Page 48 of Beyond the Stix

Rafe folds his arms across his chest and glares. Bobby rips open the end of a pixie stick, his brown eyes filled with hurt.

“Back the fuck up,” I bark, but none of them move.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Callum steps up, matching Danny’s solemn face.

It’s too late to hide anything about Jessup. There’s only one thing to say, the truth. “It happened once… I think. I barely remember it myself. But seriously, I haven’t thought about it for a long time. In years,” I finally admit to my friends.

“Is that why we never saw your uncle when we were at your house? The parties your parents threw? I don’t remember him,” Rafe says as he tugs on his left earlobe.

“Me either.” Bobby crunches the last bit of candy off the stick. “And I’m glad. What if he did…”

“Don’t even go there.” Danny points to our drummer. “I need to talk to Connor. Alone.”

“Here we go again,” Rafe mutters and rolls his eyes. He unlocks the door and walks out.

“We’ll be just outside,” Bobby says with a thumbs up.

Callum just stands there. “I can’t believe you didn’t trust us with your secret.” He then storms out of the room, like my silence is a betrayal of our friendship.

“Give me a second.” Then Danny rushes out.

“Shit.” I rub my face in frustration. I knew eventually this was going to happen, but I didn’t think it was going to implode in a way that made my friendsmad at me.

I glance out the window, and realize the bus has stopped. Muted voices catch my attention, then I see Bobby’s blue-black, afro mohawk pass my view, along with Rafe following along.

As Bobby and Rafe head inside the gas mart, I spot John talking with Tobias. They are in a heated discussion, until a red sedan pulls up and a guy slides out of the driver’s seat.

Shit. My jealousy rears up like a mad ogre, as I catch sight of a gorgeous man—who is smiling at John as though he has the power to make the world spin around. The driver rounds the front of the car and stands way too fucking close to my bodyguard.

John’s not your bodyguard any more. You kicked him out.

No matter if John isn’t mine, my possessiveness overrides my common sense and I want to rush out there and sucker-punch the stranger in the throat for touching what’s supposed to be mine. But then John hugs the guy, and my insides seize up and I can’t seem to take in a whole breath.

Get a hold of yourself, asshole.You don’t need him.

I keep repeating those words in my head, hoping I’ll eventually believe them.

Danny storms back into the room. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

I swivel my head his way. “What?”

“What do you mean what? John’s gone,” Danny says, annoyance lining his frown. “And now, Callum is upset. And you know what happens when he’s stressing.”

“Why the fuck is he mad? So what if I didn’t tell you guys what happened. It has been years. I’m not affected by it.” The second those words are out of my mouth I know them to be a lie.

The shift on Danny’s face from anger to one of dejection hits me harder than a punch in the face.

“First and foremost,” he declares between clenched teeth, “…we are family. The five of us. Remember how hurt you all were when you learned that Siles was abusing me? What happens to us—even if it was in the past, affectsallof us. We all were hit when your father died. What did you think would happen when we found out about that son of a bitch—being a sick-fuck who did shit to you when you were a kid?”

I don’t have a good answer for Danny. Because there isn’t one, so I keep quiet.

“You can’t just brush this off, Con. And not telling the guys—me, the truth? That hurts more than you realize. Don’t you see that?”

I drop onto the bed and cover my face with both hands. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Tell me the full truth,” Danny says as he sits next to me and puts a hand on my arm.

So, I do, at least everything I can remember. Then I tell him what Jessup said to me, and all of the text messages he has left on my phone.