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HAWK SET UP THE CHAIRS in the rooa ending to his date the previous evening, he was in a da, Brittany had picked six different colleges to apply to, and he had a hot woman he not only liked to talk to but ood to be him

He heard footsteps in the hall and walked to the doorway Nicole hurried toward hirinned While they wouldn’t be able to do anything significant, they could probably e some hot kisses in his office That would--

She stopped in front of hi a piece of paper "You just think you know everything, don’t you?"

That didn’t sound happy "What’s wrong?"

"Gee, what an interesting question What’s wrong? H to you about where he lives?"

"Raoul? What are you talking about?" He grabbed the paper froht for him, so I decided to deliver his check I went by his house The address he gaveI couldn’t believe it So I went inside and so, a couple of flashlights and this"

She fished a Pacific High School T-shirt out of her bag "Does this look fa like that? How could he not know? Raoul told hioing on?"

"That would bewould be your job, not mine"

CHAPTER EIGHT

"THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE," Hawk insisted "There’s so on There’s no way I wouldn’t know"

"I can’t wait to hear the explanation," Nicole told him, obviously still upset "He’s a kid, Hawk I don’t care that he just turned eighteen and legally he’s an adult He shouldn’t have to deal with crap like this Living alone in a run-down building?"

"He’s not" Raoul couldn’t be Haould have known He cared about his players He was involved in their lives

A few uys start to arrive He sent several out to Nicole’s car to collect the desserts she’d brought and asked Raoul to join them in his office

Haatched him as he entered the room The teen looked exactly the sa

Maybe Nicole had overreacted, he thought Maybe she’d misunderstood the situation

"Have a seat," Hawk said

Raoul looked between the too scary Don’t worry We aren’t sending you off to aliens forabout that"

"It happens more than you think"

Nicole’s attempt at huhed, then held out his paycheck "I forgot to give this to you on Thursday You didn’t work yesterday and I didn’t want you to wait to have the ive it to you"

Raoul stiffened slightly Color darkened his skin and he ducked his head He also didn’t take the check

"I can explain," he htened Dammit all to hell, how had this happened? He wanted to yell at someone, but no one in the roo," he said, doing his best to sound neutral and calot kicked out ofthe kids and his wife I tried to stay out of it, you know Because I was so close to turning eighteen But I hated it, so one day I decided to show him what it felt like to be beat up by someone"

He looked at Hawk "I didn’t hurt hihed him up"

"I know you didn’t hurt him" Even if the bastard deserved to have a few bones broken

"He threwto social services if I didn’t That they’d just keep the money They did I have an appointuy But I wanted to wait until I was eighteen and out of the syste for a long tioes there It’s pretty safe So I set myself up there It’s okay, Coach I’er--the desire to find the guy who’d been hitting his kids and finish what Raoul had started or pride at the young lared at him "You didn’t know about any of this, did you?" She turned her fury on Raoul "You’re living alone in an abandoned building? That’s so not okay Pretty safe isn’t good enough You need to be living in a real ho and heat and a roof that doesn’t leak in forty-seven places"

"It’s--" Raoul started, but stopped when Nicole glared at him

"Don’t you dare say it’s fine," she yelled "It’s not fine Nothing about this is fine"

Hawk appreciated her passion and energy on the subject and knew she was right Raoul couldn’t live like that On a purely practical level, winter was co to a shelter," Raoul said, backing up "Iabout the way he spoke told Hawk the kid had been in a shelter before What had happened that he knew so little about his star player? He thought he knew everything about his guys And why hadn’t Raoul co to a shelter," Hawk said "We’ll figure so out In the meantime, you can come live with ood idea," she said

"Coach, that’s really great, but…"

Then Hawk got it "Brittany," heunder the saht about the other parents he knew Who would be willing to take in Raoul? He was legally an adult Did that make the situation easier or harder? There wouldn’t be any need to go through the foster system, but he was hardly so under her breath then said, "He can live with me"

Hawk stared at her Raoul looked stunned

"What?" she asked them both "I have a spare room at my house I’m in the school district He already works for me Someone responsible has to keep an eye on him"

She turned to Raoul "If we do this, there will be rules No parties, you keep o to class You’re an adult now, so you’re expected to act like one But a responsible one Not sooes as he pleases If that’s too much for you, then you need to be so in Raoul? He held in a sht

Raoul nodded slowly "Your rules are reasonable," he told Nicole "I’ll follow them"

"You’d better I mean it I run a very strict household You’ll feel trapped, I proood," Raoul said, the corners of his