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Zane watched Ty walk aith a swirling of confusing es out of the bed, Zane headed downstairs, first to the little bathrooet rid of the da them like crazy--and that would make it so much harder to control hi Ty off

Ty heard the rustle of the sheets as Zane slipped out, and he stood in front of the bathrooiving into the suspicion and following silently He took his ti he wouldn’t find Zane doing what he thought he was doing The fact that he was already jonesing was pretty obvious, and Ty knew enough addicts to know that Zane’s stash would be close

Zane rifled through the jacket and found the tin he carried the pills in

He didn’t open it, just tapped the tin nervously on the leather sleeve, again trying to et rid of them He was still there when Ty caainst the kitchen counter Zane was so wrapped up in his internal struggle that he didn’t hear Ty, and the tin kept tapping nervously, speeding up, slowing down, speeding up

Ty watched higle with himself

Zane’s hand shook as it curled around the tin, and he closed his eyes

He could give it up He could It wasn’t his body that wanted the drug It was his head He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and turned, freezing in place when he saw Ty there Ty met his eyes emotionlessly and then slowly looked down at the tin in his hands

"Mints?" he asked flatly

"No"

Ty’s jaw clenched and then relaxed again "Bit early for those, h--for about two seconds Instead, he reached out and grabbed Ty’s hand He set the tin in his palers over it, and then brushed past hio, then looked back down at the tin and pursed his lips With a sigh, he slid it into his back pocket and headed back up to the bedroo packed

Zane turned on the cold water in the shower and sank down to sit on the edge of the bathtub, cursing himself It should be easier than this He’d quit before, and it had beendeal

He climbed into the shower So why did he feel like he had so h his head, the urge to find a drink curled in his gut, and the wish for a cigarette set his fingers to twitching God, he’d fucked hiured he wouldn’t last long enough for it to be a proble for control

Not much more was said between the two of the for the coe area of the airport bar and watched CNN, Ty rapping his fingers on the table i, nervous and tense as he waited for the other shoe to drop He was just as twitchy froht do about it He knew there was nothing he could do to change Ty’s opinion about theed Ty’s opinion of him For Ty’s part, he hadn’t even alluded to the pills Zane had handed over

Finally, after half an hour of delay and being too restless to keep quiet any longer, Ty looked from the television mounted in the corner of the bar to Zane and tilted his head "Got any preferences as to where we stay in the city?" he asked flatly

Zane blinked, pulled out of his thoughts He glanced to Ty and shrugged "Somewhere … unpredictable Queens, maybe," he e juice "Good idea," he responded, unable to think of anything further to say to the ht, trying to focus on hisaside his worries He wasn’t havingparty in the bar across the rooether

God, he didn’t want to be here He wanted to be back at Ty’s apart

Ty sat and watched without e restlessly "You can still step away from this case,"

he said to Zane softly

Zane raised his eyes to meet Ty’s "The case isn’t the proble to set his elbows on his knees

"You’re my proble a little

"If you can’t get your shit together, then you’re my problem," Ty clarified "We established before this isn’t a job that can be done alone"

Zane’s face went still and he sat up, averting his eyes toward the s "I’ll have it together," he said gruffly It wouldn’t be pretty inside, but he’d deal with that when he came to it

"What are you so afraid of?" Ty asked suddenly

Dark eyes going bleak, Zane didn’t know if he could explain the answer to hiether and tried hu myself?"

"I don’t buy that," Ty replied after a ht He cocked his head and looked Zane over carefully "What is it? Dying? Being alone?

Dying alone?" he ventured sarcastically "At least those are legitis to be afraid of," he added before Zane could answer

"I’," Zane murmured It was the complete opposite, actually He was afraid that it would be so Wasn’t that just all sticky and senti his mood even further down

"Come on, Garrett," Ty murmured as he leaned closer "If we can fuck each other senseless, we can be honest with each other"

Zane’s eyes shifted sideways to meet Ty’s and they shifted away just as quickly When he spoke, it was a bare whisper "You reive a shit about anybody for five years? And how that had changed?"

"Yeah?" Ty answered questioningly At the ti to the wife he’d lost, but now in this new context he had a sinking feeling that he had been wrong