What everyone else had done in their twenties had passed by him.
Thad had been sentenced to five years, with a possibility of parole after three, because of the plea deal he’d taken.
But then some dude had taken a liking to Teddy, harassing him, and Thad had thoroughly put him in his place. He hadn’t killed him, thank God, but the fight had removed any possibility of early parole and tacked on another five years to his sentence with the addition of what the courts considered assault.
Now, Thad slipped on shower shoes and ducked into the shower room, turning his back to the wall because you could take a guy out of prison, but some things never left him.
He’d been twenty-eight when he finally walked out of prison, with only gate money and a bus ticket to his name. He’d had no family waiting for him on the other side.
At the time, he’d been estranged from his parents and pissed at Gavin.
So, he’d spent years bouncing around from job to job, barely scraping by. He’d worked menial jobs all over the place, first in Pennsylvania, then New York.
The grind of it had worn on him but, eventually, the work he’d done for a restaurant, then a small print company had given him some marketing and social media experience, and he’d used that to land a job at a promising startup in New York.
They’d been one of those companies that claimed to be super liberal and all about helping ex-cons. Thad had never liked the owner, had always gotten the feeling the guy didn’t give two shits about people who’d been incarcerated and mostly wanted the social cachet of claiming to be “one of the good guys”.
He’d also been shit at his job and had run the company into the ground within a couple of years.
But before that, when Thad had started with the company and felt like his life was maybe finally getting back on track, he’d reached out to Gavin. He’d had dinner with him and his fiancé at the time, Rory.
Thad hadn’t liked Rory either.
Rory had felt as shallow and social climbing as Thad’s boss as he sneered at Thad through most of the meal. And Thad didn’t trust that he actually loved his brother. Or at least not more than he loved what was in his bank account.
When Gavin got up to use the restroom, Thad had flirted with Rory, to see if he was actually the loyal type. Of course, Gavin had come back at the worst possible moment, and they’d finished the dinner in chilly silence.
Out on the street, Gavin and Thad had exchanged words, while Rory looked on, acting like the smug prick he was.
Thad hadn’t been invited to the wedding.
Thankfully, those days were over, Rory was in the past, and Thad and his brother had begun to mend their relationship.
Clean now, Thad wrapped a towel around himself, using another to dry his skin as he walked back into the dressing room. The O’Sheas were already dry and dressed now, and Thad gave them a vague wave as they left, arguing and jostling together like they were still on the ice.
They made him envious sometimes. For a lot of reasons, but mostly because he’d had a similar relationship with Gavin when they were kids.
Thad swiped on deodorant as he thought about the fallout from that disastrous dinner with Rory. He’d stayed in New York after that, focusing on work for the next couple of years.
But that had been yanked out from under him too, because one day Thad had felt like he was finally getting his life together andbam, the next he was out of work.
He’d spent a while fruitlessly watching his meager savings disappear as he desperately hunted for a new job.
Nothing came.
At his wits’ end, Thad had finally looked Gavin up, seen he’d gotten the position with the Harriers and divorced Rory, and wondered.
So Thad had slunk back to Boston with his tail between his legs and essentially threatened his brother with exposing the truth about his past to get a job with the Harriers.
Despite all that, it had somehow all worked out in the end, and, thanks to Gavin’s new partner, Dakota, they’d mended some fences.
But Thad still felt like it all might disappear in a puff of smoke if he did something wrong.
“Hey, are you okay?” Gavin asked with a frown.
Thad turned to look at him, blinking. “Yeah, dude, I’m fine.” He tugged his shirt on.
“You’ve seemed a little … down or something this week?”
