What You Need(90)
Brady shook his head. “I was too embarrassed to tell anyone because I was afraid they’d start to look at me differently. It would’ve killed me to have them see me like he saw me.”
“I’m sorry you went through all that.”
“Know what I’m the most sorry about? The skewed perceptive I had of my dad. He’s a great man. Way more complex than what Grandpa claimed. Way more loving and kind.”
I held on to him tightly.
“About an hour after I’d finished talking to Walker last night, my dad approached me. In his supportive, kind way he told me he was so proud of me and hated to see me struggling. And if there was anything he could do . . . his door was always open to me.” Brady swallowed hard. “That’s the kind of man I want to be, Lennox. And it has nothing to do with my position in the corporation.”
“It sounds like you finally had the kind of moment of clarity that your brother and cousins were trying to force on you.”
“Yeah.”
“So you’re all right?”
He tipped my head back and kissed me with the sweet surety that made my belly flip, my heart swell and my eyes sting. “I’m much better now. Because this time I’m positive this isn’t a temporary fix for me.”
“Good.”
Chapter Twenty
Brady
‡
Lennox and I had decided she’d show up with Kiley and her charges, so no one would suspect it was actually my place. She’d be seeing it at the same time as everyone else. That made me more nervous than having a dozen teenagers roaming around. I hadn’t been in a relationship before, so having my girlfriend stay over hadn’t come up.
The outer buzzer sounded and I shut off the alarm system to this floor before I opened the door.
Excited teens poured in, eagerly zipping past me to check out the space. I smiled and made noncommittal noises, my eyes searching for her.
And there she was. My beautiful wild thing.
She moved into me first, wrapping her arms around me tightly and nestling her cheek into my chest. She didn’t tell me she missed me; she didn’t need to, because her actions spoke loud enough.
Although I couldn’t kiss her the way I needed to, I couldn’t not touch my lips to hers. She gave me a cheeky smile when I saw she’d worn her lip ring.
I held her hand as we joined the group.
“This place is beyond awesome—it’s like a dream, man,” DeMarius declared. “Who owns it?”
“And how do you know them?” Tonto asked.
“And why’d they let you use it?” Juice said.
They were all looking at me suspiciously. “I saved the guy who owns this place a lot of money in taxes. He lets me use it once in a while.”
“The guy is an athlete, isn’t he? With that half court I bet he’s a Timberwolves player.”
Juice shoved DeMarius. “Dude. A pro player would have a full court. I bet the guy plays for the Vikings.”
“Nah. The place doesn’t smell like broken dreams,” Tonto said.
I had to laugh at that one. The rest of the kids hung back, letting the three guys lead.
Kiley stepped in. “You know the drill. I’m trying to get you to see that you get to choose the way you live. You see yourself living in a place like this? You gotta work for it. You aren’t gonna earn it as a two-bit go-between for some crackhead dealer. You aren’t gonna earn it picking fights and ending up in juvie. You aren’t gonna earn it chopping cars, stealing cars or driving the getaway car. You guys feel me?”
The guys had their arms crossed over their chests, heads back, looking down on Kiley as if by listening to her they were doing her a big favor. I didn’t know how she dealt with this shit day in and day out. If even one of these kids got out of their home life situation and went to college . . . Would one in twelve be considered a success rate? Or a failure rate?
“Education is the key to earning your own way. College, vocational training, the military—all ways you can step up and be more than you ever thought you could be, and that’ll quiet down your friends and family who are telling you everything you can’t do.”
“Shee-it. My mama told me I got thug blood,” DeMarius said. “She just don’t say if it’s from her side or the sperm donor’s side. So I tell her, hell no, she ain’t putting that on me.”
“Good for you, DeMan!” Kiley said. “Anyone else wanna talk about family stuff that might’ve gone down since we last met?”
“Jonesie got arrested,” Juice said.
“Yeah, I heard that. What’d he do?” Tonto asked.
“He got high and went to his mom’s place to confront his stepdad. Took a swing at him and when his mom tried to stop him, she ended up in the line of fire. Jonesie hit her hard enough to break her jaw. The cops took him to juvie in St. Paul.” Kiley sighed. “I talked to him. He doesn’t remember anything. So yeah—so much for drugs taking the edge off. He’s gonna do a long stint for this last stunt.”