Chapter 29
Rhys had just tossed the garbage bag in the dumpster when Denny’s shout came from the doorway.
He spun, hurrying back toward the door. When he got there, it wasn’t some monster facing down the teenager.
No, it was another teenager, one with a mottled face, bruises around his eye and jaw just starting to heal.
Rhys put a hand on Denny’s shoulder as he tried to get his heart to stop hammering.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“This is the loser who wrecked this place,” Denny said, their voice filled with acid. “I should have Mel call the police to haul him in.”
Rhys was pretty sure that was a flicker of fear in the kid's eyes, but then it was all shut down. “It won’t be the first time someone doesn’t believe me when I say it wasn’t me.
You really think my foster brothers put these bruises here because I stayed out of their way? If they knew I came here today…”
He pressed his lips tight together, as if that could suck the words back in and leave them unsaid. Rhys knew exactly how impossible that was.
He looked down at Denny. “Go in and get Mel.” He waited until the door closed behind them before he turned to the kid. “How many of them are there?”
The boy’s mouth stayed stubbornly shut.
“Let me guess,” Rhys said. “They’re all older than you. They told you if you said the real reason they were beating on you, they’d say you were lying and you’d be the one sent away. Again.”
The boy’s mouth fell open. “How can you know that? You aren’t in my life.”
Rhys rubbed a hand over his face. “It doesn’t matter how much time passes, there are some things that never change.” He let his hand fall to his side as he saw a shadow at the door. “You swear you had nothing to do with what happened here?’
“I didn’t. I wanted to stop them, but…”
“There were more of them and they’re bigger than you? You’d still have to go back and live in the same house as them.”
Rhys didn’t need an answer to know he’d hit on the truth.
“Liam.” Mel stepped out into the alley. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” His gaze dropped to the ground. “I shouldn’t have come here. I’m sorry.”
“If you didn’t cause the damage, you don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
“I didn’t stop them. I can’t… I can’t tell the police. If they come to the house again, they said they’re going to tell them I did it. They’ll send me to juvie or to a group home if I’m lucky. This home was my last chance. I can’t lose it.”
Rhys’s hands curled into fists as he stared at a boy who could have been him.
Who was the same as Rhys had been a little more than ten years earlier.
“I was in a group home,” Rhys said before he even thought about the words.
“My foster brother beat on me, too, because he caught me kissing a boy. My foster parents agreed I deserved it for my depravity. Their words,” he said when Mel gasped.
“I couldn’t stay there, but I wasn’t good at running away either.
Eventually they got tired of looking for me and washed their hands of me.
The group home wasn’t all bad. It was actually the safest I’d felt in years.
” Part of that could have been because after what Craig had done, he’d buried any part of himself that could be seen as queer.
It had taken years for him to feel like he could explore that again.
He hoped no kid would ever have to go through that.
Rhys felt Mel’s hand on his back then they were stepping past him. It made him want to squeeze his eyes shut, as if that would make him less exposed.
“Liam,” they said, “come inside. We can talk about this. If you’re in danger at home—”
“No.” He took a step back. “You can’t do anything.”
“If someone is hurting you, I have to report it.”
“It will just make it worse.” He looked at Rhys. “You really were in a group home? How’d you get through it?”
“Baseball,” Rhys answered without having to think. “It’s always been baseball for me.”
The kid dug his toe into the concrete. “I’m not good at sports. I’m not fast or tall enough.”
Rhys bit the corner of his lip to keep it from twitching. This boy was built a lot like he’d been at that age.
Most of the team had come to the door. Great. Just how much had they overheard? Would they treat him differently now that they knew he had a traumatic past? He didn’t want to think about it.
“There’s no uniform size you need to be to be a baseball player. We’ve got short and fast.” He pointed to Caleb. “Short and slow.” Then to himself. “Tall and fast as well as tall and slow,” he added, moving his finger toward Alfie then Brock.
“Hey!” Brock said, but he grinned.
“The rest fall somewhere in the middle. They all bring something to the team.”
“But, they aren’t assholes who pick fights,” Denny said.
Liam turned to glare at them. “Like you have room to talk. And I don’t pick fights. Why would they care who actually starts it, when I don’t have parents who will pitch a fit when I get in trouble.”
“Oh.” Denny drew back.
Yeah, Rhys so could have been this kid. “Well,” he said, “since you’re here, why don’t you come in and give us a hand on cleaning things up.”
Liam glanced over his shoulder but Rhys didn’t see anything out there. “Okay, fine,” he said. “What do you need help with?”
“We’ve just got the sweeping up and putting things away left to go,” Mel said.
Liam and Denny both groaned at the same time, and Rhys’s mouth twitched as he looked at Mel, whose own lips were pressed together.
“Come on.” Mel threw an arm around Denny’s shoulders. “I’ll order pizza once we get everything finished up.”
That certainly got the kids moving faster. He chuckled then his gaze caught on Alfie’s serious eyes, and his stomach twisted. Just how much had he heard? Would he realize how unlovable Rhys was?
Where the hell had that come from?
He shrugged it off as he moved past Alfie. Even when he reached out for Rhys. He said something softly in Spanish, but Rhys didn’t try to translate it. He couldn’t right now. He needed some space.
Rhys was a little surprised at how much they’d managed to get done in a couple hours.
He understood teamwork, but with the way the center had looked when he’d arrived, he’d thought it would take more than this.
The work certainly wasn’t finished, there were windows which needed to be replaced, equipment that would need to be bought again, since it was beyond repair.
They’d gotten as far as they could for the day. They would be at the field most of the day tomorrow. He wished he could do more to help, instead of leaving Mel on their own with the rest of this.
It's not like he could change their schedule or just say he wasn’t showing up.
Well, he supposed he could, but that would be pretty much the end of his time on any team. So, that would not happen. Maybe when they got back next week, he could offer some more help. Even if that was just volunteering some time.
Rhys’s gaze caught on the kid he’d spoken to earlier in the alley. Liam. He hadn’t been sure he’d stick around, but the kid ended up helping with some of the clean up. He still hovered in one of the corners.
Most of the rest of the team had left already. Alfie had been the first to go. Without saying anything to Rhys. He tried not to let that get to him.
What had he done wrong this time?
He tried to shake that off as Denny came bouncing over to him. He thought they might not move at any other pace. Or they’d gotten into some caffeine when no one was looking. Except if they were like him, that would have had the opposite effect on them.
“Mel said we’ve done as much as we can for tonight,” they said. “Does that mean you’re leaving now?”
From the frown on their face, that wasn’t what they wanted. Rhys glanced at the clock on the wall. It wasn’t that late yet. Since it was a late afternoon game, he wouldn’t have to get up too early.
“I have some time,” he said to them then held up his hand to catch the ball which came flying at him.
“Just checking your reflexes.” Caleb grinned at him.
“If a catcher doesn’t have good reflexes, what good is he?” Asking the question made him feel a little off-balance. What good had he been lately? He hadn’t even been allowed to play. Because he’d kept messing up.
It hadn’t had anything to do with his reflexes.
He whipped the ball to Caleb, who reached up and easily caught it.
“Why don’t you take that outside?” Mel moved over to them. “We’ve had enough things broken in here for one day.”
“I have my glove in the car, Denny said. "I mean, I’m sure you all have better stuff to do than play with me, but I—”
“We’d love to,” Rhys and Caleb said at the same time.
Rhys glanced over at Caleb. He knew why he was eager to. Going home, by himself, felt like the worst thing right now. Caleb had a boyfriend to go home with. Mel handed Denny keys and they were off and running.
“I know what it’s like to feel like a burden and that other people think you’re taking up too much room,” Caleb said. “Nobody, and especially not a kid, should ever have to feel like that.”
“You said your family was supportive.”
“Yeah, but they aren’t the only people I ever had to interact with. When everyone else tells you you’re wrong, even the most supportive family isn’t always enough.”
I wouldn’t know. Rhys barely kept those words from coming out. He’d already said more than he ever wanted to about his childhood to Caleb. He didn’t need anyone feeling pity for him. He turned out fine.
Denny raced back to them, and Rhys shoved all those thoughts back where they belonged. In the deep recesses of his brain. He put his arm around their shoulders, how was a kid nearly ten years younger than him the same height? That didn’t seem fair. He gestured at Liam to join them.
The boy scowled, but he scuffed his feet as he followed them out into the parking lot. There weren’t too many cars left, so at least they shouldn’t do much damage out here.
“I don’t have a glove or anything,” Liam said.
“Your hands aren’t much smaller than mine,” Caleb said. “I’ve got an extra.”
“You always that prepared, Caleb?”
Caleb shrugged then pulled two gloves out of the trunk of his car. He tossed one of them to Liam. “What if I stole this?” Liam asked.
“Well, that wouldn’t be very nice of you. But, it is my spare one, and I can afford to replace it. I don’t imagine Mel would want someone who steals from people who are trying to help around, though. You want a place where you’re welcome?”
“I don’t think that place exists.” Liam glared at Caleb. “No matter what any of you say.”
“I can understand that,” Caleb said. “I felt that way when I was growing up.”
“Yeah right,” Liam said. “You probably had parents who would give you anything you wanted.”
“Yeah,” Caleb said. “They would. Or at least to try. Even they couldn’t convince the school to allow me to play on the boys’ baseball team.
I know what it’s like to grow up different in a small town.
Some people in Harville still refuse to see me as a man, but I am who I am.
That person deserves to exist. So does whoever you are, Liam. ’
Liam’s eyes looked wet, then he blinked, and they were hard again. “Are we playing catch or just wasting our time talking about feelings?”
Damn. This kid really was like a mirror image of him at that age. Even the attempt at being tough.
Rhys lost himself as they threw the ball around. He gave Denny a few tips on adjusting their posture as they caught the ball. And encouraged Liam to be a little more assertive in his catches. Until Caleb glanced at his phone.
“We should get going. Still gotta play tomorrow.”
Maybe he did. Rhys was sure he’d be on the bench. Still, Caleb was right. It would be good to get some rest before the next day. And not wear out his arm.
Just in case.
“I gotta go,” Liam muttered. “I’m gonna be late.”
“I could—” Liam was already striding away before Rhys could finish his offer.
Mel came over to him and put a hand on his arm. “That’s the longest Liam has ever stuck around here. You made more progress with him than I’ve ever been able to.”
Denny was looking toward where the other kid disappeared to. “Maybe he’s not so bad. Away from school. I still don’t know if I trust him, though.”
Rhys couldn’t tear his eyes away from Mel, and the way they were looking at him. Like…like something he’d done actually mattered.
He wanted that to be true. He just wasn’t sure it ever could be. So, he really should get out of here before he screwed this up.