Cut and Run 1 - Cut and Run

inside of his wrist impulsively. Zane's pulse was racing, and Ty could feel it jumping under his lips. “Why are you nervous?” he whispered in confusion.
    Taking a deep breath, Zane let out his greatest fear. “What if something happens to you?” It was out of left field, for sure. But it was eating at him from the inside.
    Ty raised his head slightly, looking at Zane seriously as he released him. He slowly eased himself up to sit cross-legged beside the bed and rested his elbows on his knees. This all went back to Zane's wife, he realized. It was a pretty common reaction when someone lost a person they loved; to close off and try to refuse to care or let anyone close. The bitch of it was that there was no way to guard against losing again and again.
    "I can't promise that nothing will,” he finally answered with a shrug.
    Zane nodded. “I know,” he said in a pained voice. “But I still want you."
    "So what's the problem?” Ty asked gently.
    Zane raised one shoulder in a confused shrug. “You said it: we get along best when we're fucking. How do we make that work?"
    "Not everything needs to be planned, Zane,” Ty answered with a tinge of frustration. “Not everything needs a why or how."
    "So we just see how it goes?” Zane asked. Ty answered with a nod and smiled. Zane smiled slightly in return, the vise that had been around his chest finally eased. “I'll try."
    Ty reached out and patted his knee almost delicately and then hefted himself off the floor.
    Zane's hands almost itched with the need to touch Ty again, but he curled them into fists and cursed his nerves. See how it goes. Well, it wasn't going anywhere right this moment. He clambered off the bed and walked over to his jacket, poking through the pockets for his cigarettes. Ty was watching him silently, a crooked smirk curling his lips.
    Zane turned around. When he saw Ty watching, he didn't move; he just stood there with his cigarettes in one hand and lighter in the other.
    "Those things'll kill you,” Ty advised in amusement.
    Looking at Ty ruefully, Zane shook his head and flipped him off as he walked to the door. “Leave me at least one of my vices?” he requested.
    Ty sighed and watched him as he reached the door. “The pills are in my bag,” he offered quietly.
    Stopping at the door, Zane looked back over his shoulder at Ty. Yeah, he wanted the damn pills. Just a single thought and he was dying for them, for the artificial high and confidence he got from them. Having them around was like a burr stuck in his shirt, scraping his skin raw. He turned around. “Give them over, please,” he requested quietly.
    Ty waited for a moment and then walked over to the bag to rummage through and find the tin. He held it up and rattled it, then tossed it to Zane without a word. Zane caught the tin deftly and looked down at it for a long moment. Then he moved, walking past Ty and into the bathroom, where he worked to pry the tin open. Ty lowered his head, listening intently and hoping to hear the flush of the toilet instead of the running of the water to fill a glass.
    Zane stared down at the little pink pills. How big a deal was this? They didn't hurt anyone but him ... and Ty. Zane turned his chin toward the door. Because Ty didn't want him doing the drugs. Caught in that thought, he turned the tin over and watched the pills fall into the toilet and sink to the bottom to land on white porcelain. Stone-cold sober, he flushed them down and tossed the tin into the garbage can with a clink.
    When Zane turned around, he saw Ty standing there. He took two steps and captured Ty's mouth with his own, his hands closing gently about his face.
    Ty returned the kiss with feeling, sliding his hands around Zane's hips and pulling him closer. “Good boy,” he murmured between kisses.
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Chapter Fourteen
    Henninger called promptly at nine that morning, just a few hours after Zane flushed his pills. The young agent told Ty he'd arranged to have one of the earlier crime scenes opened for them, because he knew how much Ty liked to go and stare, and they had to meet him as soon as possible before anyone got wind of it. He also had the personnel files for them, and there were some interesting things in there.
    "Like what?” Ty asked curiously.
    "Like the number of people involved with this case that were in Baltimore in 2001,” Henninger answered wryly. “You and me included, Special Agent Grady,” he added.
    "Ah, fuck,” Ty