Page 27 of Reclaim

“No. Trust me, you’re the least distracting thing here.”

“Jesus H. Christ, there’s two of you.” A blonde beauty walks in the room, blatantly checking me out. “Hendrix, I can’t believe you left this piece of information out.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I told you I had a brother.”

“You didn’t say he was gorgeous.” She stares at me even while talking to Hendrix.

“He looks exactly like me.”

“That’s right. Gorgeous.” Setting herself up on another desk in the room, it’s easy to tell it’s an effortless relationship between them. “I’m Stacey by the way. I work with Hendrix.”

“I’m Jagger.”

“Your names even match,” she squeals.

I look over at Drix and he’s shaking his head. “You’ll be used to her by the end of the day.”

With my hands shoved deep into my pockets, I walk over to the only empty desk in the room. “Just sit down and stop overthinking it.” It’s become habit now for him to get me out of my own head. Just a quick reminder that my self doubt is always going to make things appear bigger than they are. Sitting down, I manage to figure out the computer pretty quick. I grew up with them, and we were able to use them in prison for educational purposes. The only thing I’m adjusting to is the internet. It was a lot slower when we used it for school, and now, it’s impossible not to get stuck down the rabbit hole. The ability to freely ask Google questions is a blessing in disguise. I don’t have to ask anyone, and I can devour all types of different information while working out what the fuck I’m going to do next.

The corridor fills with loud voices, and I watch Hendrix and Stacey with curiosity as they rise to meet the noise.

“Hey, what’s going on out here?” he shouts.

“Fucker owes me money, that’s what.”

I stand, the anger in the young man’s voice putting me on edge. Sticking my head out the door, I see Hendrix standing between two boys, and Stacey watching on. They’re no older than sixteen, testosterone flaring.

“I told you I would give it to you soon,” the other boy explains.

“I need it now, or my brother is going to kick my arse.”

“Your brother’s a dickhead anyway,” he spits out. On instinct I run out of the room and hold back the young man who has his back to me, while Hendrix does the same to the other kid. Everybody knows insulting someone’s family is off limits.

The boy cranes his neck to see who’s holding him, his eyes bulging out of his head when he realises there’s two of us.

“It looks good on you.” Hendrix smirks at me holding onto the kid. He motions his head back to his office and we all walk there together to sort it out.

Stacey quickly sets up two chairs opposite from one another, each boy taking a seat, seemingly familiar with the process.

I sit back behind the computer, one eye on the screen and the other watching the way these kids hang on Drix’s every word.

“Jason why do you owe Adam money?”

“I bought something off him.”

Drix shakes his head knowingly. “Adam, you said you were done with that shit. Come to think of it, you both did.” He looks back at Adam. “I don’t think your Juvenile Justice Officer is going to be impressed when I call him up.”

“Please, don’t,” he begs. “If I get locked up again, that’s it for me.”

“Your words tell me you care, man, but your actions just aren’t adding up. I’m a man of my word, and I’m not going to stick up for you if you aren’t a man of yours.”

Adam hangs his head in shame, the silence stretching between us all.

“I just came out of jail,” I confess. All eyes dart to me. I don’t know if I’m overstepping any boundaries, but I feel compelled to explain to this kid he has other options.

“What did you do?” he asks.

“Dumb shit. Things I thought made me a man. I thought I was invincible, but guess what? I wasn’t, and I paid the price. Twelve years away from anyone I knew and everyone I loved. Nothing was worth that.” I let my words sink, knowing everyone is shocked I chose to speak up. “Is that the life you want?”

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