Cut and Run 7 - Touch and Geaux

could have reassigned me. He might have moved me on to the next job, and I wasn’t ready to risk that. What we have, Zane, it is the best thing in my life. And I know you feel that way too, because we both fought hard for it.”
    “I fought hard for you , Ty. I loved you, how could you keep this from me?”
    Ty put a hand over his mouth. His fingers were trembling, but he grabbed Zane’s hand, holding it hard. Zane tried to yank it away, but Ty held on. “Because I knew it would hurt you. I didn’t want to hurt you, I didn’t want you to ever know Dick questioned your loyalty. I was hoping to wait it out, hoping I could hand in my final report when you retired and be done with it.”
    Zane shook his head. He’d never realized it was possible for a heart to break for so many reasons at the same time. “You didn’t want to hurt me? Well you failed that mission miserably. That’s really the only thing you care about, right? Mission accomplished?”
    Ty’s grip tightened and he lowered his head. He was holding onto Zane as if he’d fall if he let go. Zane recalled the last time they’d both fallen; Ty’d begged him to trust him, and then thrown him off a building. Literally. And Zane had trusted him, with his life, with his happiness, and finally with his heart.
    During all that, though, Ty hadn’t trusted Zane with one simple secret.
    Their entire time together flashed through his mind as the pressure in his chest grew. He ran his thumb over Ty’s finger, trying to understand Ty’s reasoning, desperately trying to believe him.
    Ty’s eyes were drawn to the movement, to the finger that would wear a ring if their plans went the way Zane wanted them to. “Nothing about us was a lie,” Ty whispered brokenly.
    Zane had heard that before. Nothing else was a lie, Zane. Except all of it had been a lie. “Fool me once, Ty, shame on you.”
    Ty raised his head, his eyes pleading.
    “Fool me twice . . .” Zane shook his head. He let go of Ty’s hand.
    “Zane, please.”
    Zane shut his eyes as he stood. “I need some time, okay? I just need . . . I need to think.”
    “You shouldn’t go anywhere alone.”
    Zane turned and kicked the closest empty chair, sending it clattering to the floor. “I’ve always been alone!” he shouted.
    He stalked away before Ty could say anything more. Zane knew how good Ty was with words, how easily he could manipulate someone into doing what he wanted. He knew Ty’s weapons, and he would be damned if he let himself be susceptible to any of them now.
    Ty called his name as Zane walked away, but Zane knew that if he turned around, he’d be lost in Ty’s labyrinth again. He deserved to be angry. He deserved to be hurt. He wouldn’t give Ty a chance to slither his way out of a betrayal like this until he’d had time to think. He desperately needed to think.
    He made it all the way out the door and around the corner before he leaned against the brick façade of the building and took a deep, shaky breath.
    “Just walk away,” he whispered. He couldn’t turn around. His resolve would crumble.
    But how could he walk away? He’d never seen Ty’s fingers tremble like that. He’d never heard Ty plead with anyone like that. Perhaps if he looked back, he’d be able to hold onto the anger long enough to keep a clear head.
    When he craned his head to look through the window, Ty was still sitting where he’d left him, the toppled chair next to him, his head bowed, his hand covering his mouth.
    “That looked rough,” a man said at Zane’s shoulder.
    Zane glanced at him, not really seeing him. He nodded, and looked through the window again. His heart was breaking and the only person he could think to go to for comfort was still sitting at that goddamned table. “I, uh, I need to go back in there,” he stuttered, taking a step past the man.
    The muzzle of a gun shoved into his side stopped him in his tracks.
    “Not so fast, love. We have some catching up to do,” Liam Bell purred against Zane’s ear.
    Pain blossomed at Zane’s temple, and the lights flickered out.

    Ty had his phone to his ear, calling Zane’s number for the tenth time as he stepped out of the elevator. It clicked over to voice mail again, and Ty left another message. He was sounding more and more pissed and panicked with each one, but he didn’t care.
    It took him three tries to get his key card to work, and he shoved his shoulder into the door to push it open.
    When he stalked into the room, Nick