Page 28 of Hardline Torque
Tane nodded.“Yeah.”He hesitated, then added, “Thank you.”
Victor’s mouth curved, small but real.“You looked like you needed someone else to make the decisions for five minutes.”
“That obvious?”
“Painfully.”
Tane laughed quietly, the sound surprising him.It loosened something in his chest.
Victor’s gaze drifted back to him, slower this time, more deliberate.It traced the lines of ink across Tane’s chest, the shark breaking the surface of skin and muscle.
“Tell me about those,” Victor said.“Not now.Just ...someday.”
Tane nodded.“Someday.”
When Victor took his hands to clean them, the intimacy of it hit harder than the fight had.His fingers were gentle, sure, the way of someone used to tending wounds without drama.
“You don’t have to break yourself to make a point,” Victor said quietly.
Tane held his gaze.“Neither do you.”
They talked while Victor worked—slow, careful conversation, the kind that circled around hard things without crashing into them.Retribution.Justice.What it meant to take something back without becoming the thing you hated.
Tane told him again that Black Tide would help.Not because they owed Victor anything, but because they chose to.
Victor listened like that mattered.
Dinner was good—comforting, grounding.They ate side by side at the small table, knees brushing occasionally, each contact sending a jolt of awareness through Tane that he didn’t try to hide from himself.
They sent the intel to Dev and Bateman together, Victor explaining as he typed, Tane asking questions, refining, thinking ahead.
Afterward, they cleaned up in companionable silence.Victor washed, Tane dried.Their movements synced without effort.
It was in that quiet, domestic space that the tension shifted.
Victor stood close—too close—and didn’t move away.Tane could feel the heat of him, the solid presence at his side.
“You still angry?”Victor asked softly.
“No,” Tane said after a beat.“I’m scared.”
Victor’s breath hitched.
“Me too,” he admitted.
The honesty cracked something open between them.
Victor’s hand brushed Tane’s wrist, tentative, asking without words.Tane didn’t move away.
The kiss came slow this time—testing, careful, nothing rushed.Victor leaned in like he was bracing for impact.When their mouths met, it wasn’t explosive.
It was certain.
Tane felt it settle deep, steadying him instead of unmooring him.
He pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against Victor’s.“Is this what you want?”
The question wasn’t about the kiss.
