Page 75 of Alfie: Part Two

“I’m grateful for you both. This is perfect.”

I had to agree. West had saved Thanksgiving.

“Seven pizza boxes, two bags from Federal, six containers from Hershel’s, and more tinfoil than in a conspiracy theorist’s hat collection,” I announced, reentering the room. “We need to create healthier lunch habits, buddy.” I stopped short when I saw how quickly Colby closed a tab on his computer. “Are you watching porn at this ungodly hour?”

“What the fuck? No!”

I lifted my brows. What else did a sixteen-year-old do online that caused such a swift removal of evidence?

I walked over to the coffee table and threw all the soda cans and old napkins into the garbage bag.

Our little workplace condo was clean once more. Tomorrow, I’d bring over a Santa hat. Maybe pin it to the wall to really showcase our winter wonderland to all the zero people whovisited. Well, Kellan stopped by sometimes to do inventory of the safes in the bedroom slash storage. In fact, he was coming over in twenty.

“So what were you doing?” I wondered.

He eyed me over his shoulder, hesitating. “You can’t tell West.”

Color me intrigued.

I walked over to his desk. “Your secret is likely safe with me.”

“Likely,” he muttered. Then he sighed and wheeled out his chair a bit. “I’m tryna figure out how I can get my GED, but I need some fuckin’ age waiver because I’m not eighteen yet.”

Damn.

I leaned back against the desk and pinched my lips together, and it was hard to not smile.

There was something about this kid. He was simultaneously heading in two different directions, one for me, and one for West. Given West’s hope for Colby to attend college, I hadn’t put pressure on him in the syndicate, opting to let things play out the way he wanted. But he clearly loved working for the Sons, and he’d admitted to wanting to become initiated one day. Where I saw a boring one-bedroom condo with stripped walls, very little furniture, and too many takeout containers, he saw an office he had plans for. He was the one who’d assembled the two desks next to each other. He was the one who’d created his own blueprints for how we could essentially turn the bedroom into a vault. He loved coming here every morning.

But he also loved listening to whatever West said. Secretly. The kid didn’t show it much, but I’d seen the books in the guest apartment at home. He was studying. It just hadn’t occurred to me that he was studying to get his GED.

“This is why you always have your nose in a book,” I deduced. “You’re a nerd.”

He smirked. “How the fuck did an adoption agency give you two kids, man?”

“I let West do most of the talking,” I replied, not missing a beat. “And it was two agencies, actually. With lots of home visits.” But let’s not get shit twisted. It’d been my idea to create baby books covering their history and heritage. Something we worked on together to update a few times a year. That was how good I was. “Kidding aside, this is great.” I nodded. “We’ll get’chu that age waiver somehow. As long as you’re prepared to start finding college pamphlets around the house. West won’t stop until you’re heading off to the Ivy League.”

He turned bashful and scoffed in an attempt to dismiss what I said. “That’s nuts.IfI decide to go to college, there are community colleges right here in the city.”

“Yeah, and they’re well-known for their awesome computer science programs or whatever a hacker-in-the-making wants to study.”

He scowled to himself and turned to his computer again. “I’m still not used to having grown-ups give a shit. Can you ask West to knock it off?”

I grinned. “Fuck no.”

He rolled his eyes. “Besides, which Ivy League school accepts a crappy GED graduate?”

“The ones that also accept very large donations from the Scott family,” I drawled. “If you wanna go to school, we’ll make it a good one.”

He flicked me a glance. “What doyouthink about college?”

I shrugged and scratched my elbow. “Higher education never did me any favors, but I didn’t put in enough time and effort. Or money, for that matter.” Truth be told, I thought college was overhyped in many cases. It was just a way to bury a young person in debt, unless you were planning on becoming a doctor or something that really required years of schooling. What weneeded more of were apprenticeships and in-house training. “College can be good for other things too, though,” I mentioned. “That’s how I met Ford and later decided to move to LA, where I met West.” I nodded at him. “It might do you good to meet people who aren’t Sons. Make more friends your age, find random classes you’re interested in…”

He chewed on his bottom lip and eyed the computer screen. “Maybe it’d be nice to be some other place when my brother comes home.”

Was that something he worried about? Dreaded, even? In that case, I had good news for him.

“I don’t think he’s coming back for a long time, buddy.”

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