Cut and Run 5 - Armed and Dangerous

Benadryl.
    “What’s going on?” Cameron asked, rubbing his hip.
    Zane just shook his head. “Better stay out of the way,” he said, jerking a thumb back toward the bed. Cameron nodded, keeping his eyes on the bathroom door.
    A moment later Ty dragged Julian out of the bathroom, quite the noisy affair since Julian was threatening Ty with all matter of bodily harm if he touched Cameron again. Zane was pretty sure the only reason Julian didn’t fight back was the gun in Ty’s hand. Cameron had to hop out of the way as Ty propelled Julian forward and slammed him into the table, shoving at him from behind and pressing his face and chest to the tabletop.
    Ty had done that to Zane a few times. Only he’d never pressed a gun barrel to the base of Zane’s skull like he did to Julian’s right now. It occurred to Zane that he should probably rein Ty in any time now. He was supposed to be the rules lawyer of the two of them, the one who kept his partner from blithely charging into serious trouble.
    “You probably shouldn’t cripple him,” Zane said in place of further caution.
    Julian turned his head just enough to meet Zane’s eyes. For the first time since they’d picked him up in Chicago, the man looked worried. He didn’t look scared like a normal person would be in that situation, but he did seem to be acknowledging that Ty had reached the end of his rope and just might shoot him.
    “He’d already freed himself,” Ty told Zane through gritted teeth. He was using his entire body to keep Julian pinned under him.
    Zane glanced at Cameron, who gave him big, innocent doe eyes. “You’re next,” he warned the younger man. Cameron shrank back, guilt written all over him.
    Ty gave the room one last scathing glance, obviously looking for something to secure Julian to that would keep him the entire night. But Zane knew there was nothing in the room that would alleviate Ty’s concern, or his, enough to let them sleep.
    Ty knew it too. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his spare handcuffs, pushing into Julian from behind with the sharp part of his elbow. Julian winced but didn’t make a sound as Ty put the handcuffs onto one of his wrists. Ty yanked the arm behind him, and Julian did gasp in complaint as his arm was jerked around.
    “You’re going to enjoy this about as much as I am,” Ty snarled at him. Then he slapped the other half of the cuffs onto his own wrist with a loud clink.
    Zane’s eyes widened as he fought down a spate of hysterical laughter. What kind of fickle bitch was Karma that they kept getting these insane cases? He was about to comment when Cameron beat him to it.
    “What are you going to do? Sleep with him?”
    “No, Cam, we’re gonna slow dance!” Ty shouted. He tossed his gun to Zane, where Julian couldn’t reach it, and he took a step back and jerked Julian’s arm to make him stand as well.
    Zane caught the weapon out of pure reflex. Out of all the things Ty could have chosen to do, this hadn’t made Zane’s top ten. He was about to offer a crass comment when the deep shadows under Ty’s eyes arrested him, and Zane just nodded his consent.
    The way Ty and Julian fought reminded Zane of him and Ty when they’d first met. What had sparked them to go from hating each other like these two did, to loving each other like they did now? Some random tumble of Fate, a fly-by jumble of chance. Zane didn’t know, but he thanked God for it every day.
    Ty and Julian stood toe to toe, now locked together for the night. Ty held up the keys to the handcuffs so Julian could see them, then tossed them to Zane as well. Zane was tired of having things thrown at him. He pocketed the keys and shoved Ty’s gun in the back of his waistband.
    “Unless you smother me in my sleep and gnaw off my arm, I don’t really see you getting out of this one,” Ty said to Julian.
    Julian was breathing heavily, obviously trying to calm himself. Then his shoulders sagged, and he nodded minutely. “A truce for the night,” he said, voice soft. “I won’t break your arm to get away, and you won’t break my neck in the middle of a war flashback.”
    Ty’s eyes narrowed. “Deal.”
    Zane looked back to Cameron, still standing off to the side like a spectator at a cockfight. “I guess you two are taking that bed,” Zane said, hating the thought. He and Ty would barely fit on the double bed together, and they were friendly, to say the least. There’d be no way two big men like Ty and Julian