Divide & Conquer (Cut & Run #4)(60)
Author: Abigail Roux

Nicks hand stayed on Tys shoulder, as if silently offering support. Ty glanced at him, meeting his eyes briefly and nodding in thanks. How Nick knew it was difficult for him to do, Ty couldnt guess.

The conversation soon turned back to darts, beer, and the pretty little waitress they were intent on someone banging before the night was over. But despite the easy acceptance of three of his oldest buddies, Ty couldnt shake the ache of betrayal hed felt when Owen had stormed out the door. It had hurt, as Ty had known it would. That pain and the unreasonable embarrassment were two reasons hed kept it under wraps for so long even after being discharged from the Corps.

Digger and Kelly got up to go for one more round of darts, and Nick scooted his chair closer to Ty, leaning toward him to speak in low tones. “Tell me about Garrett,” he requested as he leaned his arms on the table.

Ty shrugged uncomfortably. “You met him,” he responded defensively.

“Yeah. And I gotta say, Ty, I thought you had better taste,” Nick whispered disapprovingly. “He better be a phenomenal lay.” Ty snorted and shook his head. Zane hadnt made much of an impression on these boys, mostly because hed been sedate and blind and having a spectacularly shitty week. But then, they hadnt been looking at him as a man, plain and simple. They had been judging him as someone who had to watch Tys back. They were judging him from the eyes of Recon. Man versus Recon—the two were entirely different categories. Just because Ty trusted Zane implicitly didnt mean they did or ever would.

“Hes a good guy,” Ty found himself saying. “Hes having a rough month.”

“Yeah, the blind thing,” Nick said dubiously. Ty looked at him and tried to tell himself not to get defensive. He was not responsible for Zanes behavior, nor was he responsible for how other people thought of him.

He found himself fiddling with the USMC signet ring on his finger. “So let me get this straight. You told the guy you loved him, and he didnt say anything in response?” Nick asked, offended, as he saw that Ty was growing twitchy. “He just… blew it off?”

“Pretty much,” Ty said under his breath. He took a gulp of his beer to cover his gut reaction to the memory. He couldnt help but blush and wince. Hed made such a damn fool of himself. Hed been sure Zane wasnt in love with him when he said it. Hed been sure he wouldnt get a response in kind. At the time hed have preferred Zane laugh in his face than just let it slide. It wasnt until weeks later that Ty had realized that Zane was still just processing and analyzing, his brain churning to catch up with his heart and what his actions were already saying loud and clear.

“So is he just f**king around with you?” Nick asked curiously. “In it cause youre a well-practiced screw?” Ty glanced at him and shook his head. Zane had never made any secret of the fact that he was in it at least partially for the sex. At first they both had been. “Quit being nosy, OFlaherty,” he chastised, hating that the questions made him uncomfortable. He muttered under his breath. “Irish bastard.”

“Thats a yes,” Nick huffed as he sat back. “Is it monogamous on his part?” Ty licked his lips and glanced at Nick again, wondering just how much his friend really wanted to know. “Yeah. At least I hope it is, because weve been going without condoms for months.”

“Oh God, Ty,” Nick groaned as he ran his hand through his hair. Ty closed his eyes and let his head fall back with a sigh, but he couldnt help but smile. “I know.” It really was a departure from anything hed ever done, trusting someone so much. It was a step to a new person, a step Ty didnt mind taking. But sitting here with Nick, it brought into stark contrast the differences in the person he had been and the person he was now. Sometimes he missed the man hed been ten years ago. That Ty had been an utter badass. But that was about the only good thing that could be said for the man hed been then.

“Youre just hanging around, hoping he falls for you?” Nick asked, a combination of pity and amazement in his voice. Ty nodded, unashamed, spinning his ring over and over around his finger. He didnt even have to think about his answer, although it wasnt exactly accurate. Zane had already fallen. Ty was just waiting until Zane was done running all the scenarios and crunching all the numbers.

Nick sat back with a small sigh. “Well, Im sort of happy for you,” he hedged. He reached out and petted Ty on the head for lack of anything better to do, and they both laughed and clinked their glasses together at the absurdity of it.

Ty was down to his last mouthful of beer when Nick finally spoke again. “Youre a big ol screaming bottom, arent you?” he asked Ty with certainty.

Ty choked on the beer hed been drinking. He lurched out of his seat to lean over the table and spit the mouthful of beer onto the floor before it went up his nose. Nick was laughing at him as he coughed and sputtered. He slapped Ty on the back and they both began laughing raucously.

“Ill get you another beer,” Nick told him, snickering as he headed toward the bar.

“Christ,” Ty hissed as he ran his hand over his face. Nick knew him far too well. A couple of hours later, Nick was well into double digits, and Digger and Kelly had already stumbled off to find a cab and possibly kill Owen if they could find him. Ty was going slower, mostly because he wanted to be able to walk home tonight, but also because the more Nick talked, the angrier Nick got. And Ty was thinking he might have to drag him out and tie him down to keep him from violence before the night was over.

“Whyd it take you so long to tell me?” Nick asked him after a random ten-minute rant about the Red Sox that almost caused a fight with some guy in an Orioles T-shirt.

Ty glanced at him in surprise. He felt foolish now for keeping it a secret all these years, but no one could predict how a loved one would react to such a surprise. He tried to think of a way to put it in terms Nick could understand while blazed.

“Imagine if… I had told you I was a closet Yankees fan,” he told Nick with a smile. “How would you have reacted?” “That shits not funny, Ty. Youre not serious, right? I thought you grew up on Atlanta! How do you go over to the dark side just out of the blue!” Nick asked in true horror.

Ty laughed. “See? There was always the chance you might react that way,” he said as he finished the last beer he planned to drink tonight. “It was a scary prospect.”

Nick stared at him for a long moment. “But youre not really a Yankees fan, right?” he finally asked carefully.

Ty smiled and shook his head. “Shit, man,” Nick muttered. He threw back his bottle, emptying it and setting it down on the table between them with a loud clank. “Dont scare me like that.”