“If he was so smart, he wouldn’t have let you run him off years ago.”
“Ahhh, so that’s what this was about.”
“What did you think it was about?”
Madi swept the tips of his fingers lightly along the side of his nose. “I’ve given many people many reasons to punch me over the years. I figured you’d stumbled upon one, but I wasn’t certain which one it was.”
“You had no right saying any of that to him.”
“You’re correct. I didn’t.” Madigan wriggled his shoulders deeper into the love seat, rested his head back, and closed his eyes. “I’ve had some regrets about that. Especially when he actually left.”
“And yet, you let me crawl out of my skin worrying about him, tear up the fucking city trying to find him, and you didn’t say a goddamn thing.”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference. I didn’t know where he was going. I didn’t think he’d vanish. I thought it’d inspire him to go to college, maybe. Like you wanted.”
“You’re lying.”
Madigan smiled and shrugged. “It’s possible I didn’t think of it inexactlythose terms. But maybe…” He blinked his eyes open and swung his legs off the couch. Leaning forward, he thunked his mug on the coffee table. “You should be thanking me. Would you be fucking him now if he’d never left? Hmm?” Madi’s gaze dropped to Jonah’s hands as they formed fists, and his expression faltered slightly before smoothing out, his tone nonchalant. “So youarefucking him. Do you love him?”
“Madigan.” Jonah meant it to sound like a warning, but it came out like a sigh.
“Christ. I’ll bet the kid is in hog heaven. He’s finally gotten his wish.”
Jonah stared out the window, silent. Madigan wasn’t wrong. Had Cas never left, their relationship wouldn’t have changed. Jonah wouldn’t have been able to see Cas as he did now, as convoluted as that seemed. “It’s not me you owe the apology to, it’s Cas.”
Madi laughed. “Bullshit. I told him a hard truth, and he heard it. He recognized it. I can’t apologize for something like that. Shit, he should be thanking me, too.”
Jonah’s gaze locked with Madigan’s and held. There was nothing to see there now, though. No regret, not even a flicker of sadness. Madigan had always been adept at closing himself off. Jonah had uncovered various ways to unlock him over the years—through laughter, through anger, through sex. But none of those were appropriate right now, so he told the truth. “If you ever do something like that again to hurt him, I’ll kill you.”
The tiniest semblance of something like regret flickered through Madigan’s steely gaze. “Have you told him you love him yet?”
“Not in so many words.” Jonah wasn’t certain whether it would overwhelm Cas, scare him off, or elate him. He didn’t know if it was too soon or too late. “At the moment, we’ve got some bigger distractions.”
“Like the bounty on his head.”
“That, yeah.” Jonah detailed the rest of what he knew, filling Madigan in on the drive-in ambush.
Madigan drummed his fingers on his coffee mug as he listened. “There’s no way to buy out the contract, I guess?”
“Not a chance. It’s open season with hunters coming out of the woodwork, like you said. The bullshit at the drive-in was amateur, but that doesn’t mean the next time will be.”
“So, kill him, give the client the thumb drive, and claim the bounty for yourself.” Madigan’s smile was as sharp as the knives in the butcher block on the kitchen island, and if Jonah were honest with himself, he couldn’t be certain that Madigan was even joking. Before they’d ever met, Jonah had heard rumors that Madi had killed his own lover for less than fifty grand. “I’m sure they want proof,” Madi continued. “That’s easy enough, though, unless they want the whole body. But I doubt it. It’s the drive they’re after, right? So, stage some bullshit photos, or yank out a couple of Cas’s molars, then put him on a flight to Bora Bora.”
“Someone’s figured out our association, though. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have trashed my place.”
Madigan shrugged. “Even better.”
“How so?”
“Because then you’ll look like the heartless bastard you’re supposed to be and the jobs’ll really start rolling in.”
“So, are the rumors true, then? Is that what you did?” Jonah had never asked outright. They rarely discussed the time before they knew each other.
Madigan’s smile fell only for a second, and then he stood. “Show yourself to the door. I’ve got an envoy to take out before noon, and I haven’t showered yet.”
Jonah stood and jerked his thumb toward the case. “Your gun. Always a pleasure visiting with you.”
“Mm-hmm.” Madigan was already walking back into his bedroom, but he stopped, throwing a coy look over his shoulder at Jonah—or what amounted to coy coming from a guy like Madigan. “The two of you get bored and need a third, just let me know. I’ll bet he makes the sweetest sounds.”
