Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

hand slide off his
    shoulder and moved away. The touch felt good, and Ty let himself
    Divide & Conquer | 207

    enjoy the attention. He didn‟t respond to it like he would have a year
    ago, though.
    Nick whistled low as he pulled out his chair and sat with a thump
    beside Ty. “And you‟re waiting for what ?” he asked Ty as he watched
    the pretty little waitress move away.
    Ty cocked his head at her appreciatively as she moved through
    the crowded bar, then sighed and turned back to the table, propping his
    elbows on the scarred wooden top and reaching for a stick of celery out
    of the wing basket. “I guess I‟ve slowed down in my old age,” he told
    them wryly before crunching down on the celery.
    Nick raised a disbelieving eyebrow as he leaned closer. Ty
    glanced at him and looked away quickly before the man could read
    anything in his face. Nick knew him all too well, though. He knew
    when to call bullshit.
    “Tell us,” Nick ordered with a wide grin.
    Ty glanced at him, trying to judge his mood. This was the perfect
    opportunity to tell Nick and the others the truth. He‟d come close to
    confessing to his best friends dozens of times over the years, telling
    them he was bi or even that as he grew older, he was beginning to
    realize that he definitely preferred men over women. The fear of being
    exposed and kicked out of the military and then simply the fear of
    losing them, especially Nick, had always stopped him. But the military
    was behind him, and if they were the men Ty thought they were, they
    wouldn‟t care. Ty reminded himself that if he could tell Zane he loved
    him, he could do just about anything.
    “Grady? What aren‟t you telling us?” Nick asked quietly.
    Ty winced. “I never was good at hiding much from you,” he said
    in resignation. Nick laughed, shaking his head. Ty held his breath and
    glanced at the others.
    “Garrett and I….” Ty put his palm to his chin and swiped at it,
    glancing down at the table nervously and then looking up at Nick as he
    tried desperately not to back out. Nick‟s green eyes were on him,
    watching him with a mixture of confusion and concern. “We‟re a little
    bit more than partners.”
    208 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

    Nick shook his head, frown lines deepening. “I don‟t understand,
    man. What does that mean?”
    Ty took in a shaky breath and turned the beer bottle in his hands
    compulsively as he tried to decide how to word his response.
    “You saying you‟re… what, he‟s working black ops with you
    now?” Kelly asked.
    Ty came up short. “How do you know about that?”
    “Know about what?” Kelly countered with an innocuous blink.
    “Ty, focus,” Nick muttered.
    Ty shook his head and tried to swallow. His mouth had gone
    completely dry. Kelly and Digger laughed, taking his silence as being
    sly rather than being sick with nerves.
    Nick snorted. “Ty, come on. I‟m too buzzed to read your mind
    tonight.”
    Ty closed his eyes and smiled, just stepping off that ledge like
    he‟d always done. “We‟re fucking,” he said frankly, not surprised when
    the public admission caused his stomach to roil even harder with
    nerves. He looked at the other three, then at Nick, breathless as he
    waited for their reactions.
    They were all staring at him, agog. “Are you shitting me? ‟Cause
    that‟s not funny,” Nick blurted.
    Ty swallowed hard and his jaw tightened. A cold dread began to
    settle in his chest. If Nick didn‟t handle this well, Ty didn‟t know what
    he would do. The others would follow Nick‟s lead. He shook his head
    minutely. “Dead serious,” he murmured, voice going just a little cooler.
    “What‟re you… are you saying you‟re gay?” Digger asked
    slowly, as if trying to come to terms with information he didn‟t quite
    understand.
    Ty swallowed with difficulty and wet his lips. His gut was
    churning as if he truly were in free-fall. He leaned forward. He couldn‟t
    read any of them, and that alone made Ty more than a little worried. He
    nodded anyway. “Yeah. That‟s what I‟m saying.”
    Divide & Conquer | 209

    He held his breath as he waited for any of them to react, and they
    took their sweet time.
    Nick watched Ty for a full minute before he finally looked away.
    “Well,” he said slowly, obviously still thinking about how to respond.
    “I‟m a little surprised,” he finally decided with an uncomfortable laugh.
    He jerked his hand over his shoulder, pointing his thumb in the