Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

shot. No one knew she was a kid.”
    “He did what he had to. What was right,” Zane said quietly.
    “Doesn‟t mean it doesn‟t hurt.” With that he left the room and, McCoy
    noticed belatedly, Ty‟s personnel file.
    McCoy grunted as he frowned at the folder. In his opinion, Ty
    had more on his conscience than the shot he‟d taken four days ago. A
    lot more.
    He reached for the file and stowed it in the bottom drawer of his
    desk, locking it away.

    246 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    Chapter Thirteen

    AS HE stood outside the row house door, Zane realized how nervous
    he was. Not scared, not angry. Nervous. He hadn‟t seen or heard from
    Ty since the day Ty had decked him. Four long, lonely, and miserable
    days that had driven home to Zane just how very important Ty was to
    him. Every night, lying alone in a cold bed with a lamp on so he
    wouldn‟t be in the dark, Zane had struggled to accept that however
    unintentionally, he‟d scared Ty badly and needed to apologize. He‟d
    wrangled even more with the possibility that Ty wouldn‟t give him the
    chance, which had only fed Zane‟s irrational fear of losing him
    altogether.
    Zane had seen Ty easily forgive and let something go—it was one
    of the most prominent aspects of Ty‟s unusual personality. But Zane
    had never seen Ty angry enough to literally walk away. Even when
    Zane had been drunk on the cruise ship, Ty had dragged him to the pool
    to sober him up instead of telling him he was done. Then today, the
    news about Ty and the girl—it had almost knocked Zane over as he
    realized just what exactly Ty had been dealing with that day.
    Zane would get down on his knees and beg to get back into Ty‟s
    good graces, if that was what it took.
    But first things first. He rapped hard on the door.
    It took a full minute before the lock on the door turned. When Ty
    swung the door open, he wore nothing but a towel, rivulets of water
    still running down his chest and arms.
    “Garrett,” he said in surprise.
    Divide & Conquer | 247

    At the sight of all that glorious skin, heat slashed through Zane so
    fast that he lost track of what he had carefully planned to say. Instead
    he reached out, grabbed Ty by the back of the neck, and yanked him a
    step closer so he could kiss him messily.
    Ty flailed and struggled to keep his balance. Zane distantly
    realized that Ty had his gun in his hand. When Zane pulled back, he
    glanced at the weapon—pointed away, luckily—and then at Ty for a
    split second before doing what he‟d come to do in the first place.
    He slugged Ty.
    Ty reeled back, too surprised by the double-edged assault to keep
    his feet. The gun went skittering across the hardwood, and Ty wound
    up flat on his back, the towel miraculously still wrapped around his
    hips.
    Zane stood in the doorway, yanked his Wayfarers off, and took a
    couple of heartbeats to admire the sight. “Didn‟t see that coming, did
    you?” he asked as he set his hands on his hips.
    Ty shook his head violently, as if trying to clear it, and he pushed
    up onto his elbows. “What the hell, Zane?” he said in a hoarse, angry
    voice. “Is there a car out there? People are watching me!”
    “Of course there‟s not a car, I checked. They stopped watching
    you after your death threat,” Zane retorted, stepping inside and kicking
    the door shut. “You—you spent all that time taking care of me, and
    then you just took off!” Zane accused with a pointed finger.
    “You—!”
    “ And you chewed the hell out of my ass and then didn‟t even give
    me a chance to apologize for being a jerk,” Zane finished, feeling the
    frustration starting to ebb. Just being with Ty made a difference. “But
    mostly? Hitting me while I was blind was a low blow, even if I did
    deserve it.” He offered his hand to help Ty up.
    Ty looked at his hand and then back up at him incredulously. “Is
    that supposed to be an apology? God, you‟re such a dick!”
    Zane stared down at him, all too aware of how thankful he was he
    could see Ty‟s face again. He‟d dreamed about it every night. “No, that
    wasn‟t an apology.” He went down on one knee next to Ty and took a
    248 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    deep breath. “But this is: I am sorry that I scared you. I didn‟t think it
    through, and I‟m sorry that after all that time you spent supporting me,
    you were the one who got let down. I know I can‟t change it, but I‟m
    willing to do whatever it takes to make it up to