Cut and Run 6 - Stars and Stripes

out there too.
    “And you ask so politely, Ms. Marshall,” Zane said as he crossed his arms and shook his head.
    “Oh come on, Garrett,” Ty said over the thumping music.
    “Shut up, Grady.”
    “You dance, I sing. Nothing to be ashamed of,” Ty needled, smirking and tossing a sidelong glance at Zane.
    Zane allowed Jill to pull him to his feet, but before she dragged him out to the crowded dance floor, he leaned over and poked Ty’s arm. “Turnabout’s fair play, you know. They do karaoke every night at ten.”
    “They what ?”
    Zane didn’t answer. Ty watched him head off into the crowd, then looked at his watch. It read 9:15.
    Drinks arrived a moment later, and Mark pushed the bucket of iced-down beers toward Ty. “Drink up, Marine.”
    Cody and Joe lifted their bottles in silent toast.
    Ty reached for a bottle and toasted along with them, his eyes seeking Zane out in the crowd. It didn’t take but a minute of watching Zane dance—the way his hips and shoulders moved, his long, lean body, his thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans, the smile on his handsome face—to convince Ty that he couldn’t watch Zane dance in public.
    “So, Grady. How long you and Zane been screwing?” Joe asked.
    Ty almost choked on his beer.
    “Joe, come on!” Marissa said with a wave of her beer bottle.
    “What?”
    “There’s got to be a better way to ask than that.”
    “No, it’s okay,” Ty said, still trying not to choke. He put the back of his hand to his mouth. “Just caught me off-guard.”
    “Do you take a lot of shit from people?” Marissa asked.
    “Not really. But people we work with don’t know, so . . .”
    “You might take some shit around here,” Mark told him.
    Ty nodded and shrugged. “I kind of expect that.”
    Annie looked troubled by it, but said nothing. The conversation turned toward how good Zane looked compared to the last time he’d visited. Despite Ty’s better judgment, his eyes strayed to Zane on the dance floor. He was the tallest man out there, easy to spot because he wore no hat. His thin western-style shirt hugged his slim torso and highlighted his impressive muscles, and his dark jeans were just tight enough to make him look even longer and taller.
    He was a good-looking man, that was for damn sure.
    Ty felt eyes on him and forced himself to stop staring at his lover and return his attention to the others at the table.
    “This is one hell of a place,” he said.
    “This is the only bar within easy driving distance of the surrounding ranches,” Annie said, pointing to a prominent picture on the far wall of several men in 1970s fashion, breaking ground. “The ranch owners all went in together and built the place to keep the ranch hands from driving all the way into Austin and getting in trouble. It was Dad’s idea. Now people drive from Austin just to come here.”
    “Nice.”
    “Dancing, singing, drinking, whatever. They even have the trailers out back you can rent if you can’t get home.”
    “I just come here to drink beer,” Mark announced.
    “You come here to watch the blondes in the short shorts,” Annie teased.
    “I can watch .”
    Laughter rippled around the table again as Annie swatted at the back of his head.
    When the conversation ebbed, Ty put a hand out in front of him, as if asking them to slow down. “But I won’t have to sing, right?”
    Annie leaned forward over the table. “Z’s got the keys.”
    “Yeah?”
    “That’s the tradeoff,” Joe said with a sigh. “Z will make you sing or dance. Believe me, I’ve had to pay worse for a ride home.”
    “I’d pay Z more than one song for a ride,” Marissa said, waggling her eyebrows and making the others laugh.
    “Save it for the bull,” Mark advised. “Z’s not interested. But Ty might be able to get away without singing.”
    Mark smacked Ty on the back, laughing. Ty wasn’t sure why it felt odd that everyone at the table knew he and Zane were a couple, but it did. He liked it, but it was still weird. Being out was definitely going to take some getting used to.

    Zane begged off three songs later, claiming he was ignoring his guest, and escaped the floor by edging along the lines of dancers. He came out a quarter-turn around the room from their table, and it gave him the opportunity to watch Ty unobserved.
    Ty seemed to be enjoying himself, using his unique brand of charm to fit in with the group. He held a half-empty beer bottle in his un-casted hand, but he was using both