Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

first laid out his plans. “We‟re gonna split this city wide open,” he
    said, smirking before deliberately dropping the pig to the table and
    watching it crack right through the middle.

    “TY, YOU need a break,” Zane said as he walked slowly into the living
    room. He was almost certain Ty was in the kitchen on the other side of
    the bar. He‟d heard glass bottles clanking in the refrigerator.
    It wasn‟t even the weekend yet, and Zane knew the babysitter role
    had to be chafing. While Ty had been good as gold in the two days
    since moving Zane to his row house, it couldn‟t last much longer. Zane
    didn‟t want it to last; it was starting to freak him out. He almost wanted
    to pick a fight just to hear Ty rant so it would vault him back out of The
    Twilight Zone .
    “What?” Ty asked in a muffled voice, as if he was kneeling below
    the level of the kitchen counter.
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    Zane frowned as he reached out in front of him, certain the bar
    should be there. “I said you need a break. What are you doing? You
    sound like you‟re in a hole.”
    He felt more than heard Ty stand quickly, right in front of him.
    “Nothing.”
    Zane tipped his head to the side, trying to remember what Ty kept
    in the cabinets under the bar. He didn‟t believe Ty for an instant, but
    since he couldn‟t hear anything ticking, he let it go. “Nothing,” he
    stated. “Yeah, that‟s the problem. You need a break ,” he stated for the
    third time.
    “I wasn‟t doing anything,” Ty insisted in his most innocent voice.
    It turned more suspicious as he kept talking. “A break from what?”
    Now Zane was sure he didn‟t want to know what Ty had been
    doing. “A break from your babysitting duties.”
    “Oh,” Ty said with a huff. “Why do you say that? I haven‟t set
    fire to anything lately.”
    Normally, Zane would just give Ty a look , deeming the just-
    spoken words bullshit. But since he couldn‟t see Ty to focus on him,
    that wasn‟t going to work. “But you have the matches in hand,” Zane
    said knowingly.
    Ty cleared his throat. “What would you suggest, then, since you
    can‟t be left to your own incompetent devices?”
    “I think I can manage for a while,” Zane said seriously. “Go out.
    Do something. You‟ve been fluttering like your mom. Not that I don‟t
    enjoy it, but I can hear you twitching.”
    “Fluttering like my mom?” Ty repeated with special emphasis on
    the words that insulted him, meaning all of them. Zane heard him throw
    something that flopped like heavy paper onto the counter. “You are an
    ungrateful jackass,” Ty said slowly.
    “Ty, I don‟t think I could be more grateful. I just don‟t want you
    to resent helping me.”
    “You told me I flutter like my mom!”
    182 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    “To me, that‟s a hell of a compliment. It means you care enough
    to stick around and take care of me even when it‟s driving you crazy,”
    Zane tried to explain. This wasn‟t how he‟d expected Ty to react. He‟d
    figured Ty would have been off like a shot. Not in a bad way, just in a
    golden-retriever-shut-up-in-the-house-way-too-fucking-long way.
    Ty snorted like a bull, and even though Zane couldn‟t see him, he
    instinctively knew Ty‟s head was down. “Well, what about you?” Ty
    countered, his voice obstinate. “You feeling the need to climb out the
    window too?”
    “Absolutely. But the overwhelming fear of free fall is a definite
    deterrent,” Zane replied, setting both hands on the bar as he shifted his
    weight. “So I‟m sticking with iTunes on the couch for now. You can
    download a new book for me. That‟ll keep me amused for hours.”
    Ty hummed unhappily. “I don‟t like the idea of leaving you
    alone. And not just because you could catch a toe on the carpet and go
    plummeting down the steps.”
    “You don‟t have carpet on the steps.”
    “Not the point.”
    “We have to try it sometime,” Zane said quietly. “As much as the
    idea appeals, you can‟t be within shouting distance forever.”
    “You getting tired of me?” Ty posed in the same tone.
    “No.” Zane also had a more florid answer, but he didn‟t think
    making Ty guffaw would really help this discussion. He‟d be a happy
    man if he had Ty within arm‟s reach at all times.
    “Okay. So. A couple days apart so we don‟t kill each other, is that
    what we‟re talking about?” Ty asked as he started moving around
    behind the counter.
    Zane hadn‟t really