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Garrett watched Maxwell hurry back into the bar and was tempted to follow him just to see Sebastian’s face when Maxwell told him where he was going instead. He imagined the disbelief and disgust would be just like what he’d felt when Leon had told him he was in love with Sebastian.
In a few moments, Maxwell came back out of the bar, and Garrett smiled.
It felt like the interaction had reset. Instead of terrified and insistent and chasing him down to find out what he knew, Maxwell closed the door behind him with a shy but eager smile flickering across his lips. Garrett remembered the way Maxwell had pressed back against him at the pool table before the night had all gone to hell, and his chest warmed.
He tossed his head down the alley. “I’m not far.”
“I’ve never actually seen where you live here.” Maxwell’s brow wrinkled as he fell into step beside Garrett.
“That’s because you never come see me.” Garrett raised an eyebrow down at him. “I always come see you.”
“I guess so.” Maxwell grimaced. “I’m sorry. I—”
“Don’t be sorry.” Garrett laughed. “You’re busy. That’s why I show up.” He put his hand on the small of Maxwell’s back to turn him as they went right at an intersection. “Trust me, I like the clinic a lot more than these shitty rooms anyway.”
Maxwell leaned subtly—so subtly Garrett wondered if he’d even done it on purpose—into Garrett’s hand. “I suppose if I wanted to find you, I’d go to the bar first anyway.”
“Isn’t that what you did tonight?” Garrett led them to a little shack on a little island a footbridge away from the block of other shacks. He preferred the hut with more privacy, even if it did have less structural integrity.
“What makes you think I was looking for you?” Maxwell raised an eyebrow as he watched Garrett pull out a key and undo the padlock on the metal door.
Garrett pushed open the door and then leaned on the door frame to face Maxwell and mirrored his raised eyebrow. “Weren’t you?”
Maxwell looked up at him, the moonlight glinting off his glasses and glistening on his lower lip. Hunger built in Garrett’s chest. Had he been biting it? Was he nervous? Anticipating? Maxwell took a deep breath and then nodded.
A slow smile spread over Garrett’s lips. How long had Maxwell wanted him? And how had he managed to hide it so well before? It looked so obvious now. He nodded to the door, indicating for Maxwell to go in before him.
Too obvious? A voice inside him spoke up as he watched Maxwell cross the threshold. Deceptively obvious? Garrett pushed the voice away. Maxwell hadn’t been faking it in the cockpit on Tava, and he wasn’t faking it now.
“I’m sorry,” Maxwell blurted out as soon as he got to the center of the room. “For Kurt, and for—”
“Stop apologizing, Maxwell.” Garrett shook his head as he closed the door behind him and hooked the padlock around the inside latch. The guilt and shame in his voice were too much for Garrett. Maxwell deserved to be happy and content. Garrett was sure of it. “And fuck Kurt Buck. He doesn’t exist in here.”
Garrett slammed the lock home and slid the key out. As far as he was concerned, that door was keeping the specter as well as the actuality of Kurt Buck out of his shitty shelter. He turned to see Maxwell looking at him with an indulgent smile. That was a familiar sight, at least. Garrett had always interpreted it as kindly dismissive of Garrett’s come-ons, but he didn’t think that was right anymore.
He toed off his shoes with a smile. “And on that note, we should get some sleep. We’ve got an early morning and a long day tomorrow.”
The shocked disappointment that flashed over Maxwell’s face almost made Garrett burst out laughing, and he only just managed to hide his mirth by looking down to take off his socks.
“Right now?” Maxwell’s voice managed to come out only mildly curious.
“Well yeah.” Garrett pulled off his shirt and tossed it into the basket in the corner. “You came here to sleep, didn’t you?”
“I…” Maxwell shifted from foot to foot, and his eyes flickered down across Garrett’s exposed chest. “Yes, of course.”
He was too damn adorable. Garrett braced his hands on the table behind him—overflowing with clothes and pieces of guns and cleaning and oiling supplies—and leaned back. He raised his eyebrows. “Unless you came here for something else?”
Maxwell huffed but somehow still managed to look stern. “Garrett.”
What did a man have to do to get a blush out of him?
Garrett grinned. “Maxwell.”
Maxwell inhaled deeply and pulled his spine up straight. He took a step forward and looked Garrett in the eyes. “The other day, you said I could come to you.” He licked his lips. “Whenever I wanted.”
Garrett nodded and watched the tip of Maxwell’s pink tongue disappear again. “And what do you want?”
Maxwell hesitated, so clearly torn and cued up, Garrett knew that the fun of the game had ended.
