He didn’t think Max would agree. For someone usually laid-back, Max liked his grudges. But he expected a joke, another jibe at Flynn’s reputation or age. Instead Max clenched his jaw, muscles working visibly in his cheek, and gave him a hard, almost unfriendly look.
“No,” he said. “I don’t think so.”
“Oh, come on—” Nate tried to protest.
“No.” Max stopped on the road and jabbed a finger into Nate’s shoulder. “You want to date this guy, that’s up to you. Go ahead. Hook up with Mr. Disposable. Chase your teenage crush. Whatever gets you through this midlife crisis you’re having. I agreed not to get on your case about it, but I’m not changing my mind either. So lay off. You don’t know him as well as you think.”
The conviction in Max’s voice rocked Nate back on his heels for a second as Max stalked away. It wasn’t like he could argue. He didn’t know Flynn that well. Sex didn’t actually give you an insight into who someone really was—which explained a few of the weddings he’d organized.
“Hold on.” He caught up with Max on the doorstep to the house. “You don’t know him any better than I do. Twenty years ago was the last time you spoke to him too.”
Max jabbed the code into the electronic keyboard, to the familiarbeep boop bipof the small keys.
“Yeah, well, maybe I just see him clearer than you do,” Max said. He pushed open the door and glanced over his shoulder at Nate as he stepped inside. “Since I don’t have to make excuses to justify climbing on his dick.”
Heat flushed Nate’s face like a slap. He scrabbled for a reply, but Max’s enthusiastic “Aunt Ally” rang out before he could come up with anything.
“Shows what you know,” Nate muttered to himself as he stepped through the door and closed it behind him. “I already climbed it.”
There was a flask and a Tupperware box full of sandwiches waiting for him in the living room. They were set on top of hisGame of Thronesbox set. It reminded Nate uncomfortably of going away on school trips as a kid, although he hoped the flask had coffee and not soup in it.
“This is ridiculous.” Ally was midprotest as Nate came in. She had stretched up off the sofa to hug Max. Despite the doctor’s assurance yesterday that she was fine and all she needed was rest and a round of antibiotics, she looked pale and tired. “I’m not eleven. I can take care of myself. How many times do I have to say I don’t need a babysitter?”
Nate would have snapped. He knew that. It was justeasierthan anything more reasonable. The words were already there in his throat. All he needed was a second to open his mouth and let them out.
Max didn’t give him the chance. He flopped down on the sofa, swung his feet onto the table, and slung his arm over the back of the cushions.
“Good, because I am here to complain and get sympathy, not fuss over you,” Max said. He leaned over and grabbed the box of sandwiches. The lid popped, and he peeled it off and picked out a cheese sandwich. “You know Flynn Delaney tried to pick me up once, right?”
That was Max. He reminded Nate why he loved him one minute and demonstrated what an ass he was the next.
“If that put me off dating someone, I’d never go out of the house again.”
Nate abandoned the sandwiches to Max. Food was the last thing he wanted right then. His stomach was too full of stress and acid to add anything else. He grabbed the flask off the table. There was always room for coffee.
“Whatever,” Max snorted through a mouthful of sandwich. “Just don’t let him near your credit cards.”
That was a step too far for Ally, who pulled a disapproving face. “Maxwell, that’s enough. Don’t be unkind.”
“I’m not,” Max protested. “Just prudent. You know when he left last time, he took the contents of my dad’s wallet with him?”
After his conversation with Dani, that plucked the strings of Nate’s interest. He hesitated but squashed the urge to ask any questions. If Max knew anything about what really happened back then or whatever rumors tied “Flynn and Teddy” together, he’d have brought it up years before.
“I shouldn’t be too late.” He leaned over the back of the sofa, between Ally and Max, and kissed her cheek quickly. “If you need anything, if anything happens, call me.”
Ally reached up and affectionately ruffled his hair. “Don’t be such a worrier, Nate. I’m going to watchFortitude,drink some hot chocolate, and try to convince Max that he doesn’t have to live down to his father’s expectations.”
“Good luck with that,” Max muttered.
“Nothing is going to happen.” Ally ignored Max’s interruption and patted her thigh. The truncated leg of her yoga pants was stretched over the fresh bandages the doctor had dressed her stump with. “I might have to wait a bit longer before I get my prosthetic sorted, is all. But once I get my new crutches tomorrow, I’ll be good as new.”
The blithe confidence in her voice made Nate sigh. When she was sick, she was sure she’d get better. That was reassuring. Now that she was better, it seemed like tempting fate.
“I’ll try not to wake you up when I get back,” he said. “Don’t listen to anything Max says.”
