Page 136 of My Brother's Best Friend

He raised his brows. “She told you?”

“Yes.”

“Did she tell you anything else?”

I shrugged emptily. I didn’t know what was the truth anymore and what was a lie. She had said so much shit—doneso much shit—to me that I … I didn’t even want to think about that bitch anymore. I hadn’t cared about her since I had found out she tried to kill Maddie.

“What’d you come here to tell me, Coach?” I asked.

He ran a hand across his face. “Alec, a while before your parents married, they split up for a bit because your mother suspected that Wolfe was cheating on her. She never found evidence of it at the time, but during their split …”

“What happened?” I asked blankly, not really giving a shit.

“We were together.”

I snapped my gaze up to him. “What?”

“She didn’t want to stay with me because I never had the kind of money Wolfe did, so she left me about a month later and …” He took another long pause. “And a week after that, she announced her pregnancy.”

My jaw slackened. “She … are you?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I just couldn’t let you go off to college and never come back to Redwood without telling you. I’ve watched you grow up away from me for so long, and getting the chance to coach you,son,has been my proudest moment.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and I found myself throwing my arms around him and pulling him into the tightest embrace of my life. “I’d never think of you any differently. Being coached by you has changed my fucking life. Thank you. So much.”

CHAPTER83

MADDIE

After the funeral, we headed to Poison’s place with all our friends from the group. João sat on a dirty white plastic chair with an unlit cigarette in his mouth while flicking a lighter in front of him. I nestled on the couch next to Vera.

Alec had been acting weird since he had finished his conversation with his coach, but I attributed that to him having to bury both of his parents today. Even though he hated both of them, it must have been hard.

“Gotta give it to you.” João lit the cigarette. “Didn’t think you had the balls, Wolfe.”

“What’re you talking about?” I asked, glancing between Alec and João.

Alec stiffened. “It’s nothing, Maddie.”

João chuckled. “No shit. You didn’t tell her, did you?”

“There’s nothing to tell her,” Alec growled. “Drop it.”

“What happened?” I asked, looking from Alec to João to a suspicious Kai and back.

What aren’t they telling me? And what is this big hush-hush secret that Alec has with Poison, who he supposedly hates?

After twisting his chair around, João sat backward in it and leaned forward, cigarette between his fingers and a smirk written across his face. “Your little boyfriend took Kai’s gun and killed his mama.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“I didn’t kill her,” Alec gritted out between his teeth.

“What did she do?” I asked him.

Tears trembling in his eyes, Alec dropped down onto the couch and stared emptily at the wall that was decorated with holes the size of fists. “She was the one who sent you those messages, who put you in danger, who ordered Piper to … do what she did to me.”

“Wh-what?”

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