Cut and Run 1 - Cut and Run

unzipped the jacket and slid it from his shoulders, pinching the bandage.
    "You can bounce a quarter off my bed,” Ty boasted as he led the way into the kitchen. He dug under the sink and brought out an antique metal First Aid cabinet. The red cross on the front was faded and scratched, and the metal was dented and scarred. When he opened the door the contents were all modern, though, and he pulled out some gauze, a tin of Rawleigh's medicated salve, and some medical tape.
    Zane tossed his jacket over the bar and pushed up his sleeve as he plopped himself onto a stool. He jerked the bandage off in one go with a grimace and poked at the oozing gouge. It was a good three inches long across his upper arm, and had taken out quite a chunk of flesh. He supposed now that a few stitches might not have been a bad idea.
    Ty glanced over at it and immediately groaned softly. “What the hell?” he muttered. “I'm not stitching you up in my kitchen,” he insisted. “That needs a doctor."
    "Just bandage it up,” Zane said stubbornly. “Another scar won't matter."
    Ty frowned doubtfully, but he cut the tape into strips and stuck them to the side of the counter, then opened the tin and slathered a good deal of the salve inside the wound without waiting to see if Zane would allow him to touch it. He worked quickly and finally pulled the wound together, placed a thin piece of gauze over it, taped the damaged skin as close as he could, and wound it all up without a word. Zane sat there unmoving, gritting his teeth. It hurt. A lot.
    "Glass of water?” he requested after Ty was done.
    Ty simply nodded and went to a cabinet near the refrigerator to retrieve a glass. He filled it from a bottle that sat on the counter and handed it wordlessly to Zane. Reaching over to the jacket, Zane dug into the pocket and pulled out a battered bottle of Tylenol, got a couple pills, and swallowed them down.
    "Tough guy, huh?” Ty asked sarcastically. “I bet you got all kinds of action with that routine in Miami,” he muttered as he watched with a frown.
    Zane lowered the glass and looked at Ty appraisingly as he tucked the bottle away. “Depends on what kind of action you're talking about,” he said, being deliberately vague. Ty could be talking about fighting “action.” Possibly. If Ty were true to form ... that wouldn't be it.
    Ty just raised one eyebrow and shrugged. “If you got called papi more than once, then I want blood tests before I touch you again,” he said as he turned to the sink behind him and began washing his hands.
    Chuckling, Zane pushed off his stool and reached out to snag Ty around the waist and start pulling. “Not even once. Didn't pay anybody, either."
    Ty huffed a laugh and let himself be pulled closer, swatting the faucet off before he was out of reach and pulling away only enough to make it seem like an effort. “Bucking the trend, then,” he drawled. “How proud you must be."
    "Mmmmm.” Zane reached out with his other arm to drag Ty closer, facing him, then slid his lips along the curve of Ty's neck. “I got some ass,” he admitted before scraping his teeth on Ty's skin for a moment. Then he added, “No men."
    Ty lowered his chin until his cheek brushed against Zane's, and he frowned and nodded. “Good,” he replied softly.
    Closing his eyes, Zane inhaled Ty's scent slowly and let himself fall under the sound of his voice. It aroused him like nothing else. “The ass? Or the no men?” he rasped, moving slightly to rub their cheeks together.
    "I don't care,” Ty breathed in answer as he turned his head and pressed his lips to Zane's in an open-mouthed, hungry kiss.
    Zane's hand closed around the back of Ty's neck as the other man beat him to the kiss, one he joined with just as much desire. Christ, he'd missed this, missed Ty. He'd never expected it, and he'd lied to himself about how much it had hurt to be without him, unable to understand how he'd grown so attached to this man in the space of seven hectic, awful days. His other hand tightened around Ty's waist, hauling him up against his body.
    Ty flailed briefly, trying not to grab the upper arm he had just bandaged, and he groaned softly into the kiss. He had tried not to think about their brief stint in New York together. Parts of it he still didn't remember, and that just made it worse as he tried to force the memories out. Now, though, it all seemed to come rushing back and he let it, wrapping his arms around Zane and pulling him closer