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Maxwell rolled his eyes but put his hand in Garrett’s and let Garrett pull him to his feet. “I don’t need to be tucked in.”
“That wasn’t my plan, but do you want me to?” Garrett raised teasing eyebrows, but Maxwell saw the genuine offer behind the playfulness. The thought of Garrett leading him to the bedroom and laying him down on the mattress was an awfully tempting one, so Maxwell shoved it away as he shoved Garrett’s shoulder.
“Very funny.”
“I’ll take that as a no.” Garrett laughed, and Maxwell watched in bemusement as he went to the closet and pulled out the broom.
“How long are you planning on cleaning up?” Maxwell’s bed called his name, but Garrett didn’t look to be getting ready to leave.
Garrett shrugged a shoulder as he started sweeping. “Until everything’s clean.”
Maxwell frowned. “Seriously?”
After a moment, Garrett sighed and looked back up at him. “Honestly? Until I’m certain he’s not going to come back while you’re asleep.”
“Oh.”
Ice and heat dueled in Maxwell’s veins. He hadn’t thought of that, and he really should have. He would have just locked his doors and gone to sleep, too tired to even consider that a locked sheet metal door would hardly stop Kurt Buck if he wanted to get to him. But Garrett had considered it, and Garrett would never let it happen.
“Thank you.”
“It’s not a problem.” Garrett leaned against the broom and smiled at Maxwell with all the warmth Maxwell had started to take for granted. “Get some sleep, Maxwell.”
With one last glance at Garrett, Maxwell retreated to his room and closed the door behind him, feeling just a little less alone than he had in over a decade.
Chapter Three
“I think he’s got something on him.”
Garrett tossed the tent flap of Leon’s ramshackle office hut out of his way and settled on the edge of Leon’s desk.
Leon blinked through the bright light until the flap settled back down and then rubbed his eyes. “What?”
“Kurt Buck,” Garrett growled out the name and clenched his jaw so tightly his teeth threatened to crack. He took a swig of klak from the biggest carafe Jun had managed to find for him. “He knows something about Maxwell. Some secret that he’s holding over his head.”
“Ah.” Leon leaned back from whatever he’d been studying on his data tablet and tapped his finger on the arm of his chair. “Why do you think that?”
“Things he said.” Garrett gulped down some more klak and crossed his arms. “About being the only person who ‘knows’ him.” Garrett uncrossed his arms to make quotation marks in the air. “Bullshit like that, but it rattled Maxwell.”
Leon nodded. “They clearly have a history.”
“Yeah, and not a very good one.” Garrett sighed and dropped his head back to look up at the blue sky through one of the holes in the tent canvas. “What do you think we should do?”
“About Buck and Maxwell?”
“Yeah, about Buck and Maxwell.” Garrett looked back down to scowl at Leon. “What’s with you today?”
Leon rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefingers. “I honestly haven’t thought about it.”
“You haven’t thought about it?” Garrett repeated and set his klak hard on the desk. “Some clearly suspicious and probably dangerous ex-prisoner practically assaults our doctor, and you haven’t even thought about it?”
“I’ve had a lot of other things to worry about, Garrett,” Leon snapped, and his commander’s glare killed the quick retort already on Garrett’s tongue.
Garrett picked his carafe back up and forced his volume back down. “Well, I’m worried about this.”
Leon sighed and leaned forward in his chair to pat Garrett’s knee. He’d been getting more tactile since he and Sebastian had started shacking up. “I know you are. I am, too, really. It’s just…”
“Just what?” Garrett prompted. Leon had been getting less secretive too, but he still needed some prodding now and again. “What have you been worried about?”
