Page 29 of Close Quarters

“Seriously? It sounds more like one of Mona’s more wicked ideas,” Dom said, looking across the tent. “Why does he look more pissed off than usual?”

“I have no idea. His face just…does that,” I said with a shrug. “And yeah, it was Leon’s. You should have seen them talking when they sat us down.”

“You know, if you hadn’t tried to fight Reno over that whole thing, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“First of all, I’m not fucking sorry. That was the cheapest of cheap shots and I’m not sorry at all that I told him off or was this close to fighting him,” I shot back because it was the truth. “And I’m glad they didn’t try to get me to apologize. I might be able to lie to save my ass, but that would have been a hard lie to sell.”

Dom chuckled. “Yeah, well. Doesn’t seem like the punishment fits the crime.”

“Leon insists it’s not supposed to be a punishment.”

“And you believe him?”

I shrugged again. “Why not? Leon has never steered us wrong before, right? And he’s always trying to do what’s right by us. Maybe he sees something in all of this that we’re missing.”

“Or he’s swinging for the fences. Throwing things out to see what sticks.”

“Or that.” It wasn’t an inspiring thought, but I couldn’t dismiss it. “I just…I want this to work.”

“For your sake, I hope it does,” Dom muttered.

“It’s not my ass on the line here,” I told him. “I mean, it might be if he and I get into it physically. But if it just fucks up? It’s him that’s probably out, I’ll end up being given extra shit duty for a month or something.”

“And somehow you got roped into it, even if Reno did have it coming?” Dom asked with a shake of his head. “Talk about unfair.”

It wasn’t fair, but then again, I hadn’t given Dom all the details yet…and I was still inclined to hold one detail back. I had known in that meeting that I could have accepted the punishment for trying to incite a fight. It would have been my first serious offense, and I would have paid for it. But by bailing out, I might have condemned Reno to being tossed back to whatever prison they’d taken him from. Or hell, maybe they would have chosen someone else to bunk with him. I really didn’t know.

The thing was, I hadn’t wanted that to happen. Despite Reno deserving to be tossed out on his ass for being a complete bastard for no good reason, I hadn’t been able to stomach the idea of him being sent away. For whatever reason, my chest had actually ached at the idea of him not getting one final chance to prove himself. It had meant throwing myself on the sacrificial altar, but at least I could say I had tried my best. Whether that meant I believed Reno actually had a chance to make up for everything or because I was just trying to make myself feel better…I didn’t know.

My attention jerked back to the present when I spotted Reno stand up sharply, his face a storm cloud of barely contained fury. For a moment, I thought he was going to start cussing someone out, though he wasn’t looking at anyone in particular. Instead, he gripped his book tightly in one hand and marched toward one of the tent exits.

“Reno?” I called after him.

“I’m going back to the cabin,” he snapped without looking and stomped out.

“I…seriously?” I sighed, putting down the wooden block and the knife. “Alright, I guess that’s my cue.”

“What? Really? You’ve been here for a whole hour,” Dom complained. “Let him go be pissed off.”

“Right, because if we’re not practically stuck to one another’s side, then we’re both in trouble,” I said, standing up.

“He’s the one who left, barely saying a thing to you,” Dom countered, gesturing in annoyance toward the tent flap.

“And I was the reason he came here instead of peacefully reading in our cabin,” I said, suddenly feeling as tired as I was annoyed. Fucking hell, people could complain about how annoying and impulsive I was, but they didn’t know exhausting until they had to deal with Reno’s constantly shifting moods. I would swear the guy was even more moody than before we bunked together, but I had to chalk that up to being forced to bunk with me in the first place.

“That is a lame ass reason,” Dom told me.

“Yeah, well, it’s how things go,” I snapped. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

It wasn’t Dom’s fault I was in a bad mood, but I didn’t need him adding to my already mounting levels of stress. Especially when I knew full well what would welcome me when I got back was a pissed-off Reno who wasn’t going to offer reasons for his sudden mood shift.

Not unless it was somehow my fault, which, in all fairness, I would believe. Even if I wasn’t doing anything, the guy seemed utterly pissed off by my mere presence, which wasn’t exactly the most uplifting of treatments. Hell, the only time he didn’t seem pissed off was when he was sleeping, and for all I knew, it was because he spent his sleeping hours dreaming of punching people like me repeatedly in the face.

Maybe Dom was right, Leon was just desperate to make things work, and now I was paying the price.

RENO

Fucking hell, I hated this place sometimes.

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