A Fighting Chance by A.J. Sand Read Free Book Online Page B

mailed him his kid—a teenager—piece by piece for an entire—”
    “What? Where’s HJ now? Did you get him out of Glory? And what the hell is wrong with you? You got involved with people who kill kids?” I jump up from my chair and pace the apartment, wrapped in jumbled emotions. I’m not close to Henry’s two older kids, but HJ was so small the last time I saw him , and I remember seeing Barbara strolling him around town before that. We’re cursed with the same problem: being the son of Henry Chance, and it’s completely unfair. My blood heats with infuriation and bitterness. “You know, this fatherhood thing isn’t really working out for you, so you should just do the world a solid and get a vasectomy or something. Maybe that’s what your loan sharks should’ve cut off.”
    Henry cringes from the bite in my words and hangs his head. “It was stupid, I know. I just didn’t want to go back to prison.”
    I scoff as I return to my seat. “Oh, right, ‘cause borrowing money from dangerous people seems like a much better option. How much is it?”
    “ Fifty thousand,” he says, whispering, and I burst into laughter because he has to be joking. Maybe he and Lydia teamed up to see who could pull the bigger birthday surprise on me.
    “ Donuts? Because you can’t possibly mean dollars. What the hell do you expect me to do?” We lock eyes and the answer is so plain in his expression, it rips my smile away. “No. No. I don’t do that anymore and I won’t ever do it again. I’m not fighting to earn the money.” I put some acid behind my words to drill into his head just how emphatic I am about this. “No. Not even an option.”
    “It’s my last resort idea. I know I don’t deserve your help, and I haven’t ever done anything to make you want to help me, but I don’t have anywhere else to go,” he says with his voice wavering so much I struggle to understand him. “I messed up with you. I’ve been here a week and I’ve watched you be a better man than I was at your young age. You don’t owe me anything. But he’s my little boy. My little boy! I just want to make right all the wrongs I’ve done, and he’s my very last chance. I have hurt everyone in my life, but HJ still sees me as his hero. I just want to be the man he thinks I am. I want to protect him from my failures and if I get out of this, I’ll be a different person.” Henry wipes tears from his eyes when he’s done speaking.
    Did he ever cry over me? I cast a resentful look at him as he shakes his head at the floor. This man who never sent a card for my birthday or even attempted to work out visitation with my mother just to try to get to know me, now needs me to save his other son. This isn’t even about me and it never has been. It never will be. I clench my jaw as emotions boil up in me and nearly break through the surface. But I won’t let them, though, because I’m too ashamed of him seeing that it’s all pain and not anger. I won’t let Henry Chance see that he can still hurt me . He said what he came to say and now he needs to go. Standing, I walk to the front door and hold it open for him. “Well, like I told you, Henry, I can’t dig you out of the hole you got yourself into. You’re better off going to the police. I’d like you to leave.”
    I ’m in bed, wide awake and restless a few hours later, and I think about calling Lydia, but I bet I’ll be terrible company, so I stay in my apartment alone. I text my girl one last time to let her know what time we should go to brunch, and I see the voicemail notification from the call I got tonight. Clicking the “speaker” button, I finally decide to listen to it.
    “ Hey, Jess, it’s Drew, but I guess you know who it is. I’m calling to say happy birthday, but I don’t know how happy it will be when Henry gets there. He might be there now. I took Miss Madison’s groceries to her house the other day, and she said he had dropped by. Apparently he was just about on