Page 60 of Shared By the Mountain Men

“I was covering for a friend,” I finally said.

Melissa cocked her head. “At the via ferrata climbing office?”

“No,” I replied. “The reason I went to prison.”

Her entire body language changed. Shoulders stiffening, eyes blinking too much, an aloof toss of her hair while she pretended like it wasn’t a big deal. That’s how everyone reacted when they learned I was in prison. It stung every goddamn time.

“You don’t have to explain,” she said. “I shouldn’t have pried when I asked—”

“I’m trying to tell you the fucking story,” I snapped.

Damnit. That’s not how I wanted to act.

“I… I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,” I said. “Just let me get this out, all right?”

She swallowed her bite and nodded, eyes wide with curiosity—or fear. This was why I didn’t let people in.

“A buddy and I were at the Denver airport, flying to Dallas,” I explained. “When we went through security, all the alarms went off and the TSA agents flipped out. The bag they pulled out of the metal detector was my buddy’s. He’d gone camping the week before, in bear country, and had forgotten about his pistol.”

“Oh no,” she whispered.

“My buddy sees his bag and starts whimpering like a baby. Muttering how he’s fucked, his life would be ruined. He had a government job with a security clearance, and two kids. I could see his entire life, everything he had worked hard to build, falling apart before our eyes in a few heartbeats. So when the TSA agent demanded to know whose bag it was, I stepped forward.”

Melissa blinked. “Really?”

“I couldn’t let that happen to him. He had so much to lose. A career, a family, alife. But me, I had a clean record. Not so much as a speeding ticket. My job didn’t require a security clearance. I could take the hit, whatever it was. The whole thing was an embarrassing misunderstanding, so I thought I would get slapped with a warning.”

My laugh was bitter, even after all these years.

“My lawyer told me it was a third-degree felony, that I would get a few hundred hours of community service. Boy, was he wrong. Turns out my buddy bought the gun from a friend of a friend. It had come across state lines, and the serial number was filed off. I couldn’t explain how I had acquired it without throwing my buddy under the bus, so they hit me with the big boy felonies. Long story short: sentenced to four years in prison, and I got out on parole in two.”

The pitying look Melissa gave me was another way everyone reacted, and another thing I absolutely hated about telling my story. “I can’t believe your friend let you take the fall. I can see why you have trust issues.”

I let out another bitter laugh. “That’s not why I don’t trust people. At least, not the main reason.”

“Oh no…”

“I was engaged at the time.” Saying it out loud didn’t sting anymore; instead, it was a dull ache in my gut. “My fiancée was angry that I had taken the fall, but claimed she still supported me. She promised to take care of my house and dog while I was in prison. But as soon as I was gone, she moved out and rented my house to some friends of hers. She took my dog with her and shacked up with a new boyfriend.”

Melissa’s mouth hung open, but she said nothing.

“She pretended everything was normal, like we were still engaged, until my parole went through. Then she stopped answering texts. When I got out, nobody was waiting for me. I caught a bus ride home and found three strangers living in my house. And the worst part was that all my plants were dead.”

Melissa blinked. “Plants? You had houseplants?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I… sorry. Stupid assumption. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

I shrugged. “I felt like such a fucking idiot. She strung me along for two years, pretending like she was waiting for me to get out. And the whole time, she had already moved on with her life. And my buddy, the one I took the fall for? He knew about everything: my house being rented out, my fiancée moving in with a new man. He didn’t have the balls to tell me.” I felt my jaw clenching, but I couldn’t stop myself. “He said he didn’t want me to lose hope. That it wouldn’t have mattered since I was in prison.

“So I sold my place and moved out to the mountains. Even that was a pain in the ass because I had to transfer to a new parole officer. Just another reminder that I’d given up a huge fucking part of my freedom for someone who wasn’t even my friend anymore. But I got away, and never looked back.” I gestured at the view before us. “And here I am, doing this.”

I didn’t meet her gaze, but I could feel Melissa staring at me with big, sad eyes. I hated that look. It made me feel like a victim all over again, every single goddamn time.

Rather than say something, Melissa clung to me in a tight hug. All the tension left my body. I’d been prepared for all the pitying comments that I always heard, but I wasn’t expecting a hug. Just like the first hug, it softened my defenses and made mefeelsomething.

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