Sticks & Stones

Ty swallowed hard and pushed his head back a little, enough that Zane could just make out his eyes. Ty was looking at him in the darkness. “It’s more like… a feeling,” he tried to explain haltingly. “The feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you’re falling. Like I’m not sure which way is up.”



Zane tightened his arms. “I won’t let you fall.” Then he winced apologetically. Very trite. He sighed. Trite but true.



He could feel Ty holding his breath. Then his partner snorted quietly and bit his lip, trying not to laugh. He tightened his hold on Zane and pressed his nose to Zane’s again. “Thanks, Garrett,” he managed to say, though his voice wavered with the threat of laughter.



“Go ahead and laugh. It was awful, I know,” Zane admitted grudgingly.



“It’s the thought that counts,” Ty tried. He laughed suddenly and then kissed Zane impulsively, getting a smile out of him.



Zane was glad to hear the happy sound, short as it was. He relaxed again, enjoying the slight tremors passing from Ty’s body to his own. “This wasn’t exactly what I thought I’d be doing today,” he murmured after a few moments of merely enjoying the embrace.



“No kidding,” Ty responded wryly. He turned his head and began to burrow his face between Zane’s uninjured cheek and the rolled up coat beneath them, using Zane like he usually used his pillow when they were at home. Zane smiled affectionately as he did it. It was like a puppy rooting through a blanket.



“What’s so different about today?” Ty asked, his voice muffled.



Zane sighed and slowly slid his hand over Ty’s back. “It’s my birthday,” he admitted.



Ty jerked his head back and looked at Zane in shock, pushing up onto his elbow and dislodging the coat that had been keeping them warm. Even in the darkness, his expression was plain to see. “What?” he asked in disbelief.



Zane would have laughed if he didn’t feel so stupid about bringing it up. “My birthday. October fifteenth.”



Ty stared at him for a second before he thumped him hard on the chest, and Zane gasped. “I knew I should have stolen your file!” Ty claimed angrily as he settled back down again, pulling the coat over them both with a yank. “Why didn’t you say something?”



“What was I gonna say? Take me out for dinner, Grady, it’s my birthday,” Zane posed as he rubbed his chest.



“Better than not telling me at all,” Ty said with sincere annoyance.



Zane snorted and shook his head. “See how you feel once you’re past forty. It’s not really something I try to celebrate.”



“How’s that working out?” Ty asked in a wry drawl.



“Well, they keep on coming, so I guess I must be doing something right.” Zane slid his hand down to Ty’s waist and pulled him closer again in order to give his ass a good squeeze.



Ty shook his head, but he didn’t bat Zane’s hand away like he usually did when he was annoyed and Zane tried to grope him. “You should have told me, Zane,” he scolded as he shifted his shoulders, trying to get comfortable in Zane’s arms. “Would have been the perfect excuse to tell Dick we were going to some nice little tropical island instead of coming up here!” he hissed.



“Yeah, all right. Mark your calendar then,” Zane answered with a roll of his eyes. “And you can give me an IOU for this year.”



Ty smiled slowly, a hint of mischief entering his tired eyes for the first time in days. “I could do that, yeah,” he agreed slowly, his tone one that suggested he might have a better idea.



Zane tipped his head to the side as he looked at Ty speculatively. He was never sure whether to be worried or elated when he heard that tone of voice from Ty. “Or?” he prodded.



“The best presents are received in your birthday suit, Zane,” Ty advised in answer. “But we’ll wait ’til we get home to break those out,” he decided as he pressed his nose to Zane’s once more, obviously deciding to forgive him for not telling him about his birthday earlier.



“Sounds like good times,” Zane murmured. He closed his eyes, unable to stop the smile as Ty began to burrow again. He sighed slowly, the warmth of having Ty right up against him actually working to lull him to sleep as his mind worked over the things Ty had told him. He couldn’t imagine the kinds of things Ty had seen, the kinds of things he must have been reliving to evoke that look he’d had in his eyes earlier. He supposed when you got right down to it he didn’t really know much about Ty at all. The few experiences they did have with each other that extended beyond the bedroom weren’t what Zane would call personal. It seemed like there were more bad memories between them than good.



Zane thought maybe he should work on changing that.



Chapter 13



THEIR plan had been a good one, in theory.



Earl and Deuce had packed up several bags and lashed them to a couple of ATVs while Ty and Zane got the prisoners situated on the other two. Strapped down like cargo, they wouldn’t be giving anyone any trouble, and Zane had yanked off the duct tape, figuring the engines would cover any badmouthing that might send Ty overboard. The group reviewed the maps Ty found in one of the satchels, and after Earl said he had a general idea of where they were, with the help of a beaten-up old compass, they’d set off a little after dawn with hopes of making it to something resembling civilization before dusk.



But at high noon, they hit a snag.



Zane stood several feet away from the raging floodwaters the storms had created, arms crossed, wondering why he was surprised. It wasn’t like anything had really gone right yet on this nice little hike.



What had probably been a three-foot-deep babbling brook in the narrow ravine was now a rushing river full of debris, including broken tree branches as big around as his bicep. When it surged up toward him, it was probably rising about five to six feet out of the ravine. There was no way the ATVs would be able to ford it.



“I’m beginning to hate this vacation,” Ty muttered to Zane as they stood and watched the water rage past.



Zane stifled a groan and rubbed his eyes. “How about after this we agree not to say the word ‘vacation’ again, okay? Actually, no, we agree to not even think the word ‘vacation’ again.”



Ty glanced sideways at him. “We’ll use code,” he agreed. “Call it time off. Time off from hell.”



“Hell would be more relaxing than this,” Zane muttered as he glared at the water. “And I could get a tan.”



“Well,” Earl said with a heavy sigh as he came to stand beside them and look out at the water. “ATV ain’t gonna cross that. Everybody in shape to hoof it?” he asked as he looked over at them. The sound of the rushing water forced him to shout.



“Yes, sir,” Ty and Deuce both answered at the same time, their voices tired and defeated. Zane shrugged, feeling their pain. It wasn’t like they had a choice.



“What do we do with them?” Deuce asked as he turned and gestured at the two prisoners.



“Toss them in, see how deep the water is,” Ty suggested without looking away from the river.



“You really think we’re going to be able to wade through that?” Earflaps asked, voice a little thin.



“I hope you can swim,” Zane called back to them.



“We can’t untie them and let them get across,” Ty was saying distractedly. “We risk them escaping. I say we leave them.”



“We can’t let them get loose and go back to what they were doing,” Zane agreed evenly.



“Neither of you is stable,” Deuce muttered as he turned to watch the water rush by again. He and Ty stood shoulder to shoulder, squabbling quietly.



Zane turned slightly away from them. “We’re going to have to take one each with us to cross,” he said to Earl.



Earl nodded grimly. “We can’t leave ’em,” he said to Zane in a low voice. “But I’d be with Ty on this one otherwise,” he confided. “Let ’em rot.”



Shaking his head, Zane walked over to Ty and Deuce. “Guys,” he said, “let’s get going, huh? Bitching about it won’t make it easier.” Ty nodded and gave Deuce’s cheek a pat before turning to head for the nearest ATV. Zane followed along after him.



“Kinda wish we’d kept some of that rope free,” Ty said to him as soon as Zane came up to him. He looked back at the river, his eyes searching for the easiest place to cross. There wasn’t one.



“Winch on the ATV?” Zane suggested.



Ty was already pulling out the blue synthetic rope from the Gorilla winch mounted on the front of the vehicle, wrapping it around his hand and elbow. “If we move it closer to the water, it might reach,” he agreed. When it hit the end, he looked up and said, “’Bout fifty feet, thereabouts.” He looked across the water. It wasn’t actually a big river. It was just a creek overfull from the downpours and roiling along at too fast a clip to make it safe to cross. “It might make it,” he wagered again as he looked down at the rope. He sounded nervous, though, as he weighed his chances of making it across.



“I could take it,” Zane suggested, though he didn’t really expect Ty to let go of that rope.



Ty looked at him and nodded. “I know you could,” he said seriously.



The corner of Zane’s mouth curled. That was a compliment. “You’re probably a stronger swimmer than me,” he allowed as he looked at the current. “You’ll almost certainly be off your feet in that mess.”



“Yeah,” Ty agreed. He glanced up at Zane and looked back down at the rope as he slid it off his forearm and placed the coil on the ground. He untied his boots, stood back up, and began unbuttoning his jacket. “But someone’s gotta anchor it on the other side,” he said finally as he stripped off every piece of clothing he could afford to. “Maybe I can pull myself along the bottom rather than trying to swim it,” he hedged.



“I know me saying I don’t like this won’t make a difference, but I’m saying it anyway,” Zane said as he took each item as Ty handed it over.



Ty laughed softly. “Believe me, neither do I.” The water wasn’t the only danger. The logs and other debris it carried were moving at a fast clip, fast enough that a large piece could knock a man unconscious.



“Are we sure this is the only idea we have?” Earl asked finally.



“You want to get home?” Zane answered without even looking over at the older man, his voice a little sharp.



Earl didn’t reply. There was no arguing that trying to find a different place to cross would be futile and time-consuming, nor was there any question that Ty was the best choice to make the attempt.



Ty got down to his briefs, folding his discarded clothing neatly before handing it to Zane so it could be packed and kept dry.



“Get the ATV going, Deuce,” Zane ordered. “We’ll need the nose right up at the edge of the water.”



Deuce moved to mount the ATV, shaking his head and muttering about heroes. He nudged the four-wheeler closer to the water as carefully as possible, slipping and sliding in the deep mud.



As he positioned the ATV, Ty stood barefoot between Zane and Earl, already shivering in the chilly air. He held the end of the blue synthetic rope and clenched his jaw as he looked out at the water. After another long moment of nothing, Zane huffed, although the sound of it was lost under the rushing water. He turned to help Ty secure the blue rope to himself, tying it around his chest where it wouldn’t hinder his swimming strokes. Then he stepped in front of Ty and reached out and cupped Ty’s face with both hands. Ty looked up in surprise as his shoulders snapped back.



Leaning close to Ty’s ear, Zane whispered, “Don’t make me come after you. You get swept off, I’m eating your share of the pie.”



Ty’s eyes tracked sideways as he listened, and his lips quirked into a wry smile as he looked away. “Understood,” he responded, loud enough that the river didn’t cover it.



Zane nodded, squeezed Ty’s shoulder, and took a couple steps back before looking out at the deluge. Well, at least it wasn’t dark, he thought grimly.



Ty was checking the end loop of the rope when Earl took hold of his shoulder. Deuce looked up at them from where he sat on the ATV, holding his breath as he watched them just like Zane was.



“Be quick about it!” Zane heard Earl shout over the sound of the river. Ty nodded, said something Zane couldn’t hear, and then turned to look over his shoulder, raising his chin at Deuce. Deuce nodded wordlessly at his brother in return.



Ty turned his head to look at Zane one last time before he glanced back out at the water, rolling his neck as he tried to convince himself that the cold water wasn’t going to hurt like hell when he hit it. When he started wading in, broken branches and other debris almost immediately smacking into him, Zane flinched harder than Ty did and curled one hand into a fist. Ty visibly struggled as he waded in up to his knees, the water yanking at his feet and the larger pieces of debris trying to upend him. Zane and the others watched helplessly. Each one of them would have gladly done the task, but all they could do now was watch and wait as sticks and stones did their best to batter Ty to his knees in those cold waves.



Ty stood knee-deep in the water, wasting precious seconds before he went hypothermic, trying to decide the best way to continue. Zane knew what he was thinking: did he keep trying to walk it and risk getting broadsided by a log, or did he give up the footing and try to swim it, putting himself at even more risk for being swept away downstream?



As long as the rope stayed attached to his chest, though, the biggest danger was being dragged under and not being reeled in faster than he could drown.