Starting Point (19 page)

“What’s that?”

“Maybe two nights a week, after the classes I run for the kids in the afternoons, maybe we should have school class time in here.”

“For me?”

“Not just you,” I told him. “But yes, if you’re interested.” He didn’t object outright, so I continued, “A few of the other guys doing the classes like you might find it helpful too. And who knows? You might find it easier to all work together.”

He frowned and shrugged. “Maybe.”

“They don’t find it easy either,” I told him. “You gotta understand, Rube, it’s a struggle for everyone. So don’t think you’re the only one who finds it tough, okay? I mean, it’s hard enough for kids who have homes with beds, and moms or dads, who go to real high schools… It’s not easy for them either, but you guys…well, I can tell you this much—the kids that come in here and are willing to put themselves through this for a chance at a better life, these kids, kids like you, are the real fighters. I don’t think you realise just how strong you are for even wanting to do this. You should give yourself some credit. Because it’s not gonna be easy, Rube. But you’re not alone, and I promise you, with some hard work and dedication, you will win. Okay?”

He looked at me then back to the table, and he bit the inside of his lip. “Can’t read too good,” he said softly.

“I will help you.”

“Learn to read?”

“Sure,” I said. “Why not? It’s no different from me teaching you footwork or fitness. It’s just a skill, I’m teaching, you’re learning.”

He still didn’t look convinced.

“Look, Ruby, I know it’s scary and it’d be a helluva lot easier to just walk away, and do nothing. But, man, you can do this. I’ve seen you in the ring, I’ve seen you train with Arizona. I don’t think there’s anything you can’t do.”

He nodded this time. “You don’t give pep-talks too often, do you?”

“Was it too much?”

He snorted. “Um, yeah.”

I clapped my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. “Well, too bad. I meant every word.”

Ruby looked a bit happier.

“You cool with it? You’re gonna stick it out?”

He hesitated, but he nodded once. “I guess.”

“Good,” I said, standing up. “Arizona will be looking for you. You better get out there and show him you mean business.”

Ruby smiled but went out into the gym area in search of his coach. I stood in the doorway and watched as he said something to Arizona before he went into the dressing room to get changed. Arizona shot me a look and smiled before he went back to the guys he was training. Whatever Ruby had said made Arizona happy.

Figuring I could do with a good workout before lunch, I got changed and hit the treadmills while Arizona ran Ruby through his warm-up routine. He ran him through some techniques then put Ruby in the ring with Zach.

Zach was another kid I’d organised to get his high school diploma through the local community college. He was sixteen, lived in a hostel house and hadn’t been to school in years. I thought he’d been hooking for a few years, though, he would never admit it.

Unfortunately, stories like that were all too common with these local kids.

As Zach and Ruby sparred in the ring, Arizona corrected their stances, their posture and their sequences. I spent some time on the punching bag, going through my own punch-jab routines.

I was in my own world, and had my right side to the door which is probably why I didn’t hear anyone come in. I noticed that Ruby and Zach had stopped sparring first, and I followed their line of sight to see Arizona, who was now talking to two guys.

Darius McInnes and James Tyler.

It didn’t look like a pleasant conversation.

I left the punching bag swinging in midair and walked straight over to stand beside Arizona. Arizona must have asked what they were doing here, because the smaller guy, James, said, “We’s just seein’ what goes on in here.”

Darius smiled at me. He was obviously the leader of the two, and a particularly unattractive guy—maybe mid-twenties, shaved head boasting scars, tattoos up his neck, he was missing teeth and his eyes were hard and cold. He had gang tattoos over his knuckles and wore a T-shirt that showed prison tattoos up his arms and the most disturbing—a swastika on display for the world to see.

“Just curious to see what a white fella like you is doin’ in here with folks like these,” Darius said.

I remembered what Mitch had said about them being neo-Nazi fascists. Without taking my eyes off Darius, I said, loud enough for the boys to hear, “Ruby, Zach, hit the showers.” There was no movement behind me, and Darius’ eyes flickered to where Ruby was standing in the ring behind me, and he smiled. “Ruby,” I said, louder this time, “take Claude with you.”

Darius smiled at me, as though pleased that I was even mildly threatened by him. Ruby and Zach jumped out of the ring and walked towards the dressing rooms. I looked over then and saw Ruby grab his sister by the shoulder and lead her through the doors.

I turned back to Darius and smiled. “Anything we can help you with?”

He sneered at me. “This is a community club, yeah?”

“Sort of.”

“So we can be in here if we want,” he replied smugly.

“Sure. Subject to police records and random drug tests.”

Darius grinned at me then, showing his gapped smile. He knew I was lying about the testing, but he also understood I was having a shot at him about using drugs.

“Well then where do we sign up?” he asked with a shit-eating grin.

The whole gym was quiet now and watching the four of us. I could almost feel the wrath buzzing out of Arizona. He leant forward. “We’re too busy.”

Darius ignored him and sneered at me instead. “You need a leash for your nigg—”

I stepped in front of him, with my face barely an inch from his. I spoke through clenched teeth, “Finish that sentence and you’ll be eating meals through a fucking straw.”

Cody and Jamaal were suddenly beside me. Any one of us would defend Arizona. Like my cop partners, these boys were my team.

Darius kept the stupid smile on his face, but he looked as though he was weighing up his options as he darted a glance at each of us.

I lifted my chin and stared him down. “Any one of these boys could kill you, right here, four different ways without using their hands,” I said, almost in a whisper.

“I ain’t scared of no nigger-lovers,” he spat out.

Then Boss was somehow between us, pointing his stubby fingers at the two unwelcome men. They were taller than him, and two of them to his one, but Boss didn’t seem to care. “Get the fuck outta my club,” he snapped at them.

Darius and James sneered at us, but they turned around and walked out, mumbling obscenities as they went.

Boss called out to them as they got to the door, “And if I see ya’s hangin’ around, I’ll call the cops on ya for bein’ a pain in my ass.” Then he turned around to the four of us. “What the fuck was that, Elliott?”

“They were looking for trouble,” I told him simply.

“And you were gonna knock ’em into next week for that?”

“No,” I corrected him. “But I was gonna teach them some manners for disrespecting Arizona.”

Boss sighed loudly, but then eyeballed Arizona, Cody and Jamaal. “Back to work,” he said gruffly. “And you,” he said, looking at me, “you go back to hitting the shit outta that punching bag. You take your anger management issues out on that, and not some dumbass off the street.”

I gave a nod to Cody and Jamaal, and asked Arizona, “You all right?”

“Yeah, man,” he said. “You?”

“Yeah, I’m cool,” I told him.

“Thought you were gonna snap,” Arizona said. “Haven’t seen you go off at someone in a while.”

“If he had of kept going, I probably would have,” I answered honestly.

“Man, it ain’t nothin’ I haven’t heard before,” he said with a smile.

“That doesn’t make it right,” I said.

“Probably not,” he said, trying to play it cool, trying to placate me. “Thanks for having my back, anyway.”

“Always,” I replied. “Partners, right?”

He grinned, a big, white, toothy grin. “Right.”

I went to walk back to the punching bag, but stopped. “Oh, and Arizona?”

“Yeah?”

“If you want to dob me into Kira for losing my shit, and save you looking up his number, I’ll be calling him later…”

Arizona laughed. “Nah, it’s okay. I’ve got him on speed dial.”

I snorted. “Hey, have you got my back, or his?”

“Both, my friend. Both.”

Boss, who was looking up between us like a tennis match, said, “You two done?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “But, Boss, before you go, a word?”

The older man stopped and waited. “What now?”

“Those two guys,” I said, nodding towards the front door where Darius and James went, “we need to keep the kids away from them.” Then I admitted, “I have it on good authority that they might be under surveillance by the LAPD.”

Boss’ jaw clenched and he spoke slowly. “What have you done?”

“I haven’t done anything,” I told him. “When Mitch and Ricky called in one day, I mentioned those two thugs and how they’re hanging around the kids, and Mitch looked into them. He said they’re now persons of interest. I’m not involved, I swear to you.”

Boss growled. “Dammit, Elliott. We don’t need that kind of shit here.”

“No, we don’t,” I agreed. “And when Mitch cleans them up off the streets, we won’t have that kind of shit here.” I put my hand to my chest. “
I’m
not involved. The
FC
is not involved. But the kids that come here are. They’re targeted and they’re singled out.”

“Who?” Boss asked. “Which kids? ‘Cause if I find out any one of ’em are running drugs, they’re out of the programme.”

And right at that moment, Ruby and Claude walked out of the change rooms. Boss followed my line of sight, then turned back to me. I didn’t have to answer. The look on his face told me he knew.

“I’ll talk to him,” I whispered. “Please don’t kick him out, it’ll be a death sentence to both of them.”

I could almost feel Boss’ eyes burning holes in the side of my head. But I didn’t look at him. “Hey, guys,” I said brightly to Ruby and Claude. “Both of you, my office.”

A rather pale looking Ruby shot glances between me and Boss. “Everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” I said with a smile. “Just gimme two minutes here, okay?”

I watched as the two kids disappeared into my office, then turned to Boss. He shook his head at me. “Jesus Christ, Elliott.”

“I just got him signed up to finish school, and I’m working on finding them somewhere to live.”

Boss sighed heavily. “It’s a slippery slope you’re walkin’, Elliott.”

“Someone has to, right?”

He growled again and shook his head. “Fucking do-gooders. Always gotta make things right.”

I smiled at him. “You should meet my therapist. You and her would get on like a house on fire.”

“I pity that woman,” he said gruffly and turned on his heel. “Sort the kid out, Elliott,” he said as he walked away.

When I went into my office, Claude and Ruby were sitting on the table in the corner. He looked at me with a mix of uncertainty and fear in his eyes. “Was Darius in here ‘cause of me?”

I sat down on the table next to them and sighed. “Probably.” I considered asking Claude for some time with her brother but figured she could probably do with hearing this. “Rube, those guys are no good. I’ve told you that. They might promise you a lot of stuff, but they’re just using you.”

He swallowed loudly. “I don’t want no trouble.”

“I know you don’t,” I said, giving him a reassuring smile. “Let me try and line up somewhere for you guys to stay. You guys’ll have the final say, but how about I find you a few places and you pick the one you like the most.”

Claude looked up to Ruby, waiting for him to answer. His mouth twitched in thought, and he looked at his sister for the longest moment. “Okay,” he said with nod. He would agree to anything if it was for her. He turned back to me. “Okay.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Good. Well, it’s too late today to do anything, but we can look tomorrow. You two can stay at my place again tonight and we can spend tomorrow morning looking at places. How does that sound?”

Claude smiled brightly but when she looked up to Ruby, her smile faded. He was frowning.

“Ruby, you okay?” I asked.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Why am I doing what?”

“Bein’ so nice to us? Helpin’ us out so much?” Then he whispered, “Did you want something from us?”

I blinked in shock at his question, or more so the implication behind it. Did he think I wanted
something
from him? He had no money, no possessions, the only thing he could offer was his body. Something no kid should have to give. “No, Rueben. I don’t want…” I couldn’t even say it.
Jesus Christ
. “All I want is for you to try.”

When he looked at me then, I saw for the first time just how truly haunted his eyes were. He was too damn young to have lived through what he had.

“Opportunities for anyone are rare, but for a street kid?” I said. “They’re almost non-existent. You need to take this, Rube, with both hands. Know what I’m saying? Yes, school is hard, fighting is hard, but it’ll be worth it.”

He nodded, and spoke to the floor, “Was it worth it for you?” he asked. “When you were fighting? You got banged up pretty bad. Was that worth it?”

“I was fighting for the wrong reasons. You’re fighting for the right reason.”

Ruby looked at his sister, then back to the floor. He nodded. “I know.”

“Go in and have a shower,” I told him. “I have classes this afternoon, but I’ll be going home around seven. You two be here by then, okay?”

Except they weren’t.

I finished my classes, and by seven thirty, they still hadn’t showed. Disappointed, I grabbed my bag and headed out to my car.

“Matt!” a far-off voice called out.

I turned to find Ruby and Claude coming from the far street corner. I smiled as they got closer. “Thought you guys stood me up.”

Claude gave me her usual smile, her mop of curls bouncing unruly from her head. Ruby, on the other hand, didn’t smile. He wasn’t just quiet. He was distracted.

You guys ready?” I asked, wary of Ruby’s reaction.