Read Keaton's Lessons [Brac Village 6] for Free Online

of his neck in an agitated manner. He had just explained a hell of a lot of things to Keaton and his head felt like it was stuffed full with so much information.
    “Who did you kill?” Keaton hoped Kade explained to him about his past, the reason he had gone to prison. The guy didn’t look like a murderer. He had seen his fair share of crime shows on television and Kade didn’t fit the profile.
    The man was edgy, private, but Keaton wasn’t getting a homicidal vibe from the man.
    Kade stilled, his teal eyes glancing to where Keaton was lying, but the man wouldn’t look at him. “I just explained to you about shifters and—” Kade seemed to become flustered, his hands falling to his sides in tight fists.
    Keaton hoped the guy didn’t clam up on him. He needed to know what he was getting into and he needed to know that Kade was a good man. He had already felt those vibes, but he wanted to hear how Kade had ended up spending time in prison.
    Kade studied the floor for the longest time, his expression resembling a faraway look. It was almost as if the guy had been slung into his past, reliving it in his mind.
    Finally, the guy spoke, his tone filled with deep emotions. “Fifteen years ago I was fresh out of high school. I was excited about getting accepted into an Ivy League college.” Kade gave a rueful chuckle and Keaton’s heart hurt for the guy. “I had big plans.”
    Keaton sat up, pushing his legs over the side of the bed as he listened. Somehow he knew Kade wasn’t a bad guy. There were men who went to prison for reasons that were valiant. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe there were no bad men in the world. But not all who got locked up were evil.
    Kade sat on the bed next to Keaton, cupping his hands in his lap. “Me and a buddy of mine were visiting the city to celebrate finishing high school. On our way back we saw some guy stranded on the side of the road. His car had broken down. I didn’t want to give him a ride but my friend insisted, telling me I was overreacting.” Kade twined his fingers together and rested his elbows on his thighs.
    Keaton was riveted to the spot, taking in every word Kade spoke.
    “The guy pulled a gun on us and forced my friend…” Kade cleared his throat and Keaton wasn’t sure he wanted Kade to go on. He could see the stress lines around the man’s eyes and mouth. “He forced my friend to do some things he normally wouldn’t have done. Long story short, I wrestled with the stranger to get the gun away. It went off. The guy was dead and my friend was freaking out. He called the cops and told them that I had killed the guy.”
    Keaton sat there stunned. He had thought he knew where this story was going, but Kade had just thrown him for a loop. He had not seen the ending coming. “Why would he do something like that? He saw you two wrestling and knew it was an accident.”
    Kade chewed on the side of his mouth as he gave a slow shake of his head. He could see the pain in Kade’s teal eyes and Keaton wanted to hug the man, but kept his distance, allowing Kade to finish telling him what happened so long ago. “I think he was more fucked up in the head because I saw what the stranger had made him do and didn’t stop it. I think he blamed me and wanted to make me pay. The gun was stolen, and the cops linked it to a rape and murder of a teenage boy. There was no way to prove that it wasn’t mine. My friend kept yelling that I had stolen it. He was merciless and hell-bent on having me go to prison. I think he was so embarrassed about what happened to him that he wanted anyone who knew about the rape to disappear…including me.”
    “They convicted you?” Keaton asked incredulously. “How could they do that?”
    “Innocent men go to prison all the time. My friend had told the cops that the stranger had been my boyfriend and we were both trying to rape him. I tossed out the logical question of why would I shoot the man if we were in on it together, but the cops