Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

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    lint roller appears to be the best way to get glitter out of a beard .‟”
    Zane chuckled. “That‟s some quality conversation there. Is Nick
    one of the Recon guys? The one I talked to on the phone in New
    York?”
    “The one you talked to on the phone?” Ty repeated in obvious
    confusion. “Oh! Yeah, the one that called and cussed me out for getting
    blown up. Yeah, that was Nick. He was Recon, but he was also with me
    pretty much from the bus to Parris Island.”
    “So you two go way back,” Zane murmured, lifting his hand to
    rub Ty‟s belly through the soft dress shirt. Zane idly wondered what
    color it was.
    “Yeah. Tried to get him to join the Bureau with me and Sanchez,
    but he was being stubborn and disillusioned with The Man. Went home
    instead. We sort of fell out of touch for a while, when I was
    Divide & Conquer | 137

    undercover. But ever since New York, he‟s called or sent me a text
    almost every day.”
    “He‟s not around here, then,” Zane concluded. “Else you‟d be
    barhopping with him.”
    Ty laughed softly. “You have that low an opinion of me, huh?
    Barhopping,” he joked in a warm voice as he leaned more against Zane.
    “He‟s in Boston.”
    Zane grinned. “Would he have gone bar maid hopping with you?”
    “He has in the past.”
    Zane poked at Ty‟s ribs gently.
    Ty flinched and jabbed back at him. “Quit that,” he hissed. Zane
    could feel him rubbing at his ribs as if it had tickled, but he belatedly
    remembered Ty‟s run-in with Tank and the bruising his ribcage had
    taken.
    Zane patted Ty‟s thigh in apology. “That‟s great, still in touch
    with a friend from that far back.”
    “I‟m thinking you‟d probably hate him,” Ty said thoughtfully,
    and then he laughed. “About as much as you hated me at first.”
    “And that was a lot,” Zane agreed. “He‟d probably hate me too.”
    Ty made a dismissive noise and stood, taking a step away from
    the couch. “Are you hungry? I‟m going to start fidgeting if I don‟t find
    something to do soon.”
    “I could eat,” Zane answered, feeling the cool rush in after the
    warmth of Ty‟s body disappeared. “There‟s not much here, though.”
    “You want to go out?” Ty suggested, his voice so even that Zane
    couldn‟t determine Ty‟s preference from it. Zane had always thought
    Ty‟s emotions were easy to read. But obviously all those cues came
    from his body language. “Might do you some good. You pick. I‟ll take
    you there.”
    “How about Chiapparelli‟s? The food‟s really good.”
    “That the Italian place you‟re always going to?” Ty asked.
    138 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    Zane nodded. “They‟ve got a pretty good selection, and you‟ve
    seen my lunches. The people there are really nice. It‟s a family
    business.”
    “And I guess you‟ll know the layout since you‟re there a lot, huh?
    Well, you look good enough. Let‟s go eat.”
    Zane got up and self-consciously patted his hair after Ty riffled it
    in passing. He carefully edged along the couch and around it, then took
    one step to the bookshelf along the wall and touched the books, trailing
    his fingers along the spines until he reached the shelf with the dish
    where he left his wallet and keys. “I need a jacket,” he said.
    “How far is it? Can we walk?” Ty asked.
    “Go out the front door, turn right, cross the street, go to the end of
    the block, turn right, and it‟s on the right at the end of the block,” Zane
    rattled off.
    “All righty, let‟s go, then,” Ty said.

    Divide & Conquer | 139

    Chapter Eight

    “THERE are a few steps up just inside,” Zane said as they stopped
    outside a full plate-glass door under a blue awning hanging off a red
    brick building. “Four, maybe? It‟s not like I‟ve counted before.”
    “You don‟t have to tell me, baby. I can see them,” Ty reminded
    gently.
    Ty pulled the door open and guided Zane through. They went up
    the steps slowly, and Ty cast a critical eye around the restaurant. He‟d
    never been there, but Zane was always producing leftovers in brown
    paper bags and seemed to enjoy the food.
    It was definitely an old building: exposed brick walls had been
    kept intact inside. The carpet was brown and red and sort of ornate
    floral in a vintage Italian style. There was a dining room full of patrons
    in front of them and another to the right. The furniture was dark, heavy
    wood, including a full wine case directly in front of them where