Scout ground his back teeth but somehow hid his rage. “You’re on best-friend duty. I get it.” He really did. Fabrice had seen Clay slipping away and realized he couldn’t wait any longer to make his move. What an asshole. He’d had nearly their entire lives and now he hoped to steal Clay from Scout. Clay might be blind to Fabrice, but Scout saw him.
Scout wouldn’t be thwarted that easily. “Come to my bed anyhow. I don’t care how late it is. I’ll be waiting.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to disturb your sleep.”
Scout managed to pull out a wicked smile. His gaze raked down Clay’s body before meeting his stare again. “Positive.”
Clay fidgeted a little, looking nervous. “Okay.” He was such a conundrum. Shy one second and badass the next. “Are you really okay with me hanging out with Fabrice tonight? I’m opening the line of clear communication you asked for here.”
Yeah. Scout wasn’t about to fuck up this budding thing by telling Clay he couldn’t spend time with his best friend. He forced an overly bright smile. “Of course. I’m not your boyfriend. You can do whatever you want.”
Something flickered across Clay’s features. Whatever thought he had at Scout’s statement, Clay hid it too fast for Scout to read him. “Yeah. Okay. I hear you.” He glanced around as if looking for an escape.
A pit grew in Scout’s stomach. They were going backwards, and he didn’t know how to stop.
Clay slapped his knees and stood. “Well, Fabrice is way behind on today’s prep since he came in so late and hasn’t been to bed yet. I’m going to take over for the next few hours so he can get some sleep.” A fake-looking smile appeared on his lips. “Plus, with him gone, I can steal all the good stuff he keeps hidden in the kitchen.”
A genuine snort burst from Scout at the mischievousness in Clay’s expression. “Have fun. I need to hit the security room and get ready for Tracker. My guess is they have him coming in early too.”
Clay nodded. “Sounds good.” He bent and stole a kiss. It was way too quick. Clay looked slightly mortified when he pulled away. “Sorry. I guess I need to control myself. It’s way too easy to forget where the line begins and ends with you.”
Scout had no fucking clue what that meant, so he said nothing.
Clay smiled, but it looked sad. “Have a good day. I’ll see you… whenever, I guess.” He headed for the kitchen, practically scrambling away from Scout. Scout stared after him with his heart in his throat. What in the fuck was he supposed to do now?
Chapter Six
Awarmnightbreezeruffled Clay’s hair as he sat at the edge of the pool, dangling his legs in the water. Hawaii was so goddamn beautiful, and he let himself dream again that he could live here full time. He might be trained every bit as well as any other Bosi guard, but Clay didn’t truly have a fighter’s soul. Everything inside him craved quiet, peaceful beauty. A life of violence had been given to him. Clay never would’ve chosen his path.
A shadow grew bigger on the water.
Clay smiled. Fabrice might be a calm, soothing person, but Clay always felt him when he was near. His presence was too familiar to Clay for him to hide.
Fabrice filled the space beside him and put his bare feet in the water. Hip to hip, they sat in silence. Clay didn’t know what Fabrice had going on, but he could be here.
“I forgot to ask what happened to that guy who brought Beau scrambling here.”
Clay leaned his shoulder against Fabrice, soaking up the only real connection he had in the world. “In one of the world’s craziest ‘it’s a small world' stories, it turns out the guy had stopped once to help Kylo change a flat tire like three years ago. I guess he was probably in town, stalking the Agafonov brothers. It was just one of those random-ass things.” Clay shrugged. “Or maybe he had been meant to meet Kylo and have his life spared now. You know how life can be funny like that. Beau took out his kneecaps and sent him home to Russia as a failure. From what Henry tells me, they’ll either kill him for failing his mission or they’ll dump him in some freezing back alley to die from his injuries and the elements. Either way, Jay gets a horrible death, and Beau can still say he didn’t kill the guy.”
Fabrice blew out a soft sigh. “Well, that’s a new leaf for Beau. You really should have seen him. We’ve seen him in some deeply dark places over the years, and this was still epic—like the kind of explosive rage he flew into when Boone tried to kill himself.”
Clay shook his head. He couldn’t believe that. Boone was Beau’s oldest son. When he had nearly succeeded at taking his own life several years ago, Beau had been inconsolable, and his temper had sent them all into hiding. Clay couldn’t see Beau being the same for him.
“Can’t picture it.”
A soft chuckle rumbled from Fabrice. He turned his head and kissed Clay’s forehead. “You’ve always been too blind to realize how much people care about you.”
Clay wanted to laugh off the words, but they cut too close to the bone. He had never been good at spotting love. The only person he knew who loved him for real was Fabrice.
Fabrice cleared his throat. “So, Scout, huh?”
Truthfully, Clay didn’t want to answer that. He would end up looking like a fool all over again when Scout found his person. Clay didn’t speak. He knew—in itself—silence was an answer. But he couldn’t open his mouth and have happiness fall out when he knew Scout only wanted to be friends. Scout had reiterated that point at breakfast.
Fabrice blew out a slow sigh. “I suppose I should’ve seen that one coming. When he kissed you at Affinity, I was standing there. But you hadn’t really said anything else about it, and I thought you had a crush on Zeus.”
Clay smiled. “You just made me sound like I’m twelve.”
Fabrice’s mouth lifted in one corner. The half-smile fell away as quickly as it appeared. “I thought you wanted quiet freedom. You have a better shot at that with Zeus. With Scout, you’ll be trapped with the family forever. Beau might actually let youmove on to a happy life if you’re with someone powerful and connected to the family. Zeus could save you.”
