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"It can really shorten e And depends on how things go at camp" He sobers and looks directly into my eyes "Pete, I think you could help with the boys I’ve invited to the ca-impaired boys, the ones who can’t talk, and the ones fros I believe in you, Pete, and I want to give you an opportunity to prove you’re better than this" He esture that encompasses the room

Better than jail? Am I better than what I have become? I am not so sure

"Do we have a deal?" he asks

I nod and stick out ain for him to shake "We have a deal"

"Do you need for so?" he asks

I shake et here"

"I’ll see you at six am" He claps a hand on my shoulder and points toward the door "I believe your fa outside"

My heart trips a beat It’s been so long I can’t iain To feel normal

I nod and bite my lower lip But I steel uard station and toward the door, where they give s and ask me to check it I slide my wallet into the back pocket of s into et at least some of them back in later

"Ready?" Mr Caster asks I don’t realize he is right beside me until I look into his eyes Very softly he says, "Stop worrying so o"

They ht be, but I’h I can’t speak past the lu hard on the lock bar, pushing, and then I find myself outside the walls of the prison for the first time in two years I take a deep breath and look up at the sky Then I seeat the end of the walk and the lu to squeeze back the e beside Matt, who has the biggest grin on his face His hair has grown back, and it’s gotten longer than I’ve ever seen it on hirow out now that he knohat it’s like to lose it all to cancer He’s recovering I missed it all because I was behind bars But that’s one of the reasons why I was there I thought I could help hian is standing with his arirlfriend E the stars and the moon He points and sles out of Logan’s arms and runs toward me full force She hitsaround round and spin her around as she squeezeshome," she says "We"Where’s Sam?" I ask Her face falls, and she looks everywhere but at ut clenches I really hoped he would be

"He’s stuck at school You kno tight school schedules can be" She won’t lookI put my arm around her for a second and walk toward my brothers, but it’s only a few steps before Paul jerksHe squeezes o, you big ox," I grunt out, but when he does, he grabs h my prison cut My hair’s so short it’s not an punches an’s deaf, and he uses sign language But after eight years of silence, he started to talk right before I went to prison He signs while he speaks

"So to his hair It’s so strange hearing words co But E his voice "It looks like you went three rounds with a weed eater And lost"

Before I can answer, he’s pulling an’s special He’s wicked smart, and he’s ultra talented Eether forever, and no one doubted it froht her home with her ass tossed over his shoulder and her Betty Boop panties showing

Logan lets"Speaking of haircuts," I say, pulling on a lock of his hair "When do you think you ently on the side of my head and pullsto start calling you Goldilocks," I warn We’re all blond, and some of us are more blond than others

"Try it, asswipe," he jokes as he punches ood match"

Emily wraps her arer than when you went in," she says

"Not

"I can still take you," Logan says He flexes his an was injured in a car accident right after I went to jail, and he alo to him so badly But they wouldn’t let me out "I heard you’re an old rababout ht, E She punches him in the arm He bends at the waist and tosses her over his shoulder She squeals and beats on his butt, but he pays her no mind He never does when they do this He starts toward the subway so we can go holes there over Logan’s shoulder She’s right by ht?" she asks quietly It’s fking ridiculous the way she’s just bobbing there

"It’s good to be going hoood"

She wraps her hands around her mouth and whispers dramatically "We have beer at the apartrin I spentthey wouldn’t let it pass by without some kind of celebration "Just beer?" I whisper back playfully

She winks "There ht be some other stuff, too Like wine"

My brothers don’t do anything more than drink occasionally "Is there cake?" I ask

She nods "Sam made it" Sam’s the baker in the family It’s too bad he had to play football to earn his way into college because he’dit

"So he was ho that he was hout It fking hurts I can’t say I bla she does where she doesn’t look me in the face She’d be terrible at poker because she can’t lie worth shit

"How long do you think he’ll avoidan

I sit inwith the o, and he sentoutside a prison byHe can’t fault me for that, can he?

I freeze when I see three tatted-up e But one of theirl, a pretty lady with dirty-blond hair I sit up taller and watch them They’re friendly with one another, and you can al hands with the girl slaps her on the bottom and runs from her, and she streaks off after him until she can jump on his back She leans forward and kisses hi so to him My heartbeat stutters This is the family I’m almost certain of it They’re Peter Reed’s brothers