Page 57 of Holding the Line
The firepit was nothingbut ash now.Smoke curled up into the twilight like a tired ghost.Most of the Ridge had gone quiet after the long evening—full bellies, tired bones, and too many open wounds scabbed over with laughter.
Dale lingered behind.
He leaned against the railing of the west overlook, eyes fixed on the silhouette of the mountains.He didn’t jump when Ty stepped up beside him, hands shoved into the pockets of his worn cargo pants.
“He knows that something is going on,” Ty said simply.“You’re acting differently with him, and hell, so am I.”
Dale didn’t look over.“I know.”
Hell, he had gone from being the laugh of the party to brooding in silence, the images of the fight, seeing Oren going down at the hands of that mercenary bastard who stabbed him playing over and over in his head.
“I saw red,” Dale admitted quietly.“When that guy hurt him, I didn’t hesitate.I didn’t think.I just ...killed him.With my bare hands.Seeing him hurt, cut me deep.I felt like I had failed him.Again.”
The sight of blood on his shoulder was a fucking abomination.
“You weren’t the only one who felt like they failed him,” Ty said.“I should’ve fought harder in Afghanistan.”
“No,” Dale said, voice hard.“That failure was mine.I was the one who gave the all-clear to pull out.”
Ty exhaled slowly, the weight of memory between them thick.“I sure as fuck should have stood with you all against those mercenaries.That’s why I’m going to start training.Why I’ll never stand by again.Not when people I care about are in danger.”
“People?”Dale asked, an eyebrow raised.
Ty gave him a sidelong look.“I said people.And I meant people.Don’t be an asshole.”
Dale cracked the first real smile he’d worn all evening.“I have feelings for both of you, too.”
They stood in silence, gazes filled with longing locked to each other for a beat longer, he wanted to—
“Ty?”
Oren’s voice cut through the quiet like a warm breeze.He was walking up the path, hands in his pockets, uncertainty creasing his brow.
Ty turned slightly, posture relaxing.“I’m here.”
Dale instinctively melted back into the shadows, heart racing.He didn’t fully understand why—only that seeing Oren hurt had shaken him more deeply than he was ready to admit.It was too close.Too raw.
Oren stopped beside Ty, casting a glance toward the overlook where Dale had just been.“Somethings up with Dale.He’s been ...off.Distant.I don’t know what I did.He won’t even look at me half the time.”
Ty hummed low in his throat.“Sometimes people hide when they care too much.When they’re afraid.”
Oren gave a skeptical look.“Dale?Afraid?The guy practically bench-presses trucks.”
“Doesn’t mean he can’t get scared,” Ty said with a shrug.
Oren looked down, scuffing his boot against the dirt.“Maybe.But I just...I don’t know where I stand with either of you.”
“What do you feel for him?”Ty asked, carefully neutral.
Oren blinked.“I—what?I mean, I ...hell, I don’t know.He’s intense.Brave.Strong.Makes me feel like I’m seen.”
Ty grinned.“That sounded a lot like feelings.”
Oren rolled his eyes.“Okay, fine.I have feelings.Which is weird, because up until a few years ago, I thought I was straight.”
Ty’s eyes narrowed slightly.“A few years?You only met Dale a few months ago.”
Oren held his gaze.“I know.The thought’s been there for a while.”