Page 34 of Hurt

“What did he do?”

“Besides reading me passages from a fanfiction that makes me question his mental health, he also ate my entire stock of Maraschino Cherries, was assaulted by my nephew multiple times, and then…” Kurt faltered. He didn’t want to tell Grant about his panic attack. To be honest, he still wasn’t 100% sure how Jamie had managed to stop it. No one had ever seen him panic like that, and in the past, it only stopped when his hyperventilation put him on the brink of unconsciousness.

“Your nephew?” Grant asked. He either didn’t notice the pause at the end of Kurt’s sentence, or he chose to let Kurt keep it private.

“Yes.” He could have kicked himself. People didn’t need to know about Noah. It would be impossible to keep his presence a secret, but he shouldn’t go around announcing it.

“Nice of him to come visit. Not a lot for a teenager to do around here.”

Kurt froze. He didn’t tell him how old his nephew was. The blood rushed in his ears, and he felt a mixture of fear and anger begin to take hold. Grant was staring at him with a soft expression, completely relaxed. Did he know he just let something slip? The man was impossible to read.

Unlike Roland, he wasn’t wearing a suit jacket. His dress shirt had the top two buttons undone, and the sleeves rolled up. The faintest lines from a tattoo were visible against his skin, and his hair was pushed up off his lean face. From the outside, he looked completely harmless. Pleasant, even.

Kurt called bullshit. There was a steely glint in his eye, faint and hidden behind lines from a fake smile. But he had been around enough predators in his life to know one when he saw it, no matter how well it was camouflaged.

“How much do you know about my family?” Kurt asked tersely.

Grant studied him. “More than I should and less than I’d like.”

In a split second, Kurt was over the bar. Sliding across the polished surface, he landed heavily in front of him. Before Grant could react, Kurt had grabbed the front of his shirt and kicked the stool out onto two legs. Holding him up by his shirt, he cocked his fist back like a firing pin of a gun—primed and ready.

“Why do you care so much about my family?”

Grant was non-plussed. His hazel eyes never broke contact. He didn’t even bring his hands up to defend himself. “Have a drink with me.”

Kurt balked as if Grant had struck him. “What?”

A slow smile spread over Grant’s features. “You don’t need to threaten me. I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Just have a drink with me.”

Grant’s right hand waved subtly. Kurt looked over and realized Jamie was holding a shattered pool stick at his back. There was a definite point where he had snapped the wood.

“You sure, boss?” he asked brightly.

Grant nodded, and Jamie twirled the stick around his fingers, bowing his head toward them before sauntering back to the pool tables.

Swallowing thickly, Kurt softened his grip on the eldest Weaver brother. Setting the stool upright, he stepped back. “I didn’t even hear him.”

Grant chuckled. “He’s got a loud mouth but quiet feet.”

“I was threatening you, and you called your guard off?”

Grant stood and kicked the stool behind him. Straightening his wrinkled shirt, he looked down at Kurt.

“I would take a thousand punches to the face before I allowed anyone to hurt you, Kurt.”

He couldn’t process what Grant was saying. And since when was the man so tall? Kurt was feeling flustered, and he didn’t know what to do. People threatening him? Sure. He knew how to defend himself. Pain? He was used to that.

But this? He didn’t even know what to call it, let alone how to react.

Taking a step back, his back bumped into the bar, and he jumped. He realized he was beginning to feel claustrophobic. When did he get so close to Grant? Kurt didn’t do that. He didn’t like being close to people, especially men bigger than him.

Grant didn’t follow him. He stayed where he was, watching Kurt with an indulgent sort of smile. Like he was enjoying himself.

“Let me buy you a drink.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you have questions that I’m happy to answer. And because I want to have a drink with you.”