“O and I are going to Rye to give you guys some time,” Judge said. “Passed on word that the clubhouse is closed for the night.”

It didn’t happen often. It was important to Mayhem that the brothers had someplace to go at any time. But right then, I was gonna be selfish.

I lifted my chin. “Appreciate it.”

O stuck her head in and waved before they left.

I rubbed Mac’s back. “Know you’re awake, neighbor.”

A few beats went by. “No, I’m not.”

“We need to talk.”

A few beats again. “I know.”

“You feel like sitting up?”

“No.” She must’ve felt my body go tight because she added, “But not because of any pain.”

Like I was trying to feed her nasty veggie pasta and lukewarm water, she grudgingly sat up.

“We can wait,” I offered.

“No, let’s get this over with.” Before I could say anything, she launched in. “When I first met Eddie, I was barely twenty-one. A broke college student with no living family. My real name is Jane, but no one ever calls me that. I always went by Mac, but he said it was a kid’s name, so he never used it. I went along with it because he was older, already established, and I wanted to fit in with him. He seemed so perfect. He came on strong, but I was… flattered?”

Even though none of it was what I’d wanted to talk about, I kept my mouth shut. She was finally sharing, so I was damn sure gonna listen.

“I’ve been trying to tell one of my students that toxic love isn’t real love, like I didn’t fall for it, too.” She sighed. “It started small with implied abuse, but it got gradually worse without me fully realizing it. By the time I knew I had to get out, I had no friends to go to. I went to my boss.” She gave me an embarrassed smile. “It’s her inherited house, not mine. It took me some time to get everything set. Since I couldn’t pack more than my computer and a couple sentimental items, she did it for me. Rented the moving van and packed everything she could thrift so I wasn’t left with just the clothes on my back.”

It explained why all her shit was so mismatched, but that didn’t change the truth. “That was thoughtful.”

“Alice is the best,” Mac said.

“Glad she doesn’t take after her aunt.”

Her brows shot up. “Was she not nice?”

“Replace the a in aunt with a c.”