Page 20 of The Silent Mountain Man

"Crap."

I crouch down and gather them up. They seem to be mostly official business papers, so I don't look at them in any detail. I'm not one to pry.

I go to grab the last piece of paper on the floor, and I choke on my breath.

This isn't an official business letter…

It'smine. One of my letters I wrote to Michael all those years ago.

Right at that moment, Harrick enters the room. He stalks over to the dining table and glares at me, looming over me with his jaw clenched.

I stand up slowly, even though my heart is racing at full throttle, and lift the letter to show him. "Who the hell are you, and why the fuck do you have this letter?"

6

Harrick

This can't be happening. Thiscan'tbe happening.

But it is.

The undeniable truth of it all slammed into me in the bedroom, when Eddie told me about his first love.

Up here in the mountains.

A decade ago.

The guy with long, blond hair down to his shoulders.

That was me.

Ithasto be. There was no one else in Thickehead at that time who matched that description.

Helps explain Eddie's thing for veins, too. I remember the only time we did anything more than kissing. A side-by-side jack off. When he saw my cock for the first time, he was mesmerized. Maybe that's where he's got it from?

Combined, it was all the confirmation I needed—this Eddieismy Eddie.

A cold shower has done nothing to quell the million thoughts whirling around in my head… Or the rage simmering in my veins.

For abandoning me without so much as a goodbye letter.

For never coming back.

For moving on with his life and not giving me a second thought, discarding me like I didn't matter. Like I was just some meaningless summertime fling. A chance for a confused kid, who didn't know who he was or what he wanted to do with his life, to hang out and experiment with the wild mountain boy.

Fuck him for doing that to me.

I glare at Eddie, then shift my focus to the letter he's holding. I’d been moving some stuff around and forgot to put it away.

Then I realize…hedoesn't know it'smeyet.

I look down at my feet, take a deep breath, then slowly lift my head, my eyes connecting with his. That's the one piece of the puzzle I can't figure out. My Eddie's eyes were brown. This Eddie's eyes are blue. What gives? Does eye color change? Is that even possible?

"What's your surname?" I demand.

"No, no, no." Eddie shoves past me with a huff and starts pacing the length of the living room. "You don't get to ask the questions around here. I do."

He stops in his tracks and squints at me, like he doesn't know who he's looking at. "Answer me, dammit. Who. Are.You?"

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