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Garrett circled the table and didn’t reply.
“He’s always been like that. Even as a kid, when he and his mom showed up in Jute. You’d think the trauma of watching his father get killed would have ruined him, but no.”
Garrett’s gut clenched. “Killed by the Klah’Eel?”
Kurt smiled in a way Garrett had a feeling was supposed to look sad but only succeeded in looking smug. “This was before the Klah’Eel.”
A need to know swirled in Garrett’s stomach, but he refused to give Kurt the satisfaction of asking a follow-up question. If Kurt wanted to toy with him, fine, but that didn’t mean Garrett had to play along. He chose his shot, hit the ball, and watched it knock two others into the pockets with a little satisfaction of his own.
“And then there was his mom.” Kurt sighed the sort of sigh that was supposed to convey paragraphs but only threw up a thousand question marks for Garrett. And Garrett knew that was the goddamn point and that he shouldn’t let this man under his skin, but he could feel Kurt crawling under it anyway. “He was a wreck when she died. God knows why. Abuse does funny things to a person, I guess.”
Garrett missed his next shot and wanted to scream. But he blew out a breath instead and stepped away from the table. “Yeah, it does.”
For all Garrett knew, Kurt was spinning yarns of complete bullshit anyway. He could be hinting at Maxwell’s secrets, or he could just be saying whatever the fuck he wanted to see how it landed on Garrett. But Garrett had no way of knowing, and the possibility of the first option ate at him.
“I don’t regret being there to pick up the pieces.” Kurt sighed again, this time heavy and sad as though weighed down by past decisions. “I’d do it again. I’d do anything for him.” He fingered the pool cue in his hands as he looked down at the table. “But I got a lot more than I bargained for.”
“I think you got a lot less than you wanted,” Garrett snapped, unable to take Kurt’s tone even as he told himself to suck it up. How dare Kurt Buck stand there and act as though taking on Maxwell’s trust and love had been some sort of burden when Garrett knew all he’d done with it was twist it up into a chain around Maxwell’s neck.
Kurt didn’t rise to the bait. If anything, his shoulders settled lower. “I’m glad that you care about him. He needs that.”
Garrett gritted his teeth as he watched Kurt lean over the table and send another ball careening off into a pocket. “I’m sure he knows what he needs better than you do.”
Kurt shook his head, the very image of pitying patience. “I’m glad you care about him, but you don’t know him.”
“And you haven’t known him for years.” Garrett clenched his fists, but Kurt threw back his head and laughed. He laughed loud enough that Garrett could feel dozens of eyes turn to them.
“Trust me, the years haven’t made a difference,” Kurt said after his laugh had subsided into a chuckle. He reached toward him, and Garrett had to expend every inch of his willpower not to rip the man’s arm off as he clasped Garrett’s shoulder. “Listen, Twal, Maxwell and I are in too deep together. We’re stuck with each other whether we like it or not.” He squeezed Garrett’s shoulder. “And that’s good for you. You don’t want to know him like I do.” He let Garrett go and shook his head as he looked away, something sad and broken in his eyes. “You dodged a bullet.”
Garrett wanted to stab him with his pool cue. What the hell did all of that even mean? It had to mean nothing. The bastard was just trying to split Garrett away from Maxwell so he could get at him. Except Maxwell was still glancing at them, obsessively, anxiously. Garrett kept catching the flash of his head turning.
Garrett stood with his fist clenched around his pool cue, trying not to tremble with rage, and watched as Kurt put away one ball after the next. Smooth and easy and ruthless. In a matter of minutes, Kurt had slammed home his last target and stood with a grin that didn’t make Garrett want to stab him any less. “I guess long experience counts for something.”
“I guess it does.” Garrett forced a smile they both knew was fake and reached out his hand. “Good game.”
“Good game.” Kurt shook his hand and, before releasing it, held it for one last, meaningful pause. “And good talk.”
Then he downed the rest of his beer and walked away. Garrett watched him make his way to the bar, drop off his glass, exchange sickeningly jovial farewells with Jun, and walk out the door.
“Wow, you uh…want some time to lick your wounds there?” Evan approached from a table a little way away. Garrett had almost forgotten there were other people around. People who had probably been watching, though Garrett doubted they’d been listening. Neither Kurt nor Garrett had spoken very loudly.
“Yeah.” Garrett grimaced and passed over his cue. “Yeah, I do.”
He made his way through the crowd and ignored the surprised looks he got for his direction. Some people even exchanged knowing and anxious glances. Did everyone think he was such a hothead? Just because he was headed to the dartboard didn’t mean he would start a fight with Sebastian.
At least Sebastian looked like he had the common sense to know Garrett wasn’t there for him, though he still cocked his hip out with a shit-eating grin. “Pool not your game anymore?”
Garrett ignored him. Luckily, Mal’ik, Turner, and Patrick had retreated to the bar, so Garrett didn’t have to contend with the whole group. He still had to contend with the carefully—painfully, absurdly—neutral way that Maxwell looked at him, and that was difficult enough.
Garrett set his hand on the table beside Maxwell and leaned in to speak quietly. “I don’t think you should go back to the clinic tonight.”
Maxwell looked at him for a second too long before shaking his head. “I’m not going to.”
“He’ll stay with Leon and me.” Sebastian still had his hand on his hip, but his tone had dropped to something more serious.
Garrett nodded at him, uncomfortably grateful. He still hated Sebastian—smug, sneaky bastard that he was—but Leon loved him, and Maxwell trusted him, and even Garrett trusted him to keep Maxwell safe from Kurt.
“Good.” Garrett tapped his knuckle on the tabletop, looked into Maxwell’s face to see only caution, and nodded again. “I’ll see you in the morning then.”
