The Brick Yard (24 page)

“You looked hot,” Briley countered.

“Yeah, and that drummer from Midnight Breeze pinched my ass. I thought Dray was going to kill the guy.” Lucky grinned. He had to admit, he loved Dray’s jealous streak.
Damn.
It made him horny just thinking about the way Dray had gone after the guy. He started to reconsider the suit but shut that thought down. “No, no suit.”

Lucky could still hear Briley’s giggle as he left the diner. He went next door, to the most recent addition to the gym. It was called Sid’s Room, named after his childhood friend who’d been found dead in a crack house almost two years earlier. The teenagers who came into the center after school were required to stop at Sid’s Room first to make sure their homework was finished before they could indulge in the other activities The Brick Yard had to offer. For those who needed tutoring, a steady stream of retirees were always on hand to help. He’d been amazed at the response from the community when he’d put word out that the center was looking for volunteers. They had retired accountants, bankers, computer programmers and just about everything in between.

Lucky waved to Tonya, a fourteen-year old girl who was new to the center. “How’s it going?”

“Good, Mr Gunn,” she replied, before going back to her math book.

Lucky shook his head. He doubted he’d ever get used to being called Mr Gunn, but Dray insisted on it. According to the love of his life, the kids needed the boundaries, and they needed to learn to respect those who treated them with respect. It sounded like a bunch of bullshit to Lucky, but he wasn’t about to argue over something so trivial.

He passed through the first addition they’d made to the gym. The space had once been a tea shop, but when the business had finally gone under, Dray and Lucky had decided to take it over and turn it into a food pantry of sorts. Dray had spent months going to damn near every restaurant, food distributor, bakery and grocery store in the city asking for any help. The Brick Yard currently had a van that traveled the city during the late night hours to pick up surplus food. The result had become a decent food pantry, something Lucky would have appreciated when he was young and digging through the garbage for something to eat.

When Lucky felt the memories start to encroach on his mood, he touched his thumb to the silver ring on his left ring finger. A present from Dray—one that meant they were together forever.

Lucky entered the gym and looked around. Dray was across the room, instructing three teenage boys on grappling moves. He walked over and waited until he got Dray’s attention.

“What’s up?” Dray called.

Lucky pointed to his watch. “What time’s Jax coming?”

Dray glanced up at the oversized clock on the wall. “Anytime.”

Lucky pointed to the office, and Dray nodded. He glanced around the large open space. Without looking at the check-in roster, he’d guess they had about thirty-five kids in-house at the moment, but it was still early. As far as he was concerned, there could be a hundred teenagers roaming the place and it wouldn’t be enough because he knew there were thousands out there who needed a place like The Brick Yard.

* * * *

Stepping into Brick’s office, Lucky sighed. Unlike the rest of the gym, nothing had changed in there, except he, Dray and Jax had given the space a thorough cleaning. He sat behind the desk and powered up the laptop. Another small change that he prayed Brick would have approved of. He scrolled through his emails, bypassing the lottery wins, penis enlargement promises and limited time offers. He growled as he marked the offending items as spam.

A particular email caught his attention and he smiled. It had been months since he’d heard from his biggest critic. Although Chad no longer called him the Ice Man, he did continue to criticize Lucky for giving up on his career. He opened the email and began to read.

Hey UnLucky,

Just saw your picture in the paper. Why didn’t I know you were running a gym for kids? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a noble thing you’re doing, but what the hell? If you’d stuck with it, you could’ve been with the UFC by now. Seriously, are a bunch of street kids worth giving up your dream?

Chad

Chuckling, Lucky fired back a reply. A few years ago, Chad’s email would’ve pissed him off, but he wasn’t the same man he used to be.

Chum,

Sorry you don’t have anyone else to pick on lately. Maybe you’ll get lucky and another asshole who irritates you will soon join the ranks. And, just to clarify, I’m living my dream. The children I help give me more peace of mind in one day than the cage could have given me in a lifetime.

I wish you the best of luck, as always.

Lucky

He pressed Send before sitting back in the chair feeling incredibly pleased with himself. He heard a cheer go up in the gym and jumped out of his chair. Without bothering to shut down the computer, he rushed out of the office. “Jax!”

The tall handsome man who turned a brilliant smile on Lucky was a stark contrast from the skinny kid with a mop of blond curls who’d first come into The Brick Yard. Lucky’s strides slowed as he wove his way through the crowd who’d surrounded Jax.

When he finally reached the kid who’d helped save his life, Lucky was filled with a sense of pride. Despite his childhood, Jax had overcome his demons a lot sooner than Lucky had—not that Lucky wasn’t still working on it. He threw his arms around Jax and held him for several heartbeats. “We’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” Jax pulled back and studied the gym. “When did you replace the windows?”

Lucky walked Jax toward the office. “Last spring, but enough about the gym, I want to talk about you.”

“What about me?”

Lucky directed Jax to the couch before sitting beside him. Like all the furniture in the office, the couch was the same piece of vinyl shit Brick had used, but Lucky and Dray couldn’t bring themselves to replace it.

“As much as I love the fact that you’re moving back, I want to know why,” Lucky asked. Since receiving word from Dray that Jax was returning to Chicago, a niggle of worry had begun to creep its way into Lucky’s head. What if something was wrong with Dray, and Jax was coming back to help him get through it? As irrational as it sounded, Lucky had a hard time believing his happiness would last. It was something he’d tried time and time again to work out with Dr Sherman, but that constant threat was always in the back of his mind.

“It’s time.” Jax shrugged. “I went out to Cali because I thought it was time I experienced a different way of living, but something happened that made me realize this is where I’m supposed to be.”

“What happened?” Lucky touched his thumb to the silver band, silently gathering strength.

“I was sitting at this outdoor café with a group of friends, and I saw a little girl and her mom rooting through a trash can.” Eyes filled with tears, Jax looked at Lucky. “I ran inside the café, ordered a couple of sandwiches and offered them to the girl and her mom. They thanked me, but they looked at me suspiciously, and when I got back to the table, the people I considered my friends were laughing at me.” Jax cleared his throat. “I decided I’d rather be back here with the people who know me and love me anyway.”

Although he hated to hear how much Jax’s experience had hurt him, Lucky was happy to know Jax’s change in colleges hadn’t been anything to do with Dray. “You are loved,” he told Jax, reaching for his hand.

“Should I be jealous?” Dray asked from the doorway.

Jax got to his feet and practically threw himself at Dray. “I looked for you when I came in, but I didn’t see you.”

Dray hugged Jax but smiled down at Lucky. “I was in the storage room getting clean sheets put on your bed.”

“My bed? You mean you don’t have anyone staying in the storage room?” Jax asked, releasing Dray.

“Not since we bought the house.” Dray flicked a glance at Lucky. “Although sometimes Lucky sneaks in there to take a nap during the day.”

Lucky wouldn’t deny going into the storage room, but he rarely went in there to nap. There were times, especially after a particularly bad day or session with Dr Sherman that the safety and memories the room held were the only thing that helped him pull himself together.

The door pushed open behind Dray and Gatsby slunk into the office. “You’ve got someone else who wants to say hi,” Lucky said.

Jax looked down and scooped the black and white cat into his arms. “Shit, I’ve missed you,” he said, rubbing his face against Gatsby’s head.

Dray stepped around Jax to drop onto the sofa next to Lucky. “I need you to do me a favor.”

Lucky rolled his eyes. He had a good idea what that favor would be. “What?”

“Go by the school and pick up Jake?” Dray asked. “He had to stay after to make up that test and missed the school bus.”

Lucky groaned. “Why don’t you do it?”

“Because I promised the new boys that I’d show them how to hit the speed bag,” Dray replied.

“I can show them,” Lucky argued.

Dray sighed and kissed Lucky’s cheek. “I love you, babe, but we both know you don’t have the patience needed to teach a group of eleven and twelve-year-old boys how to fight.”

Grumbling, Lucky got to his feet. As much as he hated to admit it, Dray was right. Learning to use the gym’s equipment had come so easy to Lucky that he couldn’t understand why someone needed to be shown the same damn thing over and over before they got it.

Dray dug the van keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Lucky. “Thanks, babe.”

“You owe me,” Lucky called as he left the office. He planned to collect as soon as he was alone with Dray in their master bedroom. The house they’d purchased recently wasn’t huge, but it had four nice big bedrooms and a full unfinished basement. The hope was that someday they’d finish out the lower level to include two more bedrooms, a bathroom and a recreational room for the boys to hang out in. At the moment, they only had three boys under their care, Jake being one of them.

As Lucky drove to the magnet school Jake attended, he kept a close eye on the sidewalks. The area of town where Jake studied advanced math and science also happened to be the part of town his mom had moved to. He’d only seen her a couple of times since she’d been released from prison, and the last time he’d spotted her coming out of a neighborhood liquor store, she appeared to be back to her old habits.

There was a time, before Dray, Jax and Dr Sherman had saved him that he would have let the guilt of his mother’s relapse drive him to hurt himself, but that time was over. He’d come to terms with his mother’s addictions and although it had taken years of therapy, he’d finally realized he wasn’t responsible for her actions.

He pulled up in front of the school to find Jake talking to a girl. “Test. Right.” Lucky leaned on the horn until he got Jake’s attention.

Jake leaned over and gave the girl a kiss before jogging to the van. “Hey, thanks,” he said, climbing inside.

“Who’s that?” Lucky asked.

“Who?”

“Don’t.” Lucky glanced at the brunette still standing by the tree staring at Jake.

“Oh, that’s Jen.”

“Is Jen the reason you missed the bus?” Lucky asked, as he turned and headed back to the gym.

Jake started in on a rambling story about how he’d stayed after school to finish a test and happened to run into Jen after he got out of class. Evidently, it was pure coincidence that Jen was still there when he walked out of the school.

Lucky chuckled and shook his head. He wasn’t even thirty yet, so why the hell did a seventeen-year old boy think he didn’t know what was up. “Stop by the office later and pick up some condoms.”

“Seriously, dude, that’s embarrassing,” Jake said, resting his head against the window.

“You wanna know what else is embarrassing? Having to tell that nice girl’s dad that you knocked his daughter up because you were too much of a pussy to wrap it up.”

Jake groaned and hid his face in his hands.

Lucky grinned, feeling quite pleased with himself all the way back to the gym. “Oh, Jax is here,” he told Jake as they walked across the parking lot. “Family dinner at seven. Be there.”

“Cool.”

The minute they entered the building, Jake took off toward Sid’s Room to check in, and Lucky walked toward the sexiest man on earth. Shirt off and chest shiny with sweat, Dray had an entire crowd of girls watching him demonstrate the speed bag. “Of course he does,” he mumbled. His gaze went to the cheesy shamrock tattoo over Dray’s heart.

Sorry, girls, he’s mine
.

Also available from Totally Bound Publishing:

What’s his Passion?

Box Set

Bailey Bradford, Ethan Stone, T.A. Chase, Sean Michael,

L.M. Somerton and Morticia Knight

Excerpt

‘Unexpected Places’ by Bailey Bradford

“Hey, Carter, you headed out to Grayson’s?”

Carter Hausemann bit back a groan. He hadn’t gotten away quick enough to avoid Mark Watson. Carter turned to watch him approach the elevator. Mark was an attractive guy, but he wasn’t someone Carter wanted a long-term anything with. Or even a quick fuck, for that matter. Mark skeeved him out.

“Actually, I’m not,” Carter told him.

He desperately hoped someone else would join them for the elevator ride down from the twelfth floor. Mark could be pushy to the point of obnoxious if they were alone.

“I’m going home to prepare for the hiking trip I’m taking over the weekend.” Not that it was any of Mark’s business, but Carter hoped it would get the man to back off.

Instead, Mark stopped just a little too close, but not so much that Carter could call him out on it. Well, he could, but Mark would likely tell him he was being paranoid—even though they’d both know better.

“Hiking again?” Mark raked him with a calculating gaze Carter had seen too often. “Surely there are better things to do with your time?”