After meeting Harper’s sister and brother-in-law, however, he’d been thinking about getting it cut. He knew he’d look a lot more presentable when he appeared at the door to pick her up. He wasn’t a rock star, wasn’t making millions like Axel, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t look like someone they wouldn’t mind seeing her go out with.

He wasn’t sure what to suggest to the barber, though. He had to go in with at least some idea of how he wanted his hair to look when he walked out, didn’t he? He didn’t want to pick up Harper and have her disappointed by what she saw.

As soon as he got off work—at three, since he worked enough overtime that Aiyana didn’t mind letting him go early—he called Jada, thinking that if anyone could give him some good advice in the hair department, it would be her.

“Hey, how’s my favorite brother-in-law?” she asked as soon as she picked up.

He had to hand it to her. She’d been nothing but kind to him, despite his past with her brother. He’d never forget the day, right before he was to be released, when he’d received a letter from her best friend, Tiffany Martinez. He’d been so nervous to open it, had expected to read the ugliest of recriminations.

But that wasn’t what Tiffany had written. She’d sent him a short letter wishing him well and saying she hoped he could build a good life, and she’d included a release cheat sheet—a description of all the technological advances that’d happened while he was out of circulation to help him get up to speed—as well as some money. That was all generous enough, but the part that really got to him was where she said Jada had contributed so he’d have some cash with which to get a start on the outside.

Knowing that the sister of the boy he’d shot had been forgiving enough to do something like that had brought tears to his eyes. As much as he’d been looking forward to regaining his freedom, he’d been scared shitless at the same time. He’d essentially grown up in prison. He’d gone in as a boy and was coming out a man, and he didn’t know if he’d be able to navigate the real world or if he’d been locked up for so long he’d become institutionalized.

Would he be able to function like a normal person? Find work despite his record? Lead a stable life?

Or would he fall into despair, turn to drugs and screw everything up like his mother constantly did?