He said it like a joke, but there was something genuine underneath. The worldwastoo loud out here. Too bright. Too much. The headphones might actually save me.
“I have another one,” Axel announced.
“For fuck’s sake, Axel,” Ryker snarled. But everyone else was smirking. Including me.
“Relax, I didn’t wrap this one.” Axel pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and slapped it against my chest.
I unfolded it.
A list of rules.
“Read them out loud,” he said, smirking.
I sighed. “Rule number one: No fighting. Rule number two: No stabbing. Rule number three: If you feel like doing rule one or rule two, call your brothers.”
The room went quiet for a moment.
My brothers. That’s what these men were. Not by blood, but by choice. They’d stayed with me through every appeal, every denial, every setback. Fourteen years of monthly visits and collect calls and never once giving up.
“Oh, I have one more.” He tossed me another bag.
Inside was a T-shirt that read:Ask Me About My Time Inside.
I actually laughed. A real one, not the careful, controlled sounds I’d trained myself to make behind bars.
“You’re so immature.” Blake sighed.
“How are you feeling?” Jace asked, changing the subject.
I glanced back at Harper. She was watching me with a look that made my chest tight. Anticipation. Hope. Things I wasn’t used to seeing directed at me.
“Honestly?” I met his eyes. “I’ve never felt better.”
Axel cleared his throat. When I looked at him, his expression had shifted. The smirk was gone. In its place was something I almost didn’t recognize on him.
Sincerity.
“When you’re ready,” Axel said, “there’s a place waiting for you. In my company. As my right-hand man.”
I blinked. “I thought you offered inmates reentry jobs at the ground level. Construction and labor.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “The business is getting too big for me to run alone. You have a business degree. It’s a no-brainer.”
“My parole forbids associating with ex-cons.”
“Already secured the special permission and prior approval from your parole officer,” Ryker assured.
I eyed him.
Reading the question on my face, Ryker explained, “With Axel at the helm and the company long established, it was more of a formality. So, yes, they’re allowing you to do it.”
I swallowed. Guilt swept through me, heavy and familiar. I thought of the men I’d met inside. Good men who’d never get an opportunity like this.
“It doesn’t feel fair to accept that.”
“Fair?” Axel’s eyebrows shot up. “What part of your life has been the definition of fair?”
“My life was my own making.”
