Page 50 of Refuge (The Wanderers 2)

“Only with animosity. I’ve grunted at him in passing.”

“Did you two work out your differences?” She winced. “I always hated my part in your friendship ending.”

Stu reached across the table and grabbed both of Maya’s hands. Her long blond braid hung over her shoulder, caught in her favorite leather vest. The one she often wore. He wondered for a moment why he’d never had a thing for Maya. She didn’t look that much different from Ariel. They were both blond. Similar skin color. Full lips. High cheekbones. Blue eyes. Nevertheless, he didn’t look at her that way.

He shook his thoughts from his mind to respond to her. “That was not your fault. Don’t take the blame for what happened between Tarin and me. We are the only ones responsible for being too pigheaded to talk things out.”

She sighed. “Still always have hated it. How did you manage to work things out now? Or did you?”

“More or less.”

She glanced down, her shoulders sagging.

He gripped her hands tighter. “I didn’t tell him anything about you. I promise.”

She lifted her gaze. “Maybe you should have? I ruined your friendship. I never should have let him believe we could ever be more than friends in the first place. That was on me.”

Stuart shook his head. “You weren’t obligated to correct him. He read more into it than there was, and that’s not your problem.”

She drew in a breath and glanced to one side. “I guess I kind of hoped that I might develop feelings for him if I spent enough time with him. He’s such a good guy. He will love a woman with his entire soul for the rest of her life. Ariel is lucky to have him.”

She glanced back at Stuart. “You too, of course. Still, I should’ve said something. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to talk to a living soul when you and I returned to the compound that day, especially not a man, and certainly not one whose feelings were hurt.”

“You had your own issues, Maya. You didn’t owe him anything.”

She met his gaze. “I owed it to you.”

He shook his head. “You don’t owe me either. Stop that. I was stubborn too. The blame doesn’t lie fully on Tarin’s shoulders. I could have at least told him at any time that you and I were never a thing.”

“I guess you told him at least that much now?”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “During kiss-and-tell storytime. I wasn’t going to lie. Had to fess up that my only sex partner had been ten years ago. Tarin’s eyes almost fell out of their sockets.”

Maya rolled her eyes. “You’re so evil.”

He chuckled. “It was kinda fun watching his reaction.”

“Is it all worked out now then?”

He shrugged. “As well as it can be. He apologized for jumping to conclusions. I apologized for allowing him to believe a lie.”

“Good. I’ll go back with you to the compound now. I haven’t been there in a while. I’ll talk to him.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

She nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“What are you going to tell him that I haven’t already spelled out?”

“Nothing extra. I’ll just confirm that I was never interested in you or him. I appreciate you keeping the rest of my private life to yourself. I’ll tell him to let it go.”

Stuart searched her eyes. “He knows all of that. I’d love for you to come back to the compound for a while though. You work too hard. And you never get enough sleep.” He released one of her hands to rub under her eye. “You look exhausted. You can’t save the universe if you don’t rest.”

Cora stirred and then sat up. She looked even more sleep-deprived than Maya.

“I’m sorry if we woke you,” Maya said, releasing Stuart to turn around. “This is Stu. He’s going to take us to the compound I told you about.”

Cora furrowed her brow. “I’m so worried about Grecia.”

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