Page 27 of Rematch
“I know you can,” he’d replied. “But I need you to make good ones.”
Unfortunately, that wasn’t in my nature.
Tony’s eyes flicked over my shoulder, some movement catching his attention, and his brow rose. “This kid doesn’t happen to share the same face, does he?”
Following his gaze, I saw Jayden wandering inside. His brown eyes curiously bounced around the gym as he pushed his hood off of his head. He hesitated in the huge space in the fronthall, clutching the shoulder straps of his backpack and shifting on his feet.
“Jayden!” I called. When his eyes snapped to me, I waved for him to come over.
He hurried over, still catching glances at all the features of the gym as he walked. “Hey,” he greeted. “Sorry, I couldn’t make it earlier in the week. I-”
“It’s fine,” I cut him off. “You’re here now.” I turned to Tony who was still staring at Jayden with creased brows and a cocked head. “Tony, this is my brother, Jayden. Jayden, this is my trainer, Tony.”
“Brother,” he said, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank God. For a second, I was worried this was your kid.”
I scoffed. “He’s too old to be mine.”
“He doesn’t look that old. That’s all I’m saying.” He held out one of his gloved hands to Jayden. “Nice to meet you, kid.”
Jayden gave him a tight smile as he shook it. “You too.”
“I’ll leave you two to it,” Tony said, taking a few steps back to make his exit. “If you need me, just holler.”
“Will do.” I patted Jayden’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get you settled in.”
I led him to the locker room in the back. “Did you bring clothes and stuff?” I asked, glancing over his hoodie and jeans.
He nodded. “In my bag.” He set it down on one of the benches and started digging through it.
As he gathered his change of clothes, I headed into the back corner to grab the roll of duct tape and marker off the small cart there. I ripped off a piece, slapped it on an unclaimed locker, and wrote Jayden’s name on it.
Glancing at him, I noticed the short row of textbooks and notebooks in his bag. “Are you coming from school?”
“Yeah,” he murmured. “I’m in the automotive mechanics program at LA Trade.”
“Oh, you like cars?”
He shrugged. “My uncle is a mechanic. Used to make me help around his shop to keep me out of trouble. In high school, I was accepted into one of the vo-tech programs and earned a few credits for doing their automotive program. Figured, I might as well finish and get my certification.”
“Is becoming a mechanic what youwantto do, though?”
“You ask as if I’ve thought of other options.”
“Have you?”
He looked up from his bag to glare at me. “Can you drop the big brother act? I’m here to work, not bond.”
I crossed my arms. “Fine. Since we’re being technical, when can I expect you to show up for ‘work’?”
He looked back down and continued shuffling through the contents of his bag. “Does Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday around four o’clock work for you? I’m still working at the shop the other four days of the week.”
“Sounds good to me.”
He finally pulled out a folded pair of clothes. “Cool.”
I left him alone in the locker room to change. As I waited for him outside, I scanned over the other trainees in the room. Jayden picked a good time to come in. This was usually the time all the others around his age started flooding in.
Perfect,I thought as I spotted one of the rising stars of the age-group on the other side of the room, stretching with some of his other buddies. “Nathan,” I called.
