He studied my face for a moment making sure it was landing the way it needed to.
“You have something that most men would trade everything they have for,” he said. “You know that. I know that. Your father knew that before you were old enough to know it yourself.” He paused on Hood’s name the way he always paused on it. Like he was being careful with it. “Hood had the same hands you have. Same natural gift. He just never had somebody put him in the right room at the right time.” He looked at me straight. “I’m putting you in that room. I have a gym on the north side that I plan to open soon. The last of the renovation are just getting fixed and finished. I’m naming it Hendrix Boxing, after your father. I wanted to surprise you boys with it at the opening, but we gone skip all that now. I’ve been wanting to give the youth something to focus on so they won’t end up out here street fighting. I haven’t had the time to finalize opening and all of that. My case load has been hectic.
I have a trainer there named Coach Ray who has taken three fighters to professional title fights. He’s expecting you Monday morning.” He put his hand on my shoulder again. “You don’t have to play local anymore Xavier. You could be the heavyweightchampion of the world if you apply yourself the right way. I need you to believe that.”
I stood there in that parking lot outside that courthouse and let those words sit on me. He’d done all of this in my father’s name and never bragged, boasted or even made the shit known. He was a loyal ass friend. That’s what I loved about Legal. He did everything at the kindness and love of his heart, not for bragging rights.
Heavyweight champion of the world.
I had been fighting my whole life. In streets, in cages, in situations that had nothing to do with building anything. It had everything to do with surviving the next day. And for the first time somebody who knew what they were talking about was standing in front of me telling me that everything I had been doing in the wrong direction could be pointed the right way.
I thought about Melo and Mazi’s future. Eighteen years old with their whole futures in front of them because I had made sure of it.
I thought about my moms leaving the house before sunrise every morning her whole life just to provide for her boys because she was forced to be a single mother.
I thought about my pops dying in a parking lot at 27 years old before he ever got the chance to become what he was supposed to become.
I wasn’t about to waste what he left me.
“Monday morning,” I said.
Legal nodded.
“Monday morning.”
—
I got in my car outside the courthouse and sat there for a minute before I did anything else. After this, I needed Bri to know what happened and how blessed I’d just got. I picked up my phone and called Brielle before anybody else.
She answered on the third ring and didn’t say anything when she picked up. Just waited. That was her way of letting me know she still cared but was pissed and not talking to me still.
“I just left court,” I said. “I’m in the clear. It won’t go on my record.”
Silence for a second. Then she finally spoke. “What happened exactly.”
So I told her. The gas station, the woman getting hit, me stepping in, the girl turning on me after. I told her that Legal had gotten the charges reduced and negotiated a deal that kept my record clean as long as I stayed out of trouble and committed to professional boxing going forward.
She was quiet for a long moment after I finished.
“So it’s really over? All of it?” she said.
“The street fighting is over. All of it. I gave my word in that courtroom and I meant it.” I paused. “I’m doing things the right way from here Bri. For real this time. I’m not a monster and you know that. I’m just always in fucked up situations.”
Another silence. Longer than the last one.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said finally. Soft. The way she said things when she meant them more than she wanted to.
“I need to say something to you and I need you to just listen.” I looked out the windshield at the parking lot and said it beforeI could think myself out of it. “I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time and I’ve never said it out loud because saying it out loud meant dealing with everything that comes with it and I wasn’t ready for that.” I stopped. “I’m ready now. I’m not the same person I was two weeks ago and I’m not going back to that person.” I took a breath. “I want you to come to my place tonight. Eight o’clock. That’s all I’m asking. Just show up and let me show you who I’m trying to be. If you come, that’s my answer that we at least have a chance.”
She didn’t say anything for a long time.
“We’ll see.” she finally said.
And then she hung up.
—
I spent the rest of that afternoon doing something I hadn’t done in years.
