Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run 6)

“Well, no, it was an accident.”

“Right, of course.” He glanced up at his teammates to see all four of them watching and laughing.

“But it’s not like he don’t have four more fingers to work with. And it was only part of the little finger, and they sewed it back on. He has two hands, one of ’em can hold a hammer just fine, but no, he says he can’t do it.”

“Is he okay?”

“Well, yeah. Like I said, they sewed it back on. So can you come home this weekend and help out with the roof tomorrow? Deacon said he would come too, but you know how he gets with tools.”

Ty shook his head, mouth still hanging open as he tried to process. Clancy leaned over to catch his eye, even waving a hand at him. “Hi, Mama Grady! Ty’s checking his calendar to see if he can get away.”

“Don’t you lie to me, honey. He’s sitting there with his mouth hanging open, ain’t he?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Ty, if you come tonight, I’ll get your daddy to tell you all about it. Your brother and Livi’ll be here. It’ll be fun!”

“Fun does not start with a story about how you cut Dad’s finger off!” Ty said, laughing despite himself.

“It does in my book. He deserved it.”

The others gave up on etiquette and laughed raucously. Ty shot them all a glare, and he finally dropped what he was doing and picked up his phone. He caught sight of Zane coming back down the hall. His partner had been sullen and distracted for the last day or two, and though he knew Zane was having issues over that call from Texas, he had his own problems to deal with now. He spun around in his chair to put his back to his coworkers, trying to turn the speaker off.

“Does it have to be this weekend?”

“Honey, if you can’t come help, that’s okay.”

Ty rolled his eyes and rubbed a hand across his forehead. “Okay, Ma. I’ll leave after work and be there . . . I don’t know, a little before midnight.”

“Reverse psychology,” Fred Perrimore whispered.

“So that’s where Ty learned it,” Harry Lassiter said under his breath.

Mara either couldn’t hear them over the speaker that wouldn’t shut off or ignored them. “I’ll have pork chops waiting! And honey, will you bring that big sharp knife of yours with you? Your daddy’s is awful dull, and the whetstone went missing.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ty said with trepidation.

“I’ll see you tonight! Bye-bye!” Mara said, then ended the call without waiting for more.

Ty stared at the phone as the display lit up, and then he looked at the others, who were all trying to keep straight faces.

“Can we come?” Alston said, grinning widely.

“No.”

“We’ll help!” Clancy said.

“No!”

“Spoilsport,” Perrimore muttered, and they all drifted away to leave Ty to finish his paperwork.

Zane sat against the edge of Ty’s desk, in the same place Alston had occupied. He was frowning and seemed distracted, but that was nothing new. He was just close enough that Ty could have used his knee as an armrest, and though the thought hadn’t crossed his mind when Alston had been sitting there, he almost did it now without thinking. He stopped himself just in time, making it look like a frustrated flop of his hand.

This wasn’t the first time they’d come close to getting too friendly in front of their coworkers, and it was happening more frequently. He didn’t know how to address the problem, or if he even wanted to.

“What’s up?” Zane asked.

Ty stared at him for a moment, trying to decide how to answer that simple question. He was still distracted by Zane’s proximity, by the way he smelled, by how easy it was becoming to slip in front of coworkers who were trained to see mistakes.

He gave Zane the bare-bones version of his call from home, and after Zane had stopped laughing, Ty tapped him on the knee.

“You heard anything about Texas? You thinking about heading down there?”

Zane shrugged, though his expression clouded over and he looked down at the carpet rather than meet Ty’s eyes. “I haven’t had a call back. I don’t see any reason to bother.”

Ty sighed. He wanted to poke at that soft spot and see why it was there, and he added that to his list of shit to do. But he had some pretty pressing problems of his own to handle first. “Want to go to West Virginia and risk life and limb with me?”

Zane smirked and gave a single nod. “Sounds like fun.”

Chapter 2

Ty shouldered his overnight bag and walked through muggy mountain air across the gravel and up the porch steps to his parents’ house, stopping when he realized the rocking chair was occupied.

“Grandpa?”

“You’re an observant one, ain’t you, boy?” Chester Grady grumbled.

Ty smiled as he looked over his grandpa, sitting in his rocker, shovel in place over his lap. “Love you too.”

“Damn fool federal agent,” Chester mumbled as the screen door squeaked. “Where’s your damn fool partner?”

“He’s getting his damn fool bag out of the truck.” Ty slipped him a smuggled cigar as he bent to hug him. “What are you still doing up? I thought you old folks went down with the sun.”

Chester waved him off, grumbling and smirking. Headlights caught them as another car pulled up to the front of the house, and Chester’s eyes shone with mischief.

Ty turned to watch Deuce get out of the car, squinting past the headlights.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Deuce called back, sounding just as tired as Ty felt. He thumped up the steps, carrying a small overnight bag just like Ty’s. He greeted Chester with a hug, then turned to give Ty one as well. Ty hugged him tight. He nodded at the black Lexus in the driveway.

“Is that a new car?”

“Like it?”

“No.”

“Me either,” Deuce grunted with a curl of his lip. He turned toward the door.

Ty laughed as he followed. “Where’s Livi?”

“Morning sickness. We figured it was best for everyone if she stayed home.”

“Good plan.”

“Where’s Zane?”

“Wearing his invisible suit,” Zane called from the driveway. His shoes crunched on the gravel, and soon he materialized out of the darkness, joining them on the front porch with his bag.

They left Chester sitting on the porch and headed inside. Ty hadn’t been home since he’d been attacked by the mountain lion last fall, and he was surprised when a jitter of nerves ran through him. He’d been sure someone would figure out that he and Zane were so much more than partners, that he was g*y—a revelation he’d feared since he was seventeen. He still feared it, even though he’d started wishing he could tell his family the truth. He would have to soon, before they found out on their own. Zane was too important to him to hide anymore.