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Sean looked up at him, eyes soft. “Tell me about your last assignment.”

Aidan’s chest tightened, and he pushed away from the ground. Whatever was happening, he didn’t want any part of it. Sean was...yes, he was probably rattled from his near-death experience on top of whatever horror and pain he had suffered in the past. But this was the sort of thing someone else should deal with, someone better suited for it, like, say, Ricardo.

Anyone else. But not him.

“I should let the others know you’re okay,” Aidan said hastily as he made to get to his feet.

“I’ve been making you suffer for the sins of someone else,” Sean said, stopping Aidan cold.

Aidan looked away. “Yours?”

“I...don’t know if they’re mine or not. I still can’t decide if it’s my fault that Clint is dead. But I know that if it’s mine or someone else’s, you’re the one who’s got the worst of it. The rest of the team have got it too, but you, being the new guy, Clint’s...replacement, got it the worst.”

Aidan swallowed hard, fighting to keep himself in check. “What...what’s your point?”

“Whose sins have I been paying for?”

The question was said so softly that Aidan might not have heard it if the wind had been blowing any harder above them. But he had, and it sucked the breath from his lungs.

Aidan’s shoulders sagged, and he looked down at his feet. “You think that’s what’s been happening?”

“It’s hard to say for sure. You’re not exactly open about what happened to you before, and maybe...okay, it’s definitely my fault. But the more I think about it, the more I realize maybe I’m not the only one with a chip on my shoulder. I’m not the only one who’s still mad about something.”

Aidan looked up, unable to help his smile. “You hit your head pretty hard on the way down, huh?”

Sean smiled, looking kinder and warmer than he’d ever done before. The man Aidan thought he might have glimpsed before was rising to the surface, and now that he was there, Aidan wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do with him.

Aidan sighed, sitting back. “It’s a stupid story with a stupid ending.”

“I know I haven’t done a whole lot to earn it, but I want to hear it.”

It was stupid. He shouldn’t even be tempted to tell Sean, of all people, the story. But the more he thought back, the more he realized so much of what he’d seen in Sean had been desperation. Desperation to get Aidan out, desperation to refuseto accept Aidan, to drive him away, to keep him at arm’s length. Had Sean been running from something this whole time? Something that had finally caught up with him?

Aidan looked down at his hands. “He was...the commander of the last base I was stationed at.”

“A...boyfriend?” Sean guessed.

Aidan chuckled. “No, but he sure wished he was, I can tell you that. Don’t get me wrong, Jason was...attractive. Actually, he looked a lot like you.”

Sean frowned, managing to wriggle an arm free. “I’m going to guess that’s not going to be a compliment by the time this story is done.”

Aidan shrugged. “It's not a compliment or an insult. You’re both good-looking; hell, I’d even call you hot.”

Sean snorted. “Can’t remember the last time someone sober called me hot.”

Aidan looked up, smirking. “Maybe I’m not all that sober.”

Sean rolled his eyes. “Thank you for making me wonder if some drunk asshole has been leading my team this whole time.”

It could have almost been the Sean Aidan would have sworn he was used to, but the tone didn’t quite match the harshness of his words. There was a playful sarcasm that had never been there before. Where Sean might have grown annoyed with him, mad at his refusal to...do what he wanted, there was acceptance, an ability to roll with Aidan’s wit, and a slight irreverence.

And God, if that didn’t make him more likely to spill his story.

“But even at your worst with me, you wereneverlike him,” Aidan continued.

Sean snorted softly, finally pulling his eyes away from Aidan. “I’ve been kind of a dick, so I find that hard to believe.”

“You pushed me hard, harder than you should have. You wanted me out and gone, and sometimes you were unfair. Butyou didn’t use your position unfairly. You didn’t try to force me to do something I didn’t want to do.”