Max and the Prince Read Online Free PDF Page B

before?” he asked.
    “Flown over it a couple of times,” Max answered.
    “How interesting. How long were you in the Air Force?”
    “Nine years.”
    “What did you fly?”
    “Tornado GR4, aerial reconnaissance.”
    “That is such a wonderful career to have had. I’m jealous, I
think. The freedom up there to fly over countries and see everything from the
sky…” Lucien huffed a laugh. “I must sound like such an idiot.”
    Max shook his head and decided to cut the kid some slack. Lucien
mentioned that word freedom and it clearly meant a lot to him. Yes, there was
freedom within the rules, and Max considered how to explain. “You’re right.
When you get up into the clouds, above the clouds, with glimpses of the country
below, it’s awe-inspiring.”
    The car reached the bridge over the Severn, the suspension
rising above them, and Max recalled one particular flight where he’d got too
close for comfort to a bridge like this. He decided not to share that with
Lucien because the prince apparently wanted to focus on the above-the-clouds
part of it all.
    “How much is the toll on this road?” Lucien asked as he
scrabbled in his pocket for change.
    “Five pounds or so. I have it covered.”
    Lucien subsided into his seat. “Okay. Make sure you add it
to expenses.”
    “I can cover a toll.”
    “But you shouldn’t have to.” Lucien was so earnest it was
cute. “Keeping me safe is a job, not some holiday in Wales.”
    “Jesus, okay, I’ll make sure I tell the office.”
    “Good, good.”
    They passed the tolls and finally in the tunnel that would
bring them to the outskirts of Newport. They were maybe ten or so miles from
Cardiff. “Tell me where I need to go.”
    Lucien gave good instructions that had them pulling down a
side street in among many similar streets filled with rows of terraced houses in
tidy, regimented lines, most with rental signs on the walls.
    “It’s all student housing,” Lucien advised. “So there’s
always parking of sorts because not a lot of students have cars.”
    Max didn’t really care where he parked his Ford; it was ten
years old and way past looking like it was cared for. He parallel - parked outside 55 Springs Road, and they pulled out his
bags then went inside the house and between them managed to shut the door.
    Max dropped his bags in the hall and Lucien piled the others
on top. Lucien was talking to him but he wasn’t listening to the prince, his
thoughts on other things. The street itself was empty of people, with not many
cars. There were black sacks at the curb waiting for rubbish pickup, and a
large roll of carpet blocked the path three houses down. The area had the air
of being unkempt, but was tidy enough that there were no places for potential
bad guys to hide. No narrow alleys, just house after house joined to each
other.
    The front door of Lucien’s place was secure. It double locked,
there was a chain inside and the door itself was heavy and solid.
    “Who has a key?” Max asked.
    “Me, Jamie, and Emily, I guess. Tommy would have had one,
but when he dropped out, I assume he sent the key back to the people we rent
from. They’re a family who own about ten of these houses and they’d have keys,
of course. There is a general maintenance guy who comes in when we need him. He
has a key.”
    “Stay here,” Max ordered.
    To his credit, all Lucien did was nod and shrink back
against the hall wall with apprehension on his face. Too close to fear, it was not
an emotion Max liked to see in his clients, even when his switching into
bodyguard mode was probably at the root of it. The house was quiet, no evidence
of Lucien’s two housemates, but Max wanted to do a walkthrough as it stood. If
he came across a housemate, then he had his excuse ready. I’m on the same
degree course as Lucien, I’m Lucien’s boyfriend, I need a place to stay, and
sorry to interrupt . He was lucky, he met no one and didn’t need to use any
of the excuses.
    There were four