Cut and Run 5 - Armed and Dangerous

and Zane smiled. It was always fascinating to find out what Ty sympathized with.
    “His last home game and he had to be carried off the field on a little cart. The next day I went to see him, tell him I was sorry. It was his left leg, full cast up to his thigh, so he couldn’t drive a stick, couldn’t get around. I felt guilty, so….” He laughed suddenly at the memory. “I wrote my phone number on his cast and told him to call me whenever he needed to go somewhere. We ended up… we spent a lot of time together. Hit it off.”
    “Was he your first?”
    “Yeah.” Ty reached up and idly twirled his finger through Zane’s hair. “His name was David.”
    Zane tipped his head to the side to be closer to Ty’s fingers. It was a remarkably intimate action, and he loved that Ty was doing it, seemingly without thinking about it. He smiled at the idea of a teenage Ty flirting with a guy he’d literally maimed the night before, writing his number on the guy’s cast to get him to call him. It was sweet, in a very Grady sort of way. “Have you seen him since?”
    “Couple times,” Ty answered with a nod. “He’s a lawyer down in Richmond.”
    Zane reached to touch Ty’s cheek. “Does it bother you to tell me?”
    Ty waited a moment before answering in a surprised voice. “Not really. I guess it’s just been a secret for so long….”
    “So how’d he turn out?” Zane asked, not wanting to press his lover on the topic of secrets. “Bachelor? Married?”
    “Long-term relationship with a guy he met in college,” Ty answered wryly. His smile fell and he shook his head, closing his eyes as he continued to play with Zane’s hair. “He’s the only thing I’ve ever run from.”
    “Being attracted to another man at that time in your life, I’m sure it was a shock to deal with,” Zane said. “I probably would have run too.”
    The only thing Zane had known when he’d been that age was Becky. How would he have handled it if those feelings had been for another guy? He wasn’t sure.
    “Maybe,” Ty murmured. “Am I the first guy you’ve been involved with? I mean, beyond the ones you left in the alley.”
    Zane pressed his index finger on the slight wrinkles between Ty’s brows and rubbed, trying to get him to open his eyes. Ty batted at his hand, then caught it and kissed it, trapping it against his chest.
    “Yes,” Zane answered. “I didn’t even consider being with a guy until after Becky was gone, but up to that point I hadn’t considered being with anyone .” It came out so easily, he surprised himself. Usually thinking about Becky at least echoed some sort of pain. But here with Ty, it didn’t hurt. It was a chapter in his life that was finally over.
    “Why’d you start?” Ty asked him as he held Zane’s hand firmly to his chest to keep him from poking at his face again.
    “Lust,” Zane answered. “It was while I was undercover in Miami, working a smuggling operation from Colombia. We were treated to our choice of escorts, and there was this… well, he was the first one that caught my eye and I couldn’t look away. I figured what the hell, new experiences. After a few times I figured out I enjoyed being with a guy more than any woman I’d been with. It was fun, a good way to blow off steam, really hot.”
    Ty nodded, remaining quiet as he rubbed his thumb back and forth over Zane’s hand. He could feel Ty relaxing against him again, body loosening and growing more languid as he held him close. Zane smiled and shifted to lie down again, this time settling his cheek on Ty’s breastbone. “So tell me about the one woman. One woman among so many,” he quipped.
    Ty immediately groaned and jerked under him. “I was hoping that would slip past you,” he said, only partly joking.
    “Not hardly,” Zane drawled. He pressed his lips to Ty’s skin for a moment. “Tell me anyway.”
    Ty cleared his throat. “Her name was Ava,” he said in defeat. “I met her when I was in New Orleans. I almost proposed to her.”
    “Really?” Zane blurted, lifting his head to look at Ty.
    Ty smiled and shrugged one shoulder. “I could never convince myself it was a good idea. I was right. It didn’t stick.”
    “That’s why I’m surprised,” Zane admitted.
    “Why?” Ty asked, shifting uncomfortably but meeting Zane’s eyes anyway.
    “Because you stuck with me.”
    Ty pressed his lips together, looking at Zane worriedly for a moment before reaching up and sliding his palm against