“Wait,” I said as Dalton reached the door. “You checked Snake’s record. Does that mean you knew about Flynn?”
Dalton paused by the door. “Of course I did.”
“Seriously?” Axel asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You never asked,” Dalton said, seeming sincere. “Holden wanted to respect the Redemption Road’s edict to give felons a second chance without judgment. I respected that enough not to share his private info. But that asshole out there also shows not everyone is ready to give up their old ways. I was damn sure not letting my family work with a felon without checking him out.”
“But I killed someone,” Flynn said, sounding stunned. “You didn’t want to keep me away?”
Dalton shrugged. “Involuntary manslaughter, meaning it was accidental. Abusive situation. It was a damn crime you went to prison at all.”
“That’s what I said!” I exclaimed.
“Flynn isn’t a danger to any of you. If he was, I’d have made sure he didn’t stick around. This man never gave me any worries. He’s one of the good ones.”
“Well, thanks, Dalton,” Holden said. “I appreciate you looking out for us.”
“Yeah,” Axel said with a frown creasing his forehead. “Even if you didn’t share with the class.”
Dalton gave him a knowing smile. “Darlin’, you didn’t want me to tell you Flynn’s truth. You wanted that to come from him. I’m smart enough to know that.”
He went out the door, leaving an awkward tension behind.
“Well, it’s late—” I started.
“We want you in this family, but that means you have to trust us too,” Axel burst out. “I don’t care what you did before. I just don’t understand why you couldn’t tell me. Did you really think I’d tell you to fuck off? I thought you knew me better than that.”
Flynn tugged at his beard, a sure sign of his stress. “It’s not that simple, Ax. I hate what I did that night. Hate what it made me. I’ve had a hard time forgiving myself. I said I’d do it again, and I meant it, because Aiden was worth it, but I still have blood on my hands. That never washes away. And…” He shook his head. “I knew you’d probably understand. I just wasn’t so sure about Holden.”
Axel snorted. “I can see that, I guess.”
Holden muttered something to Shiloh, who made a comforting noise of agreement.
“I didn’t want to put you in a position of keeping it from everyone else,” Flynn continued. “Bad enough I did it to Bailey, but that was only because he deserved to know who he was getting involved with.”
Axel nodded. “I can respect that. I’m damn glad you told him. If you hadn’t, this would be going very differently.”
“Hell, yes, it would,” Holden said.
“But he did tell me,” I pointed out, “and it didn’t change anything. I love him.”
“Then so do we,” Gray said simply.
Shiloh and Emory had been quiet up to this point, letting my brothers take the lead. But Emory came into the room, slipping an arm around his boyfriend.
“Not that anyone asked us, but Shiloh and I think Flynn is great.”
“Yep.” Shiloh waved a finger between me and Flynn. “I knew this was going to happen. Called it last summer.”
“Mm-hmm,” Emory agreed. “It was inevitable.”
“Nice of you to tell us,” Holden complained.
“Oh, you saw it too,” Shiloh said. “You just tried to pretend you didn’t because you wanted Bailey to go to college.”
I winced. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“We’ve accepted your choices,” Holden said, sounding tired. “About school. About Flynn, too. We’re all good here, okay? I just want us all to be open and honest from now on.” His gaze swept from me to Flynn. “All of us. Can we do that?”
