Cut and Run 4 - Divide and Conquer

Nick
    asked, a combination of pity and amazement in his voice.
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    Ty nodded, unashamed, spinning his ring over and over around
    his finger. He didn‟t even have to think about his answer, although it
    wasn‟t exactly accurate. Zane had already fallen. Ty was just waiting
    until Zane was done running all the scenarios and crunching all the
    numbers.
    Nick sat back with a small sigh. “Well, I‟m sort of happy for
    you,” he hedged. He reached out and petted Ty on the head for lack of
    anything better to do, and they both laughed and clinked their glasses
    together at the absurdity of it.
    Ty was down to his last mouthful of beer when Nick finally spoke
    again. “You‟re a big ol‟ screaming bottom, aren‟t you?” he asked Ty
    with certainty.
    Ty choked on the beer he‟d been drinking. He lurched out of his
    seat to lean over the table and spit the mouthful of beer onto the floor
    before it went up his nose. Nick was laughing at him as he coughed and
    sputtered. He slapped Ty on the back and they both began laughing
    raucously.
    “I‟ll get you another beer,” Nick told him, snickering as he
    headed toward the bar.
    “Christ,” Ty hissed as he ran his hand over his face. Nick knew
    him far too well.
    A couple of hours later, Nick was well into double digits, and
    Digger and Kelly had already stumbled off to find a cab and possibly
    kill Owen if they could find him. Ty was going slower, mostly because
    he wanted to be able to walk home tonight, but also because the more
    Nick talked, the angrier Nick got. And Ty was thinking he might have
    to drag him out and tie him down to keep him from violence before the
    night was over.
    “Why‟d it take you so long to tell me?” Nick asked him after a
    random ten-minute rant about the Red Sox that almost caused a fight
    with some guy in an Orioles T-shirt.
    Ty glanced at him in surprise. He felt foolish now for keeping it a
    secret all these years, but no one could predict how a loved one would
    react to such a surprise. He tried to think of a way to put it in terms
    Nick could understand while blazed.
    Divide & Conquer | 217

    “Imagine if… I had told you I was a closet Yankees fan,” he told
    Nick with a smile. “How would you have reacted?”
    “That shit‟s not funny, Ty. You‟re not serious, right? I thought
    you grew up on Atlanta! How do you go over to the dark side just out
    of the blue!” Nick asked in true horror.
    Ty laughed. “See? There was always the chance you might react
    that way,” he said as he finished the last beer he planned to drink
    tonight. “It was a scary prospect.”
    Nick stared at him for a long moment. “But you‟re not really a
    Yankees fan, right?” he finally asked carefully.
    Ty smiled and shook his head.
    “Shit, man,” Nick muttered. He threw back his bottle, emptying it
    and setting it down on the table between them with a loud clank.
    “Don‟t scare me like that.”
    Ty grinned and rested his head on his hand.
    “You haven‟t told anyone else, have you?” Nick asked him
    suddenly.
    Ty glanced at him, only to find Nick looking at him sadly. Ty
    shook his head.
    Nick slammed his hand down on the table, rattling the bottles and
    causing one to tip over and roll toward the edge. Ty grabbed for it but
    missed it as it fell to the floor. It bounced noisily but didn‟t shatter.
    Nick didn‟t even bother trying to be discreet as he stood up.
    “That‟s not fucking right, Ty,” he railed angrily. “You shouldn‟t
    have to be afraid to tell anyone who you are or who you‟re in love
    with.”
    “O, calm down,” Ty urged quietly as he stood and put one hand
    on Nick‟s shoulder.
    “You know what? You fought and almost died for your country,”
    Nick continued, undaunted. “What they did to us out there? What
    happened to us when that helo went down was—”
    “Okay, we‟re leaving,” Ty said firmly. He took the beer from
    Nick‟s hand and dug around for his wallet.
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    “You put away killers every day for a living,” Nick continued
    with a point of his finger in Ty‟s face. Ty resisted the urge to reach up
    and grab his hand so he wouldn‟t get poked in the eye. “If you have to
    hide who you are from your closest friends, then fuck the world, man.
    It‟s not fair,” Nick spat with a wave of his hand that almost turned into
    a backhand as Ty quickly leaned away.
    “You are a hot mess, man. How many have you had?”