“Has he heard anything about his request to relocate permanently so he’d be running Milwaukee on his own?” Eric asked. Since Bryce hadn’t been spending as much time at the house, they hadn’t had a chance to catch up in the past week. That needed to change, but like so many things when it came to our group, I had no clue how to make it happen.

“Not yet,” I responded. “He’s hoping they’ll give him an answer this month. That way, he can put in notice on his current apartment and start looking for something more permanent.”

“Why would he do that?” Eric asked. I smiled, grateful that he seemed to be having the same thoughts as I was. “I’ve got plenty of room at the house and he’s always there as it is. Or at least he was until the fucking snow started. I don’t understand why he’s so hung up on driving when the roads aren’t clear. I’ve told him he just has to slow down and he’ll be fine.”

“And there’s the problem with your suggestion.” Both of us teased Bryce about his driving. When he got behind the wheel, he wasn’t unsafe, but he did test the patience of the local police departments with his speed. “I’m pretty sure his mind automatically adds fifteen miles per hour to every speed limit sign he sees.”

“True, but that’s beside the point. If he moves anywhere, it should be out to the lake,” Eric continued.

“Have you mentioned it to him?”

“Well, no.” Eric started muttering under his breath as he tried to find a parking spot within a block of the center.

“That might be a good place to start,” I chastised him. “Hell, I remember how resistant you were to Cam moving in, and he was just a roommate while you were on the other side of the country. Most people aren’t going to assume you’d want them to move in if you haven’t so much as hinted at the idea.”

“How the fuck was I supposed to know he’d even want to?” I looked at him as if that was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. While I’m sure it wasn’t at the top of the list, it had to be close.

“Maybe because he’s there as much as possible,” I pointed out to him. “Or the fact that when he comes over for dinner, even if he says he’s going to head home to get some work done, he always winds up dragging his bag into the house to work  in the living room while we watch TV. Or the fact that the two of you usually leave at the same time in the morning, you to go work out and him to head into the office.”

“Okay, I get your point,” Eric grumbled. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Good.”

When we walked into the center, Jacob was in Bryce’s office and they both looked pissed off. Like seriously pissed. I’d never seen Bryce lose his cool, but he seemed close. “Did we come at a bad time?”

Bryce looked up at us and visibly relaxed. “No, you came at the perfect time.”

“Oh?” Bryce walked around and gave me a quick peck on the cheek which was more affection than he ever showed when we were here.

“Yeah, I need you to do me a favor,” he said, kneading the back of his neck. “Cody and one of the other guys got into it a while ago. I’m not sure what’s going on, but he admitted that it was his fault. The problem is, he won’t say anything else and he’s freaking out, thinking I’m going to send him back out on the streets.”

“Fuck, he’s usually almost as cool and collected as you are,” I responded, slumping back into one of the chairs across from Bryce. “Tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”

“I need you to talk to him,” Bryce requested. “He’s not in danger of getting kicked out of the program yet, but he can’t keep reacting the way he did before. If I knew why, then I could work to fix the problem.”

“Got it.” I stood and quickly excused myself. As I walked down the hall, I heard the rhythmic thump of a basketball on the hardwood floor in the makeshift gym. Cody stood with his feet rooted to the floor as he dribbled the ball, oblivious to my presence.

I grew restless before he did and quietly opened the door. I didn’t say a word until I could reach around him to steal the ball. Cradling the ball under my arm, I motioned to the edge of the room.

“What the fuck, Drew? I was using that,” Cody burst out before stalking across the room toward me.

“Yeah, I could tell you were working hard on your skills,” I chided. I slid down the wall and placed the basketball under my knees. “And you can go back to it as soon as you tell me what in the fuck happened today.”

“Man, not you too,” Cody grumbled.

“Yeah, me too,” I responded, my mood quickly turning sour. “Now, Bryce is trying to help you, but he can’t do his job if you won’t talk to him.”

“You think I don’t know that? Fuck, why can’t everyone just give me some fucking space?” The teen’s vocabulary was impressive. He managed to fit fuck into more sentences than I did, and that was saying something.

“Because that’s not what’ll help you in the long run,” I said, remembering the conversation Bryce and I had the night before Thanksgiving. I’d been irritated when he kept pushing me to tell him what was running through my mind, but it turned out that was exactly what I needed to get a decent night of sleep. “I know you, Cody. You don’t lose your cool.”

“Everyone loses it sometime,” he deadpanned. “I’m not proud of what happened, but it’s been a long time coming.”

“Why? Explain it to me so we can try to help you,” I pleaded. “Bryce isn’t trying to find a reason to kick you out, he’s trying to help you figure out what needs to change so you don’t flip shit again.”

“It’s like this…” Cody started tugging at a loose thread on his shorts. “We’re all fucking lucky to be here. I know that. If we didn’t have this place, we’d probably wind up sick and in the hospital, if not worse. Some guys need to remember that instead of bitching about the lack of privacy. Fuck, I don’t like it any more than the rest of them, but I know better than to bitch about having a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, and food in my stomach every night.”

“That makes sense,” I told him, hoping he’d keep talking because I felt as if we were finally getting somewhere. “So someone else was bitching, and that’s what made you go apeshit on him?”

“Part of it.” Cody wouldn’t look at me. His head hung low between his shoulders and I could see he was beating himself up over the earlier altercation.

“So what’s the rest?”

“I’m just tired,” Cody admitted. “Half the dudes in here don’t sleep for shit, and when they can’t sleep, it’s like they go out of their way to make sure no one can. I try to remember that this is better than sleeping on the streets, but sometimes I think about going back out there, even for a night. I’d found a lot of quiet places.”

Without thinking about it, I cuffed the back of his head. Cody flinched, and I felt like a pile of shit. He didn’t understand that not every touch was fueled by anger. “Sorry,” I apologized. “But I wouldn’t have done it if you weren’t being an idiot. It’s been below freezing every day this week. You really think you’d make it a night out there?”

“No,” Cody responded timidly. “Like I said, I’m tired. Beyond tired. I’m not thinking clearly.”

The guys could bitch at me later, but I was taking matters into my own hands. I couldn’t help everyone, but I could help Cody. I stood and held out my hand to pull him off the ground. “Go get dressed and grab your coat,” I told him. “Then meet me in Bryce’s office.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ask, just get your ass down there within the next five minutes if you want to get the fuck out of here,” I warned him. I barely heard Cody thanking me as he raced out of the gym toward the dorm area.

Chapter 21

“Hey, while he’s dealing with Cody, do you have a minute?” Eric asked as soon as Drew was out of the room. His timing made me wonder what was going on and if it had something to do with Drew. He seemed to be doing better about wanting to get out of the house, but that didn’t mean anything.