Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

office?”
    “Benched,” Ty groused. “Didn‟t tell me shit except that I was to
    go home until they‟re sure we‟re not targets. We‟ll also have a
    protection crew tailing us.”
    Zane frowned and sat up. Ty sounded almost angry. “Hey, come
    here,” he requested quietly. Something heavy, probably Ty‟s overcoat,
    flopped onto the back of the couch. He felt Ty‟s weight on the couch
    beside him, and soon Ty‟s hand ran into his hair affectionately,
    carefully avoiding the small crooked line of stitches along the back of
    his skull.
    Zane relaxed and leaned into the hand, moving his own to bump
    against and slide up Ty‟s thigh. It was reassuring, having him this
    close, and if Zane needed anything right now, it was peace of mind. He
    turned his head to press his cheek against Ty‟s palm, and Ty‟s lips
    touched his gently. Only bare seconds passed before the hip that leaned
    against Zane‟s body began to ding and vibrate, but Ty ignored the cell
    Divide & Conquer | 135

    phone in his pocket in favor of the kiss. It warmed Zane, something so
    insignificant as Ty choosing him over a cell phone call. Silly, maybe,
    but he was taking all the feel-good karma he could get at the moment.
    Wanting to be a little closer, he slid one hand to cup lightly around the
    back of Ty‟s neck as he gave under Ty‟s lips.
    Ty sat up after the phone went quiet, running his hand through
    Zane‟s hair again as he leaned against him on the edge of the couch.
    “They gave me the rest of the week off,” he announced suddenly. “I‟m
    probably a target. They want me to lay low, not come back ‟til
    Monday.”
    “The likelihood of us being targets is really damn small,” Zane
    murmured, rubbing Ty‟s back with one hand. “Even with the bomb in
    the Bronco, it was the only car there overnight. Small chance anyone
    could know it was yours. And down at the shopping complex? We
    weren‟t even supposed to be there, really. We got sent last minute to
    help out. More likely they want you out of their hair.”
    “Mac doesn‟t have any hair left. He pulled it all out,” Ty muttered
    unhappily. “I got to check this,” he added, and Zane could feel him
    pulling his phone out of his pocket. Zane relaxed back, keeping his
    hands on Ty, just for that connection. Despite the encouragement from
    talking to Deuce, Zane still felt pretty damn pitiful and lost.
    Ty snorted at whatever he was reading on his phone, and Zane
    heard him snap the phone shut a moment later.
    “What‟s up?” Zane asked.
    “It‟s just my buddy Nick,” Ty said as he leaned against Zane
    again. “He‟s a cop, on the last hour of an eighteen-hour shift, and he‟s
    trying to stay awake by driving me fucking crazy.”
    “So he‟s the one who texts you all hours of the day and night?”
    Zane asked as he rubbed at his temple. The raging headache he‟d had in
    the hospital was still hanging on as a dull ache.
    “Mostly, yeah. Why, does that bother you?” Ty asked with a hint
    of concern. He took Zane‟s hand as he spoke, his fingers rubbing at the
    base of Zane‟s thumb until he found the pressure point between the
    fingers and squeezed hard.
    136 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    Zane groaned as the headache began to dull. If Ty knew one
    thing, it was how to use and abuse a pressure point. “No, it doesn‟t
    bother me.” He scrunched up his nose on purpose. “You haven‟t texted
    me since you got caught with your girlfriend,” he lamented, but then he
    ruined it with a little laugh.
    “I still owe you for that,” Ty told him wryly. He let off on the
    pressure point just a little, and the throbbing ache in Zane‟s head began
    to subside almost to the point of being gone. “You‟re right here next to
    me. I don‟t need to text you.”
    “Still.”
    “You want to hear some of the crap he sends me? Then you won‟t
    be jealous.”
    Zane smiled slightly. He suspected Ty kind of liked that he might
    be jealous. “Sure,” he said amiably as he slid his arm between Ty‟s
    back and the couch to pull him closer.
    Ty shifted around to reach his phone again, and Zane heard him
    flip it open to find some example texts to read out loud. “The one he
    sent me on the way home said, „ at my funeral it’ll be your job to throw
    yourself on my casket and weep .‟ And the one he just sent me, he says,
    „ false alarm, still invincible .‟ No idea what he was doing that he
    thought he might die. The one before that was „ for future