Unconditionally (Operation FALLS Trilogy - Book 1)

Chapter 5

Ty's apartment was just as he expected it to be when he got there. Quiet.

He tossed his keys in the dusty bowl by the door and kicked off his worn Converse. He smiled to himself as he thought about Vince's constant nagging at him to get a pair of 'grown-up' shoes, which to that man meant a pair of boots. Ty liked comfort though and who really wanted to grow up anyway?

As he made his way into his bare living area, he felt his pocket vibrate. Excitement tingled in his fingers as he pulled his phone out, but the excitement faded as he saw the sender.

HENRY: Lunch. Wednesday?

Ty groaned as he flopped onto the sending a thumbs-up emoji as he did so. He closed his eyes and let his head rest against the back of the couch. For a moment he just listened to the sounds around him, he closed his eyes and strained his ears, but nothing. Even the highway outside of his window didn't have whirling cars or sirens as they should have. The past weeks at Vince's there hadn't been a moment of silence, even in the middle night of the night Ty was able to hear one of the boys' music playing through the house. His life always felt empty without the Gatti's.

With a heavy sigh, he slowly slid his eyes open, looking up at the white ceiling as if maybe it had all the answers he needed. It didn't.

Vrr. Vrr. Ty tilted his head to look down at his vibrating phone.

HENRY: 11:45. Don't be late.

Ty rolled his eyes. Henry and his father had been best friends, after his father had passed years ago, Henry swooped in and took Ty in. The man helped him into a recovery program and sat every night for over a year at the bar his father had left him, making sure that he wasn't tempted to take a sip. There were times when Ty hated Henry, but that man loved him like a son when he had no obligation to. For that, Ty would be eternally grateful.

He tapped the screen, closing the text from Henry, and navigating to his texts with Vince. He stared at the screen for a minute, he knew that he shouldn't interrupt the time that Vince was spending with his kids. But just because he sent a text didn't mean that Vince would respond immediately, he reasoned with himself.

He quickly typed out a text as he walked through his apartment to his bathroom. Ty sent the text right as he turned the water on for the shower.

TY: glad your back

VINCE: Why'd you leave so soon?

Ty chuckled at the response.

TY: why didn't you make wings tonight?

VINCE: What?

VINCE: Because I just got home and wanted to spend a much time as I could with my kids.

VINCE: Oh.

TY: good thing you've got a pretty face

VINCE: You think my face is pretty?

TY: umm yeah? look in a mirror v

Ty shook his head, putting his phone down to climb into the shower. The hot water ran down his body and he flinched slightly before relaxing into the sting. One thing Ty would never understand was how Vince didn't see how unattainably handsome he was. Though Vince had never said anything, Ty knew that a lot of his confidence issues were rooted around the large scar he had running across the right side of his face. It stretched from his right ear to just around the corner of his lips. To make matters worse the scar was a deep pink, almost purple in some spots. Ty didn't even like to speculate on how the man had gotten it on his last tour.

As Ty began to wash the soap from his hair, the phone on the counter began to ring. Reaching out from the shower, he silenced the phone and went back to enjoying the stream of hot water pouring over his aching muscles. He hadn't even realized that his body was so sore until this moment. Running around and wrangling four kids alone was exhausting.

His phone began to ring again, as he shut off the water and grabbed his towel. Quickly, he wrapped the towel around his waist when he looked down at his phone and saw Vince's picture on the screen his stomach did somersaults.

"Hello?" Ty asked as he put the phone up to his ear.

"Why didn't you answer the first time?"

"Because I was showering?"

"So?" Vince pressed.

"Am I not allowed privacy?"

"Oh, you jacking it?" Vince asked as innocently as one could, which made Ty burst into laughter.

"What do you need?" Ty asked.

There was a long moment of silence. Long enough that Ty pulled the phone away just to check that they hadn't lost connection.

"You didn't need to leave," Vince told him in a softer voice.

"Charlie hasn't seen you-"

"You could've joined us."

Ty sighed, "Sure, but Charlie has seen me every day for a while. He wanted to hang out with you."

"And I wanted to hang out with you."

Ty's chest swelled with happiness that was immediately followed by a wave of guilt. "We can hang out whenever."

There was a heavy sigh on the other side of the phone, "Sure."

"Are you mad at me?" Ty asked, confused by the sudden change of mood.

"Kind of," Vince's voice was tense, Ty bet that he was clenching his jaw.

"Because I left to give you space with your son?"

Vince snorted, "I wanted to see you."

"We had dinner together, V?"

"Ugh, whatever. Fine." Vince growled through the phone. "Just forget it."

"Vince-"

"You coming to Jules dance recital on Friday?"

"Yeah, of course-"

"Okay, see you then."

Click.

Ty's mouth was hanging open by the end. He knew that Vince was trying to tell him something, but Ty had clearly missed the point. Had he done the wrong thing? Surely not, right?

He wasn't sure why tears started to well up in his eyes. Vince and he had miscommunicated before, but it had never ended in such a cold goodbye. Or maybe it was more the feelings of loneliness than whatever was going on with Vince.

Whatever the cause was he turned off all the lights, crawled under his covers, and sent a quick text to Henry.

TY: that dr. still interested?