Page 60 of The Long Game

Colton licked his lips and swallowed. “I want to stay, but you don’t know what you’re promising,” he said, and Grady ached at the sadness in his eyes. “What if you’re supposed to arrest me?”

Grady’s stomach plunged. “Is that what you think will happen?”

“I don’t know. Not really.” Colton shrugged. “I didn’t hurt anyone or anything.”

“Okay,” Grady said. “Well, I promised to be honest, so I have to agree that if you confessed to murdering someone, then we might have a problem. But just so we’re clear, I wouldstillwant to help you any way I could.”

Colton shook his head, his jaw working. “Cops see shit as black and white. If I committed a crime, that’s not going to bother you?”

“If you’re doing something illegal now, then yes, I’m going to ask you to stop. And if you’re not, then whatever you’re worried about is in the past. If there are reparations to be made, then we’ll figure that out. If there are legal ramifications for whatever you’ve done, I’ll help you, not push you out.”

Colton looked surprised and, frustratingly, still disbelieving.

Grady had no idea how to convince someone whose family had betrayed him that he, a member of the same family, could be trusted. It was a huge hurdle, and if Grady couldn’t figure out how to clear it, he knew Colton would take off.

Grady couldn’t even blame him. He just desperately wished he knew what to do, what to say, to change Colton’s mind.

Jack knew exactlywhat to do.

“I was in prison.”

Colton’s head snapped up, his look incredulous.

Jack smiled sadly. “No bullshit. You have my word on that, too. I got five years for armed robbery when I was younger. Paid my dues and got out, then met Grady years later. When I figured out he was a cop, I was sure we could never be friends.”

Grady smiled. “He was a stubborn ass about it, too.”

“I was. I thought he would neverwantto be friends with me. He’s a cop, and I’m a criminal.”

“You are not,” Grady said. “That’s certainly not howIsee you.”

“I am, though, and for a lot of people, that’s all I’ll ever be. I’m sure people wonder how we’re friends. Or think I’m not good enough,” Jack said with a glance at Grady, who appeared appalled by the idea. “But not Grady. When he says it won’t be a problem, it won’t. In all these years, he’s never made me feel bad about it. He’s never so much as brought it up.”

Colton chewed his lip, thoughtful, and Jack hoped like hell he was getting through.

“My point is, we’re not going to judge,” Jack said, working on a hunch that had been steadily growing in his gut. “You were on your own, sleeping under bridges. If you had to do things to survive, we’re not going to condemn you for that.”

Colton’s eyes welled with tears.

And Jack’s heart broke.Damn it.He’d so wanted to be wrong.

“You can tell us anything, Colton,” Grady said softly. “Anything at all. Or you can keep it to yourself until you’re ready to tell us, and you’ll still be welcome here. Before, after, always.”

“But I sold myself,” Colton whispered, the tears spilling over.

Jack’s own eyes stung but he clung to Grady and said nothing, afraid to so much as breathe.

“I needed money,” Colton continued, voice barely a croak. “I needed food and a warm place to sleep and it was so fucking easy.” His voice cracked and more tears fell.

Jack put a tentative hand between Colton’s shoulder blades and Colton fell against Jack’s chest. He hid his face in Jack’s shirt, his breath hitching with a sob, and Jack pulled him in tight, staring at Grady over Colton’s head.

Jack felt cracked open with sympathy and grief, all the tender, vulnerable inside bits exposed to the air, defenseless. Colton’s tears soaked his shirt and the skin over Jack’s heart, where he’d indelibly marked his own journey to excise his demons. Jack wanted nothing more than to spare Colton the distance he’d had to travel to get to this point.

“I don’t belong here,” Colton said, voice muffled. “Maybe if I’d come this way sooner. Maybe if I’d—”

“No,” Grady said, hoarse but firm. “Please don’t say that.”

Jack couldn’t bear to see the agony in Grady’s eyes.

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