Cut and Run 2 - Sticks and Stones

stated finally. “Just don’t let Dad find out,” he advised in a near whisper.
    “You know, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Zane muttered, turning his gaze back to Ty, who was tossing fitfully again. Zane thought his own stomach was tossing just as badly now as he looked at his partner. At his lover .
    “Yeah, I get that a lot,” Deuce replied with a long-suffering sigh before taking a drink from his bottle of Mountain Dew.
    “Because there’s no way I’d willingly talk to a shrink about my partner,” Zane added, still not looking at Deuce as his hand crunched the plastic Coke bottle a little.
    “Certainly not,” Deuce agreed amiably. “Not that you have anything you need to get off your chest, anyway, am I right?” he said.
    “Not a thing. All is right in the world,” Zane continued, making himself ignore the tightness in his chest and focus on what he and Ty did best. “And Ty and I might just get through two days without a fight. Now, I said ‘might’, mind you.” He looked at his watch. “Two hours to go. It’ll be a new record.”
    “You fight a lot, then?” Deuce asked in a casual tone.
    “That’s an understatement,” Zane groused before taking another swallow of his drink.
    “Is this on-the-job fighting or after hours?” Deuce inquired curiously.
    “I have yet to determine that there is any difference.” Zane paused. “Any appreciable difference,” he corrected himself, thinking about how they got along at the office as opposed to in the bed in his hotel suite.
    “I gather it’s not unresolved sexual tension,” Deuce observed. “Could it be, deep down, maybe you enjoy the fighting?” he suggested in an offhand manner.
    Zane snorted. “It’s not deep down. We really do enjoy… fighting.” He made himself take another drink to stop the smile, his eyes still focused on Ty. God, he wished Ty would wake up and argue with him right now. It would go a long way toward reassuring him that Ty was going to be okay. He could really go for a good fight, one where they yelled about something stupid and pushed each other around and ended up fucking each other silly and then holding each other all night after. He remembered their quiet talk in front of the fire in the trail cabin, where he’d deliberately told Ty something about himself that he knew full well Ty would take advantage of. More ammunition.
    “So your observation that you may go forty-eight hours without a fight is actually one of disappointment,” Deuce surmised clinically. “The way you express your appreciation of each other is through insults and barbs. Once you start being nice to each other, it signifies an ebb in interest,” he pointed out with a smirk.
    “We’re never nice to each oth—” Zane cut himself off and twitched. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Ty, even knowing Deuce was watching, and Zane knew right then and there that he wouldn’t be giving Ty up without a fight. Ever. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before turning a glare on Deuce.
    Deuce merely raised one eyebrow and smiled in return. “And how does that make you feel , Special Agent Garrett?” he asked in a slow drawl.
    Zane rolled his eyes, reached out, and popped Deuce on the back of the head, just like his mom did. “Asshole,” he muttered as he tried to suppress the panic threatening at the edge of his awareness.
    Deuce laughed softly and twisted the cap back onto his bottle. “You’re welcome,” he said smugly.
    “You better hope he’s really asleep,” Zane threatened.
    “Because you don’t want him knowing how you feel about him?” Deuce asked.
    Zane’s shoulders tightened. “He knows enough. Why else would we fight all the time?”
    Deuce examined him for a long while before turning his eyes back to his sleeping brother. “I don’t know about that. Has he already started being nice to you?” he asked gently.
    “We have our moments,” Zane allowed reluctantly, knowing he was contradicting himself.
    “And you don’t know if that’s just him being a decent human being or if it’s that he’s lost interest in trying to goad you on,” Deuce supplied softly.
    Tipping his head sideways, Zane met Deuce’s eyes. “We’re partners. We don’t have to be at each other’s throats all the time,” he said with a slight shrug.
    Deuce sat with his feet still propped on the bed and his arm resting on the side of the chair. He ran his finger back and forth across his lower lip as he watched