Page 19 of Subtracting the Heart

They’d tried to stop by the shelter to rescue the food Bev had prepared to tide them over the holidays, but there was a Condemned sign nailed to the front door and a lot of police tape cordoning off the property.

Stan told Jax he’d called Kenneth Shaw’s cell phone, but the man hadn’t answered. Jax doubted he’d ever be heard from again because there was something shady about the whole thing. He believed the man to be a crook and needed to find out more about him before any more surprises turned up.

There was some good news, however. Benny called his mother’s sister who agreed to take him in. She’d told Roberta Stubbe she had no idea what had happened to the boy because she and her sister didn’t speak.

Roberta was able to get Jake into a good, temporary foster home for the holidays until a better situation could be found in the new year. The lucky thing was it wasn’t far from where Benny’s aunt lived so the boys could still see each other.

When Roberta had called Cade to tell him the turn of events, Jax saw the younger man wipe away some tears. It reminded him how compassionate Cade was, and Jax vowed to make certain nothing ever happened to change him.

“Who wants hot chocolate and cookies?” Cade walked into the room with a smile. The boys all took off for the kitchen, nearlytrampling Jax in his seat on the couch. It made him laugh as they good-naturedly shoved each other to get to the food first. Jax had a feeling their holidays were about to get a lot more exciting.

He followed them into the kitchen and lined up for his own cup of hot chocolate, seeing Cade had found the cookies Miss Winnie had made for them. Cade was spreading them onto a baking sheet to heat in the oven, and the expressions on the boys’ faces melted Jax’s heart.

“How about we go sit in the living room and give Cade a fighting chance to get this ready for us. I have plans in mind for tomorrow, and I’d like to hear how you feel about them,” he said.

The boys, including Ashton, followed Jax into the family room, sitting on the couches, chairs, and the floor. “Okay, my game starts at noon tomorrow, so I’ve hired a bus to pick up all of you at nine and bring you to the stadium to meet some of the players before the game. The club room I requested should have brunch, so you can eat there.” Jax scanned the faces, seeing nods and happy grins.

“Good. After the game, we’ll come back here and have dinner. We might not have gifts, but we can swim and play games downstairs. We have a fitness room and there’s a hot tub and a sauna. Since we can’t get you guys trunks, you’ll all wear your underwear. No funny business, okay?”

Jackson damn well wasn’t looking to be in the headlines for having young guys running around the property naked as if it was ancient Rome and he was Caligula. That was the last damn thing he needed.

They all nodded in agreement, which was a relief. It occurred to him he didn’t know their names, so it was time for formal introductions. “Gentlemen, I’m Jackson Delacroix. Who are you and how old are you?” He walked up to the first young man.

The guy was short with dark eyes and tanned skin. His hair was spiky on top while it was shaved on the sides and back. Jaxwasn’t about to judge his ethnicity, nor his sense of style. “I’m Kevin Ngu. Eighteen. I was working day labor and living at Clark Street, trying to get my life on track after my father kicked me out.” The young man offered his hand.

“Kevin, it’s a pleasure.” Jax shook the firm hand. The kid had muscles. Jax was judging him to be like an ant—able to carry about ten times his own weight.

He turned to the tall white kid with strawberry-blonde hair standing next to Kevin. The young man had light green eyes, and Jax felt a kinship, having gone through the same awkward stage at one time. Of course, he was in junior high at the time, but he could offer the kid some empathy.

“I’m Vance Blake, sir. I was just kicked out in September when I turned eighteen. I’d like to finish my senior year of high school, but that doesn’t seem likely. I was working part-time as a cater-waiter for a restaurant downtown before they sold the business, and I lost my sleeping situation. I was sharing a studio with a guy from work, but when I couldn’t pay my half, he tossed me out. I started working the streets after that. One of the older guys who came around with coffee and sandwiches to get us to go to his church told me about Clark Street.”

There was Josh, Greg, and Calvin, all of whom had similar stories. Thankfully, they were over eighteen so there wouldn’t be any issues with the authorities.

They’d been kicked out of their homes and were trying to get on their feet, turning tricks when they couldn’t find legitimate jobs. They’d ended up at Clark Street Shelter because the pastor at the Episcopal church up the street ran an outreach program for the sex workers in the area, giving out condoms and clean needles along with sandwiches and the promise of a hot meal if they’d come to Sunday service. The pastor had met them and referred the three to Sam Belew, who ran the shelter in KennethShaw’s absence. Jax wanted to know how often Shaw was even there.

Jax walked into the bedroom and sat down on the side of the bed while Cade was entertaining the young men downstairs. He had plans to undo because he’d arranged to send gifts to the shelter for the boys, but with the shelter closed, he needed to redirect the gifts to their house on North Wayne Avenue.

He’d have to sort through them because the big screen television and gaming systems wouldn’t be needed since he already had that shit in his man cave. He’d call Tony O’Brien to ask for a favor he didn’t deserve. It was still early and maybe the man had one more empathetic bone left for Jax before he cut him.

“Hello? O’Brien residence,” a sweet voice answered. It was Tony’s little girl, Sylvia, he was sure. He’d seen pictures of her in O’Brien’s office, and she was a stunner at the age of eight.

“Good evening. This is Jackson Delacroix. I work for your father, and I was hoping to speak with him for a moment if he’s not too busy.” He tried to keep his voice as non-threatening as possible. No need to scare the little girl.

The girl giggled. “Daddy! It’s the Cajun!” Her yelling brought a grin to Jax’s face. He supposed he’d never live down the nickname.

There was a rustling over the handset before a masculine voice spoke. “Jax? What’s up, man?” It was Tony.

“I realize I’m on a short leash with the club because of prior bad behavior, but I put in a request for a box to host a groupof kids from a shelter I sponsor with a few of my teammates. I didn’t get a response from the front office, so can you make a call? I mean, it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow and these kids ain’t got a lot else to look forward to for the holidays. It doesn’t have to be a big box, and I’ll order pizzas for the guys if it’s too late to get the brunch I requested.”

“Wait, is this that Clark Street Shelter we all sponsored?”

Jax was surprised by Tony’s question. “I didn’t realize you got in on it, but yeah, it is. The cops raided it this morning, calling it a brothel, which is just bullshit. Until we can talk to Ken Shaw, who’s not calling back, I’m not sure what to do.”

Jax wouldn’t stop there. “Meanwhile, I have five young guys at my house who I want to bring to the game tomorrow. Two kids who were kicked out of their parents’ homes were taken into custody by social services because they were underage. Something’s fucking fishy with all of this, Tony.”

Tony sighed heavily. “I’ll get the club’s lawyers to look into it. We took this on as a pet project, and I’m sure the front office has been keeping tabs on the progress. The shelter was just fine, last I heard, but we’ll get to the bottom of it, Jackson.”

Jax was relieved to hear someone was interested in those kids aside from him. Tony could get to the bottom of things a lot quicker than Jax could have hoped.

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