Leon

Taking a deep breath, I stood outside the double doors, forcing my hands to steady themselves. It wasn't the first time I'd been in Mr. Isaiah's office in the past few years, but it was the first time I had gone unannounced of my own accord. I could picture Reed if he could see me right now, rolling his eyes and probably resisting the urge to push me through the doors.

That last mental image finally prompted me to reach out and rap on the door. I'd never had to knock before, and I found the sound louder than I anticipated as my knuckles thumped roughly against the thick wood. I half expected some ominous echo throughout the hallway, but thankfully, the sound was dampened.

There was only a moment before I heard Mr. Isaiah's cheerful, "Come in."

Admittedly, I could have turned right then and walked off. It was mid-afternoon, and the staff that kept the Big House clean was thin. I could have easily walked away and been out of sight before anyone knew it was me. The thought only lasted a moment before I pushed the door open and stepped in to find Mr. Isaiah at his desk, Mona standing beside it with her back to me.

"All I'm saying, Garrett," Mona was saying as I walked in, "is it's odd."

"It is pretty odd, I'll give ya that," he said genially. "But mistakes happen, and I don't wanna go throwin' around accusations all willy nilly. You do your thing, but you come to me before you're ready to draw blood, alright?"

"As you wish," she said, not sounding enthused, before glancing at me. Surprise rippled over her face before she frowned and looked at Mr. Isaiah. "I thought that was your lunch."

"So did I," he said with a big grin thrown my way. "Maybe Rip's a little late today, it happens."

"Rip delivers your food?" I asked and then immediately realized it was a stupid question.

"Sometimes, but usually, he sends one of the guys to bring me somethin'," Mr. Isaiah said, patting his bulging stomach. "Not that I really need all that much, but a man's gotta eat, and you'd be searchin' long and hard to find someone who can make a meal meaner than his."

"He's a great cook," I admitted. "And he runs that kitchen well."

"You're telling me," Mona said with a snort, and I watched as whatever was on her tablet disappeared with a few quick taps of her nails. "Not often I find that I don't have to keep a watch on some part of this place. Rip keeps those boys in line and doesn't take any shit, but all I've seen is people who would follow him to the ends of the earth to listen to his orders."

"The difference between a leader and a manager," I said with a shrug. "He'd say yes, by the way."

"Would he now?" Mona asked, sounding amused. "You have that in good confidence?"

"I have confidence," I said with a shrug. "But I haven't talked to him about it."

Mr. Isaiah glanced between us before grunting, "I'm missin' some of this conversation."

"Mr. Hardy here seems to think that if I approached Rip with a job offer after his upcoming graduation, he would accept," Mona explained, looking over me carefully. "Free advice without needing to squeeze it out of you? My, my, color me impressed and surprised."

"Well, I guess it's good to know you can still be surprised occasionally," I said. "But Rip loves it here. He's one of those guys who doesn't talk about what he did before he came here or what landed him here in the first place."

"Well, my great-grandfather put that rule into place because he wanted the men to feel like they could start over properly," Mr. Isaiah said and then looked thoughtfully toward the ceiling. "Or was it my great-great-grandfather? Ah hell, I suppose it doesn't matter."

"No, I get that, and a lot of us here really take to the idea and hold as tightly as we can to it," I admitted. "It's not often the guys here get the chance to be treated…neutrally, I guess. Or, at the very least, they're allowed to talk about it on their terms. It was and is a good idea. It gives us privacy and a sense of control back in our lives, which, uh, I probably don't have to say it, but we don't get a lot of either of those behind bars."

"My family has been asked about that a lot," Mr. Isaiah said thoughtfully. "Why we choose to do so much for the folk we bring here. Why we treat them so well. Even with the success of this place, I still get asked that question, as if the answer isn't sittin' right there, lookin' them in the eye if they just cared to glance at it once."

"I'm sure you guys probably have a lot more on your end to back up why it's a good idea to do what you do," I said with a shrug. "But my original point is that while some guys talk about their past and go into why they're here, it's usually only to a few people. I get the feeling Rip has probably never talked about it to anyone."

"Why's that?" Mona asked.

I shrugged. "I can't say for sure without asking him, and I won't ask him. If I were to guess, which I'm sure you were going to ask me to do, it's because he doesn't want to deal with his past. He wants to start over as completely as he can, meaning no one can know about his past. They just need to know him now, which is far more important."

"And what does that have to do with him accepting a job offer?"

"Because he loves it here. I don't know if he ever enjoyed having a job like he does here, but he sure does enjoy this one. Plus, this might be the first place he was ever given a real chance to make something of himself. Most guys use this place to start over or get back on their feet before going out and trying again, but I mean, look at Max. He could have left, and now he's here and perfectly happy."

"I'm not so sure happy is in his vocabulary," Mr. Isaiah said with a chuckle. "But I get your meaning and think I'm beginning to understand."

"Understand what?" I asked.

Mona looked me over again. "And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Where do you fall on that line?"

"I…which one?"

"Will you want to stay? Do you talk about what brought you here?"

"I don't know, and no."

Mona sighed, shaking her head. "Your stubbornness is as much a plus as a minus sometimes. I hope you know that."

"You sound like Reed," I said with a grin, pleased I'd gotten under her skin a little.

"Nice to hear the two of you are hitting it off," she said with a look that was a little too knowing. In retrospect, it was odd that the two of us kept being put together out of nowhere. "I thought having a little time to reconnect might do you two some good."

"And here I was, afraid you'd think I was lonely," I sighed, realizing I probably had my answer. Maybe she wasn't exactly the romantic type, but there was bound to be sentimentality if she was going to work and believe in a place like the ranch. She might not have been aiming to get something romantic out of Reed and me, but clearly, she wanted to interfere.

Which was still better than everyone calling us out on ‘mooning' over one another. Which I had never done, despite what everyone insisted. And yes, perhaps there was a fluttery feeling in my stomach when I thought about him that had nothing to do with nerves about what I was going to say to him when we saw each other again and everything to do with, well, him.

"Yes, well, it's nice to see the two of you getting along," she said. "I was curious to see how that would play out."

I had no idea what ‘that' meant, and something told me I didn't want to know. I didn't know what I'd do if I found out she'd arranged for us to be in close contact so often because of the constant rumors. It would shake up my perception of Mona as a levelheaded woman who didn't interfere in something so banal.

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not here to talk about Reed," I said. "I'm here to talk about Reno and Elliot."

"Oh? Did they get into another rough wrestling match, and I wasn't told…again?" she asked, arching a brow.

She had been irritated when she found out about their totally not a fight, mostly because I hadn't told her. That she was holding onto it showed a grudge-holding I wasn't surprised by and a pettiness that tickled me a little. Sometimes, it was too easy to see someone in Mona's position and hold them high, and seeing something human in them was comforting, if occasionally jarring.

"No," I said with a laugh. "As a matter of fact, I think they're doing fantastic."

"I would point out that they've been seen still bickering, but," Mona adjusted a braid behind her ear and chuckled, "I also have it on good authority that Elliot did that quite a lot with another of the men here."

"Dom," I said and nodded. "They've got a strange brotherly thing going on. I haven't quite figured it out, but I don't think I need to. And they bicker like siblings, but they're close."

"And that's where Elliot and Reno are now?" she wondered.

"No, they're more like…" I trailed off as the phrase ‘bickering like an old married couple' rose in my mind. Not that it was entirely off the mark, that was what the two of them reminded me of, but that…well, I didn't know if it was weird or if I didn't want to dig too deep into something that was just a random idea. "They're something else. Again, I haven't dug into it, but I've got a good feeling."

"Well, that's good," Mr. Isaiah said with the earnest grin he'd worn the first time I'd been introduced to him. Back then, I was convinced anyone running a program like this had to be involved in it for something other than helping people. Yet Mr. Isaiah came across so genuine and warm it was impossible to hold onto any cynical suspicions about his motives. "That's real good. I guess Mona was right about your instincts, and you were right about them. That Reno boy hasn't caused trouble with anyone else?"

"Believe it or not, he's started talking to people and in more than just grunts," I reported. "And the two of them work well together. And they've been sticking to the rules we gave them for the most part."

"The most part," Mona said in amusement. "And which parts aren't they obeying?"

"Well, we stressed they should stick close to one another pretty much all the time, but as the months have passed, I didn't really see the point in enforcing that too heavily. Reno still mostly sticks by himself when they're separated, apparently only socializing when he's around Elliot, but Elliot likes to go and hang out with other people, Dom mostly," I said.

"And therein lies the ‘most part,' I suppose," she said, sounding faintly irritated.

"The whole point of the restrictions was to bring them back to a kind of base zero and let them grow from there, like the ranch does," I said, feeling a flash of irritation. The woman had wanted me to lead the charge on how they were handled, and now she got annoyed when I made a decision on my own? "I did the same thing on a smaller scale. They can't be expected to grow if they aren't given the room to do it."

Mona glanced at Mr. Isaiah, who was watching me with a thoughtful expression. "Told you."

"That you did," Mr. Isaiah said with a laugh. "Not that I ever doubt you, but it's always fun to watch you give me sass over it."

"He says that as if he has a choice," Mona informed me. "When, in fact, he does not."

"I know the feeling," I said, earning a cheeky wink from Mr. Isaiah, presumably for my sass.

"Let's bring the subject back to the main one at hand," Mona said, looking again like she was irritated. "Is that why you came up here unprompted? To sing your praises?"

"You were the one who kept questioning me about my confidence and whether I was willing to stand by what I said. So here I am, pointing out that I was right and telling you so."

"Which serves you how?"

"It serves me because I think it's time we started giving them more leeway," I said, turning my chin up slightly. "I think we need to let them roam."

"Roam?" Mona asked, then cocked her head. "You mean you're willing to let them off the ranch?"

"Sure, we generally send someone when one of the animals inevitably gets out," I told her. "It happens at least once a week."

"That's quite the evolution from ‘they're finally doing well,' don't you think?"

"I didn't say ‘finally doing well.' I said they've been doing well. As a matter of fact, they've been doing far better than I expected. I think it's time we put our money where our mouths are and let them have more space…and trust."

"I'm not saying it's a terrible idea," Mona began, but I could tell from the way she sucked in her bottom lip, she didn't mean that. "But I'm not sold."

Neither was I, not completely. There was a possibility of it going to hell in a handbasket. The worst thing was that part of me believed something would go catastrophically wrong with the decision, and yet, I still had an overwhelmingly good feeling about them. I didn't know how to reconcile the two opposing feelings, but?—

Well, maybe I needed to take a page from Reed's book and start approaching things more confidently. At least when it came to decisions, which I had always held in suspicion. Against all odds and sense, Reed seemed to believe in me, which, well, I couldn't say I gave a shit about the man as deeply as I did and not take his advice to heart.

Plus, it was more than a little annoying to feel like I was being nudged forward by Mona while simultaneously having her doubt me at every turn.

"Look, Mona," I said, deciding that if I was going to crash and burn because I pissed her off, then at least I could do it while standing up for something I believed in. "I can't figure out what you want from me right now. Either you want me to take control of the situation and own it, or you want me to do exactly what you want. If it's the second, I wish you'd say so because this back-and-forth is confusing. Just say what you want."

Mona fell silent, her face giving nothing away as she stared at me, her fingernails tapping against the blank screen of her tablet. Mr. Isaiah watched her from the corner of his eyes for a moment before leaning forward, curling one of his hands into the other, and setting them on the desk.

"Do you really think they're ready for it? That step is normally a show of faith in the success of the men and the program," he asked, sounding more serious than I'd ever heard. "And considering, well, Reno's previous problems and that Elliot hasn't exactly proven himself to be the most responsible in the past."

"Elliot can be impulsive and immature or sometimes seem that way. I won't argue with that."

"Seem that way?"

"I've seen the way he works, and he works hard, even if he has to throw in some goofing off and jokes. He's also clearly figured out how to work, live, and get along with someone that, by all accounts, should have been impossible for someone like him. He's been taking his medicine as far as I know, and he has a way of working with others since most people seem to bear him some fondness…even if that is tied in with plenty of annoyance and exasperation."

"And Reno?"

"He's trickier, mostly because he simply doesn't like other people getting into his business, and he comes off as one big, living temper. But there's more to him, and I think being around Elliot has helped."

"And how has he managed to help? From what I've heard, it has helped. I just wonder how."

"Well, honestly, I think there's been a lot of room for growth with Reno, and Elliot, well, he's not the best people person, but he wants to be. Elliot does good with others, but he's not good at making friends, and Reno is the same. And hell, maybe it's because Elliot is generally a happy person. It feels like a good balance to Reno, who is …not."

It was almost the way Reed and I were with one another. It wasn't quite upbeat versus downbeat. It was in something subtler. I had always oscillated between knowing what needed to be done and obsessing over what I should do next, questioning myself constantly. Reed, however, had never lacked confidence, but when it came to his life, at least outside his chosen career, he had always been content to let things happen.

I had forgotten how nice it was to have someone around who could calm some of that noisome anxiety in my head. As far as he was concerned, I knew exactly what I should do and should act with the confidence necessary to make sure those things happened. He had as much faith in me as he did himself, showing he trusted me to deal with things…except taking care of myself.

"The point is, whatever is going on between them is working," I told Mr. Isaiah, firmly aware Mona was watching me but keeping my eyes on him as I spoke. "And their progress is commendable. I think the best thing we can do is give them a chance to show their progress and show we believe in them. Otherwise, this entire thing was for nothing, and it shouldn't have happened in the first place."

I managed to stay calm, but for God's sake, this was me talking to the two people in charge of the ranch. I was just some convict who'd managed to get far enough into a program they helped design, and I was in charge of helping other guys who had once been like me. Either one of them would be well within their rights to throw me out of the program and back into prison, where I would live out the remainder of my sentence without any of the help they offered guys in the program.

"Hmm, and what do you think, Mona?" Mr. Isaiah asked, glancing at his second in charge, whose expression hadn't changed from when I snapped at her.

I knew what was going to happen, and I groaned as soon as the grin appeared on her face. "Well, Garrett, I would say that if he's so insistent on being right, then we let him prove it…again. His track record has been good, so why not?"

"This is exactly what you wanted, isn't it?" I asked accusingly.

"What I wanted is immaterial," she said.

"I doubt that."

She laughed, and the tension I'd sensed in her disappeared. "Well, maybe it isn't completely immaterial. But in this case, we'll put my concerns on the back burner."

"So, is that a yes?" I asked, raising a brow. "To my idea, not whatever scheme you have running around in your head right now."

She smirked. "I think you'll find we're more than happy to accommodate your idea."

Mr. Isaiah chuckled, waving toward Mona. "Look, if she trusts you, I have no reason to doubt her. If you think those two should be the next ones out?—"

"Not the next," Mona said. "Not if we need to send someone out in the next few days. Those two still need to undergo the necessary survival and first aid training."

"Well, a bit of caution never went wrong."

"Caution? Garrett, it was only a few years ago that we almost lost three men because they didn't know how to treat a simple infection and fever. If you recall, we had to call a search team to find them and nearly lost Callum."

"Wait, Callum?" I asked in surprise. "That was more than a few years ago because he was my mentor."

"Was he?" she asked, screwing up her face and clicking her tongue. "So he was. Now I remember."

"I didn't know he almost died," I said, wrinkling my nose, uncomfortable with the idea. "Do you know how he's doing, by the way?"

"Actually, I don't."

"That's a shame. I liked him. He was the reason I decided to take on the mentorship when it was offered."

She smiled. "Well, then you should know we do bi-annual checks for the first five years after someone graduates from the program."

"Really?"

"It's touted as a means to keep up on the program"s success rate after they're out of it, but there's no small sentimentality on our part. We like to make sure our boys are doing well once they're out on their own. The next check on Callum should be the last or second to last one. It won't take a moment to look him up and see how his?—"

"He's living up in Houston," Mr. Isaiah said with a frown. "Was working out of an auto shop his brother owns. Recently had a daughter, but I can't remember her name. Was doing well in terms of health, I believe, nothing that stood out."

If I was surprised, it was nothing compared to Mona, who slowly spun around to stare at Mr. Isaiah in shock. It took him a moment to realize he was being stared at, turning in his chair to look blankly at her.

"Since when do you keep up to date on anything around here?" she asked slowly.

Mr. Isaiah frowned at her. "I like to make sure everything's okay with those boys. I want to make sure they're doing good and keeping on top of things."

"I didn't even know you knew their names."

"Well, that's what you get for assumin', now, isn't it?"

"Apparently," she said, and I couldn't tell if she was miffed or impressed because her face was giving away very little. "Well, I suppose you have your answer, Leon. I can give you an update on the next check-in."

"That would be great," I told her genuinely. "It's nice to know he's doing well, though. Is there a chance I could look him up after I get out?"

"Funnily enough, we have a system for the men of the program who can opt-in as a sort of social cushion when they get out. I'm not sure if Callum opted into it, but if he did, you can grab his contact information."

"Good," I said with a smile. "I'll, uh, make sure Elliot and Reno get signed up for the right classes. I'm sure Elliot will have a million questions about the why of it, so I'll spare you that."

"Spare me?" she snorted. "This was your decision, so you were going to deal with it all the way through."

"Of course," I said with a shake of my head. "So glad we agree."

"Was there anything else?" she asked me.

"No, I'll let you guys return to what you were doing. Thanks for letting me interrupt."

I considered that a dismissal and turned to leave, returning Mr. Isaiah's wave as I left the room, closing the doors behind me. When the doors clicked shut, I leaned against them, taking a deep breath and thinking over everything that just happened.

I shouldn't have been surprised that Mona had been trying to push me. It fit her personality. What her end goal was, I didn't know. It felt more like losing my temper than standing up for what I believed in, but I supposed all that mattered was I had done it, and she had approved.

More importantly, I believed Elliot and Reno were ready to take the next step. If they could handle a few trips on their own outside the ranch's territory, that would make them eligible for a tier upgrade. The two of them had made a lot of progress, not just between them but for them. The whole point of being a mentor was to help the guys under my care and advocate for them when they were ready to make the next step.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed away from the door and headed along the hallway, down the stairs, and out of the house. I winced against the sudden blast of light, but at least it wasn't nearly as hot as it had been a month ago. Knowing I needed to get it done sooner rather than later, I walked past the clinic, waving toward the front windows in case Reed was at the desk, even though I couldn't see him with the sun"s glare on the windows.

I stepped into the small building next to the clinic, where a lot of basic administration took place. It was technically part of the library, connected by a side door, but this was for guys to deal with their commissary accounts, sign up for courses the ranch had going, and deal with random things the ranch offered or took care of for them.

"Oh hey, Dane," I said, stopping short when I saw him working the counter. "Since when do they have you on pencil-pushing duty?"

"Turns out Mona thinks I should be a little more hands-off with my mentees and shoved me in here," he said with a shrug. "At least it has air conditioning, so it's hard to complain."

He was passing it off nicely, but I knew it bothered him. Dane and I had come into the program within a few weeks of one another and had both been offered a mentor position at about the same time. Like me, he had been really into the program and position and had shown passion for it. He was good at what he did and cared greatly, but he could be a bit of a helicopter mentor.

"Certainly beats standing around in the blazing sun," I said, leaning on the counter. "Need to get a couple of my guys signed up for the earliest available survival and first aid courses."

"Oh yeah?" he asked with a smile. "Preparing to test some of them?"

"Yeah, Reno and Elliot."

"Really? Well, they've been doing really well from what I've heard, so I can't say I blame you. But just the two of them?"

"Look, I brought them into this whole situation of just the two of them. I might as well let them continue that way until, I don't know, Tier Three, I guess."

"Huh, you know," he said as he began typing at the computer. "I'm wondering why no one ever thought to shove two guys together to make them behave before."

"Probably because all signs pointed toward Reno and Elliot trying to kill each other before they ever started getting along," I said with a snort. "I just got lucky."

"Or you knew what you were doing. It's not like they randomly pick guys for the mentorship program," he told me with a shake of his head. "Maybe you saw something the rest of us would have missed. It happens. Alright, I've got them set up for the survival courses this weekend, and they'll have the first aid course on Thursday."

"Nice," I said, thinking the sooner the better. "There's a few other guys I want to sign up as well, but they're not as urgent."

Dane glanced over. "Oh yeah? Wanting to see your experiment go up in flames or soar above everyone else as soon as possible, huh?"

"And how shitty would it make me sound if I said yes?"

"We're all human, Leon. We're allowed our selfish urges. Plus, most of us were sure this would fail miserably, and we've been proven wrong. So why not see it through to the end, right? Well, as long as you think they're ready."

"I do."

"Alright, and the other guys?"

It took another few minutes to get the others set up and I chatted with Dane, thinking about what he said. Was it selfish to push Reno and Elliot to the next stage without being absolutely sure they were ready? It felt way too much like other times in my life when I'd been sure, when, in reality, I had wanted to be sure and couldn't differentiate between the two.

Leaving Dane, I went to the clinic to see how things were going. I was technically assigned to deal with my guys and get some of the repairs and building done, but there wasn't much for us to do at the moment. With the hotter, stormier months behind us, things tended to calm down, and I was sure I could leave them to their own devices for a bit longer.

I wasn't surprised to find Reed behind the desk as he squinted at the screen, looking troubled. He didn't notice me, and I had to rap my knuckles on the counter to get his attention.

My brow shot up when he jerked noticeably, whirling around to face me. "Well, hey, Reed. You're jumpy today."

"Sorry," he said with a bashful laugh. "I was just hyper-focused for a moment. Didn't even hear the doors open."

"I noticed," I said, glancing at the screen and seeing what looked like a spreadsheet. "Doing inventory or something?"

"Oh, Alice said something the other day, and it put a bug up my ass about keeping track of what's going in and out of this place," he said with a shrug, leaning back in his seat. "It looks fine to me, as far as I can tell, but not everything is available for me to see. I just…eh, it doesn't matter. I'm sure I'm doing everything right."

"You don't exactly strike me as the kind to make lazy or stupid mistakes," I assured him. Especially not after what he'd told me the other day about what had landed him in trouble in the first place. That was precisely the sort of thing that left a lasting mark that followed you around forever and kept you on your toes, if not paranoid. "I'm sure it's just normal issues."

"Probably," he said, leaning forward to look me over. "Why do you look like you're ready to fight someone and about to slink off and lick your wounds?"

"That is an incredibly specific look to have on my face," I said with a snort. "Are you sure you're not just reading into things?"

"Nope, you definitely have that look on your face. What happened?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not even allowed to digest things mentally anymore before you jump on me."

"First of all, if you're given time to ‘mentally digest' things, I'll probably be waiting another five years."

"Oh, c'mon, Reed, that's not?—"

"And second, if you tell me, maybe I'll consider literally jumping you when I get you alone."

My brow shot up, and I felt my chest tighten. "Excuse me?"

He laughed. "Well, maybe I'd do that anyway, even without you telling me, but it's a good carrot, right?"

I rubbed my forehead and sighed. "It says something about me that that was enough to distract me from my thoughts and stop worrying so much."

"Hey, if it works."

I groaned. "I'm not a teenager, I'm not a teenager, I'm not a teenager."

He laughed. "C'mon, now you're just stalling."

"Oh, I told Mona and Mr. Isaiah I thought Reno and Elliot were ready for the next step."

"Seriously?"

I gave him the short version of the conversation, not bothering to smooth over the rougher parts. He listened intently, fiddling with a pen, repeatedly bouncing one end on the desk. I wasn't surprised that by the time I finished telling the story, he was practically grinning.

"Well, well, well, you finally managed to speak up without doubting yourself," he said with a laugh, pushing up from his chair and leaning toward me. "I'm proud of you."

"This feels oddly like I'm having a conversation with what a mom or dad should have been like with me growing up," I said, ignoring the well of pride growing inside me at his words.

He glanced down at the floor where the light was streaming in from the windows behind me and then reached out to grab the back of my head. I grunted in surprise as he pulled me close, kissing me deeply. He didn't simply linger there to let me enjoy the moment. He parted our lips so his tongue could slide into my mouth and tease me a little before he finally pulled back.

"Still looking at me like a parental figure?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm having…not feelings about a parent," I said, a little dazed and not making sense. "Or at least none that someone should have for a parent."

"Good," he said, easing back into his seat. "So, should I take this to mean you're not freaking out about what we did the other night?"

I stared at him in confusion. "Why would I be freaking out about that?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. You were so unsure about things between us before. I mean, I wasn't exactly jumping on the bandwagon to ride into town, but…that did not make sense."

"No," I agreed with a laugh. "It didn't, but I know what you mean. It always felt like you were waiting to see what I would do."

"Sometimes it felt like that, and other times it felt like I was holding back…okay, I was," he said with a shrug. "I don't…look, I'm not arguing with the idea of us just going through this and seeing what comes of it, but I also want to know it's not just meandering. That we're at least aiming to end up somewhere."

"You don't want us just screwing around and then fucking off at some point," I summarized.

"Exactly," he said with a smile. "If that's not in the cards, then I'd prefer we just…not do this, whatever it is, anymore."

"Alright," I said, reaching out and setting my hand on his. "Let's do what we can for now, and keep in mind that we're hopefully heading somewhere important."

"That's good enough. We'll see," he said, turning his hand around in mine to squeeze.

"We'll see," I agreed, feeling a warm spot grow in my chest.