Guardian (8 page)

T
itus’s body
weighed him down. It pressed into him, molded against his back, it overpowered him and rendered him utterly helpless. His cock was trapped against the sheets, and Ty’s thick length plunged deep inside him, filling him, controlling him, dominating every nerve and every breath. It demanded his attention as it speared him, butting against his prostate and driving him closer to the edge.

His hips spasmed, but he was pinned. Ty had hold of his wrists and pressed them into the pillow above his head. His pectorals were like rocks against Alex’s shoulders. Thighs like tree trunks held his knees apart and he was a fly in honey beneath the far larger man.

Ty owned him.

Alex cried out, his sounds raw with lust, and Ty grunted into his ear.

“Do it,” Ty snarled. “Go on. Do it.”

“Fuck! Ty!” His body bucked, and then the heat seared through him. He came hard against the sheets, until his cock slipped through the wet as it continued to spill.

“Jesus! Ty!” Alex’s eyes snapped open. The moisture was still there, between him and the sheets.

He shuddered. The remains of his orgasm quivered through his body, and he lay inert for a while as he gathered his wits.

Then he groaned and rolled out of bed. He needed to be done with this case, fast.

But first he had to strip the sheets.

A
lex had
to work hard to keep fractured glimpses of the morning’s dream out of his head when Ty arrived at his office. The mechanic was back in his only suit, sunglasses peeking from his breast pocket, and he behaved like they hadn’t been in each others’ arms earlier in the week.

Ty was a full twenty minutes early, and he waited patiently while Alex double-checked his paperwork before the meeting with Detwiller and Montgomery was due. Alex stole peeks across the room at him now and then, and found Ty engrossed in his phone, scrolling or typing away, keeping himself to himself.

The knock on the door startled him, and Alex cleared his throat. “Come in.”

“They’re here,” Caroline said as she popped her head around the door. “Meeting Room Three.”

“Thanks.” Alex scooped up his folder and regarded Ty. “Ready to do this?”

“Yeah.” Ty loomed to his feet.

Alex cleared his throat and led the way. He left Val in his office, though. He had no desire to expose her to the kind of language Montgomery would probably come out with.

D
etwiller looked even less imposing
up close, and he hadn’t looked especially scary to begin with. At this range it was easy for Alex to see the tired look in his eyes, the fine lines around them, and the broken capillaries in his nose.

Great. An alcoholic attorney.

Still, he shook the man’s hand, and that of his client. He even managed to maintain an affable smile when Montgomery tried to give his hand an intimidating squeeze. He didn’t have the strength for it, so it just came off as feeble. Maybe it was enough to bully small children with, but Alex wasn’t fazed by some of the city’s best attorneys. A sleazeball from LA wasn’t going to do it.

“All right, Mr. Wilson,” Detwiller began. “Why are we all here? My client has already declined mediation.”

“Your client may choose to change his mind soon.” Alex sat and ignored the snort of derision from Montgomery. “I have information on your client which I will be forced to use against him should we proceed to trial. I am obliged to share that information with you once the trial begins, but let’s be real here: your client isn’t going to want this to come out in front of a judge.”

Detwiller looked to Montgomery. It was a look Alex knew well, the
Is there something you want to tell me now?
look.

Montgomery blinked, then shook his head. “What?”

“Your attorney wishes to know whether there is information you haven’t provided him with which may harm your case, Mr. Montgomery. In this particular instance he may wish to know about your extraordinarily large gambling debts, or the fact that you owe money to illegal gambling dens in Los Angeles.” He lay one hand meaningfully on the envelope.

“What?” The word shot out of Montgomery like a bullet. “This is bullshit!” He jabbed a finger at Detwiller. “He can’t sit there and say shit like this, can he? Aren’t you supposed to stop him?”

“He can say what he likes,” Detwiller said, “if he can back it up.” He turned his attention to the envelope. “Can you back it up, Mr. Wilson?”

“Better than that,” Alex admitted. “I’ve also got strong circumstantial evidence that those same dens arranged for the auto accident that killed Mr. Montgomery’s parents and landed him with a large inheritance, which he used to pay off previous debts, and then spent the remainder of before he dug himself into even more debt. Your client cannot afford to pay you, Mr. Detwiller.” He dug the bank and credit card statements from the folder and passed them to Detwiller. “He’s worse than broke. He has two choices. He can sell off his house, but then he’ll still gamble the money away and this time he’ll be homeless, or he can take possession of his biological daughter and find a way to make an income from her. Now, Mr. Montgomery has shown in the past that he’s really very skilled at making terrible life choices, so I imagine he’ll just sell her off as quick as he can for a short-term cash injection.” A twitch in Montgomery’s eye confirmed Alex’s guess. “Yeah. Your client isn’t smart, Detwiller. Worse, though, he’s complicit in the murder of his parents, and he’s going to destroy his daughter’s life. All because he can’t stop playing games. What is it, Mr. Montgomery?” He leaned forward and looked Kyle right in the eye. “Mahjong? Poker?”

“Fuck you!” Montgomery roared, then slammed a fist against the table as he surged to his feet. “You rotten little shit, how dare you bring me all the way out here to listen to this bullshit!”

Alex ignored him and slid the rest of the folder to Detwiller. “If you like, we can leave you alone with your client for a few minutes to discuss this information. I guarantee you it won’t be all we have by the time we get to court. My investigator has an appointment with the man who killed Mr. Montgomery’s parents. I’m willing to bet that he’s going to talk to my guy now he knows he can’t go back to jail on the same charge. I’m even more willing to bet that, as a guy with two kids of his own, he’ll be more than happy to drop your client in the shit once he hears what’s going on here.”

Detwiller flipped through the folder while Montgomery continued to swear at Alex, then he gave a tired nod. “Yes, thank you. I would like a moment with my client.”

“We’ll be outside.” Alex headed for the door.

The sense of Titus’s bulk behind him was nothing but reassuring this time. He felt oddly safe, like he had his own personal bodyguard shadowing him. Not even Montgomery’s filthy looks could reach him through this barrier between them.

“
H
ow long are
they going to need?”

Alex chuckled as he lingered by the water fountain with Ty. “Who knows? It depends on how much each of them want to fight. Detwiller’s willingness should be rock bottom because he isn’t going to get paid, and suing his client for unpaid invoices will get him nowhere because Montgomery will have spent it all by the time Detwiller goes after him. Montgomery’s willingness may be high, but Detwiller will have to make it clear that going to trial could lead to Montgomery facing criminal charges later on.”

Ty folded his vast arms across his chest. The position made his biceps strain against the material of his suit.

Alex sucked his lip and looked at the water fountain instead.

“Should we go to your office?”

Alex bit his tongue, then shook his head. Ty doubtless did
not
mean
Should we go to your office for some privacy?
“No. Us waiting out here adds subtle pressure. They can see us waiting. We remain casual, unperturbed, and it contrasts against their own instability and pushes them toward making their decision more quickly.”

Ty plucked a plastic cup from the stack and poured himself water. “You’re a sly bastard, you know that?” He said it almost idly, like it was a comment on the weather.

“Basic negotiation techniques,” Alex countered, just as lightly. “And if Detwiller were any good at them, he’d be able to take on better clients.”

“Feel the burn,” Ty rumbled as he sipped his water.

Alex just smiled and made small talk to fill the time. It wasn’t difficult with Ty. The man understood Alex’s reasons for talking about vacations and television, and he played along without fidgeting or checking his watch. He transitioned effortlessly from worrying about the meeting to putting on a solid front, and as they stood and laughed together, Alex lost track of the time completely.

When the meeting room door opened, Alex had almost forgotten he’d been waiting for it.

Montgomery stormed past them without a word, his face red with anger.

“My client wishes to withdraw his petition,” Detwiller said. He stopped and looked Alex right in the eye, ignoring his client’s tantrum. “I’ll notify the court clerk, and send you a copy of that notification once it’s ratified.”

Alex tossed his cup into the trash and offered Detwiller his hand. “Just so long as your client doesn’t change his mind.”

“He is going to withdraw,” Detwiller said, more firmly. “Thank you for your diligence, Mr. Wilson.” He shook Alex’s hand.

Alex nodded slightly. The look in Detwiller’s eye told the rest of the story. Detwiller had declined to represent his client any longer, and had steered Montgomery into backing out, it seemed. Or had simply decided that his client wasn’t going any further with his petition. Either way the result was the same.

“Take care, Mr. Detwiller.” He watched the attorney leave, then led Ty to his office in silence.

Ty passed him, and crouched to fuss Val while Alex closed the door.

“Is this what you expected?” Ty looked up at him while Val shed her fluff all over his suit.

“It’s what I aimed for,” Alex answered. He stepped toward his client. “A trial’s a strain on a child, even one as centered as Phoebe is. If I can ever avoid a trial I will.”

“And that’s it now? Over?” Ty patted fur from his pants as he stood.

Alex swallowed and looked up at the bigger man. “Ostensibly,” he answered as calmly as he could. “I would prefer to wait for the proof to be in our hands. Once Detwiller has withdrawn Montgomery’s petition from the court,
then
it’s over.”

A shadow flit across Ty’s features. His eyes dropped to Alex’s lips as he stood there, barely a foot away. Alex became acutely aware of the heat radiating from Titus’s body, of the fact that the man was readily twice his mass, that Titus could break Alex in half without producing a single bead of sweat.

His breath hitched. He swallowed. He blinked quickly.

Ty wouldn’t… He
wouldn’t
, would he?

Alex licked his lips briefly, and Titus’s dark blue eyes flitted up again. The man’s strong jaw flexed to the side, then he stepped in closer.

His heartbeat thudded in his ears. He felt light-headed. He parted his lips, just slightly, just a millimeter, just enough to say
yes. God, yes. Kiss me!

Ty’s arms wrapped around him and pulled him tight against that solid, hard chest. A meaty hand slapped his back, hard enough to make him cough.

“You’re a damn good attorney,” Ty stated. “Thanks for everything.”

Alex’s brain freewheeled into confusion as Titus held him up like he was a rag doll incapable of standing under his own weight. The man smelled of that heady mixture of musk and motor oil, soap and heat. So indescribably male, so utterly bewitching. “You’re welcome,” he breathed. It was all he could come up with under the circumstances.

“Anyway.” Ty pulled back, and Alex swayed unsteadily. “I gotta go. I’ll hear from you when the letter arrives, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Alex swallowed. “Yes. You will.”

“Great.” Ty nodded, then his gaze fell to the Curiosity Rover on Alex’s desk, and he smiled wistfully. “Okay, yeah. I’ll see you around.”

“Bye.”

He really had to stop watching Ty leave him behind. It was turning into a constant source of heartbreak.

T
y waited
. God, he waited. Any day now Alex would arrive with a letter that meant this was all over.

He
would
arrive, wouldn’t he? Alex wouldn’t forward it to him in the mail and leave it at that. It wouldn’t be right. They couldn’t part ways on an awkward hug in the attorney’s office and then nothing else.

Ty couldn’t put his finger on why it even mattered to him. He wasn’t going to see Alex again after all this anyway, was he? So why did he even care whether the guy came up to Flushing with a letter when he could save time and money by dropping it in the mail. In the end it would probably save Ty a few hundred bucks to receive it with his junk mail rather than if Alex were to hand-deliver.

He didn’t want to begin to think of how much his final bill would come to. Caroline wouldn’t invoice him until the case was closed, and that wouldn’t happen until Detwiller’s letter came through. It was like some sick Catch-22 situation, a comedy of bureaucracy designed solely to drive him up the wall.

Not that it should have that effect on him. Because he was a guy and Alex was a guy and… what? Sure, Alex was gay, but that meant nothing when Ty wasn’t.

And he wasn’t, right?

So why did he think of Alex in his shower? Why did he touch himself, why did he come so hard, when Alex’s name was on his lips? Why did he find his bed so empty and wish it could be Alex who filled it?

Ty couldn’t be gay, though. He’d dated women. He’d gone to bed with women. And they were… fine.

Ty scowled as he sat at his desk. His computer had gone into hibernation, so he poked the keyboard to wake it, but had no real interest in paying any attention to his accounts.

Was it because Alex was the first civilian to treat him like a human being, and not with some weird obsequious kid gloves for being a vet? Alex hadn’t given him that deer-in-headlights look, he hadn’t so much as suggested that Ty could hurt Phoebe just by being the size he was, and he hadn’t offered pity when he’d found out about Garrett.

Ty was a person in Alex’s eyes. Oh, Ty had no doubt that Alex found him attractive. The poor guy’s boner made that embarrassingly obvious to them both, and then they’d waved it away like it hadn’t happened, but Ty knew. The sight stuck in his thoughts: Alex with his treacherous erection, his bright blue eyes, his ruddy cheeks and parted lips.

Yeah. Alex was hot as hell. He was hot, and smart, and caring, and strong. Despite his slender frame and pale skin the guy had balls of steel. He could stand up to anyone and keep his cool, and he could
win
because of it. He was three steps ahead of Detwiller and Montgomery, and thanks to him Phoebe was safe now.

Ty forced himself to log into his bank account and pay some of the workshop’s bills, but his thoughts kept finding their way back to Alex.

He felt better in Wilson’s presence. Like the fog lifted little by little when he was around. Like there was more to get out of bed for than work and Phoebe.

Ty looked down to his forearms. He gazed at the inked feathers. They were there every day, a reminder of who he was, which nevertheless failed to stir any feeling in him. Until Alex.

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered. He logged out of his computer and stormed back out into the workshop.

The tattoothat was there because he was out serving his country. A symbol of hope and of freedom. Of protection.

The tattoo that marked him out as a guardian.

The meaning had gotten lost on him after Garrett’s death. It became a cross to bear, his lifelong penance for his failure to protect his best friend. But that wasn’t what Alex saw. Alex saw
beauty
. He saw dedication. He saw the time it took, the pain Ty had endured, the drive necessary to cover so much skin with so much art. Through the tattoo, Alex had seen
him
, and he’d liked what he saw.

Ty snarled to himself as he jacked up a Ford so he could get to the suspension. He grabbed his safety goggles and jammed them on, then leaped into the pit and lit his flashlight.

He didn’t
need
to be seen. He didn’t want understanding or kindness, compassion or thoughtfulness. He was doing just fine running his business, taking care of Phoebe. One day at a time, just so. No, he wasn’t happy, but happiness wasn’t necessary. People lived unhappily all the time, but they
lived
.

Was that a good example for Phoebe? To be raised by a man who was miserable because he was too afraid of letting anyone get close enough to bring a smile to his face?

Maybe that was just an excuse. A convenient lie he told himself rather than face the fact that he was attracted to a man.

It felt worse than attraction, though. Better when Alex was around, sure, but when they were apart it hurt. It hurt like grief, a sore thing which was always there and never became silent, not even for a minute. The lack of Alex’s presence was an open wound in his heart, and nothing could make it heal.

“Fuck off,” he snapped at himself.

He tossed the flashlight aside and withdrew his phone instead, scrolling through the address book until he found Alex’s number. His thumb hovered over the
call
icon.

And what exactly did he think he was going to say?
Oh, hi! I just thought I’d call. No reason. I just missed you.

He swore under his breath. No, he couldn’t just call his attorney out of the blue for no damn reason.

Maybe he could invite Alex for a beer. That’d be okay, right? Normal? People made friends with their attorneys all the time. Well, maybe not all the time. Or, in fact, ever. But this could be different. Ty could do with making a few friends, and maybe after they hung out a while and got to know each other better Alex might make a move, and then Ty could act like it was no big deal and then…

He sucked on his teeth and shook his head. But his thumb hit the button anyway, and he stared at his phone in alarm as it began to ring.

“Hey Ty,” Alex answered cheerfully. “What can I do for you?”

“Uh.” Ty swallowed. “Figured I’d just touch base, see if Detwiller’s been in touch yet.”

“Nothing yet.” Alex’s voice bore the tone of apology, as if it were somehow his fault that he hadn’t received the letter yet. “I spoke to him, he says he’s waiting on the court’s confirmation of receipt of the withdrawal so that he can furnish us with a complete paper trail of proof. But I’ll bring it over as soon as I have it.”

Ty’s heart hammered in his chest. Alex wasn’t going to dump the papers in the mail. He would come here. In person.

“Okay, that’s great.” He sounded strangled to his own ears, and hoped Alex couldn’t pick up on it, but then he realized with dawning regret that this meant their call would be over in moments. “How’s Val?” he added quickly. “She doing okay?”

Alex laughed warmly. “She’s fine. She found a squirrel to chase this morning, then she herded a whole bunch of ducks in the park.”

“Herded? You sure she wasn’t just chasing them?”

“Ha, no. She likes them in the water where they belong, so she goes and herds them into it. They’re bred for herding cattle, corgis. They like everything to be orderly, and if something’s out of place they’ll tell you. Or they’ll just try to fix it themselves.” Alex chuckled. “She’ll herd anything. Ducks, dogs, children, adults. No challenge too big.”

Ty couldn’t help but laugh with him. “Cattle? You’re serious? How does a dog so small herd livestock?”

“They bark, and if that fails they nip at the ankles. They can predict where an animal’s going to be and work out a shortcut to meet them there and head them off. They’re smart cookies, you know, and incredibly agile.”

“Agile?” Ty blurted.

“Hey, don’t mock my stubby little dog. She can’t help being a midget. She’s a warhorse for fairies, I’ll have you know.” Alex’s laugh returned so easily.

“Right, right.” Ty wiped a hand across his forehead, then smiled to himself. “Anyway. I’ll let you go. You’ve probably got high-powered attorney stuff to do.”

“Yeah.” The word came across as a sigh. “You’re right. But I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Same here.”

Ty gazed at the screen after Alex hung up, right until it went dark.

He
was
looking forward to it. And so was Alex.

He slid his phone away and took up the flashlight again. Everything felt just that little bit better, like some deep niggling problem had been solved at last.

He would see Alex again, just as soon as that letter arrived.

And after that? Ty really didn’t know. But maybe he was willing to find out at last.