Cut & Run (Cut & Run #1)(67)
Author: Abigail Roux

“Are you cold?” Zane asked, frowning a little, but rubbing his cheek lightly against Ty’s in return.

“Quit rubbing cold water over me and I won’t be,” Ty murmured in answer, his head turning just a little bit more until his lips moved against Zane’s skin.

The wet cloth was still warm in his hand, but Zane pulled it away from Ty’s neck anyway, carefully not moving. He closed his eyes as he held still, letting Ty do as he liked. Ty’s entire body trembled as the cool air hit the wet skin on the back of his neck.

Feeling Ty shiver again, Zane went down on one knee beside him. He wasn’t sure what to think. Zane knew a concussion could make you really feel off—Lord knows he’d had enough of them himself—but the shivering was new. Maybe Ty was still hurting? He had a lot of injuries to deal with, and being in pain could do odd things to your body. “I feel like I’m not helping a lot here. Warm shower?” he suggested

“That’s a big change from the hard-ass cold-shower threats,” Ty muttered.

Zane smiled fondly. “Worked, didn’t it?”

Ty groaned and closed his eyes, leaning over until his chin rested on top of Zane’s head. He closed his eyes, fully prepared to sleep just like that.

Zane sighed. Ty could be so damn difficult to deal with, mainly because even when he was being stubborn it was almost endearing. “Up you go. You need to stay awake at least another half-hour. Lord. How am I going to entertain you for that long?”

“Shadow puppets?” Ty suggested as he stood carefully.

Chuckling, Zane got to his feet, giving Ty some room but staying close by. “How about food? I’ll order us some burgers. We missed breakfast.”

Ty frowned as he turned his clunking mind to food. “Sounds good,”

he said in a slightly surprised voice.

Zane smiled. “Good.” He walked back to the bedroom, got the menu, and called room service.

Shuffling after him, Ty leaned against the door frame and closed his eyes as the room began to spin just a little. He concentrated on Zane’s voice instead.

Zane hung up the phone and glanced around to see Ty stopped in the doorway. “You okay?” he asked cautiously.

Ty grunted in response and opened his eyes. “I need to sit,” he admitted.

“Need a hand?” Zane asked neutrally, not wanting Ty to take offense.

Instead, Ty just nodded and held out his arm unsteadily. Zane strode over and took his elbow, then slid his other arm around his waist. “Nice, comfortable armchair over here. You can sit and insult me all you like,” Zane said.

Ty merely nodded, either not hearing or not caring. Zane helped him to the chair, then sat down on the edge of the bed nearby and started unlacing his boots, keeping an eye on Ty the whole time. The other agent wore only a thin undershirt now—and there were bloody streaks along the back of it, as well.

Leaning back into the deep and surprisingly comfortable armchair, Ty closed his eyes as soon as he saw that Zane intended to remove some clothing.

He might actually be able to fall asleep while Zane was distracted.

Ditching the boots, Zane stood up, took two steps, and knelt down right at Ty’s knees, pushing them apart. Ty’s eyes snapped open, and he jerked back as he looked down at Zane with wide eyes. “What are you doing?” he asked in a slightly higher voice than usual.

Zane looked up at him innocently as he started in on Ty’s cowboy boots. “You want to be comfortable so you can crash after we eat, right?”

“No,” Ty insisted almost nervously.

“Don’t be silly,” Zane dismissed, not touching, not rubbing, not doing a single thing untoward as he worked on pulling off the boots.

Ty closed his eyes and shivered again, leaning back in the chair and slumping as he rested his elbow on the arm of the chair and held his head up.

Finally, he opened his eyes and watched Zane blatantly, giving in to the fact that he enjoyed it. Zane’s lips turned up as he slid his hands up past Ty’s ankles to pull off each sock, tossing them aside. Then he pushed Ty’s knees a little further apart and leaned forward.

“Tease,” Ty accused softly.

“Do I have your attention now?” Zane drawled.

“You never lost it,” Ty responded before thinking better of it.

Zane grinned and set each hand on a knee and slid them slowly up Ty’s thighs. “I almost like you better when you’re concussed,” he said softly.

Ty blinked at him and swallowed hard, unable to respond.

A heavy knock on the door interrupted them. Zane pushed himself up and captured Ty’s mouth in a gentle kiss before going to get the food. He left Ty sitting there, confused and slightly dazed as his head and side both throbbed.

Zane got the tray, locked the door behind him, and carried the food into the room. He popped open the Cokes, and while pulling the tops off the food containers, pulled three gel capsules out of his pocket. He split them, put the powder into one of the cans, and threw the capsules into his mouth and swallowed them, chasing them with some Coke from the other can. “Ty, come and eat,” he called out as he set Ty’s plate with the full Coke can on the sturdy metal and wood table and started unwrapping the cake.

Ty blinked at the doorway and licked his lips again. Finally, he stood carefully, waiting until he was sure that he was steady before unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans and pushing them down to his ankles. He gingerly kicked out of them. “Jackass,” he called softly as he padded out into the outer room.

As soon as the smell hit him, his mouth began to water, but it also made him slightly nauseous. It was an unusual feeling.

Zane just grinned as he sat down and took a bite of his burger.

“Compromise,” he said after swallowing. “Eat and then you can sleep.”

“Hmph,” Ty offered as he sat opposite and licked his lips slowly.

Shrugging, Zane squeezed out some ketchup onto his plate to go with his fries and got to eating. Ty followed suit, eating his fries slowly just in case he got sick. He couldn’t manage to eat anything but the fries; just the smell of the burger made him shudder. His Coke was disgusting, but then Coke always was. Give him Dr Pepper or give him death.

Zane finished his burger and fries and sat back with the bag of Doritos, taking sips of Coke between bites. “How are you doing?” he asked, looking over at Ty.

“I’m tired,” Ty answered, annoyed, as if that should have been obvious from all the begging to nap he’d been doing.