Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

He‟d be
    okay. Zane would be okay. It would all be okay.
    “Okay,” he said under his breath.
    When he got to Zane‟s room, he was almost good again.
    Then he saw Zane, his partner, his lover , lying there in the bed,
    pale and still, somehow managing to look fragile despite what a tall and
    muscled man he was, and “good” went out the window, down three
    stories, and splatted on the asphalt.
    Ty edged into the room, wondering if he should stay or go, since
    Zane appeared to be sleeping. Fuck that—if he had to suffer, so did
    Zane. He crept closer, eyes passing over the machinery around the
    room, and he sat gingerly on the edge of the bed.
    The corner of Zane‟s mouth tilted up. “Old Spice,” he murmured.
    The words warmed Ty more than he was willing to admit. He
    leaned closer and sniffed loudly at Zane. “Desperation?”
    Zane turned up his nose. “Mouthwash. Nasty shit.” He shifted his
    closest hand to touch Ty. There was a small bandage, white against
    Zane‟s skin, where the IV had been earlier in the day.
    Ty gripped his hand and squeezed it. “You doing any better?”
    “Not hurting as much,” Zane admitted. “They took away all the
    wires and gave me ginger ale. I hate ginger ale.” There wasn‟t a lot of
    force behind his words, but at least it was more than the dull yes and no
    and “you were in the truck” of early that afternoon.
    Ty nodded, not sure what else to say. His mind was still racing, a
    duck‟s legs kicking furiously under the smooth surface of a pond. He
    was pretty sure if Zane could see he‟d have mentioned it by now.
    “I talked to Ma just now. She said to say hello,” Ty tried,
    grasping for a thread to hang onto before he started going off the rails
    again. He‟d have to take a nap when he got home.
    “I could go for some pie right now,” Zane said, visibly
    brightening even though his eyes remained dull and blank.
    110 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    “I‟m sure she‟s baking furiously,” Ty muttered. He looked down
    at the hand he still held in his. “Do you want me to call your folks?”
    Please say no, please say no, please say no—
    “No,” Zane said immediately.
    Thank God!
    Ty cleared his throat and kept talking despite his relief. “Are you
    sure? It seems like something maybe they should know.”
    Zane‟s nose wrinkled, and he frowned before sighing a few
    moments later. “I guess I might call Annie. But not my parents. We
    don‟t… we‟re not really in touch.”
    Ty winced but didn‟t push further. He couldn‟t help but ask,
    though. “Who the hell is Annie?”
    Zane actually smiled and turned his head on the pillow. “My little
    sister.”
    “Ah. Am I going to have to call her?” Ty asked, unable to keep
    the displeasure out of his voice.
    “I wouldn‟t do that to you,” Zane assured him, rubbing Ty‟s thigh
    soothingly. He‟d clearly picked up on Ty‟s tone of voice. “She does
    know who you are, though.”
    “She‟s knows I‟m the partner that let you run into the exploding
    building alone and that you like cock?” Ty asked without even thinking
    about turning around to see if anyone was within hearing range.
    Zane‟s eyes widened comically before he blinked several times
    and shook his head. “That you‟re the partner who‟s saved my life
    multiple times,” he corrected evenly. “And yes, she knows I switched
    teams.”
    Ty‟s racing mind finally came to a grinding, screeching, painful
    halt. “Wait, what?”
    “I don‟t even have to see your face to know you‟re about to freak
    out.” Zane sighed. “She knows we‟re partners at work. That‟s all. I
    don‟t share details about my private life with her or anyone, but she
    does know in general terms that in the past I‟ve slept with both men
    and women. Okay?”
    Divide & Conquer | 111

    Ty closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose to ward off
    the squirrels trying to chisel their way out of his brain. “Zane,” he
    groaned in complaint. “When do you get out of this place? I need to
    fucking sleep before you drive me crazy.”
    “I don‟t know,” was the quiet reply.
    Ty looked down at Zane, really looked at him, taking in the
    gauntness of his pale face, the worry etched in every line. It had been a
    while since Zane had looked this bad. It made Ty realize how much
    better he‟d gotten since Christmas. He reached up and fluffed Zane‟s
    hair with the tips of his fingers, not willing to make a public display of
    his