Page 52 of A Million To Fall

I nod, jaw tight.

“But there was no trace of you, Boss. You just disappeared from one day to the next. Literally. Just… gone.” He drags both hands down his face. “I couldn’t find you. I called. I texted. I went to your place, but… Fuck, it was empty,” he chokes.

My heart screeches to a momentary halt.

He was looking for me. When I thought no one cared, Jake was looking for me.

He takes a deep breath, his brow softening. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“Not really,” I mutter, dragging a hand through my hair. “It’s just… none of it’s good.”

The words stick in my throat, so I skip to the part I can actually say. “I left Stillwater. Lived in Rochester for a while. Then in March, I found out about my mom’s arrest and came back. Cass and Bronx are with a foster family and—”

“Oh, shit,” Jake mutters. He knows how much of the responsibility of raising them always fell into my lap.

“I’m trying to get a place, apply for guardianship, but that takes money I don’t have. I’m saving everything I can but… it’s slow-going.”

He nods, shoulders heavy. “Boss, I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

Jake studies me for a moment. Then his shoulders square. “Come with me.”

I chuckle at his resolve. “What?”

“I’m not letting you sleep in your car, Boss. No fucking way. You’re staying with me,” he says. “At least until you have enough for your own damn place, okay?”

He’s serious. I can see it in his eyes. There’s nothing performative about this. And I’ll admit, the idea of having a real bed to sleep in—to be completely horizontal and stretch out at night—makes me salivate.

Still, I hesitate. “What about your parents?”

Jake shrugs. “It’s a big-ass house. My dad still travels as much as he always has, so it’s just my mom most of the time. She won’t mind having you around. You’re coming with me.”

“Man, are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Dude, there’s no way I’m letting you sleep in your car. In fact, I’m this fucking close”—he pinches his thumb and index finger together, leaving barely enough space for a hair to pass through— “to strapping an ankle monitor on your damn leg so you won’t just disappear on me again.”

I laugh. “I’m not planning on going anywhere.”

He cocks his head, unimpressed. “Were you planning to leave when you were seventeen?”

We both know the answer to that.

“Exactly,” he says. “Now get in your car and drive to my place. I’ll follow to make sure you don’t pull some shady U-turn.”

“Calm down,” I mutter, still grinning as I slide into my car.

Sure enough, he follows me the whole way.

His house hasn’t changed. Same gravel driveway. Same perfectly edged lawn. The air smells like freshly mowed grass and pine trees, the porch light casting a soft glow on the ornate double front doors.

“Hey, Jake?” I say when he’s about to let us inside. “Can you… not say anything? To Pace and Jon and them? Please. Nobody knows. I want to keep it that way.”

Jake nods. “Of course. Just you and me, Boss.”

He claps a hand on my back. I hitch my duffel bag higher on my shoulder, then follow him into the house.

twenty-one