Page 50 of Coast

Chapter Fourteen

Mac

As we approached thetwo boys, they lifted their heads and looked at us. And what I saw in their eyes broke my heart.

“Hi,” I said and smiled. The younger one smiled back, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“You’re the man from the clinic,” the older boy said as he looked at Emery.

“Yes. Heard you’ve been having a rough time of it.”

He shrugged. “They separated us. I couldn’t do what you told me. I can’t protect him if I not there.”

“Sometimes, you lead by example. Mrs. Stone’s working on getting you placed together, it’s just taking a little time. Why’d you run, Tracker?” Emery asked and I knew from the boy’s expression he didn’t want to answer.

“‘Cause of me,” the young boy said.

“Pax,” Tracker said as a warning, but I watched as Paxton looked at his brother, then over to Emery, who had taken the empty chair beside him.

“I got to see Tracker a couple times, and I cried because I missed him. He told me he would find a way to get us back together. And he did, but they found us. Now we got no place to go.”

I turned my head and discreetly as I could, wiped the corners of my eyes.

“Who are you?” Tracker asked me.

“Mackenzie. It’s nice to meet you, Tracker.”

“There’s nothing nice about me,” he said, and I found it strange how he said it.

“Did someone tell you that?” I asked.

“Does it matter? Not like you can do anything about it.”

“Hey, you don’t get to talk to her that way,” Emery said.

I touched his shoulder. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” he said to me, then turned back to Tracker. “You don’t ever disrespect a woman, and you definitely don’t disrespect my woman. Anger isn’t going to get you anywhere. Other than in a heap of trouble. You are going to come across a lot of people in your life, Tracker. Some won’t have a problem with you. But others won’t like the color of your skin, how you talk, how you dress, where you come from. Their opinions of you don’t matter unless you make it matter. Respect yourself, accept who you are, where you come from—let the other people show their ignorance, and you don’t let it reflect back on you.”