“Nope.” I shook my head again and laughed at him. “Please stop trying to seduce me with your eyes. Save it for the girls.”

“I’m practicing on you until Riley gets home,” he joked, and I froze for a second.

“What did I tell you about, Riley?” I kept my voice calm, but my insides were storming up at the sound of her name. “Don’t even joke about Riley. Or Eden,” I added for good measure.

“I won’t go after your sister, dude.” Luke laughed. “Now her best friend? Yummy.” He licked his lips. “I don’t know if I can back away from her.”

“Not funny.” I glared at him, heat rising in me. I clenched my fists and took a step back.

“I’m just joking. Damn, Hudson. I know she’s like your sister as well.” Luke shook his head and then stared at my fists. “You were not just about to hit me, were you?”

“Get a life.”

“I’ll get a life if you sign up for one fight.” He collapsed on the couch. “It’s not just about me. You could also give some money to Clara’s mom. I heard she still hasn’t found a job.”

I flinched as he said Clara’s name. “The economy’s rough. She’ll find a job.”

“She’s so depressed.” He shrugged and looked away from me. “I don’t know that she’ll ever be able to work again. I heard my mom say that she thought Clara’s mom may lose her house.”

“What?” I frowned and felt a nerve jumping in my neck. “I thought she had insurance money.”

“It’s gone.” His voice sounded normal, but the words seemed to reverberate in my mind. Well, really only one word. Gone. Gone. Gone. It was like the clanging of a gong against my temple.

“I’ll see if I can give her some money.” I shook my head, trying to shake the inevitable headache I knew was coming.

Luke made a face. “For the rest of her life?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed and looked away from him again. “I gotta go.”

“Think about the fight. It could solve a lot of problems.” Luke made one last passionate plea. “And giving Clara’s mom a bunch of money may make you feel better.”

“I guess.” I shrugged, but a light in my head went off at his words.

“You can even help Eden with her tuition.”

“Yeah.”

“When are they coming home though? I seriously haven’t seen Eden or Riley in ages.”

“Eden was home a few weekends ago.” I opened the front door. “And Riley’s not my family so I have no clue what she is doing.”

“Is she dating anyone?” he asked curiously, and my heart stopped for a second.

“Who knows?” I looked at the wall, trying to ignore the tightening of my chest. “I don’t have her call me with updates.”

“She knows better than that. They both do. Who needs a father with a shotgun when you’ve got a brother that can fight them off with his hands?”

“She’s not my sister,” I muttered. “And I don’t beat guys off of anyone.”

“What about if it’s for a million dollars?”

“Luke.” I stared at his goofy smile for a second and then shook my head. “I swear, if we weren’t friends I would smack you.”

“Lucky for me, we’ve been friends since we were kids.” He laughed. “I’m too pretty to be bruised.”

“But I guess I’m ugly enough to stand a few scrapes and cuts?”

“You’re handsome enough to look even hotter with a few scars.” Luke shrugged. “It’ll just make more women want you.”

“I don’t want more women to like me.”

“You have to get over Clara at some point, Hudson.” Luke’s voice was suddenly serious, and once again I froze at his words. “I know it hurts, but—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I quickly walked over to the door. “I’m out. I’ll see you later to shoot some hoops?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you at the court. I still...”

I didn’t hear the rest of Luke’s words as I immediately closed the door and walked to my car.

I decided to go swimming as soon as I got home. I was lucky enough to live in an apartment complex that had an Olympic-size pool. I wasn’t really sure how Rosemead Apartments had gotten the money to put in any sort of pool, but I wasn’t complaining. I walked through the parking lot filled with old and rusting cars and tried to ignore the crowd of guys huddled at the end of the parking lot, talking loudly and passing something around in a small bag. I could guess at what was in the bag, but I didn’t really want to know. I didn’t want anything to do with the other guys who lived in the Rosemead complex. I didn’t need any trouble.

I noticed a young blond guy with a marine buzz cut staring at me, and I started jogging to get away from them. I wished moving out were as easy. I hated living here at Rosemead; I absolutely hated it, but I felt like I needed to. Not because I couldn’t afford to live anywhere else. But this was for Clara. This was to make her happy.

Jamilah waved at me excitedly. “Hey, Hudson.”

“Hi, Jamilah.” I grinned at the little girl who was about to dive into the pool. “How is school going?”

“School is school.” She made a face. “It’s boring. But I think I’m going to make the swim team.”

“Well of course.” I smiled at her and looked around. “Where is your mom?”

“At work.” Jamilah chewed on her lower lip as she twisted her arms. “She got a new job, but she has to work evenings.”

“Where’s Marcus?”

“Doing his homework.” She shrugged. “I just came to practice swimming for an hour. Don’t tell my mom.”

I looked at her and tried to keep the smile on my face. I didn’t want her to see how upset I was. Jamilah was only ten and her brother was only eight. I felt bad that their mom had to leave them alone while she went to work, but I was angry that Jamilah was here by herself when I knew she was still a beginning swimmer.

“Hey, next time you want to go swimming and your mom isn’t home, come and find me, okay?” I gave her a look. “And if I’m not home, wait until me or your mom is available.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “Do you want to race?”

“Race?” I laughed. “But you know you’ll beat me.”

“I won’t.” She giggled. “I’ll be slow this time.”

“You can’t go slow just for me.” I smiled at her. “You need to go your fastest.”

“I will.” I watched the light fade from her eyes before she spoke again. “Hudson, do you think I have a real shot of making the team?”

“Of course!”

“But what if my mom can’t afford it?” She looked away from me. “There are fees to be a part of the team and she just got this job.”

“Jamilah, you’re ten. Let your mom worry about that.” I ran my hands over the top of her head to comfort her. “You just practice swimming.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She nodded. “Okay, one, two, three, go.” And with that, she did a clean dive into the pool and started doing a front crawl.

I watched her swim for a few seconds and then dove in behind her. The water felt cold and crisp against my skin, and my brain soared to life at the shock of my body submerging into the cold water without a second thought. My arms stretched out and got into their rhythm automatically: one, two, breathe, one, two, breathe.

I saw Jamilah’s legs kicking furiously in front of me as she tried desperately to keep her lead, and I slowed my pace slightly to ensure that I didn’t overtake her. I wanted to give her the confidence she needed to make certain she didn’t give up on her swimming dream. I could tell from the way that she was talking that it wasn’t going to take much to dissuade her.

It saddened me that she wasn’t pursuing her dreams like a normal kid. A kid shouldn’t have to worry about money or being bullied. I sighed inwardly as I reached the other side of the pool and thought to myself, If only there was a way for me to give her mom some money.

“I beat you, I beat you!” She splashed me with the water as she grinned at me. “I can’t believe I beat you.”

“I guess it’s the Olympics up for you next.”

“They’ll play the national anthem for me,” she beamed. “That would be awesome.”

“Yes, it would be.” I nodded in agreement.