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“Do you want to go to college?” Xaiden asked. “Did you have plans to do so before…” From the pained look on his face, he couldn’t finish the question. He didn’t need to.
“No,” Cody replied. “We didn’t have the money for it. My grades weren’t good enough for a scholarship.”
“You can work for me if you want. On one condition.”
“It’s not charity?”
“Do you remember what Val said about taking the hand trying to help you?”
Cody nodded. “I get it. What’s the condition?”
“Every dollar I give you in your paycheck, I match and put into a savings account for you to go to college. I’ll have control over the account and when you’re ready to further your education, tell me, and I’ll pay the tuition, housing, whatever you need.”
Cody’s eyes widened more with every word Xaiden spoke. Unless Xaiden was going to give him a high-level role, it would be years before Cody could earn enough. Knowing Xaiden the way I did, he would take care of the cost, no matter how much it was, and tell Cody he made enough to cover it. It was smart, probably the only way Cody would let him do it. He wanted to earn his way, which I understood. Xaiden wanted to see him succeed.
“What if I don’t have the skills to do the work?” Cody asked, his eyes downcast again.
Xaiden placed his hand on Cody’s arm. “You’ll learn. I’ll teach you.”
“Like Jay taught me,” I added. “Take what he’s offering. You don’t know when your next chance at an opportunity like this will come along.”
“You own a gym, right?” he asked Xaiden.
“I do but I also have an apartment building with tenants who have homes that need maintenance. You have your choice. I can teach you how to help me in the gym or with the maintenance. I like to do as much as I can myself, but I only have so much time, so I hire out when needed. If I bring you on, I can train you in what you choose. Either way, it will help me as well.”
“I’d like to work in the gym. I couldn’t…” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I couldn’t help my parents when they needed me. I want to learn how to fight, how to protect.”
I smiled. It wasn’t due to his trauma or his feelings of inadequacy. His parents wouldn’t have wanted him to put himself between them and his uncle. It was because there was no better person to teach Cody what he needed to learn than Xaiden.
“Do you have a phone?” Xaiden asked.
“Only the one on the wall at the house. I’m not sure how much longer it will be on. I can’t afford anything else.”
“That’s okay. We’ll get you taken care of.”
Deciding to give them a chance to talk alone, I stood and stretched. “Bathroom,” I told Xaiden when his eyes met mine.
It was on the other side of the waiting room, so I strode casually across the space, drawing out my trip to give them more time. There were at least half a dozen people waiting now, the ER starting to see more traffic. I went into the bathroom, did what I needed to do, but paused before I left.
I could hear a woman yelling. It was an ER; she could be in pain. But that didn’t seem to fit with what I could hear. She was yelling about her ex-husband.
Carefully, I eased the door open and stepped into the waiting room, which gave me a direct view of the woman. Her dark hair fell long down her back. It was knotted and not taken care of, like she hadn’t brushed it in a week. There was a girl standing by her side, not touching her but the woman had her hand fisted in the shirt at the girl’s back.
The security guard was there, trying to talk to her, get her to calm down. His eyes briefly flitted to me when I entered the room, drawing her attention to me as well.
“You’re him,” she said with anger lacing her tone. “I know exactly who you are.”
“Okay,” I said slowly.
“You’re sleeping with my ex.”
I almost choked on my spit. “Excuse me?”
“Corbin. You’re fucking him.”
“Jesus, lady, we’re in public.” I knew her name. Corbin had mentioned her before. It wasn’t his favorite topic, so he didn’t bring her up often. As I looked her up and down, I couldn’t figure out what he saw in her. Then again, I liked dick.
“I want to see him.”
