Page 66 of Fierce-Hyde

“She’ll chase you and you know it, and though I don’t think she can hurt her back, she can hurt other muscles.”

“I hate this,” CeeCee said. “I feel so good and can’t wait to get back to life, but then I try to do things and am like ‘yep, that’s not working right.’”

“Don’t push it too much,” he said. “How is PT going?”

“Great,” CeeCee said. “Cody is awesome. It’s kind of nice having a bit of a connection to him through your relationship with Ryder. He asked how Ryder was as a kid.”

“Just what he doesn’t need to know,” he said, smiling.

“I won’t say too much,” CeeCee said. “And Ryder is a different person now anyway. So are you.”

“I’m trying,” he said.

“What’s going on?” CeeCee asked.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you avoided my question on where you got the bracelet,” his mother said.

She was sharp like that.

“At the festival yesterday.”

“You went to the art festival by yourself?” CeeCee asked, frowning.

“No,” he said. Might as well tell them the truth. “I went on a date. I’m seeing someone.”

“Who?” his mother asked.

“Does it matter?” he asked.

“A little,” his mother said. “As far as I know you haven’t been interested in anyone since Shana. I’m not saying you haven’t dated or done things I don’t want to know about, but not seeing someone.”

His mother wasn’t wrong. “It’s time to move on,” he said. “Nothing is going to bring Shana back. Not my guilt either.”

“There is nothing for you to feel guilty about,” CeeCee said. “She made that decision to go out that night because she thought you were doing something you weren’t. You can’t spend your life convincing people you’re someone you’re not.”

“Normally people say that when they are trying to be a poser,” he said, frowning. “Or being something out of reach.”

“In this situation, you’re trying to show a positive from a negative. It shouldn’t be hard. You shouldn’t have to slave over it your whole life, Hyde,” his mother said. “You made poor decisions in your past like a lot of people. And now you’ve got one more thing to carry around your neck. Enough is enough.”

Not what he wanted to hear even if it was the truth.

Already going in, he was feeling as if he was working twice as hard with Tori for her to know he wasn’t the playboy cad of his past.

“It’s my life to deal and worry about,” he said.

“Does that mean you’re worried about it with this person?” his mother asked. “Who is it?”

He debated telling his mother and sister everything, but figured, what would it hurt?

“It’s Cody’s wife Raina’s best friend, Tori.”

“Oh,” CeeCee said. “That’s great. So then she knows other people who know you. You get along well with Raina at work, right?”

“It’s not as simple as that,” he said.

“What did you do, Hyde?” his mother asked.

He told them everything.

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