Page 62 of Part & Parcel

June 10, 2013

Kelly woke with a start, blinking away the remnants of the dream he’d been having. He rolled and reached for Nick, murmuring his name when his hand landed on hard muscle and warm skin.

“Doc,” his bedmate whispered as he swatted at Kelly’s hand. “No snuggles.”

“Shit! Sorry,” Kelly gasped, squinting at Zane in the early morning light. He’d forgotten about switching partners in the middle of the night. He sat up, shoving the blankets off his legs. “I need to talk to Nick.”

“It’s not even sunrise yet,” Zane groaned.

“He’ll be awake,” Kelly said with certainty as he shoved out of the bed and jogged to the door.

“What’s wrong?” Zane called after him, still trying to whisper. “Doc?”

Kelly ignored him, barreling out onto the walkway and using Zane’s key to get into the room next door. He was quieter than he meant to be, because his unannounced entry didn’t wake either Ty or Nick. He went to the side of the bed Nick always slept on and patted Nick’s face to make sure, because odds were if it was Ty, his head would be under the pillow instead of on it.

Nick gasped and raised his head, striking out. Kelly had been ready for it, though, and he deflected Nick’s hand with his forearm, ducking out of the way in case Nick followed with that devious right that almost always finished the job his left hook didn’t.

He trapped Nick’s arm between both of his and leaned closer to Nick’s face so Nick could see him in the predawn light. “It’s me, babe, just me.”

“Kelly?” Nick grunted, his voice choked with sleep. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to talk to you,” Kelly whispered. “It’s really important.”

Nick pushed onto his elbow, reaching for Kelly’s face, a concerned frown marring his handsome features.

“What?” the pillow behind Nick groaned. It shuddered and then flipped over, and Ty raised his head like a bear emerging from hibernation. “What?”

“Go back to sleep,” Kelly urged. He crouched beside the bed, meeting Nick’s eyes. “It’s important,” he repeated.

“Okay,” Nick said, struggling to sit up.

Ty moaned and groaned and bitched and muttered as he struggled his way out of the cocoon of sheets he’d created during the night. He thumped out of bed, still grousing at them and scratching his bare belly as he shuffled around the end of the bed. “Switch places,” he said to Kelly as he headed for the door and the other room, where Zane had probably gone back to sleep alone in his bed.

Through the wall, Kelly heard him speaking to Zane as soon as he entered the other room, probably diving into bed with him to get some time to themselves before the day started. Kelly returned his attention to Nick and took a shaky breath to calm himself. Nick sat up and started to scoot over to let Kelly into bed with him, but Kelly stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, and then crawled over Nick to aim for the warm spot Ty had left behind.

He intended to crawl over Nick, anyway. He got as far as straddling Nick’s lap before he lost all self-control and took Nick’s face in his hands to kiss him. Neither of them had brushed their teeth, but Kelly was pretty sure Nick cared just as little as he did.

Kelly sat in Nick’s lap, his forehead pressed to Nick’s as he held on to his face.

“Kelly?” Nick finally whispered.

“Sorry,” Kelly grunted. He kissed Nick one more time and then crawled off him. The sheets had already cooled because both Ty and Nick loved to keep the temperature in a room at near freezing. Kelly hurried to get the covers back up over himself, then pulled closer to Nick so he could see Nick’s face as they spoke.

“What’s wrong?” Nick demanded.

“I had a dream.”

Nick blinked at him. His lips parted, then he pressed them tight and scowled, obviously fighting to be patient and let Kelly explain. “Okay.”

“Do you remember the night in Deadwood? When I decided to move to Colorado and I talked to you about it in that cemetery?”

Nick’s expression didn’t change, but Kelly could see the absolute pain in his eyes.

Kelly nodded before Nick could give him an answer. “You remember.”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“I dreamed about it. It’s the first time I’ve thought about that night in . . . years. Ten years. I remember you being upset after, and I could never quite figure out why. And I never really gave it all that much thought after, I just . . . I just carried on. But I dreamed about it and I figured it out.”

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