“No, ma’am,” Ty and Deuce both called out.
“I’m good, thanks,” Zane answered as he gave Ty a disbelieving look.
“What?” Ty asked him defensively.
“All I’m saying is, you have a chance to kick back and relax, have someone take care of you. Maybe you should take advantage of it.”
Ty blinked at Zane slowly and pushed the quilt off his head as he leaned forward. “Do I look relaxed to you?” he asked in a low voice.
Beside him, Deuce began to chuckle softly. Zane raised an eyebrow, still rocking gently. Ty began to struggle with the heavy quilt, trying to get out from under it. Deuce moved beside him, pulling the edge of the quilt out from under himself in an attempt to help, and Ty growled as the throbbing in his hand got worse and worse.
“What do you need?” Mara asked as she came into the living room with a tray of more hot chocolate and set it on the coffee table. “Stop your fussing,” she ordered as she swatted Deuce away and recovered Ty with the quilt he’d just managed to get off.
“You’re killing me, Ma,” Ty protested as he began struggling with the quilt again, fighting against the cumbersome cast on his hand. “Killing me,” he muttered with emphasis as she tutted and headed back to the kitchen.
Zane watched the circus with a slight smile, looking back and forth between Ty and Deuce.
“Stop it,” Ty told him in a growl.
Deuce began to laugh softly. “She just misses you,” he offered. “Let her baby you some. She’ll let up,” he advised.
“I’d be more tempted to listen to you if you weren’t snickering gleefully while you said it,” Ty told him. “Garrett, when are we leaving?” he asked Zane stubbornly as he gave up the fight against the quilt and started trying to go the other way instead, lifting it up over his head.
“Your family wants to spend some time with you,” Zane reminded him gently. “Without someone around to remind you about work, I’d guess.”
“I can see them any time,” Ty countered.
Deuce cleared his throat pointedly, and Ty growled at him as he finally extricated himself from the quilt and tossed it on the floor triumphantly. Zane was shaking his head slightly, the look on his face pretty much classing that answer as bullshit. Deuce was looking at him in much the same manner.
Ty rolled his eyes at both of them and sighed. He sat silently for a moment, trying to ignore them and the intense throbbing in his hand. Finally, he looked around the room and pursed his lips. “It’s kinda cold in here, huh?” he muttered as he leaned forward and retrieved the quilt to wrap up in it again.
“Zane’ll take care of your Bronco. If you don’t want to fly, I’ll drive you home at the end of the week,” Deuce offered.
“And I promise I’ll take care of your Bronco,” Zane repeated.
Ty sighed and glanced sideways at his brother. He couldn’t honestly say he wanted to go anywhere but to bed. “Don’t look at me,” Deuce told him as he leaned forward and picked up a mug of hot chocolate. “I’m not a couples counselor,” he reminded.
Ty jerked in surprise, but he recovered quickly and jabbed at his brother in retaliation, causing him to spill the hot liquid in his mug all over his lap.
Zane chuckled at their antics. Without warning, he shifted and stood. “I’m going to see if I can sleep until dinner,” he murmured. “I can’t drive home like this.” And he started toward the stairs.
Deuce was standing and patting gingerly at the fronts of his thighs, and Ty watched Zane go as he hid himself behind the quilt. When Zane’s feet disappeared up the steps, Deuce turned and swatted at Ty, gesturing that he should follow.
“What?” Ty asked defensively.
“Go talk to him,” Deuce ordered in a whisper.
“You go talk to him,” Ty hissed.
“Go talk to him, and I’ll keep Ma and Dad off your back while you’re here,” Deuce bargained.
Ty glowered at him, but after a moment he sighed and stood, tossing the quilt aside. “What do I talk to him about?” he asked uncomfortably.
“Figure it out,” Deuce answered as he shoved his mug into Ty’s hands and headed for the kitchen to get a towel.
Ty looked down at the marshmallows that swirled in the mug and then up at the stairs with a deep sigh. He set the mug on the table and headed for the stairs unsteadily, trudging up to his old room in search of his partner.
He knocked softly on the door before pushing it open slightly. Not only had Zane left the door unlocked, but he was lying on the bed, on his side, with his back to the door. Ty stood in the doorway for a long moment, frowning. It was unusual behavior from his very paranoid partner. Maybe that meant he felt safe here. That thought actually made Ty smile. “You want to tell me why I owe my brother five hundred dollars?” he asked finally as he began moving into the room. Zane didn’t even twitch, his cheek pushed against the pillow as he lay totally still. Ty sat on the edge of the bed next to him. “Did it help?” he asked softly.
“Did what help?”
“Talking with him,” Ty answered as he leaned to one side, trying to see Zane’s face.
Another long pause, and Zane’s shoulder moved slightly. “More than I’d rather admit,” he muttered.
“You think it might help to talk to him again?” Ty asked carefully.
“Can your wallet handle such abuse?”
“If it would help.”
Zane finally moved, rolling toward Ty to look up at him. “I think Deuce has the wrong idea about us.”
Ty resisted the urge to ask for further details. If it had to do with whatever he’d talked about with Deuce, then it needed to stay with Zane for now unless he wanted it out. Zane had to know that if he did decide to seek out help with Ty’s brother, what they said was safe even from Ty.
He was also scared to ask what the right idea about them might be.
“He knows we’re screwing around,” Ty finally responded with a negligent shrug. It was the only thing he could think to say.
“You told him?” Zane asked.
“He’s smarter than I am,” Ty argued.
“Clearly,” Zane murmured. “You should listen to him sometimes.”
“What makes you think I don’t?” Ty asked.
Zane studied him for a moment before shifting to lie on his back so he could look up at him, and he rubbed his eyes again. “I’m too tired to play word games right now.”