Текст книги "Triple Play"

Автор книги: Sloan Johnson

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Chapter 24

Sunday morning was somber for many reasons. We’d been careful to keep our conversations and speculation about my return to Portland behind closed doors, but Cody wasn’t stupid. He knew something big was going on even though he didn’t ask questions. Drew and I had driven to my apartment Saturday afternoon to pack my clothes. Refusing to believe this was it, Eric made room in his closet for my stuff. I complied rather than argue, because if nothing else it meant he wanted me to find my way back here. And I would. Somehow.

After lunch on Sunday, Cody sat down at the dining room table and borrowed Drew’s laptop to finish a final project for his Sociology class. As I watched him flipping back and forth between his notes, textbook, and different websites, I vowed to do whatever I could because Cody was a prime example of why what we did mattered. Less than a year ago, he was living on the streets and had given up on his dreams. Now, he was an honor roll student who’d managed to take as many classes as he could to ensure he’d graduate on time. He wouldn’t have that without Pot of Gold, and I wasn’t about to fail him.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Drew asked as he leaned over the back of the couch to hug me.

I turned and offered him a wan smile. The sexual energy between the three of us had cooled considerably since Friday night’s phone call. Feeling Drew’s arms draped down my chest reminded me how much I would miss these casual moments.

“I can’t shake the feeling that being sent back to Portland is only the tip of the iceberg,” I admitted to him.

Drew hopped over the back of the couch and curled into my side. “You can’t think like that. Aren’t you the one who kept telling me it was pointless to dwell on the bad shit that could happen?”

“You’re right.” What I didn’t tell him was that there was a difference between obsessing over what could go wrong and admitting what I knew was insurmountable odds. Every month, the center’s bank account became a deeper shade of red. Most recently, it seemed to be a deep crimson, not dissimilar to the blood most of us poured into keeping the doors open and the heat turned on. No matter how I’d tried to streamline, it felt as though every issue I resolved uncovered two more and it was hard to stay positive when facing such odds.

“I know I am,” Drew quipped. “Besides, it’s not worth being upset because you’re going to be back here in just over two weeks. To some people that might seem like a long ass time, but in our world, it’s nothing. It’s probably a good thing you’re going back because that way we have a trial run.”

“A trial run?” I parroted, glancing over to Eric, who was now listening intently to our conversation.

“Yeah. Two months after Christmas, I’ll be on my way down to Arizona for spring training,” Drew pointed out. “And unless you and Eric plan to relocate temporarily, which is a bad idea for multiple reasons, that means the two of you are going to be back here for those four weeks without me.”

“You’re assuming I’ll get the transfer,” I reminded him. Eric was growing frustrated by Drew’s inability to admit there was a chance my request would be denied. Even when I’d told them I would consider other options if Mr. Borgwardt tried to deny me, he’d insisted that wouldn’t be necessary. He claimed it was all part of his effort to have a more positive outlook on life, but it felt more like a bad case of denial.

“You will,” Drew responded firmly.

Eric snatched his keys off the kitchen counter. “I hate to break this up, but if we don’t get going, you’re going to miss your flight.”

Drew wrapped his arms tighter around my waist. “That sounds like a damn good idea to me. Tell Borgwardt that you missed your flight and he’ll have to reschedule. For never.”

He slid his hand over my thigh. He forced his way between my legs as he moved back toward my groin. “Mmm, as enticing as that sounds, I’m afraid I have to go,” I said regretfully. “But as you said, I’ll be back as soon as I can and then you can show me how much you missed me.”

I bit down on the corded tendon of Drew’s neck and he writhed in my grasp. It may be cruel for me to toy with him knowing there was no time to finish what I was starting, but I felt it only right that he be uncomfortable as well. It was his fault for trying to convince me to miss my flight in favor of getting naked and sweaty with them tonight.

Drew stood and followed me to the door. He grabbed my bag off the floor and started walking toward the car. After throwing it into the trunk with more force than necessary, he turned and threw his arms around my neck. “You’d better fucking come back.”

The gruff tone in Drew’s voice choked me up. It told me that no matter how much he tried playing off my leaving, he was hurting, too. We all were. I held my arm out and Eric joined our embrace.

“No matter what happens when I get back to Portland, I will be back,” I promised them. I couldn’t leave without both of them knowing how I felt. “I know I was the one who suggested we all start fucking around and swore it didn’t have to become anything, but it did. You two became everything to me and I couldn’t help but fall in love. Now, I know that home is where you are. I won’t stay away longer than necessary.”

Drew was the first to break down. He looked out over the water, trying to hide the way his eyes glistened with emotion, but I saw. It wasn’t a surprise. I’d noticed every time he opened his mouth to share his feelings, only to silence himself to be spared the pain if we didn’t feel the same way. I felt his love in the casual touches when we passed in the hall and the way he burrowed into my chest when he slept. His feelings were clear, even if he tried to hold back for whatever reason.

“You’d better have your ass back here for Christmas,” Eric warned me. “You were the one who said moving in wasn’t a small step. Just remember that because your stuff is here, even when you’re not. Get home when you can.”

I curled my fingers around the back of Eric’s neck and drew him in for a passionate kiss. I savored the firmness of his lips, the faint trace of coffee on his tongue, the musky smell he exuded after working out. I then turned and gave Drew a final kiss before I left, steadfastly refusing to say goodbye to them. This was a trial run, as Drew called it, and by this time next year, we would be pros at watching him leave while we stayed behind.

As Eric drove me to the airport, I asked that he keep an eye on everything here while I was gone. I worried more than I ever had in my life, both about what was going on at Pot of Gold while they were left without anyone in charge, but also about Drew. He’d begun to show a more intimate side of himself, and I worried that my abrupt departure would cause him to shut down to everyone yet again.

Monday morning, I struggled to drag myself out of bed. Mr. Borgwardt was expecting me at his office at eight thirty, which meant he’d be irritable if I wasn’t waiting outside the door by eight fifteen. In his mind, you were already late if you showed up ten minutes early. There was a time when I’d admired that about him, but now it pissed me off. The distance over the past two months had given me time to really analyze how he operated and I didn’t like what I saw. Mike Borgwardt was great at what he did, but only when he stood to profit, whether financially or through an increase in his reputation. Time was money to him, and every minute he spent dealing with Pot of Gold was a minute he wasn’t earning for himself and others.

Pot of Gold was a diversion for him. It was a way for him to honor the memory of the son he lost to the streets over a decade before. Unfortunately, it did nothing to pad his bank account. I was beginning to feel as though he poured money into the Portland center because that’s where his business capital firm was headquartered. It was a way for him to show how much he contributed to the city while doing nothing to assuage his guilt.

Milwaukee, on the other hand, had started as an afterthought. He’d once confessed to me that it was there where his son ran to when he left home and that was why Mike started a center downtown. He’d expected it to run as efficiently as Portland did without a quarter of the oversight or sponsorship and it was failing.

The door opened, and I stood. Mike assessed my appearance critically and voiced his displeasure in my more casual attire. This too was common because I’d never believed in dressing in a manner that made me seem unapproachable to those I was trying to help. “Bryce, it’s good to see you. Please, come in.”

I followed him and took a seat while he prepared a mug of tea. It said a lot about him that he couldn’t be bothered to ask if I would like anything, but again, I was used to it.

“Let’s cut the crap, Mike,” I said impatiently, calling him by his first name because I knew how much that pissed him off. He was old school and felt as though everyone should show him respect whether he’d earned it or not. Well, I didn’t work that way, and although he was a savvy businessman, I had the distinct feeling I was about to lose any respect for his ability to operate a non-profit organization. “We both know you’re uncomfortable as hell right now, which tells me I’m not going to like what you have to say.”

Mike sat down and cradled the steaming mug between his hands. His eyes shifted from me to a spreadsheet on the desk in front of him and back up. He exhaled a deep sigh.

“You know, your tenacity is something I’ve always admired,” he said, although it didn’t feel like much of a compliment. “I’ve always thought your talents were wasted at Pot of Gold, but I never could find a way to pull you away from there.”

“That’s because making sure no one is left out in the cold truly matters to me,” I bit out, perhaps a bit more defensively than I should have.

“Yes, I’m well aware.” He handed me a copy of the spreadsheet which was the annual operating statement for Milwaukee. I didn’t need to look at the numbers, they were all committed painfully to my memory. “Now, I know you’ve done everything possible to turn around our location in Wisconsin. And I have to say, what you were able to achieve is truly impressive.”

The paper crumpled slightly in my fist. If he’d simply wanted to congratulate me for doing the best anyone could have been expected to in my situation, he’d have done so over the phone.

“However, after meeting with my accounting team, they’ve advised me that there are only two options,” he continued. I swallowed hard, knowing what was coming. “First, I can write a sizable check to not only pull the center out of debt, but to also ensure it’ll never again get to where it is now.”

That wasn’t going to happen. If he’d had any interest in funneling more money, he would have done it one of the numerous times I’d broached the subject. That meant the second option was the only option he was considering.

“The alternative is that we close the center in Milwaukee and focus our efforts closer to home,” he added bluntly.

Images of Cody flashed through my mind: him taking control on the basketball court, sitting at the table in Eric’s dining room on Thanksgiving trying to catch up on his homework, and even him red-faced and breathing heavy after blowing up at another resident for talking shit about the center.

I lurched out of the chair and started pacing around the office. It was easy to make these decisions while sitting in a corner office. “You can’t do that!” I protested loudly. “Even if it wasn’t the middle of winter, you can’t lock the doors on those kids.”

“Bryce, while I appreciate your passion, you need to calm down. Your last report stated that you’ve found foster families for all of the minors who’d been staying at the facility which means everyone else is a legal adult.” He sat straighter in his chair and began filing away the spreadsheet he’d made such a show of looking at minutes ago.

“Fuck that!” Apparently, Drew and his foul mouth were rubbing off on me. “Those guys might be adults based on their birthdates, but I promise you, if you turn them away they will not make it. Part of what we do is pick up the pieces and help them land on their feet when everyone else has turned their backs.”

“I’m well aware of Pot of Gold’s mission.” My hands curled into tight fists at his condescension. He might have memorized the mission statement some publicity firm drew up for him, but he was clueless as to what we were trying to achieve. For the first time, I wished he’d never had the brilliant idea to open a transitional home for gay teens and young adults.

“No, Mike, I don’t think you are.” I was seething. Heat rose in my face as my blood pressure spiked. “I think you’re nothing more than a man who got lucky and has more money than he knows what to do with. You’ve probably gotten this far in life by throwing money at the problems you face so they’ll go away. The problem is, now you feel as if you’ve paid your penance for turning your son away when he was younger and you’re bored. You want a new project to keep you busy.”

Mike rounded the desk, grabbing my arm as I turned away from him. “How dare you bring Tim into this! I’d give every penny I have if it meant he was here today.”

“But you can’t!” I screamed. “He’s gone and you hate yourself for that. No matter how much money you spend, it’ll never be enough.”

I pulled out my cell phone and scrolled to a picture I’d taken of Cody over the weekend. He was smiling broadly as he rummaged through the bags of clothes and new shoes Drew had given him when we finished wrapping Christmas presents. He was sitting in front of the tree with all of the gifts and the tree he and Drew had picked out serving as a backdrop.

“This is what it looks like when good men try to make a difference.” I handed him the phone, noticing the way his body slumped as he stared at the image. “That’s Cody. When one of your volunteers found him, he was underweight and had dropped out of high school. Now, he’s on track to graduate on time, one of his mentors has helped him secure the full ride scholarship he thought he’d lost when it came out that he’s gay, and he’s on the honor roll. If you close the center, there’s no telling if any of that will happen for him. He’ll be back on the streets in the middle of a brutal winter. Do you want that on your conscience?”

Mike shoved the phone back at me. “Compelling, but my decision is final. We’ll do everything we can to help the young men who are living there find other accommodations, but as of the first of the year, Pot of Gold Milwaukee will be no longer.”

His phone rang and he waved me toward the door. I’d been dismissed without the opportunity to tell him what a worthless pile of shit he was. I punched at the call button on the elevator, needing to get out of there before I lost my fucking mind.

Chapter 25

I pushed harder than I had since the end of the baseball season during our morning workout. I’d finally been cleared for full activity and I was determined to work my ass off so no one thought I’d lost my touch over the winter. Plus, it gave me something to think about other than Bryce’s ominous meeting in Portland.

“Hey, you wanna take it easy?” Eric hollered across the empty gym. The weights clattered back to the stack as when I let go. Sweat poured down my face and I was out of breath. Okay, so maybe I was pushing a bit harder than I should. “You still have two months before you report, no sense trying to make everything up in one week.”

I scowled at him, pissed because he was right. But I couldn’t help myself, I felt like I had something to prove to everyone. I needed to get out there and show them that the last game of the season was a fluke, that I wasn’t bound to be the fuck up I felt like at the end of that game.

I yanked my towel off the end of the rack and wiped my brow. I wanted to jump on the elliptical for a while, but when I stood, my entire body felt like rubber. “I’m going to hit the shower. I’m starving.”

The ping of a new text message coming in echoed off the tile walls in the locker room as I showered. I quickly finished rinsing off and dried my head and arms as I rushed across the room. It was just now eight thirty on the west coast, so Bryce was in his meeting. Cam and Jason were out of town on some romantic getaway, so I doubted it was them. My parents could barely work their cell phones and refused to text anyone. The list of who it could be quickly dwindled. I reached up to the top shelf of my locker, feeling around for the phone. It was Cody.

Is it true?

I quickly texted back asking him to clarify what he was talking about. Since he was the only person who’d contacted me, it didn’t make sense that it could be about baseball or even my attack, but other than those two things, I couldn’t think of any reason for his vague message. I had barely pulled on my boxer briefs when my phone started ringing.

“Hey Cody, what’s going on?” I answered.

“I just got out of the fucking guidance office,” he informed me. I could practically see him fisting his hands through his hair the way he did when he was pissed off. “They got a call this morning from some asshole saying that I am going to be looking for a new place to stay and wanted to know if the school had the resources to help me find something.”

“Whoa, slow down,” I interrupted, knowing that otherwise he wouldn’t stop talking until he got everything out. “What do you mean you need a new place to stay? Who called them?”

I rushed to finish getting dressed and walked out to the gym barefoot. Eric was much more level-headed than I was during stressful times and I wanted him to help me work through whatever was going on.

“They said they were from Pot of Gold, but that didn’t make sense,” Cody continued. He was right, it didn’t. I knew Bryce was worried about why he was being called back to Portland, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about them shutting down. And I couldn’t imagine anyone would be so heartless as to do it during the holidays.

Eric stopped the treadmill and joined me at the edge of the room. I stopped Cody again long enough to catch Eric up on what was happening. I could have dropped to my knees and kissed his feet when he took the phone away from me.

“Hey Cody, it’s Eric,” he said so Cody would know he was no longer talking to me. “Before you freak out, I’m going to call and talk to Bryce. He’ll know if the phone call was legit or if someone’s trying to fuck with you.”

Eric handed me his phone so I could try Bryce while he tried to calm Cody. The call went directly to voicemail, so I left him a message to call me as soon as his meeting was over.

“Yeah, we can come and get you if that’s what you want but didn’t you have some big exam this afternoon?” I grew impatient as Eric waited for Cody to finish rambling. “Okay, well no matter what’s going on, it’s not going to do you any good to miss that. Do your best to make it through and if you really can’t focus, talk to your counselor and teachers and have them call me… Don’t mention it… Okay, good luck on your test. If we don’t hear from you before the end of the day, why don’t you plan on us picking you up after school?”

Eric ended the call, and we swapped phones. He stormed into the locker room, punching one of the metal locker doors on his way through the room. I considered reminding him that he didn’t want to fuck up his hand, but stopped myself. Right now, that’d be pouring salt in the wound since I knew he still wasn’t as fine with quitting baseball as he tried to make it seem.

“I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I’m going to find out,” Eric seethed as he snatched his shower kit out of his bag. “I had a bad fucking feeling when Bryce got that phone call. And so help me, if I find out he knew about this and didn’t tell us, I’ll jump on a plane and fly out there to personally kick his ass.”

I grabbed Eric before he could step under the spray of water and turned him to face me. “Do you honestly believe he’d have kept something like this from us?”

“No,” Eric conceded. “But he’s not even out of that meeting and we’re hearing shit from Cody. That’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, it is.” Somehow, I’d become the voice of reason. That was something I was fairly certain no one who’d met me would believe. “But we don’t even know if it’s true or not. For all we know, someone could be trying to mess with Cody’s mind. It’s not exactly a huge secret that he’s been living there, and we all know that kids can be assholes.”

Eric shook his head. “The timing is too perfect. As much as I’d love to believe your little Miss Sunshine logic, I can’t. There’s no way anyone else knows there’s some huge meeting happening right now that had Bryce worried before he left yesterday.”

Shit. He had a valid point. Now I was worried about what we’d find out when Bryce called us back. Eric stepped into the shower and I leaned against the wall, openly watching him as he cleaned up. If we were at home, I’d have offered to help him but we couldn’t be that reckless in a public locker room. It’d already draw attention that I was standing there talking to him while he showered, but that could be played off easily enough. Athletes learned early on that modesty would get you nowhere good in a hurry.

“So what are we going to do?” I asked. If it was my house, there would be no question that we’d go to the center and get Cody’s shit to move him out of there. But it wasn’t, no matter how much Eric claimed otherwise. It was his name on the deed and I still remembered how unenthused he’d been when I’d invited Cam to move in while he’d been out in Seattle.

“First, we’ll get something to eat. Then, we’ll wait for Bryce to call us back. Once we know what’s going on, we’ll all sit down and decide what happens next,” he told me. He smirked as he turned off the water and I knew I’d been busted ogling him. “And just so you have a heads up, I’m going to have a meeting this afternoon, so you’ll probably have to go pick up Cody at the school. Find out if there’s anything you can do so you’re his official contact. It may not be an issue since he’s eighteen, but double check. But make sure you ask him before you do anything. I don’t want him thinking we’re trying to step in and take charge of his life.”

I flashed him a broad grin. Eric loved to give me shit for letting Cody worm his way under my skin, but it seemed I wasn’t the only one who gave a shit what happened to the kid.

I took the keys from Eric and headed out to warm up the car while he got dressed. No matter how much I stared at my phone or flipped it over in my hands, it still didn’t ring. The time on the display showed just before eleven in the morning, meaning it was almost nine in Portland. I felt helpless waiting for Bryce to call me, so I decided to try him one more time.

“Hey, I was just thinking about you,” Bryce answered on the third ring. That was great, but I’d rather he called than tried to somehow communicate telepathically. My skills in that department were seriously lacking.

“You know, it’s the damndest thing. When you’re thinking about someone, you could check your voicemail and know they’re waiting for you to call them,” I chided.

The noise in the background grew louder as Bryce sarcastically tried to apologize for not calling the moment he got out of his meeting.

“It’s fine,” I told him. I debated telling him about our morning, but decided I wanted to give him a chance to explain what he knew first. If it turned out that this was a hoax, there was no sense in upsetting him when he couldn’t do anything about it. Apparently, Eric’s levelheadedness was rubbing off on me. Either that or I was losing my mind. Either were real possibilities. “So, how was the meeting?”

“It sucked,” he responded bluntly. The background noise faded before being replaced by music blasting through the speakers. That seemed out of character for Bryce since he was always bitching at me to turn down the music in my own car. “Is Eric there? I’d really rather only have to talk about this once.”

“That good, huh?” I asked. When Eric stepped outside the building, I leaned over and honked the horn so he’d hurry the hell up.

“Worse, if you can believe it,” he admitted. A pit formed in my stomach because I had a bad feeling the call to Cody’s school this morning was no hoax. Like Eric had said, the timing was too coincidental now that I knew Bryce wasn’t happy about the outcome of his meeting.

I hit the button to connect the Bluetooth. “Okay, we’re both here now.”

“There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to do it,” Bryce started. I reached over for Eric’s hand, needing to feel a physical connection to at least one of my guys. “The center’s closing at the end of the month. The founder is unwilling to keep solely funding the daily operations and he sees this as his only option.”

“They can’t fucking do that!” I yelled. “Doesn’t he give a damn that he’s kicking those kids right back out on the streets? He’s the one who gave them a place to go. He’s the one who gave them a sense of security. And it’s all bullshit! Now, they’re going to be thrown out with nothing. Did you fucking explain that shit to him?”

“Drew, you need to calm down,” Eric warned me. I glared at him because there was no fucking way I was going to sit back and let this happen. Someone had to fight for those kids. I’d have thought that someone would’ve been Bryce, but he’d just taken the bad news and walked out. “Bryce, did you ask him if he could give you some more time to either get the funding necessary to keep the doors open or find Cody and the rest of the guys another solution?”

“He wasn’t exactly receptive to anything I had to say,” Bryce admitted.

“So make him listen to you,” I demanded. “You can’t just give up without a fight.”

Eric slid his hand down to my knee and squeezed hard. When I looked over at him, he shook his head as if silently scolding me for my outburst. Well, that was too fucking bad because if Bryce wanted to get pissed at me for calling him out, it’d be because I wasn’t saying anything that didn’t need to be said.

“Drew, there’s nothing more I can do.” I’d never heard Bryce sound so defeated. Good. At least that showed that he wasn’t unaffected by the fact that his boss had no problem completely fucking a bunch of guys who had nowhere else to turn. Guys who’d been softened by a rich fuck with too much money to throw around and would now have to fend for themselves again. They’d have been better off if that asshole had just left them to their own devices. “Pot of Gold needs money. A lot of it. And I’m not sure if you know this or not, but working for a non-profit isn’t something you do to get rich.”

I opened my mouth to say something I’d likely regret, but Eric interrupted me before I could start spewing more shit. “Tell us what we can do to help,” Eric requested.

“Like I said, there’s not much that can be done,” Bryce repeated. “Right now, the main concern is going to be finding the guys a place to go so they’re not trying to live on the streets or waiting in line for a bed at the shelter every night.”

“Cody’s coming to stay with us,” I blurted. Eric gaped at me but didn’t argue. Given our earlier conversation, I thought that’s what Eric would want as well, but I wasn’t so sure. “So how many others does that leave?”

If I had to, I’d call everyone I knew to find those guys warm beds to sleep in. Hell, if any of them were up for it, I’d ask my parents to come and pick them up. They could work on the farm when they weren’t in school. It was hard, back breaking work, but I knew firsthand that it was also invaluable experience. And since none of them spoke to their families any longer, it’d be good for them to have a doting mother who’d never gotten used to her empty nest.

“Seven,” Bryce responded. “And before you mention it, no, you can’t take them all home. I know you want to help, Drew, but it’s not a realistic option.”

“Well, I sure as fuck can’t do nothing,” I grumbled. “If it comes down to them sleeping on the streets or in our basement, I’ll fight for it.”

“Drew, slow the fuck down,” Eric warned me. “No one’s going to be living on the streets. I still agree that Cody should come with us, but the rest of the guys won’t have to worry. Bryce, are they all aware of what’s going on?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Bryce responded. “After Borgwardt and I had our argument, I stormed out of there. Probably not my finest moment, if I’m being honest.”

Eric laughed. “No, probably not, but it’s understandable. Look, I’m going to sit down with my accountant this afternoon. Whatever it takes to keep the center open, consider it done.”

Bryce huffed out a ragged sigh. “That’s great, but he made it abundantly clear he’s not interested in funding. He wants out.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I’m willing to put money into the center to keep it open,” Eric responded.

“You don’t get how much it’s going to take, do you?” I stared, open-mouthed, at the speaker. I couldn’t fucking believe Bryce was trying to talk Eric out of this.

“Whatever it takes, I’ll write the fucking check. We’d already talked about me coming down to work for the center so I wouldn’t be bored off my ass. I made that offer because I saw how much good you were doing there,” Eric told Bryce. He then looked at me intently so I’d know he included me in that statement. “I’ve been drawing one hell of a salary for years. My agent has made some investments which will likely help dig us out of the hole the founder created. Plus, I have the inheritance from my grandfather just sitting there waiting for me to do something with it. I think he’d be pleased to know his money will go to helping kids.”

“Great, so you have the money to throw at the problem,” Bryce scoffed. I wanted to reach through the phone and slap the shit out of him. He wasn’t the pessimist in this little trio, that was my job. “That doesn’t change the fact that it’s not as easy as writing a check. There’s paperwork to be filed, background checks to be run, and a whole bunch of shit I’m not thinking of right now because I’m so pissed off.”