I mean, it’s flattering and all, I guess.” Except his gut was doing this weird thing where it squeezed and flipped at the implicit acknowledgment of Alex’s feelings.

“But not very professional,” Alex agreed. “I apologize. I wasn’t… prepared.”

“You did ask.”

Alex sighed faintly. “To see your tattoo. I just had a moment where, for some reason, I hadn’t connected that to the fact that it was on your body. Anyway, look.” He gave a faint sound of exasperation. “It won’t happen again. I’ll be more mindful in the future.”

Ty’s gut clenched harder, and he swallowed. “I… don’t mind,” he muttered.

“Family court,” Alex stated simply. “I can’t get involved with a client during the course of representation. I would lose my license.”

Ty shot him a black look. “I’m not hitting on you.”

Whether he was saying it to himself more than Alex, he couldn’t tell.

“I didn’t say that you were,” Alex replied, smooth as glass. “But if the judge imagines that I have become entangled with my client, questions will be asked. Therefore it would be best if you would consider keeping my indiscretion to yourself.”

Ty’s jaw shifted to the right. “Don’t ask, don’t tell, huh?”

“That is essentially how most of the world works, yes.”

Ty raised his head at the bitter tone in Alex’s voice. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell cost us a lot of good people before it got repealed. We needed translators badly in Afghanistan, but half of them got shipped home because a routine security check found out they were gay. They’d never even mentioned it, and we didn’t care, but they were in gay Facebook groups and stuff like that, so they got kicked out. Fucking ridiculous. Those people could’ve saved lives. They could’ve saved—” He broke off and shook his head. “Have you got any idea how many transmissions go untranslated because we don’t have enough people fluent in Arabic?”

“The theory is that the lack of Arabic translators working in intelligence directly contributed to the events of 9/11. We didn’t have the manpower to translate everything we’d received on the tenth.” Alex shook his head. “My dad was USMC. Both my brothers are in the military. Eddie’s USMC, and Grant’s USAF. They all have stories of losing damn good people to DADT.”

Ty leaned back as he regarded Alex. Talk about layers. This sure explained why Alex had been so genuine in his appreciation of the work Ty had done for his country. People from military families tended to have seen past all the media coverage, whether left-leaning or right, and knew what it was like to serve. They’d seen the sacrifices, the dedication. And sometimes they’d seen the darkness, the losses, the pain.

Alex understood. He may never have served himself, and if that choice was purely because of DADT then it was another loss due to that stupid law, but he got it. Alex
would
have made a fine officer.

Right up until they kicked him out for being gay.

Ty felt a sudden flash of sympathy for life from Alex’s perspective. Life in a world which would throw you away for who you were just because it didn’t match up with who it thought you should be. A world in which people lost their jobs over their sexuality even though they hadn’t done anything wrong. And that was just the start of it, wasn’t it? Because Alex’s world wasn’t at all like Ty’s own. It was a place in which he could get attacked in the street, day or night, for looking at someone the wrong way.

The thought that anyone might hurt Alex brought a sudden rush of anger, and Ty swigged down more of his coffee in an attempt to bring it under control.

“I won’t mention it,” he said thickly. “You have my word.”

“Thank you.” Alex leaned forward to stroke Val’s back. Her tail wagged lightly. “I arranged for an investigator to look into Mr. Montgomery,” he said, like nothing weird had just happened. “He’s good. If there’s anything to be found, he’ll find it.”

Ty drained his second cup of the afternoon. “You think there’s anything to be found?”

“If nothing else we can identify what he’s been doing that kept him from ever supporting Phoebe during her childhood.” Alex sat up, so Val rolled onto her back. “Anything we can get on him is helpful.”

“What if we find he’s a great guy who helps sick kids or something?”

“You and I both know Montgomery is not a great guy.” Alex shook his head firmly. “You picked up on it at Phoebe’s TKD class, and I picked up on it in the courthouse. He’s a shady piece of work, Mr. Edwards. All that remains to be seen is exactly what kind of shady he is.”

Ty’s shoulders slumped as Alex returned to addressing him formally. “Yeah.”

“There’s something I do have to ask.” Alex faced away a moment, looking toward the door, then he raised his chin and murmured, “I need to know the manner of your discharge.” He nudged his glasses up as he returned his attention to Ty.

“Honorable,” Ty said. “Nothing to worry about there. Completed my tours of duty, exceeded standards in both personal and professional conduct, left.”

Alex pursed his lips. “Is there a reason you didn’t return for another tour?”

Ty shrugged briefly. “Lost too many good friends. Didn’t want to lose more.”

“I’m sorry.” Alex’s voice was gentle. Genuine.

“Came home, started a business, lost my sister, took Phoebe on. That’s all she wrote.”

“No psychological problems?”

Ty sat stone-faced and steady. “No.”

He regarded Alex and silently dared the other man to call him a liar.

Alex watched him a moment, then inclined his head. “All right. I think that’s enough to be going on with for now. Thank you for your time, Mr. Edwards.”

Ty blinked, then sat forward. “That’s it?”

“Best to keep these things short. Gives the client time between discussions to think over what’s been said and work out whether they missed anything important.” Alex began tucking his belongings away into his briefcase, and a soft smile reached his eyes as he picked up the toy Curiosity Rover. “Thank you again for this,” he murmured as he cast Ty an almost shy look. “It’s very thoughtful.”

“Yeah, any time.” Ty tried to brush it off. Alex didn’t need to know that he’d searched three toy stores to find something he hadn’t seen on the attorney’s shelf. Nor did he need to know about the little pang of pleasure that his pleasure had brought to Ty.

Val wriggled about and then rolled onto her front. Her tail began to wag, and she trotted to the apartment’s door as she cast looks back at Alex. Ty had no idea how she’d worked out it was time to go, but he’d seen dogs out in Afghanistan with the same level of seemingly-psychic awareness of their handlers’ wishes. It was almost amusing to see the same level of smarts in such a small dog.

Alex stood and offered his hand to Ty, but then all too soon he was gone. There were formal goodbyes, a short and tidy handshake, and then that was that.

The ache came only moments after the door closed. Ty stood, his hand still on the handle, and he stared blankly at the wood.

Everything was so messed up. He couldn’t think straight. Even the word
straight
made him snort at himself now.

He didn’t know what to make of the meeting. Alex had been so professional. Well, mostly. Ty couldn’t fault him, yet he was left with this strange sense that he’d just let go of something that should have been
more
than it was.

He desperately wished Alex could have stayed.