Starting Point (20 page)

“Claude is,” he said. “I’m not.”

“What?” she said, turning to her brother.

Ruby looked at me, deliberately not looking at her. “You and Kira are real good people. She’ll be safe with you.”

“What?” Claude repeated, this time stepping in front of Ruby. “Ruby? What are you doing? You said
we
was staying, not just me.”

“I’ll see you back here at the FC in the morning,” he said, giving her a quick but tight hug and kissing the side of her head. “You’ll be fine, Claude. They’ll take real good care of you.”

“Ruby, don’t,” I said, alarmed and genuinely worried for this kid.

He let go of Claude and took a step back. “I’ll be here first thing in the morning,” he said to me. Then he looked at Claude and tried to smile. “Save me some breakfast.”

He turned on his heel and ran back in the direction he’d come. Claude started after him. “Claude, wait,” I said, wanting to grab her arm, but scared to touch her. I put my hand on the backpack she wore instead, and stopped her from running after him. “Claude, stop.”

She turned to look at me, her big brown eyes were wide and filled with tears. It was heartbreaking to see. Ruby had disappeared around the corner, and Claude was left all alone.

“Come on,” I said. “You and me, squirt. We’ll make dinner together. Your choice.” I opened the car door and waited for her to get in. Still on the verge of tears, she slowly got into the back seat. I climbed in behind the wheel, and after we’d driven a few blocks, I could see in the rear-vision mirror, that Claude had tear streaks down her cheek.

“You know what we need?” I asked.

She didn’t reply.

“Ice cream,” I told her.

She was quiet for a long moment and when I thought she wasn’t going to answer at all, she said, “Kira said I couldn’t.” She’d spoken so softly, I’d barely heard her.

“Well, he’s not here,” I said.

She didn’t say anything to that, but at least the tears were gone.

“What flavour do you want?” I asked. “Chocolate, strawberry?”

Again, silence. We’d gone several blocks when she finally replied, “Vanilla.”

I smiled. “Vanilla, it is.”

“With chocolate topping.”

“Okay.”

“And waffles.”

I laughed. “Deal.”

Chapter Twelve

When I heard Kira unlock the front door, I called out to him, “We’re in here,” so he’d know I wasn’t alone.

He walked to the door, saw that Claude and I were cooking and leaned against the frame. “Well, this looks like trouble.”

I smiled at him, put down the stirring spoon and signed, “Don’t ask about Ruby.”

“Everything okay?” he signed back.

“Talk later,” I signed.

Kira acknowledged what I said with a small nod, then he smiled at Claude. “What are you two making?”

“Dinner,” she replied. “Matt said I got to choose.”

He glanced around the kitchen. “And you chose mess?”

“I chose spaghetti and meat sauce. Matt made the mess.”

“You just keep stirring the sauce,” I chided her gently. Then I walked over to Kira and kissed him softly on the lips, not caring that Claude was there. I figured if she was going to stay at our house, then we shouldn’t have to hide anything. “You have a good day?” I asked him.

His gaze flickered to Claude, then back to me, but he seemed amused. “I did. And I have to admit, this dinner of yours smells pretty good.”

Smiling, I went back to the boiling pasta and gave it a stir. Claude turned to Kira. “Can you set the table, please?” she asked.

My shoulders shook as I tried not to laugh at Claude giving the orders. Kira did as asked and when we were eventually seated at the table, Kira looked at the plate in front of him. “Spaghetti Bolognese? Really?”

“Claude wanted it,” I told him. “I said she could choose anything she wanted. Well, anything that wasn’t takeout.”

“You could choose anything?” Kira asked. “And you picked this?”

The little girl shrugged and stuffed her first forkful of messy pasta in her mouth. “My mom used to cook this,” she said with her mouth full.

“Oh,” Kira said softly.

“I don’t remember much,” she said, shoving in another forkful of food. “But Ruby tells me this was his favourite,” she said, looking to the plate in front of her.

“Then we better save him some for tomorrow,” I said, giving her a smile.

Claude nodded and kept eating. Kira chewed slowly and swallowed. “Is he okay?” he asked tentatively. “He’s not here…”

“He took off and left me with Matt,” Claude said. “Must have been something important,” she added, seemingly happy to convince herself of this.

“Must have been,” I said. I looked at Kira and he didn’t have to ask if it was likely that Ruby was doing something he shouldn’t be. We all knew he was.

“Oh,” Claude said brightly. “We got ice cream!”

“Did you?” Kira asked, now looking at me and smiling.

“Gee, thanks, Claude,” I said sarcastically. “We got you a berry gelato. Ninty-nine per cent fat free,” I told Kira.

“What did you get?” he asked.

“French vanilla,” I told him.

Claude brightened. “With waffles,” she said, then threw me right under the bus, “and chocolate sauce.”

Kira rolled his eyes, but he smiled as he ate. “Well, this isn’t too bad,” he said, lifting a forkful of spaghetti. “It’s pretty good, actually.”

Claude looked at me and with her mouth full of food, she said, “He sounds surprised.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her and when we’d finished our dinner, I suggested they go to the living room and watch some television while I cleaned up. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, just a hum of voices and the occasional burst of laughter.

When I had the kitchen back to normal, I took Kira’s gelato out to him first. He was lounging casually on the long sofa and when I handed him the bowl, he sat up straight, looked up at me and smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” I said, leaning in and kissing him.

“Ew,” Claude said from the single recliner. We both looked at her and she screwed up her face. “Boy germs.”

Kira barked out a laugh. “Boy germs don’t bother us, you know, because we’re boys.”

“Hmm,” she mused thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Guess it wouldn’t.”

“And this is our house, Claude,” I told her. “I’ll kiss him if I want.” Then I asked, “Do you want one waffle or two?”

“Two!” she answered quickly.

“Coming right up,” I said with a smile. I knew she meant nothing bad about seeing us kiss—two men—but I wanted to reinforce our boundaries. This was our house, our rules. We shouldn’t have to hide who we are, and as a reoccurring guest, she should respect that.

When I handed her the bowl of toasted waffles and ice cream, her eyes grew huge. “Oh, Matt. Thank you,” she said brightly. Then she looked over at Kira. “Should I sit at the table?”

He looked at the plate in his hand and swallowed his mouthful of gelato. “Nah, not tonight.”

When I had mine all plated up, Kira was putting his empty plate on the coffee table. So I parked myself on the sofa, leaning my back on his chest, and put my legs up on the sofa.

“You right there?” he asked.

“Yep,” I said then shoved my first spoonful of dessert in my mouth. I think I groaned. “This is so good,” I mumbled.

Claude was quiet as she ate, only stopping to lick her lips as she devoured everything on her plate.

After my fourth or fifth spoonful, just as I was about put it between my lips, Kira grabbed my hand and lifted the spoon to his mouth.

“Oh, my God,” he murmured. “I forgot how good that is.”

Claude laughed. “Ice cream’s not good for you,” she repeated his words.

“Oh, shush, you,” he said and grabbed my hand again, lifting another spoonful of my ice cream above my head, then quickly shoving it in his mouth. His chest vibrated as he laughed.

I finished the last of my ice cream then leaning over, sat the bowl alongside Kira’s on the coffee table, before settling back against him. Kira pressed his lips to the side of my head as his arm fell over my shoulder and across my chest. We sat like that and watched some movie more appropriate for Claude to watch than our regular viewing.

After a little while, she yawned. “You tired, Claude?” I asked.

“I guess,” she said.

“You wanna crash?”

“I’ll do my bit first,” she said. Then she hopped up off the sofa, taking the plates from the coffee table, and went into the kitchen. I heard the clang of plates in the sink followed by running water.

“You don’t have to wash up,” I said. I lifted Kira’s arm off me and got up, before following her into the kitchen. “Hey, Claude, you can leave it.”

“You say at the FC, if we use it, we clean it,” she replied. “Where did you put the soap stuff?”

“Under the sink. But that’s different. This is home, not work.”

“I can do this,” she said. “It’s just some bowls. No big deal.” Her eyebrows knitted as though it annoyed her that I didn’t trust her, or think her capable.

“Okay,” I said. “Just be careful with the hot water. It gets hot quick.”

She raised one eyebrow at me. “I ain’t five.”

Smiling, I went back to Kira and sat next to him this time.

He signed, “Is she okay?”

I signed back, “Not sure. She’s upset about her brother.”

“Is he okay?” he asked, continuing in sign language so Claude wouldn’t hear us.

“I don’t think so. I’m worried for him. And Boss isn’t too happy.”

Kira looked confused. “What do you mean?”

My sign language wasn’t as good as his, so I worded it the best I could. “Those two guys came into the club today. Confronted Arizona. I stepped in. Nothing happened,” I quickly signed, trying to reassure him. “They left.”

“Matt,” he signed.

“They had a problem with his skin colour,” I told him, still using sign language. “So I had a problem with them.” Then I spoke, knowing I’d never get the words right. “I wasn’t about to let them have a shot at Arizona, Kira. He’s like a new partner to me now, he’s one of my best friends…”

“I know,” he answered quietly. “It’s fine, Matt. You shouldn’t tolerate that. You wouldn’t be you if you did.”

I smiled at him and slid my hand over his. “They left anyway. Nothing happened.”

Kira took his hand back so he could sign. “What did they come in for?”

I looked into the kitchen to see Claude was still busy. “They came in to see Ruby,” I signed back. “To let him know they knew where he was, or just that they were watching him. Maybe that’s why he left Claude. Maybe that was them telling him they wanted him to come see them.”

Claude cleared her throat from the kitchen doorway. “Um, I’m done,” she said.

“Cool,” I said, “thanks for doing that, squirt. Did you want to sleep in the spare bed?”

She bit her lip. “Um, can I sleep out here?” she asked. “I can just use the sofa, if that’s okay.”

It was obvious she was tired and probably worried about her brother. “Sure,” Kira said. “That’s fine. I’ll grab a blanket.”

When Kira had walked out of the room, Claude asked, “Why do you talk with your hands?”

“Sign language?” I clarified. “Well, Kira’s family uses it a lot and I’ve picked it up from being around them. And now with my ear, it’s something I use a lot more.”

She nodded slowly. “I thought maybe you didn’t want me to know something and so you was speaking so I couldn’t hear.”

“Claude,” I said gently. “We talk in sign language often.”

“Was you talking about Ruby?” she asked, ignoring what I’d just said. “Do you think he’s okay?”

“Claude,” I started again, and in that split second, I considered lying and telling her he’d be fine, then I considered telling her the honest truth, but she was getting ready for bed and I didn’t want to upset her. It was obvious she missed her brother. So, in the end I settled for somewhere in the middle.

I patted the seat beside me, indicating for her to sit. She seemed unsure, but I smiled and waited. When she did sit down, I said, “Claude, those two guys that came into the club, Darius and Tyler, they’re no good. They’re trouble, and it worries me that Ruby talks to them.”

“He does stuff for them,” she said simply. “Delivers messages and stuff.”

I nodded. She’d just confirmed what Mitch told us. “I know, squirt. And that worries me.”

“Why?” she asked innocently.

“Because sometimes they ask people to do stuff they shouldn’t do, and sometimes they get into trouble.”

“Is Ruby in trouble?”

I shook my head. “Nope. But I want to make sure it stays that way.”

She exhaled loudly, relieved at my answer. “I don’t want Ruby in no trouble.”

“I know you don’t, Claude. Neither do I.”

“He’s smart. That’s why he’ll stay out of trouble,” she said, nodding to herself.

I gave her a smile. “He is smart.”

Kira walked in then, no doubt hearing the whole conversation.

“Ready for shower and bed, squirt?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yep. I’ll just grab my bag. I still got your shirt from last time,” she said. After picking her bag up from in the foyer, she headed to the bathroom. The door clicked closed and not long after that the water started.

Kira sat down beside me, put his hand around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. His passion surprised me, but I welcomed it, opening my mouth for him. Kira held my face while he tasted my mouth with his tongue in a deep, consuming kiss.

When our mouths finally broke apart, I sucked back a breath and instead of telling him we should take it down a notch because Claude was in the bathroom, I slid my hand along his jaw and kissed him.

I could get so lost in him. His touch, his taste, his everything.

And this time when he slowed the kiss to a stop, keeping his forehead against mine, he licked his lips. “The shower turned off,” he said. “Claude will be out here soon.”

“Hmm,” I swept my tongue across my bottom lip, tasting him “That was some kiss.”

He smiled and with his forehead still pressed to mine, his eyes closed slowly. “I had to kiss you,” he whispered. “I love you, Matt. What you said to her, how you treat her, look after her… You’re a good man.”