The Gentlemen's Hour

53

A few students are hanging out in Team Domination, sparring, getting in a little bagwork, lifting weights.

One of them is Boone’s “corner,” Dan.

“Hey,” Boone says. “Mike around?”

“He took off.”

“Any idea where?”

Dan has this funny little look on his face, like he knows where Boyd is but also knows that he shouldn’t say. The other gym rats have their ears pricked up, too. So apparently “Mike around?” is an interesting question.

“I say something funny?” Boone asks.

A guy yanking kettle weights in the corner sets them down and comes over. Boone recognizes him from this afternoon. The guy says, “Mike said you might come around.”

“And here I am.”

“He said we could use a guy like you.”

“Well, I’m a useful guy.”

I can surf, I can burn fish . . .

“Mike’s out in Lakeside,” the guy says. “The 14 Club.”

The 14 Club? Boone thinks. He remembers the “5” tattoo on Mike’s thick forearm. The boy has this number thing going.

“I’ll go check it out,” Boone says.

“You go check it out,” the kettle-weight guy says with this weird, smarmy smile.

So I guess we agree on that, Boone thinks.

I’ll go check it out.