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Fergus nodded his head, and then said, “Honestly, he gets in the ring. He’s going to kill people. Kid has mad skills. On top of that, he’s got a drive that can’t be killed. And… I know we have an understanding of this. He’s going the football route. But the kid’s going to need that outlet. There’s a sanctioned underground fighting ring. They have a junior weight class. In two years, he will qualify for that. And I don’t see any of them that will be able to win against him.”
“Okay.” That was all there was to say.
Daemon
We had just won our football game.
Lily had an art show that was extremely important to her, and Melanie had felt torn, but I had assured her that it was okay. That football would always be here, but Lily would only be able to enter certain art shows.
After she had seen the light, so to speak, she had made sure that she was updated by one of the football moms.
I had just walked out of the locker room and headed for the parking lot, where I spotted William’s familiar truck.
He worked around his wife’s schedule, around Lily’s, and surprisingly, mine. He picked me up from the group home every morning and dropped me off at school, and he picked me up after practice and after games.
I tossed my gym bag in the back of his truck and then climbed into the cab beside him and grinned at the heat, and the Reese cups he handed me.
William hadn’t been able to attend the game like he always did. He had gotten a call before the game had started.
Putting the truck in drive he grinned at me, “You did good, kid. Damn good. How do you feel?”
I took a bite of the Reese cup and asked, “How did you know? You were out on a call.”
He smirked, “Got a buddy. Watched it on FaceTime when they didn’t need me to use my weight.”
I huffed out a laugh.
I finished my chocolate and then tagged the Dr. Pepper and took a drink from it.
That was when he cleared his throat, “So, my wife and I’ve been talking since we first met you. And Lily, the shithead, was listening to our conversation after we got a certain call yesterday and immediately agreed. What do you say instead of me taking you back to the group home, I take you home with me? We got approved to be your foster parents. We had to take classes and the like. And… and we adopt you.”
We were almost at the intersection.
If we went right, it would take us back to the group home.
And if we went left, it would take us to his home. Maybe my new home too.
In the still of the night, I asked, “You’ll never raise your hand to me?”
He shook his head, put every piece of honesty in his words, and then said, “Never, son. Fucking never.”
I nodded, then asked my second question, “You’ll never let me go weeks without food?”
“I’ll go without food before I ever let my kids go without.” It took me a few seconds; I knew he had Lily. But… he was including me in that. That was a nice feeling.
But I had one more thing I needed to ask. One more important thing.
Then my voice dropped, “You’ll never allow your friends to… to… to touch me.”
He almost veered off the road, but he caught himself, then without a care for anyone else, he slammed on his brakes in the middle of the two-lane road, turned his head, and then growled with his answer, “Anyone ever fucking dares to touch you and you don’t want them to, you beat the shit out of them, then you leave them breathing for me, and I’ll finish them off.”
I nodded, looked into his eyes, and decided for the first time in my short nine years of life to trust someone.
“Well, I need a shower, and I bet you have better water pressure at your house.” It took a beat, but he grinned, and I swore I saw moisture in his hazel eyes before he winked and then flipped on the lights on his truck, and then once we made it to the intersection, we turned left.
After he parked the truck, I saw Melanie and Lily peeking their heads out through the curtains.
I snorted, then climbed out of the truck along with William, who was shaking his head.
