“Fuck. I don’t know,” I snap. “I’ve been a little busy picking up the pieces of my brother’s shattered heart after he was fucking destroyed by that girl’s family last year. I guess I haven’t had time to study the Wheeler family tree.”

Jake cocks one eyebrow and regards me, but he holds his tongue. Fielding and his infatuation with Maddie’s sister-in-law aren’t topics we talk about, and for good reason. The whole thing was a mess, and a lot of people got hurt because of it.

One person is still hurting because of it.

My brother’s face flashes in my mind, and guilt rolls through me when I think about what almost happened tonight. How Maddie knew who I was, yet she pursued me anyway…

I shake my head and blow out a long breath. “I’m sorry, man. This whole night’s got me all twisted up. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I just can’t believe she almost got me like that. I can’t fucking believe I almost…”

“You’re good,” Jake reassures me. “Between you and me, I’m not surprised she tried to pull something. Maddie’s a piece of work. She’s always been a troublemaker, yet she always gets away with it. But I am surprised you’ve never met her. You and Rhett played lacrosse together all four years at Arch, right? I’m sure she was at those games.”

I nod absentmindedly as I try to recall any memory I might have of the girl I almost hooked up with tonight.

“Wait,” I mutter as information clicks into place. “You told me not to serve her. I assumed she was younger than us, but is she actually… Fuck. She’s underage, isn’t she?”

Jake squints one eye and screws up his face in a grimace.

“Maddie’s twenty.”

For fuck’s sake.

“Well, that answers your question, then. She would have been eleven fucking years old when I graduated from Arch.”

The admission tastes vile on my tongue. The gravity of my poor judgment is overwhelmingly heavy. I bow my head again and just let it hang.

When I finally look up, Jake is watching me, his expression a mix of pity and understanding.

I swallow past the lump in my throat before I speak again.

“He can never know.”

“Which one?”

“Neither,” I insist without hesitation.

He cocks his head to the side like he wants to argue, but this isn’t his call to make. I’m not bending on this. After a tense moment, he concedes. “Yeah, okay. They won’t hear a word about this from me.”

I let out a sigh of relief, then glance around the empty bar. There’s something peaceful about being at The Oak after last call. The juxtaposition between this moment and the usual hustle makes the quiet that much sweeter.