Page 115 of Last Chance Love

“We gave him opioids for that injury,” Reed said, clearly remembering the injury as much as I did, if not more, considering his brain was a living encyclopedia of medical information and histories. “But after the regimen we had him on, which we kept short because of addiction problems, he never said a word. Only came in for over-the-counter pills to help with the ache.”

“It’s still a possibility.”

“Yes but…Leon, don’t.”

“What?”

“Don’t go after him. Mona is going to be keeping an eye on you after all this, and the last thing we need is for you to get in deep shit. Just don’t, please.”

“Yeah, but?—”

“Look, don’t. And you need to get going. Whoever they put on night watch will show up soon, and I don’t need them to find you, okay?”

“Fine, I?—”

“It’s a bit late for that,” a familiar rumbling voice said, and I froze, turning to look over my shoulder. At the corner of the building, thick arms crossed over his broad chest, was Max.

“Well, this is awkward,” I muttered to the window.

“Get up,” Max said, and though his face was cast in shadow by the moon behind him, I could practically hear his eyes rolling. “Doing alright in there, Reed?”

“Marvelous,” Reed drawled sarcastically. “She put you on guard duty? And here I thought I’d seen the last of you.”

“I volunteered, believe it or not,” Max said. “Leon?”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I muttered as I got onto my hands and feet. I pushed my hand against the mesh again, feeling Reed’s fingers brush from his side. “I love you, alright? We’ll figure something out.”

“Okay,” he said, and though he was probably trying to hide it, I could hear the sadness in his voice. As far as he was concerned, he was going back to prison with more charges and his entire future thrown in the trash.

Nothing I could say would make him feel better, so I reluctantly pulled my hand away from the window and got to my feet. With a final glance back, I turned, Max waiting until I was close before rounding the corner, only for him to stop when we were halfway along the building.

“This was pretty fucking stupid. I hope you know that,” he growled, his back still to me.

“And what happened to you not having anything else to do with this?” I demanded, making sure to keep my voice down. “You swore up and down that you’d quit if she tried something like that again. Turn in your notice but decided to come down here?”

“And a good thing I did. Someone else would have gone to get Mona instead of letting you know they were there and letting you get away with it,” he said, turning around to glare at me. Considering how well we had always gotten along, I sometimes forgot he was one of the biggest people I’d ever met, the biggest on the ranch. “And considering…well. Maybe she has some leverage for this current issue.”

I stared at him in confusion before clicking my tongue. “Riley?”

“He may or may not have plans for this place, and she may or may not have brought it up when she called me back into her office after you left. So I may or may not be here for the night,” he said. Only because I knew you’d be coming straight here, if not soon, then at some point tonight. And that you were probably going to do something stupid.”

“I want to say that’s noble of you, but you already admitted you did it to help your boyfriend,” I pointed out, adding quickly, “Not that I blame you. It’s obvious you and Riley love each other, so don’t think I’m pissed at you.”

To my surprise, he grinned widely. “Are you shitting me? I’m crazy about that weird little idiot, but the last thing I want to do is piss him off. And if he found out I bowed to Mona over something like this simply because shemightthreaten his ranch plans, I’dneverhear the end of it, and he’d be right. I might have learned a lot from him, but the thing I already knew was doing what’s right. And nothing about this feels right.”

I stared at him, trying to take in everything that had happened in the past few days, along with right now. It wasn’t like I didn’t know Max and Mona had a complicated relationship. Once upon a time, there was friction between them when Max came onto the full-time staff as a free man. The newer guys wondered if all that tension between them would blow up. And when it didn’t, simply staying the same under the surface, they wondered if they’d found other ways to deal with their mutual tension.

“Did you know people used to theorize that you and Mona were fucking?” I blurted out because,apparently,that was the only thing my mouth could say. I didn’t know what purpose it was supposed to serve, but I watched as Max reeled back slightly. I realized this was the first time I’d ever seen him taken off guard completely, rather than being surprised and immediately annoyed.

“I…what?” he asked, blinking rapidly. “What?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “My brain is somehow mush and running at almost light speed. It’s not making a whole lot of sense right now.”

“Clearly,” he said with a snort, shaking his head. “And yes, I did know that. One of your boys outright asked me once.”

“Oh God, Elliot?” Only Elliot would be that impulsive to ask something so personalandstupid.

“Nope, Sean.”

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