Page 99 of Guitars and Cages

I moved so we could get out of Rory’s room and close the door before we managed to disturb him. “Why the hell would I take her side, Morgan?” I asked, pissed off that he could suggest I’d agree with anything that would hurt Rory.

“Birds of a feather,” he threw back. “It’s not like you gave any thought to abandoning your own son. Besides, I think you’d forgive her anything given the way you feel about her. Unless that was another ruse, too. Who knows? Your whole life is a lie.”

I turned away from him, not wanting to fight with him anymore. “I’m glad Rory’s fine. I’ll talk to you later, Alexia.”

“Does the truth hurt, Asher?” Morgan called out from behind me. “When are you going to stop being such a damned coward and stop running away?”

I stopped and spun back around to face him. “I ain’t running. I’m leaving ’cause that’s what you told me to do. I only came to help find Rory, and we found him. I’ll leave now so my being here won’t make you sick.”

Alexia looked between us, clearly upset. “Morgan, Asher, what’s going on?”

“Morgan found out how big of an asshole and a liar I am, and he doesn’t want me around here anymore,” I told her. “Now that he knows he doesn’t have to waste time on me anymore since I ain’t his kid, he can kick me outta here with a clear conscience.”

With that I left, not bothering to listen to the crap Morgan was spewing behind me. I didn’t care anymore; it was clear I was nothing but trash to him now, and even coming to help him find Rory hadn’t earned me so much as a thank-you, let alone some small measure of redemption in his eyes. I stormed from the bar furious, and went back to my apartment. I went inside cold, numb, not wanting to talk to Cole, who was somewhat awake and propped up on the couch, remote in hand.

“Where you been?”

“At the bar. Rory found his way into a crawl space and Morgan couldn’t find him.”

“He okay?”

“Yeah, he is now. I found him.”

“Well, damn, he better keep a closer eye on the kid.”

“I’m sure he will. I’m gonna go lie down, I’m tired.”

He shoved himself to his feet and staggered over, grabbing my arm and dragging me to the couch. “Nah, man, you gotta sit and have some drinks with me. We’re celebrating.”

“What the hell are we celebrating?”

He reached into the brown-paper bag beside the couch and yanked out a bottle. I heard it clank a few times on the way out, so I knew it wasn’t the only one he had. “I found it, the perfect building to purchase for a gym.”

“What about California?”

He waved the bottle at me as if dismissing the idea. “Too expensive. Besides, this place is perfect, and who the fuck does Morgan think he is to try and run me out of the city?”

“Uhh, Cole, he was never trying to run you out of the city, he just wanted you out of the bar.”

“Yeah, whatever. Either way, California’s out, we’re staying here. I called the real estate agency and put in a bid. The guy said there ain’t any other bids on it, so if the owners accept, I’ll have Mike wire the money down and we’ll be in business. Cheers!”

He passed me a glass and I downed it. Feeling the burn of the booze hit my belly, I quickly reached the glass out for another one. “What do you mean we’ll be in business? I don’t know shit about boxing, or running a gym.”

“So you’ll learn. We both will, and the best part is that there are rooms upstairs where the last owner lived, so we wouldn’t have to keep renting.”

“Uhh...okay,” I muttered, sipping at this second glass. “I’ll help you set it up and all, but I was kind of thinking that I needed to find a steady job. You know, maybe head down to the docks and see if I couldn’t get a job down there.”

“Hey, if that’s what you want, fine, but won’t Morgan be pissed that you’re quitting? You work with me, you can still work with him. You work at the docks, man, you’ll never get any sleep if you’re working at the bar all night.”

“I ain’t workin’ at the bar anymore. He fired me.”

“Damn, what the hell did you do?”

I downed the drink and poured myself another. “Just some shit from the past that finally caught up with me. And besides, since I’m not his, why should he bother keeping me around? He doesn’t have to do me any favors.”

He laughed then and knocked back his drink. His face was flushed, and I knew he was already feeling those drinks on top of what he’d drunk earlier in the night. Maybe he’d pass out again soon. “I fuckin’ told you, man! I told you that’s what he’d do. See, you should listen to your big brother for a change! Ain’t no one else gonna look out for you.”

I sighed and stared at the floor, killed my drink, and poured another. “Yeah, yeah, rub it in, why don’t you.”