Page 73 of Byte

“No! It’s nothing like that. It’s about my past.”

Her shoulders relaxed slightly, but her body was still tense. “What about it?”

“Most of what I told you about my past was true. I did move to Cedar Valley after my mother died. Irene helped me get on my feet, and I joined the club not long after. What I didn’t tell you was that my stepfather killed my mother and tried to kill me. I pushed him down the stairs to keep him from stabbing me.”

“Oh, Byte,” she started.

“There’s more,” I interrupted. “He didn’t die from the fall. He was hurt but not dead. I knew he would place the blame on me for what I did to him and what he did to my mother. He was still holding the knife, so I lifted his arm and essentially made him stab himself. He was gone within a few seconds.”

“It was self-defense,” she said vehemently.

“Pushing him down the stairs was self-defense. Stabbing him after the fact wasn’t.”

“It was self-preservation then,” she countered.

“Yes, it was, but it was also murder,” I pointed out. “I didn’t know if they would believe he killed my mother and fell on the knife, or if they would accuse me of killing them both. If they thought I did it, I would’ve gone to prison. If they thought he did it, I would’ve been put in foster care. Neither of those outcomes were okay with me, so I ran.”

“You wouldn’t have been put in foster care. You were eighteen.”

I shook my head. “No, Gabby, I wasn’t. I was fourteen.”

“You were fourteen? When you came to Cedar Valley? When you joined the club?”

I nodded. “I’d already been making fake IDs for other kids. That night, I made one for myself and left town the next morning.”

“So, you’re four years younger than you told me?”

“Yes, and my name’s not Michael Fuller.”

“What is it?”

“Blake Williams,” I said quietly.

“I knew Michael didn’t sound right.”

“I’ve wanted to tell you myrealreal name from the moment you asked. The lie I’ve been living has never bothered me. Until you.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you,” I said simply. “I love you in a way I didn’t know was possible. And I couldn’t keep lying to you. Even if telling you the truth meant losing you.”

“You’re not going to lose me,” she whispered.

“I’m not?”

“None of what you told me changes who you are. If anything, it reinforces it.”

I reached for her and carefully pulled her into my arms. “I love you so damn much.”

“I love you, too, Blake.”

I smoothed my hand over her hair and held her tightly. The relief I felt from sharing the deepest and darkest parts of my life with her was overwhelming. It felt like I could finally breathe freely without a massive weight on my chest.

“Does anyone besides me know?” she asked.

“Phoenix knows. He’s always known. I told him the day he asked me to prospect.”

“He agreed to let a fourteen-year-old prospect for the club?”

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