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"So a I’ to keep an eye on hiht be easier if I take over Lenny watch"

"I brought hi silence during which Gray and Hudson gave each other a long look

"What?" Aidan snapped

"Lenny’s a friend of yours," Gray said "That’s what And he’s an alcoholic Not your fault, by the way So you don’t have to take responsibility for him"

"I said I’d do it," Aidan said

Gray looked at hi on to Dad" A muscle in his jaw ticked "Hudson still wants to track hiut ache Track hiht a tidal wave of ht he’d found his dad cheating He could re the shit beat out of hi home to his mom But what he remembered most was the look on hison her Which had been nothing compared to her expression when she discovered Richard had laid his hands on Aidan He’d never intended for her to know that Had wished she hadn’t figured it out Because as he’d known it would, it just about killed her

And then Richard had shown up and that hen Char clocked hi pan …

Gray had been away at camp He had no idea that a thirteen-year-old Aidan had been the catalyst for the fight No one but Char knew Shortly after that, she’d found out about the other kids Richard had deserted, which further cemented her hatred of the man who’d never lived up to his own responsibilities

One year later the twins had shown up in Cedar Ridge, and Char, being a better person than anyone Aidan had ever known, had taken the a few years later

Aidan had been doubly resolved to keep what had happened between him and Richard a secret after that Hud and Jacob were socare of theirAidan wanted to do was destroy any fantasy memory they had of their dad as well And then there was Gray If he ever found out, Aidan probably wouldn’t be able to keep Gray fro him

Nope, the secret was still his alone to keep "I told you to forget it," he said to Hud "We don’t need hiot us in this et us out His fault, his problereed "But our proble and everyone in his life will be a joke We’ve never been able to count on him, how much help do you really expect him to be? No, we do this as always--on our own"

While he and Hudson were going back and forth, they lost Gray, as staring down at his phone, shaking his head

"Seriously?" Hudson asked hi on his phone

Two seconds later his phone buzzed again He looked pained as he read the response

"Care to share with the class?" Aidan asked banally