Because he knew what would have happened if Gavin had gone to prison. He’d have wound up ruining his entire life. He’d have wound up dead or a lifer.
Instead, Thad had given his brother a chance to turn his life around. And Gavin had.
His NHL career had been a flop, but he’d still wound up the general manager of an NHL franchise. Of theBoston Harriers, an organization with a long history and a hell of a lot of cachet.
And Thad had played a part in that.
However unseen, however unknown by the world, that was something he could be proud of. As pissed as he’d been that Gavin had never visited him in prison, he hadn’t torpedoed Gavin’s life by blasting the truth to the world.
It would have been almost painfully easy.
But while, at times, Thad might have wanted to punish his twin for abandoning him, he loved him too much to make him suffer by taking away everything he’d worked so hard for.
The door opened, the noise of the party spilling out into the back patio, and Thad hastily stubbed out his cigarette against the brick wall and tossed it into a nearby bush. There was no hope of hiding the scent on his breath or his clothing. All he could do was pray the fresh spring breeze would waft it away.
Thad glanced over, relieved to see it was Graham who’d stepped through the door and let it close behind him.
“Let me guess,” Graham said drily. “You were smoking.”
Better Graham than Gavin.
Graham gave Thad shit about his vices too, but at least he couldn’t lecture Thad about shared genetic risk factors and their family history.
Thad shrugged and held up his empty hands. “Do I look like I was smoking?”
Graham stepped closer, wrinkling his nose. “No, but you smell like it.”
Thad scowled. Damn him. “Did you come out here to give me shit?”
“No. I came out here because I thought you’d left without saying goodbye.”
“I’m not the one leaving the city for the off-season,” Thad pointed out. “Unlikeyou, I’ll be working this summer.”
Players might scatter to the winds at the end of a season, but Thad would be staying right here in Boston, covering the Pride and Juneteenth events the organization sponsored and took part in. He’d go to the draft and the awards, cover the prospect camp.He’d be at the combine and post about the free agency trades and start teasing the upcoming season.
Graham whacked him on the arm. “Fuck you, dude, I train hard.”
“Oh yeah. All of that boating on Grand Traverse Bay, dude.”
Graham might have grown up in Pennsylvania, and he was planning to visit his family there for a few weeks, but he’d also gone to Michigan State University for school and had fallen in love with northern Michigan. He had a lakeside cottage and a speedboat up near Traverse City, and his buddies would visit.
But not Thad.
Because he and Graham might be friends, but he hadn’t invited Thad to visit this summer.
And it was fine. Thad got it.
They were friends but notthatkind of friends. They lived in two very, very different worlds.
Graham with his millions of dollars and his blond-haired, blue-eyed, wholesome good looks. The kind of guy who could play Captain America in a movie or something.
Compare that to Thad’s laughably small bank account and rapidly turning silver hair. Even if the dye he used managed to hide the signs of ageing most of the time, he was on the wrong side of forty and no one would mistake him for a superhero.
They were not the same. And they never would be.
Now, Graham was muttering something about his training program and the fancy training camp he’d go to in Chicago later in the summer and it wasfine.
“Try not to miss me too much when you’re gone.”
