Cut and Run 5 - Armed and Dangerous

partner to back him up.
    “I’m sorry, Deuce. He’s right,” Zane finally said with a shake of his head. Ty sighed in relief.
    “Just stay for the night, okay? You’re all exhausted; you’re barely functioning. And hell, if someone’s going to be coming to kill me, I’d really appreciate it if you’d stick around with your guns and pointy things ’til morning, you know?” Deuce said in exasperation.
    Ty cleared his throat and met Zane’s eyes.
    “That’s a fair point,” Julian murmured.
    Ty nodded. “You’re right,” he said to Deuce.
    “I know,” Deuce said with a bright smile. He reached out and hugged his brother, holding onto him tightly. “Go to bed, okay? Be here in the morning?”
    “I promise,” Ty muttered.

    Z ANE had to look away as Deuce hugged Ty tighter. He could sympathize with the feeling, knowing Ty was in danger and wanting desperately to hold on to him and keep him safe.
    When he finally let Ty go, he turned and hugged Zane as well. Zane smiled as he looked over Deuce’s shoulder at Ty.
    “We’re keeping you up, Deuce,” Zane murmured as he pondered the two brothers and patted Deuce’s back. “Why don’t you go back to bed? I’m sure Ty knows where things are if we need anything else.”
    Deuce let him go and looked him over, then looked at Ty, who was nodding in agreement.
    “Just stick to your regular schedule in the morning, but don’t touch the front door,” Ty muttered.
    “Why?”
    Ty gestured helplessly to Julian.
    “Just trust him; don’t touch it,” Julian said with a curt nod. They all stared at him. “Trade secret.”
    Ty rolled his eyes. He reached to the small of his back and took out the backup gun he’d taken off one of the bodies, checking it before handing it to Deuce. “Put that under your pillow.”
    Deuce looked down at it with a heavy sigh but didn’t take it. “Yeah, okay. But you can keep that. My regular schedule doesn’t involve shooting myself in the ass in the morning.”
    Cameron laughed and then clapped a hand over his mouth. Ty snorted and shook his head. Deuce looked up to meet Zane’s eyes again, a worried frown creasing his brow.
    Zane offered him a weak smile.
    Deuce nodded and looked back at Ty as he turned toward the hallway. “Good night,” he said as he left them.
    Ty turned his head to watch his brother limp toward his bedroom.
    Julian and Cameron stood there awkwardly for a moment. “Well. Good night, then.”
    Cameron gave them both a weak smile as he turned and followed Julian back into the guest bedroom.
    Ty poked at the mattress with his foot.
    Zane glanced toward the dark hallway, then leaned forward to reach out and touch Ty’s lightly bruised jaw. “He got you,” he murmured, his fingers feather light as they ghosted over the slight stubble. “You okay otherwise?” He’d not even gotten a chance to ask since the fight at the hotel some hours ago.
    “Honestly?” Ty asked with another weak attempt at a smile. “I’m terrified, Zane. Everyone in the world I care about is mixed up in this now. I sent CIA cleaner teams to one of my friends and then led them right to my brother.”
    Gut clenching painfully, Zane slid his hand along Ty’s neck. He wasn’t sure he’d ever heard Ty so freely admit to fear. “We’ll deal with it.”
    “And I’m suddenly going to be an uncle.”
    “That’s good, Ty. It’s good news.”
    Ty nodded and looked back down at the mattress, poking at the corner of the sheets with his toes, unwilling to look at him.
    “Ty.”
    Ty met Zane’s eyes and swallowed hard. He reached out without a word and slid his arms around Zane’s neck. Zane pulled him close, surprised. He held him and Ty hugged him tight, still not speaking. Then he kissed Zane’s neck and stepped back.
    “Let’s fix these sheets and go to bed, okay?”
    “What’s wrong with the sheets?” Zane asked.
    Ty barked a laugh and shook his head.
    They remade the bed quickly, Ty’s corners still somehow perfect even on an air mattress on the floor. He stood to grab the heavy quilt and laid it out over the bed, then tossed the two pillows back onto the head of it.
    He toed off his shoes and unbuckled his belt, then slid his jeans off and folded them neatly to set them on the couch. “You want couch side or floor side?” he asked Zane before pulling his shirt over his head.
    “Floor side.” If he wasn’t going to be sitting up, he wanted to at least be able to move immediately. All he really wanted