Every head in the mess tent was turned toward the little tête-à-tête between him and Marston.
“Oh, not again,” he heard someone say. Probably Galen, who was up and coming over to them, wading into the melee without any fear whatsoever.
“Get it through your fucking head, Marston,” said Bede quite clearly and loudly. There was no point pretending they weren’t on the verge of coming to blows. He wanted to say more, but held back from exposing even more about himself in front of a crowd of near-strangers.
“That’s enough,” said Galen.
He came right around the table to where Bede was. Unafraid.
He looked up at Bede, chin out, eyes glittering. There was a lovely flush to his cheeks, and in his anger he was even prettier than before, pulling Bede’s attention to him like the call of a bright blue sky.
“What did I tell you before?” asked Galen, stern. “Marston. Bede. I want you outside. Now.”
“Can I come?” asked Kell.
“No,” said Bede and Galen at the same time. Marston shook his head.
“We’ll see you at the campfire,” said Marston.
Following Galen, Bede came out of the mess tent into the slanting shadows of evening. Long shadows of trees cut along the ground in rows, like bars in a cage.
Galen took them all the way to the gravel parking lot, then stopped and looked at both of them.
“We don’t get into fights here,” said Galen. “What is the problem? Marston? Bede?”
Neither of them said anything, but only glared at each other. Bede realized he was breathing a bit hard and took a deep breath.
A fight with Marston seemed the obvious next step, but Bede didn’t like feeling so out of control. Not to mention, he was distracted and intrigued by Galen. By his lack of fear. The way he stood between the two of them, quite calm, as if he felt his very presence was enough to make them stop.
“Are you fighting over Kell?” Galen asked now.
Bede knew it was a question of dominanceaboutKell. About who was his friend and who wasn’t. In prison, you always had to fight your way to the top of the pecking order. For some reason, Marston was acting as if that was what he was doing, too. As if he had to fight Bede to keep Kell safe.
Bede could sense Kell watching them through the trees.
That stopped him. He was in a new world with new rules and he’d not even paused to figure them out.
If he was going to give himself time and space to decide what to do next, he needed to stay out of trouble. And that included not giving Marston the slap-down he so obviously needed. Kell deserved a stable world, not two guys fighting over him.
“We’re not,” said Bede, short. “But Marston here’s got it in his head that I’m a danger to the kid. I’m not, you know.” He settled himself, made himself breathe slower, stop glaring. Uncurl his fists. “Kell is like a brother to me. You read his file, I’m sure. I’m always looking out for him. Always.”
Marston’s eyes lifted. Then he paused. Bede looked over his shoulder to see what he was looking at.
Yes, Marston had seen Kell, and once again, his expression softened like butter in the sun. The guy was crazy in love with Kell. Part of that crazy had taken Bede as a threat, even though he probably knew better.
“Hey,” said Bede, more softly, drawing Marston’s attention to him. “I’m just his friend. That’s all. I could see that Wayne has been a problem about sharing. Kell and I know how to room together. Wayne’s got his own tent. He’s a happy camper now. Literally.”
Bede heard Galen’s half-smothered snort of a laugh. He found himself returning that laugh, a half-smile, then he had to put the brakes on that to deal with the situation at hand.
“I’m not here to get in anyone’s way, least of allKell’s.” He said with a small shrug. He emphasized Kell’s name to draw Marston’s focus to the most important part of all this. To help Galen by defusing the situation. “He’s going to be upset if we keep going at each other like this. You know?”
“Okay,” said Marston. His shoulders relaxed a little, and he too took a deep breath.
Bede could almost see the thoughts behind Marston’s hard eyes. Love for Kell battled with his animosity toward Bede. Obviously love had won this round, but Bede would make a special point to stay out of Marston’s way, just the same.
“Okay,” said Bede. He held out his hand for Marston to shake and Marston did, though his lip curled in derision.
“Okay,” said Galen, with a hearty sigh. “This was not in my job description. Well—” He shook his head. “Actually it is. So. Marston. Go look after your guy. And Bede? Maybe a shower is a good idea.”
