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“I’m going to grab him,” I say.
“He knows what time lunch is, Falcon.” From Mom.
“I know. But I need to talk to him for a minute.”
Just as well if we can do it in his office. I don’t really want to announce to Mom and Raven that I need my daddy to write me a letter for my parole officer.
The parole officer I’m fucking on a regular basis.
I walk down the hallway and knock on the door to Dad’s study.
“Yeah, I’m coming, Star.”
I open the door. “It’s me, Dad.”
Dad sits behind his desk, wearing his reading glasses. He raises his eyebrows. “Falcon, what do you need?”
I walk in and shut the door behind me. “It seems my parole officer needs a statement saying that I’m gainfully employed.”
“What for?”
“Some kind of red tape. She just needs to know that I’m working for a living.”
“You’ve been working your ass off around here since you could walk, ”Dad says.
“Yeah. I know that you know that, but that doesn’t satisfy the government. If you could just type up something. Or have Madison do it at the office. But I need it right away. Like today.”
“Today?”
“Yeah.”
Dad wrinkles his forehead. “Haven’t you already had your meeting today?”
“No. It’s this afternoon.”
I don’t particularly like lying to my father, but I can’t tell him that I promised to have it when Savannah comes over to my place tonight.
“Go on over to the office. Tell Madison what it needs to say, and she’ll type it up for you. She signs my name better than I do.”
“Okay. Thanks, Dad.”
I turned to leave when—
“Falcon?”
“Yeah?”
“I expect you to stay on the straight and narrow, son.”
“Dad…”
“I may never know what happened that day.” He glances out the window of this study. “God knows you and your brothers won’t tell me. Of course I’ve always had my suspicions.”
I don’t say anything. I made a promise long ago, and I will keep it.
“I don’t worry about Hawk. Though with how quiet he is, I always wonder if he’s keeping something inside. But Eagle…” Dad shakes his head. “That boy’s been a rebel his whole life. He’s a loose cannon, and I know he’s the one who shot that hunter. Damn, if only he hadn’t been a cop.”
I keep my lips sewn shut.
“I think it’s an amazing thing, Falcon, that you feel so protective of your brother. But you’ve paid dearly for that. Doing time isn’t something you can erase.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I step forward and place my hands on Dad’s desk more harshly than I mean to. A few papers flutter to the floor. “I lived it, Dad, and trust me, it was far from pretty.”
“I know that. There’s something I never told you boys.” Dad takes off his reading glasses and sets them on his desk. “I’d like to tell you now, if you’ll level with me.”
“You can tell me whatever you want, Dad, and if you ask me to, I’ll take it to my grave. But I won’t promise to level with you about something else I promised to take to my grave.”
“Well, I can’t help but respect you for that. You’re a good man, Falcon.”
“It’s too bad the state of Texas doesn’t agree with you.”
“You have to live with the consequences of your actions. You’re an ex-con now. That’s going to follow you the rest of your life. You can try to make up for it. You can be the best man on earth. You’re still going to be an ex-con.”
“I know.”
“You were twenty-two years old when you made your deal with the devil,” Dad says. “You were still a kid yourself in many ways, but you were man enough to protect your brother.”
I sigh, raking my fingers through my hair. “I know that, Dad.”
Dad rises, walks out from behind his desk, and locks the door to his office. “I’m going to tell you something now. Something no one knows about me. Not even your mother. Only your grandparents knew, and they’re both gone now.”
A chill skitters over me. Whatever it is, he felt he had to lock the door. “What’s that?”
“I spent a year in juvie when I was sixteen years old.”
My jaw nearly drops to the floor. “You think that’s anything like what I went through?”
“Did I say that? But I was locked up, same as you were. And I bear some scars from it.”
Scars he won’t talk about I’m sure. I won’t talk about mine either.
“Because I was a juvenile,” he continues, “once I’d done my time, my record got expunged. As far as the courts are concerned, it never happened.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“I figured I’d tell you once you were out. But you’re on your honor never to mention it to anyone, and that includes anyone in this family, especially your mother.”
“Why would anyone care? That was a hell of a long time ago.”
