Page 106 of Caught Stealing

Which is why I know Holden is right, and though it might be hard and painful at first, I have to start choosing myself. Because if I’m sure of anything, I don’t want to live with regrets. Especially when it comes to this.

Though the fear of the unknown is still there, the pressure on my chest lessens, if only slightly. But it’s progress, and that’s more than I could ask for earlier tonight.

Baby steps,Holden had said. And he’s been right about so much of this in the end, I have to believe he’s right about this too.

There’s just one part of this that feels wrong. One thing he told me that…I just don’t see as a possibility. And it’s a concern I whisper aloud, though I know he’s not awake to hear it.

“I don’t know if he’ll forgive me for falling in love with you.”

Twenty-Nine

Holden

The last thing I expected from the townhouse meeting I called was the tables being turned on me and my fuck ups. After all, the entire reason I called this little meeting in the first place was because Oakley’s been so MIA lately; the only reason we knew he was alive was because Cam let us know he was still showing up at the rink.

Discussing my love life was never meant to be on the table, yet in true Holden Sykes fashion, it seems like that’s exactly what’s happening.

“You in or you out?” Oakley asks, glancing between Theo and Camden.

“No, don’t come in here acting like you give a shit now, Oak. It doesn’t fucking work that way,” I say before sinking back into the couch.

Oakley gives me an apologetic look, his eyes softening around the edges. “Except I do care, and I’m sorry I made you feel like I didn’t.”

I can tell he means it from his expression alone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still irritated as hell that he hasn’t been around, but I need to talk to him. For him to help me get my head on straight with all the secrets and the feelings I don’t know what to do with. Otherwise, I’m liable to screw this all up more than I already have, especially with the way I found Phoenix last night when I snuck into his room.

I shake my head, unable to help the hint of a smile forming at the corner of my lips. “Fucking dick.”

“Aw, look at that. Mom and Dad made up,” Camden says with a laugh.

Theo’s attention flicks between me and Oakley. “Which one of them is Mom?”

I open my mouth to rebut—Oakley’s obviously the mom—except he takes the opportunity to steer us back to the subject at hand.

“So what happened?” he asks, brow arched.

The smile working its way onto my face falls, the question sobering me instantly. “Like I said, I fucked up. All there really is to it.”

“But how?”

“Does this have anything to do with what’s going on with Phoenix and Kason? Because those two are thick as thieves, and they haven’t spoken in weeks,” Theo muses, eyes locked on me.

If looks could kill.

He knows damn well this is about them. He might not have all the details, but he’s far more aware than he lets on. I’d bet anything he’s already pieced this together a while ago and just hasn’t said anything. Then again, I’m sure Theo sharing the basement floor with me only leaves so much to the imagination.

The only thing he doesn’t know is that through my original pursuit of Kason…I ended up falling in love with Phoenix instead.

The thought causes my head to drop to my hands, shoulders slumping in defeat before repeating myself. “Like I said. I. Fucked. Up.”

“Well, now I’m intrigued,” Cam says, shifting on the couch beside me. “Theo, go grab the popcorn. We might be here a while.”

I hear Theo rise from the couch, his footfalls retreating away and—

Is he actually getting fucking popcorn right now?

Fuck, I’m ready to abort this mission. The messed-up status of my love life really isn’t what I want tonight’s entertainment to be. No matter how much I could use even one good piece of advice.

“Guys, seriously,” I tell them. “It’s a saga, and not a good one.”

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