Page 116 of Last Chance Love

I thought about the man, who was Tier Two now. “Yeah, that, uh, checks out. He isn’t the sharpest pencil in the box.”

“Man’s an idiot, but at least he knows how to work his ass off, so that makes up for it.”

“Right,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Back on track. Does this mean I get to walk away and not get in trouble over this?”

“Personally, I’m over this entire fucking thing,” he said with a heavy huff. He gestured toward the house. “If you ask me,sheknows this is ridiculous. But for whatever reason, she’s not doing anything about it except following the rules to the letter.”

“Which,” I began, thinking about it. “She makes herself out to be.”

“But that’s not her. Not really. Anyone who knows her knows she’s not the hard ass she makes herself out to be.”

“No,” I said, frowning at the ground. “But that doesn’t help us, does it?”

“You and Reed? Probably not,” Max said with a sigh. “And honestly, I’m not even going to bother with this shit.”

“Uh, what does that mean?”

“It means I’m over it, I’m frustrated, I’m pissed off, and I want to talk to my boyfriend to blow off steam. The problem is I’m stuck here for the night.”

“I…yeah, I’m sure that sucks?” I said, confused.

He frowned at the sky. “But he’s not going to be available to talk until two in the morning, some convention he’s at that’s going to run late because of an after party. So I’ll be stuck here, twiddling my thumbs, keepingyourboyfriend company until then. I’m not there to keep him in, he can’t get out, but I’ve gotta keep an eye on him in case anything happens. That’s why I have the key to his cell, but I’m pretty sure that’s just going to sit on the table in there while your boyfriend sleeps.”

“I…yeah, sure,” I said, sensing the dots connecting but waiting to see where this was going.

“Whatever,” he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I told Mona I was going to keep watch, but she can kiss my ass. When Riley calls me at around two, I’m going to talk to him. And I’m going to go for a walk while I do it.”

“Hope nothing happens to Reed in that time,” I said, realizing what he was doing.

His eyes met mine, and he smirked. “Let’s hope. But he’s in good health. And if he’s still upright and okay when I get back after talking to my probably drunk and stupid boyfriend for a couple of hours, then I have no reason to mention my walk to anyone. So we both have our secrets tonight, I guess.”

“So it seems,” I said, glancing toward the ‘jail’ and sighing. It was something, at least, it wasn’t a way to help Reed, but it was…well, it was something. At least I could spend some time with him. It was better than nothing, even if it was nothing in the long term.

“Good, now get out of here before someone else sees you, and I get my ass in trouble,” he grunted. “I’m done dealing with people tonight.”

“Says the man who’s going to talk to his boyfriend.”

“That’s different.”

“Why, because you’ll get him to give you a strip show on video?”

“I…get the fuck out of here, Leon, before I change my mind about this.”

I wanted to thank him, but this was Max. He’d probably growl at me. I got moving before he changed his mind. He wouldn’t, of course. He might have softened up recently but was just as stubborn as he’d always been. The best thing was to do what he said and find a way to repay him somewhere down the line.

As I left him to do his job, I stopped on the corner and glanced back at the building. Max had already walked inside, leaving only the faint light from a couple of the small windows at the front. I wondered what they would talk about while it was just them. I didn’t know if they’d ever really had a conversation, but even before Max had made his ‘not offer,’ I thought he would be good company for Reed.

“See you soon,” I whispered into the night before turning away, hoping it would be enough time to spend together, knowing that no time would ever be enough.

REED

From the gloom of my cell, I heard the shuffling of someone moving around and then the creak of wood. Max was clearly still awake, which was more than could be said about last night’s guard. Dane had beenpretendingto sleep while he sat out of sight of my cell. I’d tried to get him to talk, to explain that I didn’t mind that he’d been part of Mona’s posse. We might be freer here at the ranch, but we were still prisoners in the end, and Mona held power over him that he couldn’t help.

Max, at least, had proven better company. Which was pretty ironic, considering he wasn’t usually much of a talker. Maybe talking to me was his way of alleviating his sense of guilt, perhaps because, unlike Dane, he wasn’t beholden to Mona as much.

“I can practically hear you thinking,” he muttered from where he sat, again unlike Dane, beside the cell rather than out of sight. I suspected it was his way of giving me privacy, or maybe he just didn’t want to watch me sleep, not that I was getting much of that lately.

“That’s all I have time for here,” I told him, staring at the ceiling. “I think and think until finally I get too tired and fall asleep.”

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