Cut and Run 2 - Sticks and Stones

do this more often. One was the fact that the cell reception was shitty, and Burns usually had him at the ready. It was one of the first times that Ty had thought that with a hint of bitterness.
    Zane studied him with a small frown that emphasized the furrows between his brows. After a long moment, he asked, “So why not visit more?”
    Ty didn’t move, blinking up at the ceiling as he tried to think of a way to answer. The truth was, most of his official vacation time was taken up by side jobs that weren’t supposed to go in any records. But he couldn’t tell Zane that even if he wanted to. Yet.
    “Time, I guess,” he finally answered, hoping it would satisfy. He could still feel Zane’s eyes on him, but the other man didn’t say anything else. Ty glanced over at him self-consciously. Zane was scrutinizing him, and he looked like he was considering what to say. Ty shook his head slightly and sighed, looking back up at the ceiling. It wasn’t home that was the problem. He supposed he could let Zane believe that it was, though. It would buy him some time until he figured out what to do about Burns’ black ops and whether Zane needed to know about them.
    “Tell me something,” Zane asked softly, gaining Ty’s attention. “Something about growing up in the mountains.”
    “What, like… more story time?” Ty asked uncomfortably.
    Zane shrugged one shoulder. “Some good thing you remember.”
    Ty watched him in the flickering firelight, frowning heavily and trying to think. “Good thing about growing up in the mountains,” he murmured. He shrugged, at a loss. “It wasn’t really all that different from growing up anywhere else, I guess. Every summer we’d come up here and Dad would teach us everything he knew. From the day school was out until football started up, we were running around outdoors.”
    “All those trophies,” Zane said quietly. “You played lots of sports, looked like.”
    “I was decent,” Ty acknowledged. “I liked them all, but football was my game.”
    “You’re not exactly lineman size,” Zane commented. “Wide receiver? Defensive back?” He smiled and bumped against him gently. “Quarterback?”
    Ty glanced sideways at him and smiled. “You’ll make jokes if I tell you now,” he predicted.
    Both Zane’s brows raised. “Not near what you would if I told you what I did for extracurriculars in high school.”
    “True,” Ty agreed shamelessly. “I was a tight end,” he told Zane with another look sideways at him and a smirk. “Sometimes wide receiver if we were killing the other team.”
    “Big guy, fast runner,” Zane said with a nod.
    Ty nodded, waiting for Zane’s love of bad puns to seize on the tight end thing and run with it. “What about you?” he asked to curtail the urge in his partner.
    Zane snorted and rubbed a hand over his face. When he dropped it, his cheeks were surprisingly flushed. “Uh. Well, it was Texas, you know.”
    “Right,” Ty said slowly. “So… you grew up roping longhorns and riding horses?” he joked.
    “Yes,” Zane said immediately, relaxing visibly. “On Granddaddy’s ranch.”
    Ty narrowed his eyes at his partner. Zane had seized on that answer far too quickly and with too much relief, and he was obviously embarrassed about the subject. “You know, if you don’t want to talk about it, I’m not that big on talking anyway,” Ty offered softly. “I won’t mind.”
    Zane sighed. “Nah. It’s just silly.” He winced. “I was on the square-dancing team.”
    Ty pressed his lips tightly together and closed his eyes, but he just couldn’t help himself. He covered his mouth and tried to cover the laugh, shaking his head.
    He heard Zane’s soft laugh. “I told you,” Zane said with a gentle elbow to Ty’s ribs. “But I’ll have you know we were in the state championship my junior year.”
    Ty snorted and laughed out loud, unable to contain it. “Oh God,” he said as he covered his eyes. When he moved his hand, he saw Zane looking back at him, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, but his dark brown eyes were shining in the firelight. “Next time just lie to me,” Ty requested as he giggled.
    Zane grinned and shook his head as he hefted himself up. “You love the ammunition. Though Lord knows why I keep feeding it to you. Glutton for punishment, I guess,” he mumbled as he headed for the last bunk.
    “I guess,” Ty echoed with a soft smile.

Chapter 8

    “ Y OU boys make it through that storm