Page 67 of Peaks and Promises

“Nothing,” Luke said.

I didn’t know if that made it easier or not. I’d have to start from the beginning.

“Dad caught me stealing.” I hesitated, my eyes on the beer bottle in my hand. “Stealing from him.”

“Seriously?” Zachary asked.

Luke smacked him on the arm. “Shh.”

“I took some tools and car parts he’d had in the shop, planning to sell them. He caught me red-handed. And before you tell me it’s fucked up to steal from your own father, I know. I knew it then, too, but I was too stupid and angry to face what I’d done.

“When he confronted me, I lost it. Tore into him. I called him every name in the book. Told him I hated him and that he wasn’t my father. He said a lot, too, and in the end, told me to leave and never come back. I don’t blame him for that. No man should have to take that kind of abuse from one of his kids.”

“Then what?” Josiah asked.

“After I left, I landed in a town out in Texas. I joined a motorcycle club. And by that, I don’t mean a group of guys who ride Harleys. I mean an outlaw club. We had some businesses that were more or less legit—a bar, a strip club, a garage, stuff like that. But those were mostly fronts for the illegal stuff we were doing.”

“Shit,” Luke muttered.

“I’m not proud of who I was or the things I did. I was in a dark place. That’s not an excuse, but it kept me from even thinking about coming home. I wanted to keep pretending the life I was living was fine. Even though, deep down, I knew it wasn’t.”

“Is this the same club your girl was talking about?” Zachary asked.

“What girl?” Luke asked.

“No, and I’ll get to that. My club disbanded. We got into a war with a rival club, and it got violent. Really violent. None of the higher-ups made it out alive. And those of us who did wanted out. Some of the guys kept the businesses we already had and went fully legit. I partnered with some of the others, and we started hiring ourselves out as bouncers and security guards. Our business morphed into private security, investigative work, that sort of thing.”

“So, you’re not a criminal anymore?” Zachary asked.

“No.”

He nodded. “Good to know. Garrett, you don’t need to arrest him.”

Garrett shot him a confused look. “I never said I was going to.”

“Yeah, but the rest of us wanted to beat the shit out of him, so I figure you’d want to arrest him.”

“Okay, so you got out of the motorcycle club and started doing private security,” Theo said, getting the conversation back on track. “Was that like a week ago, or did you still just not come home?”

“It’s been almost ten years.”

“What the hell, man?” Theo asked. “Why did it take you so long?”

It took me a moment before I could speak again. What I was about to say was hard to admit. “I didn’t think I’d be welcome. I figured I’d burned that bridge to the ground and there was no going back. And if I did come home, and any of you were willing to talk to me, once you knew the truth, that would be it. I couldn’t face that kind of rejection, even though I deserve it.”

“Do you seriously think we suck that badly?” Zachary asked. “So you did some criminal shit. You really thought we’d hold that against you for the rest of your life? Come on. We’re your family.”

“It’s a domino effect,” I said. “Once I went down that road, it seemed impossible to come back. I felt guilty for what I did to Dad, for leaving, for not coming home… I’m sorry. I’m sorry to all of you.”

“You’re here now,” Theo said. “That counts for something.”

“Yeah, I still want to be pissed, but my daughter loved you,” Zachary said. “And she’s basically a genius, so I have to listen to her.”

“Everyone has done things they aren’t proud of,” Luke said. “We’ve all been there.”

“Maybe not criminal motorcycle club things, but yeah,” Theo said. “We have.”

“I’m too old to keep holding grudges.” Josiah lifted his beer toward the center of the table. “I’m glad you’re back.”