Page 13

Maddox

“Hey.” Canyon walks in early for the council meeting.

That’s never a good sign. “Hey.”

“So how goes it?” He sits down on a chair across from my desk.

He means with Mindy. “Enzo found nothing.” There are a couple of semi-wild pictures from when she was a teenager that he purged from the internet and that’s it. She lives a plain, boring life. But she’s terrified of something. “I’m working on it.”

“Really?”

If having dinner and creating awkward conversation counts. “Really.”

“We should do more.”

“What do you suggest? Because I’m out of ideas. We can’t pull her in and sweat her like we did Everett.” Though Mindy all sweaty—Stop. She’s your employee and a woman that needs help.

“Well, we could. But I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“What would you recommend?”

“Find out everything there is to know about her.”

The only way we could know more is to follow Mindy — “We aren’t stalking her.”

“Call it a recognizance team. It’s for her own good.”

“You want me to stalk one of my employees?” Though I kind of already am. But the cameras are in full view and she knows they’re monitored.

Canyon’s brows raise. “We’ve got to do something.”

Like seeing her terrified and overworking isn’t already eating me alive. “I’m working on it.”

***

“Does anyone else have an issue for the Council to discuss?” They better stay silent. I’m not in the mood.

“We need to talk about Everett Jaymes. He needs a lesson.” Pit almost never suggests a lesson for one of the kids. He always deals with issues privately. “That boy flirts with every female he crosses paths with. Young or old. He’s making a nuisance of himself. And he’s going to get one of the girls or a couple of the girls in trouble.”

“You’re just upset that he flirted with your wife.” Enzo chuckles.

“My beautifully pregnant wife. That boy needs to mind his manners. Wait until he flirts with your woman.”

Enzo’s laughter stops and a frown replaces it. “Everett needs a lesson.”

All eyes turn to me. They’re right. I’ve seen him flirt. “I’ll give him the birds and bees lesson.”

“Can I watch?”

You mean hit him upside the head every few minutes. “No.”

***

“What did I do wrong to be called to the principal’s office?” Everett struts in like this is a reward, not a lesson.

Made my brothers grumpy. And you’ve only been here a little over a month. “Sit down. We need to have a talk.”

“Uh oh.”

Maybe I should have let Pit stay. He could have stood behind the little punk and whapped him every time he said something asinine. “How are you liking your time here?”

Everett shrugs. “It’s okay.”

Which is kid speak for he’s loving it. “How do you think you’re settling in?”

“Obviously not well, or I wouldn’t have been called to your office.”

Kinda true and also not true. Check-in meetings are normal for the older kids. Our goal is to get them on the path to a good life. “Not necessarily.”

“But it is this time.”

Let’s not play games. “I would still like you to answer the question.”

“Everyone is nice. The food is good. And the women are beautiful.” He grins like he knows he’s baiting me.

“We spoke recently about respecting women.”

Everett sits up. “Did someone say I disrespected them? Because I didn’t. I would never.”

And I believe he wouldn’t intentionally. “We need to have the birds and bees talk.”

“Birds and bees. Are you really that na?ve to believe I don’t know how sex works?”

He’d be surprised at how many don’t when they arrive here. And how many know more and have sadly experienced far too much of it at their young age. “We can have that conversation, but I don’t think you need an explanation of the mechanics.”

“What’s with the birds and bees, then?” Everett folds his arms across his chest.

“Do you know what happens to kids that live on the streets without anyone to protect them?”

Everett’s brows wrinkle as his attitude fades away. “Yeah.”

“Especially to cute girls.” The thought of what these girls have had to survive makes me homicidal. Sometimes I want to stop being the head of this place and just go hunt monsters for a few decades, making the world a better place in a different way.

“Yeah, I get it. You don’t need to tell me some of these girls have been assaulted. I know that.”

“Do you? Because your actions say otherwise.”

“What actions? The most I’ve done is open some doors and pull out a few chairs. What’s wrong with that? If someone has said I touched one of them, they’re lying. I would never touch one of them.”

“Touch isn’t the only thing that can hurt women and girls who are in a fragile state.”

“Spit it out, old man. What am I being accused of?”

Let’s get frank then. “Flirting.”

“What?” He shakes his head. “Flirting isn’t a crime.”

“It isn’t. And you’re not in trouble.” Yet. Hopefully never. Though teenage boys—even ones as intelligent as Everett—don’t often use their brains when it comes to girls. “The brothers voted unanimously that you need a lesson.”

“No.” He stands up and backs away. “No way. You aren’t beating me or locking me in a cage.”

Everett’s words shouldn’t surprise me. But he seemed so normal. So well-adjusted. “I told you before, we don’t hurt kids. That hasn’t changed. A lesson here is actual education, not pain. That doesn’t mean you will enjoy the lesson, but you should learn something.” I reach for a slip of paper with an address on it that I prepared before Everett came. “You will show up at this address every morning at six in the morning and leave at six at night.”

“I told you that I’m not working for you.”

The stubborn tilt of his head mixed with the mulish look on his face makes me want to smile. “You can’t work there. All you need to do is sit in a chair and observe. You can bring a book with you, but no tech. Feel free to take a break as needed or ask the people there whatever questions you like, but you need to stay the entire week.”

“What happens if I don’t go? Will you kick me out?”

They all ask that. “No. We don’t work like that. This is about helping you learn. Nothing more. Nothing less. It’s not punitive. If you need to tap out, come tell me and we’ll find another way.”

“Tap out? There isn’t anything that you could throw at me that could make me tap out.”

“Well then, I’ll see you in seven days, and we’ll talk.”

Day 1

Everett storms into my office. “You sent me to a stupid daycare center.”

Everyone turns to face him.

The mottled cherry color of his face should be concerning. “Guys, can you give us a second?”

They all nod.

“Can I whap him upside the head?” Pit stops in front of Everett. “Just once?”

He’s just grumpy because Brie has been throwing up all day from one of her weird pregnancy cravings, and she kicked him out because he was hovering. “Maybe next time.”

Pit growls at him, then walks out, closing the door behind him.

“What’s with that?” Everett turns back to me.

“His wife is pregnant.”

“Ohhh.”

Sympathy, in cases like this, must be a reflex reaction. “What do you need, Everett?”

He shakes his head. “Why did you send me to a daycare center?”

“You tell me.”

“Huh?”

“This is your lesson, not mine. Why did I send you there?”

He just stares at me.

“I’ll see you in six days.”

“That’s it. You aren’t going to explain anything to me?”

“Nope.”

“You’re crazy, old man.”

Most men are too afraid to tell me that to my face. “Goodbye. Everett.”

Day 2

Everett stomps into the room again. “All they do is eat, scream, and poop.”

Don’t laugh.

Whatever you do, don’t laugh in the kid’s face. “Really?”

He stalks across my office to the venomous wall. “Mostly. At least the little little ones. But the others don’t do much more. Why did you send me to watch kids scream and poop? It makes no sense.”

I can’t fight the smile.

“You think this is funny? It’s not funny. I have a headache. And every hour it gets worse. Why did you send me there?”

Instead of answering, I reach into my desk and pull out a package of earplugs that I bring to the shooting range and hold them out to him. “These will help.”

“That’s it. That’s all you’re going to give me?” He glares at them.

“I have some aspirin if you want.”

“You’re wack. Completely insane. This is the stupidest lesson I’ve ever heard of.”

“Do you want to tap out?” It’s kind of evil of me to challenge him like that. But he isn’t in emotional distress. Everett’s just frustrated and refusing to see what’s in front of him.

“No way.”

“Then I’ll see you in five days.”

He stands there staring at me for a long minute. Probably trying to decide if he wants to hit me or throw another temper tantrum, neither of which would bother me.

Everett stalks off.

Day 4

Everett walks into my office a little quieter. More pensive.

I’d expected to see him yesterday, but he never showed up. Isla reported that he started talking to the kids instead of sitting and glaring at everyone. Is the lesson finally getting through to him, or is he going to give up?

“They’re cute. But I still don’t get it.”

“They are cute.”

“You’re still not going to tell me what I’m supposed to learn.”

“No. But I’ll give you a clue. Ask different questions.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I’ll see you in three days. Goodbye, Everett.”

Day 6

“I have a question.” Everett stands at my door almost waiting to be invited in.

“What’s your question?” I set Petunia on my neck and stand up, giving him all my attention.

“Where do those kids come from?”

“Here.”

“Like here as in Urbium?”

“All the children at the day care center live on The Street or their parents lived here for a while.” We don’t have the staff to open up to the general public.

“All of them?”

“Yes, Everett, all of them.”

“Some of the parents seem so young. One of the girls with two kids can’t be more than fifteen or sixteen.”

He’s talking about Cora. “She just turned fifteen.”

“You didn’t make her give them up.”

“Just like I don’t hit children. I don’t make them give up their children. Or do anything they don’t want to do. Cora wanted to keep her children.”

Everett walks over to the wall of pythons and sits down, staring at them. After a long minute, he asks, “Did you send me there to teach me about unprotected sex?”

I join him, bringing Petunia with me. “Didn’t you tell me that I didn’t need to give you the birds and bees talk? That you knew how things work? Why would I waste my time telling you something you already knew?”

Petunia slides down my arm and onto his.

Everett freezes for a long second and then reaches out to touch her. “I don’t understand. Computers are easy. They’re math… logical. Nothing about this makes sense.”

“Life doesn’t always make sense.” That was a painful lesson to learn.

“But lessons should. You didn’t give me a lesson that doesn’t make sense, did you?” Petunia wraps herself around his arm, resting her head in his palm.

“They will eventually.”

“I don’t know what question to ask.”

“Maybe you’re asking the wrong person questions?”

“Do you always talk in riddles? Because it would be much easier if you just told me what I’m supposed to be learning.”

“The easy path isn’t always the best one.” I slide Petunia off my arm and stand up. “Take all the time you need to think.”

Everett sits there a long time, stroking Petunia and staring off into space.

Day 7

Everett knocks on the wall, staying a step back from the open door.

“Come on in Everett.” I wait for him to start walking before I ask. “Did you figure out what you were supposed to learn, or do you need more time?”

He stops. “I can stay there longer?”

“Yes. You can take all the time you need. Do you need more time?”

“No. I don’t think so. But I’m not sure I learned what you wanted me to.”

But you learned something. “Let’s start with what you learned.”

Everett sinks down onto the chair across from my desk. “I learned that kids aren’t easy to raise.”

“Is that all? I’m pretty sure you learned that on day one.”

He half smiles for a moment. “But I also learned that leaving your kids at daycare is even harder.”

“It is, sometimes.”

“Yeah, the parents that just brought their kids for a few hours seemed happier leaving them. The others… it took strength to walk away. Why did they have to? Especially Cora. You guys have enough money to take care of her and the babies so that she didn’t have to leave them. Why did you make her leave them?”

“There’s that word again. I will remind you, we don’t make anyone do anything here. Cora chose to put her kids in daycare.”

“Why? Why would she do that?”

“You’re asking the wrong person the questions. I’m not going to discuss Cora’s choices with you or the reasons she would make them. But you’re a smart kid. Why would you do it if you were her?”

Everett goes silent. “To go to school and get a job so that I could take care of them without ending up in a dead-end job or relying on others to fund my life.” He jumps up. “That’s what you wanted to teach me. That’s what you wanted to teach me all along. Not about safe sex, but about choices, respect, and responsibility.”

And the boy learned something.

“But you knew if I got a woman pregnant, that I could get enough money that she’d never have to leave our baby. So there has to be more.”

I knew he was a smart kid.

“She’d need to choose what to do with her life, too. And if we got pregnant young, her choices would be harder as well, even with all the money I could give her.”

Jackpot.

He stops at Petunia’s tank. “I’m glad you sent me there. But you’re wrong.”

Wrong? “How so?”

Everett turns back to me. “I wasn’t flirting. Life stinks most of the time. And when you walk around, most people won’t even look at you, let alone smile at you. I’ve been there. I’ve lived that. I’ve spent years without seeing a single smile. No one should go a day without seeing a smile. So I smile at people—women, men. It doesn’t matter who they are. I can smile, open a door, pull out a chair, or do something nice just because. There isn’t anything wrong with that. Your lesson was to teach me all those things, but it wasn’t to teach me not to be kind to people.”

He was just being friendly. This wasn’t about flirting. “Are you interested in dating?”

“No.” He sputters. “Not now. Maybe not ever. Though sometimes I think maybe when I watch Pit fall all over himself to take care of his wife. Why aren’t you married? You’re old.”

Nosy kid. “That’s none of your business.”

“I know.” He grins. “Maybe you need a lesson.”

Little punk. “You can go now.”

“Maybe I don’t want to go.”

He isn’t talking about leaving my office or ending the lesson. “You can stay here as long as you like.”

“The other kids say you talk to them about what they want to be when they grow up.”

Do I really need to ask? “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“I don’t know exactly. But I want to work with computers. And I’d like to make a difference.”

Great answer. “You didn’t mention wanting to be rich.”

“Money comes and goes. I could be a billionaire anytime. I want to make the world a better place. That sounds cheesy, but…” He shrugs.

“Would you like my job one day?” I’ve never seriously thought of offering this job to anyone, but somehow I can see Everett being really good at it in a few years…Maybe a few decades.

“No. No way. I’d have to be nuts to do what you do.”

That’s disappointing. “Then how do you want to change the world?”

He shrugs again. “Maybe you can help me with that like you have others.”

“Maybe I can.”

“Would it be okay if I visited the daycare center again sometime?”

“That’s up to Isla, but I don’t see why not.”

“What do I have to do to get in the room with all your snakes?”

“For the non-venomous ones, become a brother. To go in with the venomous ones you need to go to school for herpetology, intern under a responsible herpetologist, and prove to me that you’re responsible enough to not get yourself or someone else killed if I let you in there.”

“You could have just said never.”

“I could have, but—”

“—But then I wouldn’t have learned anything.”

Exactly. “One more lesson. But this one I’ll make easy. Don’t torment Pit. He’s a bit on edge right now.”

“I thought you didn’t like easy lessons.”

True. I try not to snort. “Pit likes hard lessons. And I won’t stop him from whapping you upside the head.”

“Noted.” Everett grins. “Torment Pit anytime I can.”

This kid is going to keep us on our toes. Maybe I should tell Louisella he stole from the library. Then he would be her problem. Matthew won’t thank me for the gift. There’s got to be someone else that can keep up with Everett…