All the times Ty had simply looked him in the eye and lied.
His twenty-year party. He had seen Richard Burns there, and now he knew exactly where Ty had disappeared to. He hadn’t been retrieving that damn orchid from his car. God knew what they had been discussing. Zane’s hands balled into fists and he stopped on the steps. He wanted to stomp up there and clock Ty just to get the anger out, just to do something. And his entire body screamed for a drink. He wavered, fighting the urge to go back and pour himself a whiskey.
The familiar rumbling undertone of Ty’s voice stopped him.
Ty and Nick were at the far end of the hall, standing outside the room Liam must have taken. Zane studied Ty’s silhouette in the dim hallway. He seemed rigid and tense. He spoke with extensive use of his hands, but nothing of the low murmur reached Zane’s ears.
Goddamn, Ty. Why couldn’t he have made this easy? Why did he have to tell Zane the truth about his assignment? Why now? Why not hold onto it like he said he’d wanted to instead of breaking Zane’s heart with it? Why did he have to accept the assignment at all? He should have just used some backbone and said no!
Zane would have said no, had their position been reversed. That much he knew. He would never have kept a secret that big from Ty, not after that first week in New York. Trust was all they’d had, and Ty had used it, abused it. The only thing Ty was afraid of was saying no to a set of orders.
Ty headed down the hall. Behind him, Nick rested his back against the wall and slid down to sit. Zane supposed that was where Ty had set up camp too. Right outside Liam’s door, using shadow for cover, with a direct view of the only exit. He wondered what Liam thought about having an armed guard at his door, about not being trusted without a handler on top of him.
Then Zane realized he knew exactly how Liam felt.
Ty stopped in front of Zane, both of them standing in the doorway to the room Ty had once occupied. Zane gritted his teeth when he met Ty’s eyes.
“You want to talk?” Ty asked. “Or are you still too mad at me?”
“You don’t think I deserve to be mad for a little longer?”
Ty’s eyes searched over Zane’s face, then he stepped into the room. He kicked his shoes off, pulled his T-shirt over his head, and tossed it at the table.
Zane followed, pulling the door closed behind him. He made sure to lock it.
“You’re seriously going to leave it at that?” Zane said, voice pitched low. They were in the room with the pages plastered to the walls. He had confidence in Ty’s work, that they couldn’t be overheard.
Ty faced him. He shrugged. “What do you want me to say? I told you I was sorry. I told you why I did it. And you know what, Zane? I’d do it again. In a heartbeat. Because I was protecting someone I love.”
“You weren’t protecting me, Ty, you were spying on me. The fact that you don’t see that, that you’d march right down that road again without thinking twice, that scares the piss out of me. How the hell can I trust you now?”
Ty rolled his eyes.
“You were meeting with Burns in Baltimore, weren’t you?” Zane growled.
“Burns wasn’t in Baltimore, Zane!”
Zane took several long strides and grabbed Ty by his shoulders, shoving him up against the wall. “Stop lying to me!”
Ty’s eyes flashed and he clenched his jaw, baring his teeth. “Call me a liar one more time and I’ll put you down.”
Zane’s grip tightened. His breaths came harder and faster. Maybe a good knock-down, drag-out fight would do them both some good. Zane certainly wanted to smash his fist into Ty’s teeth right now.
He pushed away instead, backing toward the door so he wouldn’t be tempted to lash out. “You might want to get used to it. That’s the kind of stuff you call people who lie for a living.”
“Where are you going?” Ty demanded.
Zane turned his back on him. “I need a drink.”
Ty had to take a few seconds to gather himself before he could follow Zane out the door. He’d be goddamned if Zane headed down there to drink, not because of him, not without a fight. He glanced down the hall as he pulled his shirt back on. Nick had come to his feet, his gun in hand.
“What’s going on?”
Ty waved him off. “I got this.”
He hurried down the steps and reached the barroom just in time to see Zane pouring a snifter full of whiskey.
“Zane.”
Zane glared at him, and Ty had to fight every fiber of his being not to avert his eyes. He plowed on, though, stepping up behind the bar, opposite Zane.
“I’m going to give you ten seconds to get the f**k away from me,” Zane snarled.
Ty’s heart stuttered. He had never seen Zane like this, had never known he even had it in him to seethe like this. He squared his shoulders, though. “I’m not going to let you do this.”
Zane held perfectly still. He didn’t even seem to be breathing. “You did this, Ty,” he said, then lifted the glass to his lips.
Ty grabbed his wrist. The whiskey spilled all over the bar. Zane stood so fast that his stool clattered to the floor. Ty barely managed to block Zane’s arm before the glass crashed into the side of his head, then Zane reached across the bar and grabbed Ty by his shirt, lifting him off the ground and dragging him across the bar top.
Ty could do nothing but grasp Zane’s forearms and hold on as Zane yanked him off the bar and threw him to the floor. He rolled and pushed to his hands and knees, then to his feet. Zane picked up the barstool beside him and swung it with one hand, as if it were nothing more than a pillow.
The stool crashed to the floor at Ty’s feet as he staggered back. He was both shocked that Zane had lashed out and chastising himself for not expecting it. He knew how deeply he’d hurt Zane, and he knew what happened when Zane’s anger went unchecked. He should have known. Zane’s rage only served to calm Ty further.
“Everything I’ve done, Ty, I’ve done it for you!” Zane shouted.
Ty was peripherally aware of Kelly hovering near the bar and Nick and Liam standing on the stairs watching. He waved at them to make sure no one interfered. He couldn’t have anyone getting hurt in a scuffle. He shook his head as Zane came at him. “Not like this, Zane,” he tried.
Zane’s fist flew at him. Then again. Ty was able to block the first two punches, but the third caught him in the kidney and he doubled over. Waves of pain almost brought him to his knees. He lunged forward, wrapping Zane up to try to stop him without hurting him. He refused to throw a punch in retaliation.