Page 71 of Surrender
“I’m gonna need you to hit me with actual details rather than vague questions if you want my advice or help with something,” I ordered, walking to the corner of the ring and grabbing my water bottle.
He followed, tearing at the Velcro on his gloves and dropping them on the floor.
I leaned back against the ropes, tilting my head back and squirting some water into my mouth. “All right, so what the hell is going on?”
Rafe was nineteen, but he was still a kid.
And if there was something I knew well, it was how hard it was to know what direction was up at that age, even after you’d been independent for a while.
“Mom’s moving just out of Detroit to some small town where she got a new job,” he explained, dragging his towel across his face. “There’s some fancy school there that she wants the twins to go to, but it costs money.”
“Mmm…” I hummed, knowing where he was going. “She wants you to pay for it.”
“Yeah.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I mean, I have the money. I’ve been putting fight winnings aside. But then she said, she thinks it’s better if I stay away from them for a while too.”
I let out a loud laugh. “She wants you to pay for your siblings’ educations at a fancy school, and for you to have nothing to do with them so you don’t tarnish this new image she’s trying to build.” When he joined in the laughter, agreeing to how ridiculous that was, I shook my head. “Rafe, you love those fucking kids. You’re not actually considering stepping back.”
He didn’t answer right away, but soon looked up at me, eyes sharp, but clearly tired. “I want them to have all the opportunities they can get,” he said honestly, swallowing hard. “And you know what, maybe my influence on them isn’t the best thing. Maybe this fancy school will be.”
The questions from earlier made sense now.
How did I know that letting Darcy go was the right choice?
“Darcy needed to go to New York without me, because if I were around, she wouldn’t have taken that opportunity to dosomething she’d been dreaming of since she was a little girl,” I explained to him, tossing my water bottle to the floor. “If they’re gonna attend this school either way, and you’re gonna make sure of it and encourage them to make the most of it, then the only thing they’re gonna miss out on by you not being around is having a brother who loves them, protects them, and has their best interests at heart.”
It took a moment for him to process those words.
“So you think I should pay for the school, but tell her I want to still see them?”
“I think you and I both know what it’s like to have your family turn their back on you,” I told him, patting him hard on the back. “You want them to feel like you did that?”
He nodded. It started slowly but became more confident and sharper. “Yeah,” he finally said. “Okay.”
“Good,” I replied. “Now get your gloves back on. You’re still dropping that shoulder.”
Rafe groaned, dragging his gloves off the floor like they weighed a hundred pounds each, but he didn’t argue. Not like the younger boys I worked with. Rafe knew to trust me. I wasn’t telling these kids to do anything I hadn’t had to learn myself.
“Yo!”
I glanced back to see Callan walking across the gym, his work boots on and a pencil tucked behind his ear.
I smirked, leaning against the ropes and looking down at him. “You here to work on your jab or fix something?”
He smirked up at me. “Neither. Just finished up a job around the corner. Thought I’d check in about stuff to do with Darcy’s place.”
“I’ll check in with you later,” I called to Rafe as I climbed out of the ring, and he lifted one glove in acknowledgment. I grabbed my towel hanging off to the side and wiped the sweat off my face. “You got an idea about what it will cost to get it looking good?”
“Yes and no,” he said, pulling a folded-up piece of paper from his back pocket and opening it up. “It’s rough, man. She’s looking at a new roof and replacing some of the floor upstairs. Walls. And then on top of that, updating everything important and making shit look good. And that was just in the quick look I had. She’s looking at twenty grand at the least.”
I nodded, tossing my towel over my shoulder. “Low-ball her.” Callan raised a brow at me, and I rolled my eyes. “Just give her a quote that’s not too scary, and I’ll cover the rest.”
He snorted loudly. “You serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
A slow grin spread across his face. “You soft bastard.”
I shoved him in the shoulder, and he fell into step with me as I headed for the front desk. “You know I’m good for it, so make a fucking list of shit that needs to be done,” I told him as I pulled on my club cut that was draped over the back of the desk chair. “And don’t let her know either.”
