“I don’t know,” he said. “You can never tell what people will do for money, man. But you’re right. Hector went to that place at least once that I know of. I can’t say which one hired him, but I think it was someone on the Monarchs’ side. He didn’t fight nobody, though. Hector never was much of a fighter, and besides, I talked to that Troy dude in the dressing room, and he said he never saw Hector do a rumble.”
“But you think someone there was responsible for what happened to him?”
“Like I say, he wasn’t no fighter, but he wasn’t no druggie either.”
“Did he need money for something?”
“He didn’t need it, but he wanted it.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I can understand that. So what do you think happened?”
He scratched his chin. “I haven’t figured that out yet, but I’m going to.”
“So that’s what you’re interested in?” I asked. “Not the reward for finding Ashton Browning?”
“Hector was family. I don’t let nobody mess with my family.” He looked at me. “Or my friends.”
“Thanks, Beto,” I said. “That means a lot to me.”
“That’s okay. You’re a good dude. I like how you never thought Hector OD’d himself. And it’s cool how you been sticking with trying to find that rich girl. You and me got a lot in common—we don’t let nothing get in our way when it comes to someone important to us. I gotta really give you props for coming out to fight like that. You got a lot of guts and a lot of loyalty. You’re the kind of dude wants to help people. I like that.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess.” I didn’t let on that the reward was also pretty important.
When we finally reached my house, we shook hands before I got out of the car, and he goes, “You know you can call me if you need to. You still got my number?”
“Yeah, I still have it. Thanks. And thanks for not kicking my butt too bad tonight.”
He smiled. “Anytime, man.”
Since I’d blown the hell out of my curfew, I let myself into the house as quietly as I could. A monster flick played on the TV in the living room, where my dad snored away in the recliner. Mom must have gone to bed and left him on duty to wait up for me. If I was lucky, he’d fallen asleep early and would never know what time I got home.
First thing I did was go to the bathroom to check my battle scars. Besides my nose shining like a tomato, there wasn’t a mark on me. I decided I did have a pretty hard head after all. If I could get my speed up, I might even make a decent fighter.
For appearances, I went back to the living room and scrunched down on the couch, where I could pretend I’d been since before curfew in case Dad or Mom woke up. It was weird how they hadn’t seemed to notice how I’d grown up. That’s why I couldn’t tell them about all this Gangland stuff. They’d never understand in a million years.
Back when I was a kid, I pretty much told them everything, and they always came up with some way to try to fix things. What parents don’t understand is that there comes a time when you don’t want them to fix everything for you. You want to do it yourself. Otherwise, you don’t have any mojo at all.
But as I sat looking at my dad in the TV glow, this warm wave surged up inside me. I was glad he waited up for me—or tried to. I was glad he had his job teaching second grade and my mom had hers as a nurse. They didn’t go around worrying about what anyone thought of how much money they had. They were the ones who really helped people. That’s what they did with their lives. And that was another weird thing—for too long I’d forgotten how proud I was of them.
CHAPTER 38
When I woke up Sunday morning, the main thought that burned in my head was that I owed a big fat apology to Audrey and Trix. Obviously, the story about Trix and her dad was just another one of Nash’s lies. I should have seen that before. If he’d been telling the truth, the newspapers would have been all over the story days ago. Trix was right—I’d been kidding myself that I could be a real friend of someone like Nash.
Now, as far as I was concerned, the lying scumbag topped my list of suspects in the Ashton Browning case.
That afternoon, I tried Audrey’s cell phone but got no answer. Then I tried her mom and she told me Audrey went to see a movie with Trix. So I got my mom to drop me off at the theater. It was a gamble. If they didn’t forgive me, I’d be stuck without a ride home until either my mom or dad could come get me.
The theater had a little juice and coffee shop inside, so I waited there for about thirty minutes until the movie let out. With probably about twenty different movies playing at different times, the theater’s lobby always had a crowd, but Audrey and Trix weren’t exactly ones to blend in. I spotted them right where I expected—at the rear of the latest pack to stroll into view. Audrey always liked to watch a movie until the last credit rolled.
I bushwhacked them before they got to the front door. Audrey’s smile instantly drooped, and Trix’s eyes popped so wide you would’ve thought I’d pulled a gun on her.
I’m like, “Hey, don’t freak out. I’m here to apologize if you just give me a chance.”
They traded looks and Trix goes, “Okay, I guess we can at least listen to what you have to say.”
And Audrey’s like, “But it better be good.”
I led them to my table in the juice and coffee place, where the girl behind the counter looked at me like I was a loser for coming back instead of going to a movie. Audrey and Trix sat down and waited for me to start. I felt like I was on the witness stand and they were expecting a confession. This was no time for small talk or jokes, so I just launched into the apology.