He jumps around a little, swiping the bug off his jeans in the process.
“I’m going to have to call room service about that later. In the meantime, can we discuss how we going to keep paying rent in this fine establishment?”
The money we just gave the landlord, with hair so greasy he could keep a car engine well-oiled with it, was from some odd jobs we have been doing for the last few weeks. Our goal was to get a place to stay and we haven’t really thought about anything beyond that.
“I guess we keep doing what we have been doing. Taking any work that we can get and hope we can scratch enough money together for the rent.”
Hunter nods but looks at me like he already is thinking about something else. I wait for him to spit it out as he keeps nodding slowly. Finally, he breaks his silence.
“Well, I was actually talking to Colt and he saw you beat up that guy the other day who tried to steal our food. He said that he has some way for us to make some real money.”
I look at him part annoyed, part intrigued. I hate when he beats around the bush like that and I have to detract all the information from him bit by bit. I am also intrigued because I know Colt and he did get us some good paying jobs before. Some guy gave us 100 bucks just to deliver an envelope.
“So, you going to tell me what this job is?” I push him.
“Well it’s not really a job.”
I am getting more annoyed by the second.
“Hunter, out with it already.”
“Ok, ok, it’s a fight. One of us would be fighting some other guy until one is knocked out. People pay good money to see that, but Colt said the biggest money is made from bets. Apparently, he fought a guy two weeks ago and won. Made two grand in one night”
Two thousand dollars sounds good, better than good, it sounds amazing. We wouldn’t have to worry about rent and food for three months. I’m only 15 but I am tall for my age and I can definitely handle myself in a fight but I don’t know anything about boxing or whatever they do at this fighting gig.
“What kind of fights? Like boxing or kickboxing? I don’t really know anything about the rules,” I say honestly.
Hunter swats another roach crawling up the doorframe next to us, while he leisurely tells me, “that’s the nice part about this kind fight, no prior experience necessary. Cause in this fight there are no rules.”
Chapter Five
Elisa
I’m huddled up in the corner of the room when the guy who just knocked out Robert in the hallway walks in like some kind of avenging angel. I’m shaking so hard that I think I might shatter some of my teeth if I don’t get a grip.
He crouches in front of me. Familiar dark blue eyes are scanning over my body. Even though I’m almost naked he doesn’t look at me with anything besides concern. He takes of his jacket and covers me with it. When his fingers brush my bare shoulders, I don’t shudder away like I did when Robert touched me. Someone his touch gives me comfort and calms me down. It only takes me a moment to remember where I have seen him before. It’s the boy who fed me and walked me home one of the nights I was starving. It’s not something one forgets easily.
He looks older now, his face more defined. He was tall then, but is even taller now, more muscular as well. His hair is shorter, shaved on the sides and he has some three day old stubble on his face. His eyes are the only part of him that have not changed. They are the same dark blue I remember.
“Are you Ok? Are you hurt? Did he hurt you? “
I honestly don’t know how to answer any of his questions. I don’t know how I feel right now. I don’t think I’m hurt, not really hurt at least. Not in the sense that I need to see a doctor.
I normally choose not to speak but right now I don’t think I could speak, even if I tried. The lump in my throat is too big to get a single word out, so I do the only thing my body allows me to do right now and that is to keep staring at him. In a way I am back at that camp fire, three years ago. I am in trouble, I am scarred, helpless and then out of nowhere this guy comes. I am looking into his dark blue eyes, hoping that he takes me home just like he did back then. Maybe he isn’t an avenging angel at all, maybe he is my guardian angel.
A noise coming from the hallway snaps me out of my little trance. Robert lets out a pained moan and starts to roll to his side.
My dark blue-eyed savior gets up and walks into the hallway. Don’t leave me here. I scream in my head. He kicks Robert in the ribs. “Wake up, asshole.”
Robert turns his face up, still looking dazed.
“In the morning, you are going to call Deneen and tell her it didn’t work out. Tell her that you dropped Elisa off at school and that you decided not to adopt after all. Got it?”
Robert just gives him one defeated nod and then lays his head back down.
My mystery savior starts picking up my clothes from the floor and stuffing them in my school backpack, then he turns back to face me. “We got to get out of here. Don’t worry. I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
That is all he had to say to get me moving. I can’t get out of this place fast enough. When I walk by Robert who is still laying on the floor, I make as big of a circle around him as the hallway allows. Pushing my back flush to the wall, sliding alongside it, until I am to the staircase. I run downs the stairs, hearing loud footsteps behind me. My legs are not working at a hundred percent right now and I almost fall after missing a step. A strong hand grabs my shoulder, steadying me.
“Slow down.” He says in a hushed voice.
When I open the front door, I realize I’m not wearing anything besides panties and a jacket that is about six sizes too big on me. I wrap my arms around me as tight as I can and look around me. There is nobody outside that I can see. The houses in this neighborhood are pretty far apart and its dark outside so I doubt anybody can see me, even from a window. I take a timid step outside when I feel his arm wrap around mine, ushering me gently away from the porch, towards the road.
There is a car parked right in front of the door and I realize that it is my ride when my mystery savior opens the passenger door for me.
“Get in.”
I don’t hesitate. I just get in the car. In the back of my mind I know I should be worried about getting into a car of a guy I basically know nothing about. He shuts my door and gets into the driver's side. As we speed away, questions in my head beginning to overtake all my worries. What just happened? Who is this guy and where is he taking me? How did he know where I was and that I was in trouble? How does he know Deneen and why is he helping me?
I feel like my head is about to explode when one of my silent question gets answered.
“Jaxon”, he says from the driver seat.
I turn my head to him, studying his profile, as he looks towards the road.
“I’m Jaxon, I don’t know if you remember, but we met before.” He says sounding a little bit uncertain.
That leaves me with about fifty questions left but all I can squeeze out pass the tennis ball size lump that is still clogging up my throat is, “how?”
“How… did I find you?” He tries to finish my question.
“Well, it's a long story. Just know you are safe now. You can stay at my place tonight and I’ll take you to school in the morning and after you can go back to your old foster family. You won’t have to see the Coleman’s ever again, I’ll make sure of it.”
I can hear the promise in his voice as he speaks. I’m not sure how I feel about staying at his place but I guess I don’t have much of a choice and until now he hasn’t been anything but nice to me.
He pulls up to an apartment complex. I wouldn’t call it upscale but it is definitely nicer than anything l have ever stayed at. Jaxon grabs my stuff from the backseat, he hands me my shoes but holds on to my backpack. I slip on my sneakers while he gets out, walks around the car and opens my door. I tightly hold the jacket shut as we rush into the building, though the hallway and up the stairs.
We enter his apartment and I quickly take in my ne
w surroundings. It’s simple but nice. It looks like something you would expect a single guy to live in. Small kitchen, gray wall, black leather couch facing a ginormous flat screen TV. There is no hallway, we step directly into a living room with a kitchen attached to it. There are only two doors. I’m guessing one bedroom, one bathroom.
“Are you hungry?” He asks when he turn to me.
I shake my head. There is no way I could keep anything down right now.
He runs his fingers through his hair and looks down like he is not sure what to do next,
“Ok then,” he finally says, “let’s get you to bed.”
When I’m in the bathroom I take his jacket off and pull on the large t-shirt he gave to me. It’s fits me more like a dress and I’m completely fine with that. When I come out of the bathroom he gestures to the bedroom and tells me that I can sleep in the bed.
I not sure what I am waiting for but I just stand there for a long moment trying to think of something to say. I still have a lot of questions but for now I decide I had enough for today and just want to go to sleep. Before I leave the room, I say the only thing that can’t wait until tomorrow. “Thank you, Jaxon.”
The bed is big and the mattress is soft. I cover up with the heavy comforter. This just might be the most comfortable bed I have ever been in. Now that I am laying down, a wave of exhaustion comes over me. I turn sideways and pull up my legs. The pillow smells nice I notice, just like the jacket. I take another deep breath before I come to the realization that both smell like him and that I just smelled his pillow like a creep.
I am startled when the door opens and Jaxon walks in quietly. It’s dark in here so I can only see his silhouette and he can’t see me starring at him. When he said I can sleep in the bed I assumed he is sleeping somewhere else. He doesn’t lift the blanket when the bed dips and he lays down next to me. We are not close to touching and we are not sharing a blanket but this still feels very intimate. The tiredness I experienced a minute ago has vanished and my eyes are wide open now.
I don’t know how long we lay there like that. Just when I think he went to sleep he starts talking to me.
“I’m a foster kid too. I know how it sucks not having anyone watching out for you. Getting pushed around from one foster home to the next. I never really felt like I had anyone on my side. So, when I… I saw you that night, I just wanted to help you somehow. I know a few people, case workers and pencil pushers at the CPS so I have been making sure that you get placed with good families. I know what kind of scum Coleman is, so when I heard you got placed there I came right away.”
I can’t believe what he is telling me. This whole time he has been helping me. Watching over me from afar. I try to think back. It’s true, I have been placed in decent homes the last three years. Until now I chalked it up to luck. Can it really be true? How could he have influenced where I was placed? Why didn’t he let me know what he was doing?
At least some of this has to be true or how else could he possibly have known where I was and that I was in trouble. Trying to process all this new information on top of all the things that have happened today makes my head spin. I close my eyes and try to calm my mind. At first, I concentrate on my own breathing but I can’t ignore the steady rhythm of Jaxson’s breathing next to me. Not long and I start matching his breathing. It somehow makes me feel safe that someone is laying next to me. Someone I trust, even though I barely know him. Two feelings I am not used to. Before I know it, I’m drifting off to sleep with Jaxon’s breathing as my lullaby.
When I wake up it is still early morning, the sun is not all the way out yet and there is only a dim light in the room. Jaxon is not laying next to me, he is standing in front of a dresser digging through the top drawer. His back is turned to me and all he is wearing are some sweatpants, no shirt. I study his bare torso. The shirt he was wearing yesterday was only hiding how muscular he really is. His broad shoulders are well defined and his upper arms are twice the size of my thighs. I stare at him for a few minutes when he suddenly chuckles. “Enjoying the show?”
I instantly look away and only then realize there is a mirror on the wall a few feet to the side and he saw me watching him. My face feels like it's on fire and I’m sure he can see my cheeks changing color into a bright red even with the little bit of light the room offers. I want pull the blanket over my face and melt into the mattress.
“I’m making breakfast. Your backpack is in the bathroom.”
I wait until he left the room before I snuck in the bathroom without looking his way.
I splash some cold water in my face and inspect my reflection in the mirror. My face is not swollen or blue. The only visible sign of last night is my split lip but most of the cut is on the inside so I think I could hide it well enough for people not to ask questions. When I get my clothes out I realize my shirt has a very visible blood stain on it. That won't be as easy to hide. I hope Jaxon drops me off at home so I can change. I pull my clothes on and leave his shirt hanging on the towel rack.
When I walk into the kitchen he is sitting at the kitchen island waiting for me. There are two large glasses on the counter full to the rim with something that looks like chocolate milk.
“It’s no gourmet breakfast but it gets the job done.” He says and hands me one of the glasses.
I take a little sip. Its thicker than I expected and has bit of a chalky texture but it’s not bad. Its chocolate flavored but without a strong sweetness. I gulp it down, only then realizing how hungry I was.
“You should drink one or two of these a day. You look like you can use some extra protein.”
I don’t know why I find myself offended by his comment. He is not wrong, I am little scrawny and could probably do well with more protein in my diet. I usually don’t even care what other people think about me but somehow, I care what he thinks.
He frowns when he looks at my shirt and finds the dried blood. He suddenly gets up and pulls out a large box from a wall closet. He digs around before pulling out a black shirt and handing it to me. I’m surprised to see it's a girl's shirt size small. Does he have a girlfriend? The thought makes my chest sting unexpectedly. The shirt is all black except a small gray logo on the back that reads ‘The Bunker’. The front is low cut, too low cut for me to be comfortable wearing it so I just pull it over my own shirt. Jaxon inspects me and straightens out the shirt around my shoulders. The touch gives me goose bumps, but not in a bad way. In an unfamiliar exciting way.
“There you go,” he says approvingly and pulls out a phone with a charging cable.
“Here, you keep this and keep it changed. My phone number is saved in there. I want you to call or text if you think you are in trouble. Or if you need anything. Got it?”
“Okay.” I say quietly while tugging the phone way.
He looks me straight in the eyes and gives me a dazzling smile. “Okay.” He echoes.
On the drive to school he gives me instructions about what to say happened yesterday if someone asks me. “I don’t think anybody is going to ask a lot of questions about last night. Just act like nothing in particular happened. Trust me it’s better like that.”
I know what he means. No one is going to believe me anyway, not when it comes down to the word of a foster kid against the word of some rich lawyer couple. He doesn’t stop in front of my school, instead he pulls up into a hidden corner a block away.
Only now I starting to appreciate how nice the vehicle is that we are in. I don’t know anything about cars but I can tell that this is a newer sports car. On the steering wheel I find a silver emblem of a running horse.
I face him and get the weird urge to hug him but instead I just give him a shy smile. He smiles back before I turn and get out, wondering when I will see him again.
Chapter Six
Jaxon
Iwait in my car until I can’t see her anymore. My car parked in the same spot I have parked it a hundred times before to watch her walk into school. It took a lot to let her go today. I would
have rather kept her locked up in my apartment, but I know that wouldn’t be wise. I probably freaked her out enough sleeping in the bed with her. Better she doesn’t know the extent of my over protectiveness and stalker tendencies.
I don’t know why I didn’t tell her the whole story last night. Why I didn’t tell her how long we actually known each other and that she used to sleep in my bed, curled up in my arms. Maybe I don’t want her to know that it was my fault that she got that scar on her forehead. My selfishness that put her in danger. Or maybe I don’t want her to think of me as her big brother. The way I used to think of myself. Pretending she was my little sister and that I needed to protect and take care of her. I still want to keep her safe and take care of her, but recently I have been looking at her in a different way. I have to keep reminding myself how young she still is, how innocent. I don’t want to mess that up. I need to stay away and out of her life as much as I can.
When I get to the club I pull into my normal parking spot in the back. The club is deserted during the day but will be packed to the rim tonight. As soon as I walk in and go downstairs, I see Colt laying on a couch passed out with some chick halfway on top of him. I kick his leg. “You are supposed to sell the dope, not sample it.”
He only grunts and waves me off.
Colt and Hunter are both a year older than me but somehow, I have always been the one with more sense, so they generally follow my orders. I keep walking through the basement and find Hunter waiting next to the large metal cage in the center of the large room. He is already in workout clothes and looking warmed up.
“It’s about time.” He yells and jumps up strolling to the middle of the cage. I drop my keys on a bench and pull off my shirt.
“Can't wait to get your ass kicked?”
“Please, I only take it easy on you cause you have a fight tonight.”
“Whatever you have to tell yourself, buddy.”
The Quiet Game Page 3