“I never knew my dad. My mom was a waitress who cleaned houses on her days off.” Percy’s chin came up. “She was shot. You know—wrong place, wrong time? It was a drive-by shooting.”
Jack didn’t allow himself to react, even as Larissa touched Percy’s arm.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
“How old were you?” Jack asked.
The chin went up more. “Fifteen. That’s when I went into foster care.”
Hell of a thing to have happen, he thought. “You bounced around a lot?”
“Some. I got by.”
“I told him he would be safe here,” Larissa said. “That we would help find him a home and get him moving toward his bright future.”
She spoke earnestly, he thought, watching the determination fill her blue eyes. She believed there was a “we” in all this. But Jack knew the truth. He would provide the means, but Larissa would be the heart and the drive of whatever mission was to be called Percy.
She would save Percy and then move on to another project, dragging them all along in her wake. She was unstoppable and endlessly optimistic. He supposed that was one of the reasons he couldn’t resist her. Larissa still believed.
Jack turned back to the boy. “If you want to stay, you can.”
Percy frowned. “Just like that?”
Jack smiled. “Yeah. Just like that.”
CHAPTER SIX
JACK STEPPED OUT of his shower and reached for a towel. He’d slept well the previous night. No doubt the aftereffects of his good deed. His wallet and cell phone were where he’d left them, also a good sign that he hadn’t been completely idiotic to let some teenager he didn’t know spend the night in his house.
He dressed and made his way downstairs. Percy was already in the kitchen, eating cereal from a bowl. The two males stared at each other. Jack had a feeling that if they were elks or gazelles or something and in the wild, they’d be butting antlers. And if one of them got hurt, Larissa would show up and take him home.
He walked over to the Keurig and turned it on, then dropped in a pod, shoved a mug into place and waited for the magic to happen.
“You sleep okay?” he asked, knowing he was the grown-up in the room and therefore the most likely one to start the conversation.
“Mostly. It’s real quiet here.”
Jack wasn’t sure if Percy meant in the town or the house, then decided it didn’t matter.
The Keurig poured out the elixir of life. When the mug was full, Jack carried it over to the table and sat across from Percy.
The kid was wearing the same clothes he had the previous night, although he’d obviously showered and shaved. There was a small cut on his chin. He thought about the backpack Percy had been carrying and held in yet another sigh.
“All right, let’s start at the beginning,” he said. “Where are you from?”
“Los Angeles. South Central.”
Jack had lived in L.A. for years, and parts of South Central L.A. were not to be messed with. “Tell me about your mom.”
Percy looked startled by the question. “Why?”
“Humor me.”
“Okay. She got pregnant in high school. Her boyfriend ran off and her family kicked her out. I don’t remember much about when I was little. We lived in a shelter mostly, but we got by.” Percy’s mouth tightened, as if he were holding in emotion. “She was real good to me. Always looking out for me and telling me not to get into trouble. When I was seven, we moved in with my grandma and things got better. Mom got a steady job and we stopped moving around so much. When my grandma died, we couldn’t afford her nice apartment anymore. That’s when we moved again and it was harder. My mom worked a lot and that meant I was on my own.”
Percy stared at his empty cereal bowl. “I got jobs in the neighborhood, to help out, you know? But she made me promise to stay away from the gangs and if you’re not tight with them, it’s hard to find work. Then she was killed and I got into the system. I was bounced around every couple of months. Then I ended up here.”
Percy looked at Jack. “She was a good person and she tried real hard. I didn’t want to let her down.”
“Sounds like you didn’t,” Jack said, thinking that the difference between making it and not was so narrow. How many other kids had suffered Percy’s fate and made the easy choice to join a gang? He knew from a few of his former teammates that not only did they provide a sense of security, there was also belonging. A social structure. Of course, it came with a heavy price.
“You have ID? A social security card, stuff like that?”
“I have a social security card and a copy of my birth certificate,” Percy said slowly. “Why?”
“You’re going to need them in life. So tell me what you want, Percy. A good job? A college education?”
Percy frowned. “I don’t understand, man. What are you asking?”
“That lady you met last night? Larissa? Well, think of that meeting as winning the lottery. Larissa is going to take care of you. So what do you want? Any dreams? Becoming a navy SEAL? Learning how to work on cars? Going to college and studying to be a doctor?”
Percy scowled. “If you want me to leave, just say so.”
Until We Touch (Fool's Gold #15)
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