Cut and Run 1 - Cut and Run

him, seeing a glimpse of the more ordered and disciplined man Ty hid under the brash asshole. He wore a mask, just like Zane did. It was somehow reassuring. It was beginning to become clear that Ty actually expended energy to be as abrasive as he was. The calmer former Marine that was beginning to show through seemed much more natural to him.
    "How old are you?” Ty finally asked in return.
    Zane smiled slowly, still watching. Ty hadn't looked up at him. “You mean you've not checked up on me yet?"
    Ty slid his eyes sideways to look at Zane seriously, the rest of his body unmoving.
    Zane shook his head, smile pulling at his lips. “I'm forty-two,” he admitted.
    "Yeah, you look it,” Ty drawled with a grin that was slightly more teasing than his usual smirk.
    Zane snorted. “I suppose I've been ridden hard and put away wet a few too many times."
    Ty rolled his eyes and poked at his food. “Where you from?” he asked without looking up. “I mean, since we're bonding and all."
    "Texas. Austin, to be specific."
    "I'm sorry,” Ty offered sympathetically, the smirk playing at his lips again.
    "Where are you from, asshole?” Zane retorted.
    "Bluefield, West Virginia,” Ty answered, letting his words roll with his pronounced accent.
    Zane grinned. “West by-God Virginia,” he said. “Fits you."
    Ty glanced up and smirked again, jabbing at his ketchup with a fry. “Wild and Wonderful,” he quoted with a barely restrained snicker.
    "Wild and Wonderful,” Zane echoed with a short chuckle. “All that mountain climbing got you in shape for the Marine Corps."
    "More like spelunking, but it's all about rocks in the end.” Ty shrugged with a smile. “Son of a miner ain't got much in the way of career options,” he added. “It was either the Marines or going into the family business."
    Zane tilted his head. “Somehow, I don't see you as a coal miner."
    Ty glanced back up at him and narrowed his eyes. The urge to take exception to the statement was clearly written on his face, but finally he gave his head a shake and bit the tip off his fry. “Just add dirt,” he finally responded with a gesture to himself, even though the industry of coal mining had left Bluefield in the 1960s.
    Zane saw the look on Ty's face before the other man shook it off. “Did you want to be a coal miner?” he asked.
    "Nobody wants to be a coal miner,” Ty answered evenly. He looked up at Zane and studied him, pondering the rest of the answer. “But then, nobody wants to get shot at, neither,” he added thoughtfully. “I wouldn't have been a coal miner. They don't mine coal in Bluefield anymore. But my daddy minded the abandoned mines. He was a caretaker after they were shut down. Meant he was still in those damn mines all the time, making sure no one got down there and lost or trapped. Monitoring collapses. And I would have been doing it, too. Or off in another town doing the real thing. I had to choose between a fear of bullets and a fear of small spaces,” he admitted. “Turns out bullets ain't that scary, after all."
    Nodding, Zane finished off his burger. He studied the other man as he chewed, putting together the details he'd crow barred out. The little bit of his history made Ty much more human.
    Ty returned his attention to his food, feeling eyes on him and just letting Zane stare for a while. “So what else was there, Serpico?” he finally asked after a tense moment of silence. “Need my blood type? SAT scores?"
    Zane's brow wrinkled. “Did you go to college or just join the Marines?"
    That question did rankle, but Ty visibly repressed his initial reaction. He exhaled loudly and pushed his plate away.
    "You did say SAT scores,” Zane reminded.
    "I went to college,” Ty gritted, acknowledging that he had indeed opened up that door. “Government paid for it."
    Zane nodded slowly, feeling as well as seeing the tension back in the other man. “Nothing wrong with that,” he said. “You earned it."
    Ty cut his gaze up to look at Zane from under lowered brows. “You humoring me, Lone Star?"
    Zane set his plate on the table with a clunk. “If you served our country in the armed forces, you deserve it.” He was dead serious; it showed clearly in his eyes.
    Ty glared at the man for a brief moment longer and then looked back down. “Thirteen-ten,” he finally answered with a nod.
    Raising a brow, Zane sat back with a nod. “Well-done,” he complimented.
    "Bite me,” Ty muttered as he poked at his chicken and