Take Me On

Chapter 74

West

Two days and life has returned to normal. I attend the best school, I have the best opportunities, the richest friends, reopened credit card accounts, a swank home and all the food I can eat. It’s what my parents want as my normal, but I have never felt more like a person living in a foreign land than I do now.

It’s Friday and if I’m back to normal that means family dinner night. I’ve avoided my parents and they’ve given me my space. Tonight, for some reason, feels inevitable.

I hit the last step of the stairs and the doorbell rings. I open it and discover Rachel’s boyfriend, Isaiah, standing there with his hands shoved in his pockets. The guy hasn’t changed: shaved head, earrings and tattoos cover his arms.

“Little early, aren’t you?” I take it back; he has changed, and that burn on his arm from when he saved Rachel from the accident proves it. Rachel said she saved him. He saved her. Guess they saved each other.

“Nope.” Isaiah shows every day, but he typically waits until after dinner on Friday.

“He’s coming for dinner.” Rachel’s wheels hum against the floor as she exits the newly created workout room. In a fresh pair of jeans and sweater, she whips around the open front door with a huge I’m-going-to-see-the-guy-I-love grin. “Hi!”

The don’t-fuck-with-me guy sure as hell gives her the same grin back. “Hi.”

I nod my head for Isaiah to enter and I close the door behind us. “Do Mom and Dad know about this?”

A glint strikes her eyes. “No, but you’re going to help me, right?”

Isaiah folds his arms over his chest and the glare says he doesn’t have Rachel’s faith in me. Which he shouldn’t. I’ve done nothing but give him shit since he’s been around my sister. I extend my hand to him. “I can’t promise it’ll be pretty. In fact, I can guarantee it’ll be the equivalent of wearing a sweater in hell.”

Isaiah assesses my outstretched arm, then meets my eyes before accepting my hand. “Didn’t expect anything different.”

“See,” Rachel says behind me as I head to the dining room. “He’s changed.”

I chuckle to myself. That’s right. I have.

My heart stops. Have I?

I spin and Isaiah grabs Rachel’s chair to stop her from running into me. In a second, I’m on my knees in front of her. “Do you think I’m different than who I used to be?”

“What?”

“Am I the same person? Do you think I’m different?”

“No. Yes. Wait. You aren’t the same person. I mean, you are, but you’re different. None of this sounds right.”

I stand. “I’ve got to go.”

“Whoa.” Rachel snatches my hand. “I know you’ve been avoiding Mom and Dad, but dinner won’t be that bad. It’s sort of why I invited Isaiah tonight. There’s no way they’d go into the biological stuff with him there.”

He grunts. “Thanks.”

She waves him off. “It’s a kill two birds with one stone thing. It’ll be so awkward we’ll inhale our food and run.”

“Again. Thanks,” he says.

“I’ve got to take the fight,” I tell her.

“West...” It’s like she’s preparing me for impending news of death. “Haley’s gone.”

“Yeah, she is, but she’s still worth fighting for. When I was jumped, Haley came back and fought for me. She changed me, for the better, and now it’s time to fight for her.”

“What about the scholarship? Dad said he’ll find her in California and make sure she gets it. If you fight, she’ll lose the money.”

A heaviness consumes me and the urge is to fix Haley’s problems and control her destiny, but it’s time I start controlling mine. “I’ve got to do this.”

Her forehead crinkles and I hate I’m causing her pain. “You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”

“Just this house, not you. Never you. I’ll be around so damn much you’ll be sick of me, but I need to do this. It’s time I start acting like a man.”

Rachel opens her arms for a hug. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her cheek. “We’ll get you back in that garage, okay?” And after fixing the door at Denny’s bar, I came up with an idea of how to do it. Mom will hate it. Rachel will love it.

I ignore her puzzled expression as I rise and suck in a pride-eating breath. “I’m going to need a place to crash. If I’m taking this fight, I can’t live here.”

This time Isaiah extends his hand first. “Bed’s mine, but you can have the couch. Just leave some cash occasionally on the table upstairs and my foster parents won’t care.”

“Deal.”

Isaiah didn’t have dinner with my parents. Instead he drove me to his foster parents’ house as I used his cell to text my parents to inform them where I was, what I was doing and to remind them I’m eighteen. In a separate text to Dad I told him where he could shove the scholarship.

Determined to do this on my own, I packed some clothes and then left—everything: my phone, my car, my belongings. But this time I’m accepting help from some friends.

Outside the bar, Abby tosses me a prepaid cell and I hand her thirty dollars. “You’ve got fifty minutes. Don’t use them all at once.”

It’s the cheapest damn phone I’ve ever seen. “Are you sure it works?”

Abby tilts her head to the left. “Ha.” Then to the right. “Ha. To get to the gym, take the forty-two bus. It’ll go straight there.”

A red Honda Civic pulls up and Abby nods her chin at the driver. “Here’s my ride.”

“Hey, Abby.”

She glances over her shoulder.

“How’d you know about my mom and Denny?”

That wicked smile crosses her lips. “That’s a story from a whole other book that you aren’t old enough to read yet. When you’re out of diapers, maybe I’ll tell it to you someday.”

Why would I expect any other answer? “Thanks, Abby.”

“Watch it, Young. People may think that we’re friends or something. By the way, welcome home.” Abby slides into the car and it takes off down the street.

I lean against the sidewalk railing and survey the strip mall. Farther down people lug piles of clothes into the Laundromat; they carry bags out of the dollar and grocery stores. Months ago, this was my foreign. Today, it’s where I belong.

Damn, who would have guessed it—this is my home.

The feeling grows stronger when I walk into the bar and my feet stick to the floor. Farther down, Denny wipes down a table.

“Heard you were looking for someone to fix things,” I say. “Is the job still open?”

Denny freezes, then returns to the stubborn spot in front of him. He tries to hide it, but I catch the smile on his face. “Yeah. Job’s still open.”