Free A Fighting Chance by A.J. Sand Page B

you’re just out there doing God knows what.” He loses fingers…I gain a father and a family. Shit is really bad. “You got big plans afterward?”
    “A labama with Lydia and her brother. Got a job and an apartment.”
    “Good for you. Carla would have been proud,” he says. This is the most I’ve talked to my father about anything substantial my entire life; I don’t like it but, admittedly, I don’t hate it, either.
    I tick my head at the men in dark suits Henry’s with. “Are those guys part of it?” They aren’t even trying to pretend they’re not watching us.
    “They’re keeping an eye on me,” he says with a bitter smile, and I stare at them just as blatantly in return. I doubt they’re just here to make sure Henry doesn’t run. They seem more like guys who gouge eyes and keep them as trophies.
    “How much time do you have to pay the money back?” I ask.
    “If I put down a good faith payment, I might be able to hold them off for a while. At least satisfy them enough to not sniff out HJ. Before I got locked up, I started putting some money aside for a rainy day—”
    “I think this more than qualifies. As a hurricane, Henry.”
    He nods. “Yeah… Barbara’s dad might let me borrow a couple hundred, if I get on her good side. Total, I can raise a couple thousand.” I want to tell him that’s a laughable dent in what he owes, but the situation is distressing enough without my grim commentary.
    “I can’t promise anything, but I might be able to lend you some. I’ll pay myself back from my winnings.” I wasn’t exactly truthful with Lydia when I said our trip wouldn’t be affected. We’ve paid for it in full, but I have been saving money for several months to spend while we’re there, and now that’ll have to serve as spending money to get me through the next few weeks. “But HJ will stay off their radar if you pay something? You’re sure about that?”
    “I’m not sure…I’ll just have to try.”
    “And can you put me in contact with Francisco Acevedo? Do you still know him?” I ask, even though my suspicion is that he’s the one who did this to Henry.
    “The fighter sponsor? Yeah. Maybe. I haven’t talked to him in ages. So, you’ll really get back in the ring?”
    “Is there some other option now?” I ask with a shitload of sarcasm.
    “No , but for what it’s worth, you were really good in there. Strong. Capable. I was…I was always proud of you.” He grips my shoulder and unleashes a torrent of conflicting feelings in me, leaving me unsure of which one I want to feel the most. “Gonna head home and get a few hours of sleep in. Thank you again, Jesse. I don’t know what I’d do if you hadn’t agreed.”
    “This isn’t about you.” I can’t reiterate it enough, even if it means Henry’s face falls every time I do. When he and his friends leave, I step outside and call Duke on my burner cell to let him know I’m okay. After that, I try to convince myself that I’m not in over my head. Is there still time to turn back? But who will help HJ if I leave? My hope is that once this is over, Barbara will realize her son’s safety and future outweigh being Henry Chance’s wife, and she gets Henry the fuck out of her life. I can’t say that it hasn’t screwed me up in a lot of ways, but it’s possible to get through life without a father.
    I still think Drew knows more than she’s letting on about fighting, so when the crowd thins around one a.m., I walk through the Employees Only door and find her in an office , with her feet up on the desk, strumming her guitar.
    “You’re not allowed back here!” she says.
    “Who’s gonna stop me? The manager hard at work?” I take the chair across from her. “Since you won’t help me, Henry’s gonna put me in contact with Francisco Acevedo. You remember him.”
    “What?” Drew ’s guitar plays an ugly chord as she slams it on the desk. Maybe now she will come clean about what she knows. “Are you fucking