Page 18 of Here's to Now

“No?”

“I meant my past. Are you going to tell them I’m a fucking criminal?”

Maddox blanches, visibly rearing back. “They don’t know?” His voice drops to a whisper like we’re not the only two in the shop anymore.

I shake my head. “Yes and no. They know some of it, especially the one that landed me here, but not the others.”

“But…I mean, how? Don’t all three of you have this weird bromance-bordering-on-boyfriends thing going on?”

I snort at the way he’s described our bond. “Sure, doesn’t mean we don’t all have secrets. Trust me on that.”

“Clearly.” I shoot him a glare. He mumbles an apology. “What happened?”

“Ha. Nope. Not telling your ass, and you’re not telling them either. We don’t discuss my past around here.”

“Is it that bad? You obviously didn’t kill a guy or else you wouldn’t be here.”

I involuntarily stiffen. Maddox notices immediately, his eyebrows shooting up, eyes wide. “No.” It’s whispered, gasped almost.

I told you, I did sometrulydumb shit when I was younger. Hanging out with the crowd I did wasn’t the smartest move. Getting mixed up in what I got mixed up in? Yeah, the dumbest idea ever. Have I killed someone? Not directly, but that doesn’t mean I’m not guilty of murder.

But it’s not something I want to get into or eventhinkabout.

Willing myself to relax, I sink back down, uncoiling the tension in my shoulders. “I told you, I’m not telling you.”

He stares at me, concern mixed with uncertainty. “Gaige…”

“No.”

It’s final, and he takes it for what it is.

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

I laugh humorlessly. “I highly doubt that.”

“So, Rae’s sister?”

“We’re not talking about that either.”

“Stay quiet. I got it.”

“Do you?” I look over at him, daring him to say anything other thanyes.

He doesn’t.

I push up from the stool at the same time Tuck and Hudson come strolling back into the shop with food in hand.

Hudson looks back and forth between Maddox and me. “We miss anything fun?” he asks with suspicious eyes.

I act cool. “Nope. Nothing worth hearing.”

I hear Maddox give a quiet snort, but I refuse to look over to him, to draw attention to the sound.

Hudson nods, walking past me toward his office. “Sounds good. Rae said to tell you hi, by the way.”

“I’m sorry I missed her.”

“You missed a good story,” he says, turning around and walking backward so he can still talk to me. “Her sister Haley came home drunk off her ass last night with some guy who snuck out this morning before six AM. Nowthat’sa dedicated brush-off.”

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