Cut & Run (58 page)

Zane laughed again. “Daylight. I’ve already got stars in my eyes,” he drew out as he stumbled along beside Ty. He swallowed hard as they emerged into the basement. “Ty…,” he gasped weakly.

“Don’t,” Ty growled almost angrily, his knees weak and his hands numb from being without blood for too long. “Don’t you dare.”

Jerking away, Zane turned and fell to his knees to retch violently, too far into the drugs to be embarrassed or concerned. All he could do was try to breathe. Behind him, Ty sagged to his knees again, unable to remain standing.

He bowed his head and shivered. After a moment he forced himself up again and pulled Zane to his feet with difficulty.

“I need you, Ty, more than anything,” Zane admitted hoarsely as the elevator came into sight.

Ty closed his eyes, leaning against Zane and rallying with the unexpected words. He took more of the other man’s weight on himself and practically dragged his gasping partner toward the doors of the service elevator. By the time he managed to get them inside and rising toward what he prayed would be help, Zane was no longer breathing.

354 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

y walked slowly down the sterile hallway of the hospital, watching his feet carefully so as not to think too hard about why he was here. After T traversing what he knew had to be the longest hallway in history, he found the room and stepped into the doorway, unconsciously biting his lip as he looked at the still figure on the bed.

He swallowed heavily and made his way slowly into the room, stopping at the bedside and looking down. Zane looked awful. His skin—what of it wasn’t mottled with ugly bruises—was an unhealthy gray color under the soft light of the hospital room. Ty fought back the urge to feel sorry for himself as he sat down beside the bed and looked at the myriad of tubes and IVs that attached to Zane’s hands and arms.

Hopped up, Zane hadn’t realized that he’d torn his hands all to hell on the bricks, and the further abuse to his broken arm had meant surgery to fix it.

The bandages around his palms and fingers glared white against his dark tan.

He’d been in the hospital for a week and still looked this bad; like death warmed over. And the cliché fit. The overdose had done a real number on him. By the time the EMTs had gotten to them, Zane had been in full cardiac arrest.

But he was alive, and that was all that Ty cared about. He sat silently, merely watching Zane as he slept. After a while, his vision unfocused and he was simply staring at the hospital blanket that covered Zane’s still body as he sat by his side.

“Hey.”

Ty winced at the soft word.

He hadn’t had a chance to see Zane since they had taken him out of that service elevator. During the past week, no one would let him see his partner until he himself was officially discharged, and he had only just been released himself. They had merely told him that Zane was alive, and left it at that. During the time he’d been confined to his hospital bed, Ty’d had a lot of time to think about what he wanted to say to Zane. Ever aware of the prying Cut & Run | 355

ears and eyes around them, though, he bit back the more tender words he might have said. They didn’t feel right on his tongue, anyway.

“Hey,” he echoed hollowly.

Zane’s dark eyes were sunken, but they were open, mostly clear and focused. “How’re you?” he whispered.

“Horrible,” Ty managed to answer with a weak smile. “They tell me I’m not allowed to kick your ass yet.”

One brow slowly edged up in question. “Kiss my ass, did you say?”

Zane’s eyes twinkled and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

Ty glanced over his shoulder quickly and then stood to press a kiss to Zane’s lips. “I thought we’d lost you,” he muttered accusingly.

Zane brightened a little after the kiss. “I’m too stubborn to die when I have a reason to live,” he murmured, watching Ty reverently.

“You damn well better be,” Ty murmured as he sat back down, wringing his hands together as if he wanted to do something else with them.

“’Cause I’m gonna beat the living shit out of you later.”

“Promises, promises,” Zane said quietly. “I owe you a hell of a beating, too.” He paused for a moment as they just stared at each other.

“Wanna call it even?”

Ty made a show of thinking over the offer and then smiled slightly.

The smile fell slowly, and he looked over Zane seriously. “You
are
getting out of here, right?” he asked softly.

“Yeah. You
are
waiting for me, right?” Zane asked.

Ty’s lips compressed into a thin line and he looked away, flushing guiltily. Zane tilted his head to the side, and his smile turned slightly sad.

After everything they’d been through, even after what he’d just said, it appeared that the military mind-set was far too ingrained for Ty to be comfortable admitting what he felt for his lover now that the dire situation had passed. Zane wondered if he even felt anything at all.

“Either way.” Zane sighed tiredly, letting his eyes close. “Let me know.”

“They’re not gonna let me stick around,” Ty said softly as he lowered his head.

Zane stilled for a long moment, then opened his eyes to see Ty at the bedside, head bowed. “ ‘They’ being the Bureau,” he said, not questioning.

356 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

Ty looked back up at him with open desperation, as if he were begging Zane to tell him what to do.

Pure joy swelled quietly inside Zane. “You don’t want to go,” he realized, lifting his hand with difficulty to brush Ty’s cheek.

“Not right now,” Ty whispered in something close to outrage. “What, you thought I’d just leave your sorry ass after all this?” he asked incredulously.

Zane shook his head slowly, smile reappearing. “Sorry. Little slow.

I’ll blame the drugs they gave me to counteract the drugs,” he murmured. He didn’t have to be scared. All of a sudden it was easy to accept that. “You care about my sorry ass,” he added quietly, turning eyes that spoke volumes on Ty.

Ty was silent, his knuckles turning white as he clasped his hands together. “I do,” he finally agreed. “And stop forgetting it,” he chided gently.

Rather than replying right away, Zane turned his head fully to the side so he could rest and watch Ty at the same time. He studied the bed hair and the thinner face, dark with stubble. He realized Ty must have come straight here from being released. But to Zane, he was gorgeous. “Okay,” he agreed, then licked his lips. “So they’re sending you off somewhere?” he asked, back to the “they.”

“Lecture circuit,” Ty answered bitterly. “Again.” He looked away and then lowered his head, blushing deeply. “They can’t put me on a case until …

they’re sure I won’t freak out in the dark.” He sighed and closed his eyes, unable to look back up. “They had to leave me a nightlight,” he admitted sheepishly.

“C’mon and look at me, Ty,” Zane murmured.

Ty didn’t respond, other than to open his eyes. He stared at the thin blanket over Zane’s body for what seemed an eternity before slowly raising his eyes to meet Zane’s.

“You’re a brave man,” Zane rasped. “I hope that the next time I’m with you and it’s dark, you’ll let me hold you,” Zane said.

“You’re gonna have to,” Ty responded in a broken laugh, “ ’cause all the current evidence points to the fact that I’ll cry like a little girl.”

“That’s okay,” Zane murmured without humor, raising his left arm so he could stroke Ty’s cheek gently with shaking fingers. “Still want you.”

Ty glanced over his shoulder nervously and then back at Zane guiltily.

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Zane smiled. His eyes flickered to the empty doorway and back.

“Don’t worry,” he said softly. “There’s no one watching.”

A pained look came over Ty’s face before he looked away again.

Zane nodded, relaxing some against the pillows. “I understand,” he said gently. He didn’t have the years of habit to break. He lowered his arm and rested it on the bed again. “When do you leave?”

“Now,” Ty murmured, unable to look up.

Zane’s breath caught for a long moment until he forced himself to exhale. There wasn’t anything else to say, then. And nothing else to be done.

One more time, he’d have to watch Ty walk away, and he couldn’t do anything more about it than last time. “Quick kiss before you go?” he requested, knowing it would be hard if Ty was truly as on edge as he was acting.

Ty closed his eyes and shivered. “I do want you,” he whispered. “I want you to find me, as soon as you’re free,” he murmured as he looked up.

Zane nodded and watched the battle warring in Ty’s expressive hazel eyes. It hurt more than he would ever have expected. “Take care of yourself,”

he said, exhaustion breaking past his bold front.

Ty reached impulsively and smoothed Zane’s hair back from his forehead. He stood, bending over him to press a kiss to his forehead. “We can still cut and run,” he whispered against the warm skin.

Swallowing hard, Zane shivered as hope shot through him. Hope for something other than the occasional flyby as they passed each other by while working. He had to try to ignore the twang he felt at the thought of leaving his hard-earned and well-loved job behind.

“Just say the word,” he said thickly.

Ty closed his eyes, his fingers tightening in Zane’s hair. He was proposing they both give up a job they loved, give up everything either of them knew. “We can open up a flower shop and sell black-market orchids from the back,” he offered with a slight hitch in his voice.

Zane smiled at the flash of humor, though he knew it was Ty’s defense mechanism. “Just say the word,” he repeated quietly, though he knew Ty never would, and he wondered what he himself would do if it ever came to that. “Go on. Go, while I’m too drugged to stop you.”

“Even if I quit now, I couldn’t stay here,” Ty responded almost defensively, as if trying to convince himself to go. “I couldn’t stay with you.”

358 | Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

Calm in the face of Ty’s struggle, Zane nodded. “You’re right,” he said evenly.

Ty moved quickly and pressed a kiss to Zane’s lips. “Be careful, Zane,” he breathed, then stood and swiftly walked away from the hospital bed, not looking back as he disappeared through the door.

THE motorcycle sped along Interstate 35 under the bright sunlight, skillfully handled by the rider in brown leather and a full-face helmet. The bike moved steadily through the thin traffic. The rider reached out and thumbed a button when the headphone in his helmet beeped for a phone call.

“Garrett,” he shouted over the roar of the engine.

“Special Agent Garrett.”

Zane blinked and looked from side to side as he gunned the bike to speed up. “What do you want, Burns? I’m on vacation.”

“Yes, I know. Five months of Miami earns you three weeks of vacation. How are you, Zane?”

Even more surprised to be called by name, Zane tilted his head. “I’m good,” he answered cautiously.

“Where are you, pray tell?”

“Home,” Zane answered slowly.

“How is Texas? Sunny?” Burns asked politely.

“No, we’re in the middle of a blizzard,” Zane deadpanned.

“Well, your wit is still as sharp as a broken toothpick,” Burns said with a sigh. “Vacation is over in four days. I want you here in DC on the fifth.”

Zane pressed his lips together as he guided the bike off the interstate onto a lesser highway. “You’re the boss,” he finally said.

“You’re not going back to Miami,” Burns said placatingly.

“Miami’s a cesspool,” Zane muttered, unconsciously repeating a sentiment said to him what seemed like years ago.

“Be here in five days. The Bureau will pay for transport, if you like.

Get your head wrapped around the idea of a few easy assignments and a new Cut & Run | 359

partner while you’re at it,” Burns instructed.

Zane’s gut clenched painfully. “I’ve told you. I don’t want a new partner. What happened to my old partner?”

Burns usually blithely ignored him when he asked about Ty, but now he cleared his throat and said, “That’s classified. See you in five days, Special Agent Garrett.” And the Assistant Director hung up.

Zane had to force himself to pay attention to traffic as his stomach roiled. He didn’t want another partner. He only wanted Ty.