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"You’re daht you are," Ty muttered

"How do you feel?" Zane asked softly "Really?"

"I don’t … I don’t really reht and yesterday," Ty admitted, his voice low "And souess you hit your head pretty hard," Zane said "So you don’t re on the bed?" he asked sole

Zane sighed, reaching to push Ty’s hair away from his eyes Ty’s eyes closed automatically, and he leaned into the touch unconsciously "I’ll do anything I can to help you feel better," Zane offered softly "That doesn’t include drugs, I proh," Ty offered as he rubbed at his eyes

The vibrating of Ty’s cell phone on the table beside the bed caused hiroan plaintively as he slowly laid his head back down and held it in his hands to keep it froly and picked up the phone, snapping it open "Yeah?" he asked quietly

"Grady?" the voice on the other end inquired doubtfully

"No Who is this?" Zane asked His voice was low and emotionless

To him, anyone was a suspect now Anyone but the man practically in his are "Where the hell is Ty?"

"Not available You can talk to me," Zane answered, his voice flat

There was silence on the other end of the line Finally, the voice asked in a low tone, "Is he hurt? Did he get hurt?"

Zane’s brow furrowed, and he looked down at Ty, considering "He’s okay," he said noncommittally, but his voice wasn’t as hard

Ty turned his head and looked up at Zane with narrowed eyes "Who is it?" he asked as the silence on the other end of the line stretched on once more Zane held out the phone, and Ty took it with a frown, sitting back up slowly "Hello?" he said into the phone as soon as he had it to his ear He listened for a long h that Zane could hear it, and finally Ty smiled tiredly and responded with, "And I love you, too, jackass… no, it wasn’t our car… No No, I’ to you I would never lie to you," he went on wryly, which produced o, and he didn’t wait for the last curses before he ended the call with a small smile "Those ex-Recon boys can mother you to death," he told Zane by way of explanation His face clouded over, though, and he frowned slightly "Word of the car boets"

Nodding slowly, Zane processed thatfor them, and that Ty had people orried about him and kept track of him It made the other ht now," he said as he tried not to think about Ty "But we don’t have much choice but to ith them We need the contacts"

"Contacts," Ty er We’ll ested "Kill two birds with one trip," he grunted as he crawled out of bed slowly

"You doing okay?" Zane asked, watching Ty move so carefully

"I’ll live," Ty muttered

Zane pulled his cell out of his back pocket, flipped it open, and er," came the clipped answer

"It’s Garrett," Zane said shortly "What’s the clier answered in a cohtlyabout you, but not too diligently People are wondering how fucking long it takes you two to get a cup of coffee, but other than that they’re still too distracted with the scene in the parking deck to give a damn about you," he went on in a low, almost whispered voice "Where are you?" he asked carefully

"In a secure location," Zane said vaguely "We’re going to need some assistance, and you’re our er answered carefully with,

"I’ll do what I can"

"We’re having lunch at the Hard Rock," Zane said, deliberately picking a busy place way across town despite Ty’s suggestion "Try to keep the goons off our backs, all right?"

"What tier asked softly, his voice far away, as if he had turned to look behind him as he spoke

Zane looked at his watch 10:30 "Noon," he said curtly, and he ended the call

Ty watched him with one eyebrow raised "Hard Rock?" he asked with a frown

Offering the other ed "Popular Busy

Noisy" He tucked the phone back into his pocket and stood to stretch slowly, getting out the kinks

"How ro he’d retrieved over the back of his head and looked around for his clothing "He say he’d meet us?"

"He said he’d do what he could," Zane answered "I think he’ll show

Eager, wet behind the ears and all that" He groaned as his arms reached far above hi have I had this job?

Calling him a damn puppy He must be in his late twenties"

"His file said thirty," Ty responded without thinking as he finally located his pants

Zane looked at Ty in amusement "You read his file?" His eyes narrowed "You read my file, too, didn’t you? At least the unclassified one"

It wasn’t a question

Ty looked up at Zane and flushed slightly "I didn’t read yours," he answered in slight e his head to one side, Zane settled his hands on his hips "The way you say that makes me think you acquired my file, then Why not read it?"

Ty pursed his lips and shook his head "Files don’t tell the whole story," he finallyyou’d make

Ty was silent and unave an almost imperceptible nod and said, "I certainly never expected you to drug ot a hard-knocks phar over to the table for his holster

After a long moment, he added, "Wasn’t any malice behind it"

"I know," Ty responded before he could stop himself "Fucker"

Zane couldn’t hold back the snort He just shook his head and shrugged into the holster It seemed like they’d be okay For now, anyway

"Get into your pants, Ty We don’t need to attract that kind of attention"