Cut and Run 2 - Sticks and Stones

with him,” Deuce posed, unwilling to be driven off track.
    “Yes,” Ty answered in annoyance. “You a couples therapist all of a sudden?” Deuce snorted and began laughing. “Really,” Ty grunted as he turned away.
    “You know how lovers’ spats get, Ty,” Deuce called after him.
    “There’s no love involved,” Ty insisted as he turned back around and glared at Deuce.
    “Maybe not for you,” Deuce pointed out. “What about him?”
    “Garrett?” Ty asked, his voice rising in tone. “He’s not in love with me; are you kidding? He can barely stand me.”
    “Love and like are two entirely different things, Tyler,” Deuce said knowingly as he started moving again.
    “Yeah, well, save it for your clients,” Ty muttered as he followed. His brother responded with a delighted whistle, and Ty shook his head, trying not to let on how disturbed he was by the discussion. Deuce was even more perceptive than Ty, a skill that served his brother well in his chosen profession. But there was no reason to think Deuce was right in regards to Zane. Ty knew his partner better than Deuce did. Zane had already known the love of his life, and he wasn’t looking for another one. What that spelled out for them was absolutely nothing but enjoying the here and now.
    Zane would no more fall in love with Ty than he would sprout wings and fly.

    Z ANE watched the brothers tromp off down a trail. He could hear them talking for a few moments, but then they were too far away.
    “They seem close,” Zane observed, shifting on the log to lean his elbows on his knees as he studied the greenery under his boots.
    “They were tied together like a knot when they were little,” Earl confirmed. “Caused all kinds of hell. But then, Grady brothers always have. Been that way since my daddy and his brothers was little.”
    Zane smiled. Trouble ran in the family, obviously. “Always wondered what it’d be like to have a brother,” he confided in Earl.
    “Well, you practically got one now,” Earl pointed out as he gestured with his half-eaten sandwich.
    Glancing at the older man, Zane tipped his head as he turned the half of his sandwich on its side to take another bite. “Yeah, I guess.” He wouldn’t exactly call his relationship with Ty a brotherly one. But then, they were in West Virginia…. His lips quirked before he took a bite, aware of Earl’s scrutiny and trying not to laugh.
    “Dick tells me you took care of my boy,” Earl said a full minute later.
    Zane slowly lifted his gaze to meet his eyes but didn’t comment. He didn’t want to talk about New York with anyone—and definitely not with Ty’s father. Earl nodded, that look about him like he felt he might have an idea of what they’d dealt with. “Bad enough you don’t want to talk about it, huh?” Zane swallowed hard and reached for his canteen, looking blankly out into the forest. “You military, Garrett?”
    The abrupt change in the line of questioning threw Zane for a second. He figured at that moment that he ought to have expected it. All the Gradys did that jump-the-tracks train of thought thing; he suspected it was a way to throw their quarry off guard. It worked, he thought with a sniff. “No, sir.”
    “That’s too bad,” Earl commented sincerely.
    Zane frowned and turned his chin back. “Why?”
    “Military gives you a state of mind to deal with those kind of things,” Earl told him sympathetically. “Man ain’t made to deal without help.”
    Zane had to admit the man had a point. Truth was, he wasn’t handling parts of his job-related past well, even with outside help. But the comment rankled, regardless. “Just because I’m not military doesn’t mean I can’t handle the job.”
    “Didn’t say you couldn’t, son,” Earl told him evenly.
    Zane nodded slowly, finishing the last couple bites of his sandwich and watching as Earl stood and walked a few steps away. Zane tipped his head to one side. He hadn’t quite figured out how to take Earl Grady yet.
    “Damn fool boy needs someone on his six,” Earl murmured as he looked out into the woods where Ty and Deuce had disappeared.
    “Ty’s very good at his job,” Zane defended quietly.
    Earl nodded and turned back to him. “Yes, he is. You know anything about tracking?” he asked.
    Zane raised an amused eyebrow, acknowledging another jump in the tracks. “Not on a mountain,” he answered.
    “Where then?”
    “In a city. The Texas flats where I grew up. Or on a