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all away when I was so close to signing with Gail Freeman.
    “Good, because it’s killing me. You know they won’t judge.”
    It wasn’t about them judging me. Kelton had been supportive when I told him Ruby had thought she was pregnant. But I wasn’t sure how Kade would react, although I could hear him now. “Where was your protection?”
    I shrugged off Kade for the moment then quickly showered and dressed as I thought of Ruby.
    Every night, I lay awake, wondering if she’d given birth to a boy or a girl. And what color hair did the kid have? Black like me or red like her? What did she name the child? How in the fuck was I going to tell my parents? Or Kade?
    I was slipping my wallet into the back pocket of my jeans when the door creaked open.
    “He was in here earlier,” a guy said.
    “Maxwell,” someone called out. “You in here? It’s Dillon, man.” He came into view around a bank of lockers. “You look like shit. What happened?”
    “And you look like a girl with your hair in a ponytail,” I chided, shutting my locker.
    Dillon Hart, badass dude, loved by women, had a heart of gold, particularly when it came to young girls who ran away from home or pimped themselves on the streets. He tried to save them all while searching for his baby sister who’d run away two years prior at the age of sixteen. I had to hand it to him. The man was planning to open a home for runaway girls. All that aside, Dillon and I had become close friends. Maybe his street connections could help me find Ruby.
    “Women get their panties wet over my hair. I see you’re growing yours out. Copycat.”
    I pushed my fingers through my thick wet strands. It had been four years since the last time I’d let my hair grow past my ears. I usually kept it high and tight, but Dillon was wearing off on me. I wasn’t planning on ponytails, but Lizzie had counseled me that girls liked to play with hair. She even went as far as telling me that she loved running her fingers through Kelton’s hair. I had noticed I was getting more looks with my longer style, and even Penelope had commented on how she liked playing with my hair.
    “Bite me. What’s up?”
    He leaned a shoulder against the locker, shoving a hand into the pocket of his jeans. “I needed to beat something, and I thought of you. But I see you’re heading out.”
    “Problems? Can’t get a girl in your bed?” I teased.
    “I see you’re in rare form. Who pissed in your territory?”
    An auburn-haired girl. My kid who I didn’t know.
    He grinned. “Not getting laid enough?”
    “On the contrary.” I didn’t have any problems in the bedroom. “Trying to find a girl who seems to have disappeared.”
    He popped off the locker. “Tell me more.” The light snuffed out in his brown eyes at the word “disappeared.”
    I couldn’t tell him until I told my brothers. Blood always came before friends. “Look, I need some help. Why don’t you hang with my brothers and me tonight? I’ll fill you in then.”
    He nodded. “I’ll pick up some beer.”
    I harrumphed. “Whiskey would be better.”
    “That bad?”
    “I guess that depends on how you look at it.” I couldn’t get past how furious I was with Ruby that she had lied to me. At sixteen, I wasn’t ready for a child, and neither was she. She didn’t have to shoulder the burden all by herself, though. I would’ve taken responsibility. I might have been a dick for not wanting to talk to her, but for fuck’s sake, I’d had a right to know. Yeah, you would’ve known if you had called her back or picked up the phone, dickwad.
    I growled.
    Dillon slapped me on the back. “I’m here for you.”
    I prayed Kade had the same attitude.
    Two hours later, Kade, Kelton, Kody, Dillon, and I were watching the Patriots play Buffalo.
    “You guys lucked out on this apartment,” Dillon said with a mouth full of pizza.
    The brownstone was a monstrosity, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a modest kitchen, and a