Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

muttered.
    “Rest. Relax. Let someone take care of you,” the doctor told him
    seriously. “The nurse will be back soon,” he added. Then slightly
    squeaky footsteps faded away.
    “Relax,” Zane said as if someone were standing there. He wasn‟t
    all too sure someone else wasn‟t, actually. “He says relax.” He groaned
    and rubbed his hands over his face.
    With a sigh, Zane pulled one leg up and wrapped an arm around
    his knee as he sat there wondering what the hell he was going to do.
    He‟d already made up his mind not to call Annie. He was sure his sister
    would fly out here if he needed her, but there really wasn‟t anything for
    her to do . There wasn‟t really anything anyone could do. That was what
    was so goddamn frustrating.
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    A few minutes later there was a soft knock on the door frame of
    his room. “You want Cheetos or a Snickers?” Ty asked in a disgruntled
    tone.
    Zane turned his chin as soon as he heard the knock. “Snickers will
    be easier,” he said. Although the Cheetos sounded good, Zane knew
    better than to fight Ty for them.
    He could hear Ty unwrapping the candy bar as he moved closer.
    “Hold out your hand,” Ty ordered when he got to the side of the bed.
    Shifting slightly toward Ty, Zane did so, palm up. Ty placed the
    Snickers in his hand without a word, and then Zane felt him move away
    and heard him flop into a chair of some kind. The springs squeaked.
    Zane lifted the bar tentatively to his lips, surprised when he found
    it difficult to hit his mouth. He took a bite and chewed slowly. “Doctor
    was here,” he said as he savored the chocolate.
    “That was faster than I expected. And?” Ty asked eagerly.
    “They‟re sending me home.”
    “That‟s good, right?” Ty asked. “When can we leave?”
    “He said an hour.” Zane wasn‟t sure about answering the first
    question.
    The chair creaked as Ty leaned forward. His voice was closer
    when he spoke. “We talked about this. You don‟t want to go home?”
    “Yeah, I want to go home. I hate hospitals. It‟s just….” Zane
    frowned.
    “You wish you could see,” Ty provided matter-of-factly.
    Zane nodded. He carefully took another bite of the Snickers.
    “Don‟t know what the hell I‟m going to do with myself. It‟ll be a whole
    new level of staring at four walls.”
    “Well,” Ty murmured thoughtfully. “Man up, Zane. Shit happens,
    you know? We‟ll get out of here and get some real food.”
    Zane sat startled for a long moment and then actually chuckled.
    “Welcome back.”
    “What?”
    Divide & Conquer | 115

    “You sounded a lot more like your normal grumpy asshole self,”
    Zane explained. “Rather comforting, actually.” Something about that
    just made Zane want to laugh. “Yeah, you‟re going to make a great
    valet.”
    He was surprised by a thump on the tip of his nose. He hadn‟t
    even heard or felt Ty move. He swiped out with one hand in a belated
    reaction. “Hey! I‟ve seen you use an iron. That is damn impressive.”
    “Marines either know how to use an iron or they get married,” Ty
    advised through a mouthful of Cheetos. “The iron is less dangerous.”
    Zane snorted and almost swallowed the chunk of candy bar in his
    mouth without chewing it up. “That‟s actually pretty funny.”
    “I try.”

    116 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    Chapter Seven

    ZANE felt the cab come to a stop. He‟d lost track of the twists and
    turns a while back, and he had no idea if they were at his apartment,
    Ty‟s house, or somewhere altogether different. He‟d already decided
    there was no way he‟d be saying the words “Are we there yet?”—Ty
    would go ballistic.
    So he sat quietly, face turned toward the window, chin down.
    He was wearing scrubs from the hospital; his suit had been
    trashed. He knew he wasn‟t bloody, despite the bruises everywhere, so
    he figured he didn‟t look too bad.
    “We‟re here,” Ty told him. The door on Ty‟s side opened. “Hold
    on. I‟ll come get you,” he said before the door slammed shut.
    Zane didn‟t move. He knew this was going to be tough, trying to
    get around, and he certainly wasn‟t looking forward to it. He‟d barely
    said a word the whole drive over, just thinking about what he would be
    facing if he wasn‟t able to see again. He knew it was too soon to start
    worrying and planning, but fuck all, he‟d only just gotten a bunch of
    shit in his head straightened out, and now this?
    The