Cut and Run 2 - Sticks and Stones

don’t limp.”
    Zane nodded slowly. Sounded like normal dumbass kid stuff; he’d done his share. It just didn’t end very well for Deuce. Then something clicked. “That’s why Ty hates motorcycles, isn’t it?”
    Deuce nodded. “He gave me the bike when he went off to join the Marines. I was sixteen. He blames himself. You know the drill.”
    Zane nodded. It fit what he knew about Ty. “Yeah, he must. He doesn’t like me riding my Valkyrie. And he’s made it very clear he never will.”
    Deuce clucked his tongue. “Ty’s got to place blame. He’s a very black-and-white type of person. He needed something to blame for it, and instead of accepting that I was going ninety miles an hour on a dirt road and it was my fault, he blamed the bike. And himself,” he explained. “But it all worked out for the best,” he claimed, remarkably cheerful as he spoke about what had to have been a devastating, life-altering event. “I wouldn’t have been a very good Marine,” he mused. “And that’s the route I would have taken, right down the path he did.”
    “You love him a lot,” Zane murmured.
    “He’s my brother,” Deuce answered, as if that should be obvious.
    Zane nodded. “Of course.”
    “Do you?” Deuce asked without looking away.
    Zane held Deuce’s gaze as his lips quirked into a wry smile, and he had to go with his honest, gut answer. “No,” he said softly, a slight tinge of regret in his voice.
    “Huh,” Deuce responded in genuine interest. “I would have guessed otherwise,” he admitted to Zane.
    Zane shrugged uncomfortably, unsure of how to respond to that. It was something he consciously avoided thinking about. “I do like having the asshole around,” he offered.
    “That’s more than can be said for most,” Deuce commented in amusement.
    “So I’ve been told,” Zane agreed. He rolled his shoulders slightly, trying to shrug off some of the tension. Deuce just watched him closely, narrowing his eyes and smiling. “You look very happy with yourself,” Zane observed.
    Deuce glanced off into the woods again and then took a step closer to lower his voice. “Try to be a better partner,” he advised softly.
    Zane held his gaze for a long moment. Finally he sighed. “I want him around.”
    Deuce merely nodded again. He glanced to his side, listening briefly. “We’ll talk again later,” he promised as he looked back at Zane and smiled.
    “Yeah,” Zane said as he acknowledged Deuce’s help. Deuce had zeroed in on what bothered Zane so much in under five minutes—either the man was that good, or Zane felt that comfortable with him. Probably both.
    He was distracted from his thoughts when he heard Ty and Earl conversing and tramping through the underbrush, coming closer. Deuce turned and limped back toward the tree line to continue his gathering.
    “I don’t smell dinner cooking,” Ty observed after he broke through the tree line in a different spot than where he’d gone through. He tromped closer to the fire and glanced at Zane, giving him a quick second look over. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked.
    Zane blinked and shook himself. “Trying to recharge.”
    Ty looked him up and down dubiously, but then he nodded and unshouldered his pack. “All righty,” he said agreeably.
    “What’d you find?” Deuce asked them as he brought over another armload of wood and dumped it into Ty’s bedroll.
    “Hey!” Ty shouted with an accusing point at the firewood.
    “What?” Deuce asked innocently.
    Ty pointed his finger after Deuce threateningly. “I will beat you like a rented mule next time Daddy ain’t watching!”
    “Bring it on, G-man,” Deuce invited with relish.
    “Don’t start,” Earl warned as he sat down on a rock near the fire. “Deacon,” he added, gesturing to the bedroll tiredly.
    Ty and Deuce gave each other measuring looks as Deuce bent and pulled the bedroll out from under the woodpile. He held it up and waved it. “See? Good as new,” he claimed.
    “You’re gonna wake up with a snake in your jeans,” Ty growled softly.
    “Too cold for snakes,” Deuce reminded.
    “Don’t start with the snakes again,” Zane said plaintively, getting a chuckle out of Earl.
    “Chipmunk then,” Ty decided.
    “You’re afraid of chipmunks,” Deuce told him with a laugh.
    “Yeah, ’cause they’re… twitchy!” Ty explained with a little gesture of his hands.
    Deuce laughed harder and waved him off. They were both smiling, though, and Zane could