Page 86 of Close Quarters

“And?”

“And it wasn’t like they were making a shit ton of money with all the stupid shit they got up to. So I ended up watching them…a lot.”

Max cocked his head. “I’d say I’m worried anyone would leave you in charge of the safety of children?—”

“But that would be a dickish thing to say about someone you don’t know all that well,” I finished for him.

“That it would,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Now quit screwing around. I’m sure they’d prefer you get back before sundown.”

“He says like he didn’t come over here and interfere,” I said, mounting Coyote and scratching his neck when he shook his head. “I got you Butterscotch. You and me are gonna be real good friends.”

Max frowned at me. “I thought it was Buttercup.”

“Nah, definitely Butterscotch. For sure.”

“I don’t…understand you.”

Reno snorted as he got atop his horse. “And trust me, you never will. Don’t even try. You’ll only hurt yourself.”

“Listen to the man, he has gazed into that abyss of madness and has walked away a changed man,” I said solemnly.

“I don’t want to hear about your abyss,” Max said, walking away and leaving me to gape after him.

“What?” Reno asked.

“I’m pretty sure he just called my asshole an abyss.”

“Yeah, pretty sure he did.”

“And I’m not sure if I should be shocked that Max made a joke or offended that he referred to my asshole as an abyss!”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to get over it,” Reno said with a roll of his eyes as he got the horse moving.

“You’re right because I should be mad at you!”

“What did I do?”

“You let him compare my asshole to an abyss!”

“Please, keep shouting about your asshole. Jesus.”

“And you’re not even defending me now!”

“What, am I supposed to start yelling about your asshole now?”

“You know,” I said with a huff, “this conversation is weird and insulting.”

“That’s how most of our conversations go,” he said with a roll of his eyes.

Well, that was true, with me being responsible for the weird and him generally covering the insulting. Not that it was as insulting as it used to be, but that wasn’t saying a whole lot. It would be damn easy to do better than the way we had started, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be thankful.

As we left through the back gates, I marveled a little at just how much things had changed between us. There was a calmness in Reno that, once upon a time, I would have said outright, would’ve been physically impossible for him. Nowadays, he didn’t go around scowling and snapping at every little thing. Sure, he was still pretty grumpy compared to me, but he no longer acted like he was constantly ready to fight the whole world.

That was even more true when it was just the two of us. Even now, as the ranch faded into the background, I could see him relaxing. I was pretty sure no matter how much better Reno got, he would never be a people person, especially in large groups. Getting him alone was the best way to see the parts of him that were generally locked away when he felt there were too many ‘strangers’ around.

But whether it was in our cabin or out here where there was no one but the two of us, more of his personality began to shine through. His harder edges softened, and he didn’t always feel the need to be on guard. I liked to believe a big chunk of that was because of me because he liked being around me. Which would have been an impossibility once, but now? Now I was damn sure the jerk was a little crazy about me.

“For the record,” he said, jerking me out of my thoughts, “even though I know you’ve moved past it, I don’t think your ass is an abyss.”

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