Ball & Chain

255 Pages·2014·1.41 MB·English

by  Urban Madeleine

Riptide Publishing
PO Box 6652
Hillsborough, NJ 08844
http://www.riptidepublishing.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is
entirely coincidental.
Ball & Chain (Cut & Run, #8) Copyright © 2014 by Abigail Roux Cover Art by
L.C. Chase, http://lcchase.com/design.htm
Editor: Rachel Haimowitz Layout: L.C. Chase, http://lcchase.com/design.htm
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permission of the publisher, and where permitted by law. Reviewers may quote
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Riptide Publishing at the mailing address above, at Riptidepublishing.com, or at
[email protected].
ISBN: 978-1-62649-106-9
First edition
March, 2014
Also available in paperback: ISBN: 978-1-62649-107-6
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Home from their unexpected deployment, the former members of Marine Force
Recon team Sidewinder rejoin their loved ones and try to pick up the pieces of
the lives they were forced to leave behind. Ty Grady comes home to Zane
Garrett, only to find that everything around him has changed—even the men he
went to war with. He barely has time to adjust before his brother, Deuce, asks Ty
to be his best man. But that isn’t all Deuce asks Ty to do, and Ty must call for
backup to deal with the business issues of Deuce’s future father-in-law.
Nick O’Flaherty and Kelly Abbott join Ty and Zane at the wedding on an island
in Scotland, thinking they’re there to assuage Deuce’s paranoia. But when
bodies start dropping and boats start sinking, the four men get more involved
with the festivities than they’d ever planned to.
With the clock ticking and the killer just as stuck on the isolated island as they
are, Ty and Zane must navigate a veritable minefield of family, friends, and foes
to stop the whole island from being destroyed.
About Ball & Chain
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Dear Reader
Also by Abigail Roux
About the Author
Enjoy this Book?
Kelly stood at Zane’s side behind a barrier at the bus depot of Camp
Lejeune. Zane didn’t know him well enough to read him, and he wasn’t
interested in trying. He couldn’t get past his own butterflies to analyze his
companion’s state of mind.
It had been six months since they’d watched Sidewinder walk down the
gangway to their plane. Six long, lonely months of confusing feelings and dread
whenever the phone rang. Zane had woken every morning expecting to hear
horrible news about the men he considered friends, and not a day had passed that
Ty hadn’t been on his mind.
The call Zane had lived in fear of receiving had never come, thank God. In
fact he’d only received a single satellite call from Ty in all the time he’d been
gone, the one telling him when they’d be coming home. It had been like a drop
of water to a dying man, and coming just weeks before Christmas, the best
present Zane could have asked for.
Kelly had admitted to much the same type of existence as they’d driven
there from the airport. Every day a struggle to keep his mind on something
besides the fact that he wasn’t there to help protect them.
“You nervous?’ Zane asked him.
Kelly took a deep breath, nodding. “I’ve never been on this side of it.”
“Is it any easier on the other side?”
Kelly glanced up at Zane, shrugging. “Not really. You sit there with all
your buddies, men who’ve been your world for months, years. You think about
the people at home, wonder if they’ve missed you. Pray they’ve missed you.
Your mind cycles through everything that could have changed, and the nerves
start building. Even the smallest thing can hit you like a hammer when you come
out. I’ve seen guys break down and cry because their wives got a haircut.”
“That why you made me shave?”
Kelly grinned and nodded as the first buses began to pull in. Nerves
skittered through Zane as tired Marines in rumpled uniforms began to trickle into
the tented areas where family awaited. Kelly inhaled sharply. Zane’s hand began
to tremble. “God,” he said under his breath.
“The first ship holds seventeen hundred men. We might be here awhile,”
Kelly warned.
And they were. An hour and a half later, they were still standing behind the
roped-off area, witnessing reunions, waiting. Zane was watching a man embrace
two blonde toddlers when Kelly slapped his arm to get his attention. Zane
scanned the crowd almost frantically, searching for whomever Kelly had caught
sight of.
He only saw one familiar face, and it wasn’t the one he was desperate to lay
eyes on. “I thought they’d be out together,” Zane mumbled. He glanced to his
side, but Kelly was gone. He’d bolted and hopped the barrier, taking off at a
dead sprint through the celebratory crowd.
Zane laughed as Kelly cut a swath toward the unsuspecting Marine. Nick
was striding through the crowd of young sailors and Marines, nodding as they
saluted him in passing. He looked long and lean in his uniform, hair shorn close
and face clean shaven. He had more stripes on his arm than Zane remembered
seeing in photos, and he walked with a change in his gait, like he might have
been hiding a limp.
Zane hustled after Kelly, but he couldn’t keep up. People parted for Kelly,
sliding out of his way like they knew he wasn’t going to let them slow him down
just to be polite. He pushed off a few people receiving hugs, hopped around a
few children too tiny to get out of the way. It was probably those erratic
movements that caused Nick to spot him in the crowd.
A smile graced Nick’s tanned face, and he braced himself at the last minute
as Kelly leapt at him and tackled him to the ground. They disappeared from
Zane’s sight briefly, and Zane hurried to join them.
Kelly didn’t seem to care who saw them, or what anyone thought of his
lack of decorum, or even what Nick thought. He hugged Nick hard. Nick flailed
under him, trapped between Kelly and the seabag still on his back. He finally
wrapped his arms around Kelly and stopped struggling, laughing instead.
“Jesus Christ, if that’s the welcome wagon, I think I’ll walk home,” Digger
said as he approached. He shook Zane’s hand and patted him on the shoulder.
Then he dumped his seabag at Zane’s feet and threw himself on top of Kelly.
A moment later, Owen appeared from the sea of faces and launched himself
at the other three, wrapping his arms around all of them as they formed a dog
pile in the middle of the crowd. Zane almost felt sorry for Nick being on the
bottom. Almost.
He glanced up, scanning the crowd for the only person he desperately
needed to see. He was searching so hard that he almost skipped right over him,
standing just a few yards away and gazing at Zane with a smile.
Zane’s breath caught. “Ty.”
“Hi,” Ty said with a bigger grin. He was tanned and bearded, which was
why Zane hadn’t immediately recognized him. His hair was longer than when
he’d left too, obvious even under the hat he wore, and he was far leaner. But his
hazel eyes still glinted like they always did.
Zane started toward him, not caring who might see or what the
consequences would be. Ty jogged the rest of the distance and threw himself
into Zane’s arms. Zane buried his face in Ty’s neck, relishing the warmth and
solidity of the man. He breathed in his scent, even though it wasn’t the one Zane
usually associated with Ty. It was still him.
“Oh my God,” Zane gasped finally. He tightened his arms around Ty,
clutching at his uniform.
“I missed you,” Ty whispered in his ear. His hands gripped at Zane’s hair,
and he stood on the toes of his boots so they could cling tighter to each other.
The thought of a kiss never entered Zane’s mind. He didn’t even think
about stepping back so he could look at Ty’s face, the face he’d seen in his
dreams and forced himself to remember every night as he lay awake. He just
squeezed his eyes closed and held on to Ty like he might be taken away again,
clutched at him as he would grasp for his very soul in a pit of a thousand
reaching hands.
Ty held to him the same way.
“Can’t breathe!” a pitiful voice finally called out, interrupting the joyous
reunion.
Ty pulled back only enough for him and Zane to glance over at the tangle
of limbs and laughter that were their friends. Nick was trying to extricate himself
from the bottom, with little luck.
Ty shook his head. “Don’t care,” he muttered as he finally looked Zane in
the eyes and grinned widely. He took Zane’s face in his hands. “Hello,
beautiful.”
Zane returned the smile, only to have it ruined as Ty pressed their mouths
together, kissing him for all the months they’d missed. It was usually at this
stage of a dream that Zane would wake up, alone and so heartsick he thought he
might cry. But the kiss lingered on. Ty’s hands on his face were still warm and
solid. His beard was scratchy at Zane’s cheek. He was real. This was real, and
Zane wasn’t about to let it slip away.
He grabbed Ty and dipped him backward, kissing him for all he was worth.
He heard the distant snap of a few cameras, the tears of joy from other reunions,
tiny voices welcoming their mothers and fathers home, the muffled gripes from
Nick to let him the fuck off the ground so he could at least try to be dignified
about coming home. He felt Ty smiling against his lips and holding on to his
neck so he wouldn’t fall.
It was the most satisfying rush of emotion Zane had ever experienced.
Better than any high.
When he finally stood them back up and let go of Ty, they were both
breathless and laughing. Zane couldn’t keep his hands off Ty, wanting to
maintain contact, wanting to reassure himself that this wasn’t a dream.
Ty took his hand and didn’t let go. “You look amazing,” he said as he
leered at Zane.
“So do you.” Zane ran a hand over Ty’s shoulder and the new insignia
there. “Captain Grady, huh?”
“Captain.” Ty nodded, his beard almost hiding his smile. “They gave us all
a bump in rank equivalent to the time we would have served if we’d stayed in
the Corps. Owen and I got kicked over to officers.”
“Captain Grady,” Zane repeated. He shook his head and swiped his fingers
across Ty’s chin. “Nope. You’ll always be Staff Sergeant to me. What’s with the
beard?”
“Special forces. Don’t worry, it’s coming off.”
“No, I like it. Keep it for a while.”
Ty grinned. “Whatever you want.”
Zane pulled him into another hug. He was peripherally aware of the rest of
Sidewinder picking themselves up off the ground and trying to straighten their
uniforms, and he finally let Ty go long enough to turn toward them.
They were all grinning from ear to ear, hugging Kelly repeatedly, unable to
stop laughing long enough to speak. Kelly began poking fun at their new titles.
“Mother fucking Master Sergeant O’Flaherty,” he said with a pluck at
Nick’s sleeve.
Nick brushed himself off, retrieving his hat from the ground with a grunt.
“Why the new ranks?” Zane asked Ty. He did a double take, unable to keep
his eyes off the only man he’d been waiting to see.
“It’s not as good a deal as it sounds,” Ty said. “The ranks came with some
pretty steep responsibilities. It was the reason we were called back. That’s . . .
that’s pretty much all I can say.”
“Are you out now?” Zane asked. “Is it . . . is this it?”
“Yeah, this is it,” Ty answered. “I’m out.”
“Me too,” Digger said, almost singing the words. He bent to pick up his
seabag and slung it over his shoulder.
Owen laughed ruefully. “They asked me to stay on. But, uh . . . I told them
to stick it. It’s back to the private sector for me.”
Zane snorted, glancing at Nick. He was looking at his feet, and Kelly was
watching him with narrowed eyes.
“Nick?” Kelly asked. “Did they ask you to re-up?”