Page 112 of Mean Machine

“Yes, I’ve had better, I’ll readily admit that.” Nathaniel waved Brooklyn back into the office with his briefcase. Inside, he closed the door and placed the briefcase on the floor, then set the coffee cup on his desk. He opened the button, took off his suit jacket, and hung it up on a hook behind the door, then turned to Brooklyn, who stood by the chairs. “All right. I’ll listen.” He sat down on the corner of his desk, and Brooklyn couldn’t help but enjoy how the tailored shirt and trousers played to Nathaniel’s strengths. He looked tired, though.

“Well, I thought maybe Hazel would enjoy this thing here.” Brooklyn set Pinky down between them like the sparkliest, silliest peace offering ever. “It’s apparently all the rage in her age group right now, and… I know she doesn’t actually need that ugly thing, and I’m not even sure why I bought it, but….” Yeah, this was going great.

Nathaniel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Does this translate into you wanting to play a role in Hazel’s life?”

“Yeah.” Brooklyn drew a deep breath. “If you’d let me. That was the whole plan, wasn’t it? That we could work out some kind of arrangement that allows me to play some kind of role at least.”

Nathaniel cast a glance at Pinky. “I can’t even quite work out what it is, but I’m sure she’ll love it. She’s having a very serious glitter phase right now. The stuff gets everywhere. I’m sure I have glitter stuck to me somewhere.” He looked at Brooklyn, and his gaze softened. “Thank you, Brooklyn. I can take it with me, or maybe you want to hand it over yourself?”

Was that the olive branch? Fuck, why was he feeling all nervous and wishing he’d brought Nathaniel a gift from the States? Except he had no idea what would be appropriate. Flowers had mollified Shelley, but he still didn’t know what the equivalent was for Nathaniel. For a rich toff, Nathaniel was surprisingly lacking in materialism. Came from owning everything he needed already. “I don’t mind. I mean, I thought you might be interested to hear I’ve retired.”

Nathaniel raised his head and looked at him more intently now.

“Yeah, I’ve stopped fighting. Rose beat me comprehensively, and maybe we could have done a rematch, but ultimately, I’ve served out my contract, and he’s a better champion than I am, I have no doubt about that.”

“Why?” Just that one word, but Nathaniel’s voice was laced with emotion.

“I realised I don’t want to do it. It’s not about my health. I could go on for a while yet, but there’s something else that’s broken somehow, and it might sound stupid, but I don’t have it in me anymore, hurting people. I guess I had to travel the whole road to realise this isn’t where I wanted to go. Or maybe I did, maybe I had to, but I didn’t want to stay there. I still owe boxing a lot, and that will never change, but I can’t bear the thought of destroying somebody else.”

Nathaniel’s brow furrowed. “What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll have a chat with Joseph. He’s been talking of using the money we made to start a boxing programme to keep kids off the streets. Maybe I’ll help with that. Sponsor it. Say inspiring things.”

“Well,” Nathaniel said, a smile spreading on his lips, “I’d say you have to work on your delivery, but the heart’s in the right place.”

Brooklyn swallowed. “That what you think?”

Nathaniel nodded slowly. “Your heart was always in the right place.” He scrubbed over his face. “I take it there was also no shotgun wedding in Vegas.”

“No.” Brooklyn chuckled. “What about you? I mean, you know what I’ve done, so what happened here?”

“I don’t have a life, Brooklyn. I’m a single father with a job that forces me to work insane hours most of the time.”

“Co-workers?”

“Not dating a co-worker. I made that mistake once. Besides, Hazel’s non-negotiable, and Dion hates children. I thought he might come around to it, but turned out, you can’t change people, not on that fundamental level, and I’m just as stubborn about wanting what I want.”

Now, that had to be a whole olive tree, right? Brooklyn wished he’d planned further than “say sorry, bring a gift for Hazel, see what happens.” He could really use some good rehearsed lines now, like those for a press conference so the hacks had some material for their headlines. “You call the shots now. I don’t even know where to start here, now that I can do whatever I want.”

Nathaniel gave a nod, reached behind himself, and picked up the coffee cup. He took a small sip and shook his head. “Damn, that’s Dion’s almond milk.” He put the coffee down again. “If you’re at loose ends, you could join us when we visit London Zoo this weekend. Maybe have dinner. Hand over….” He nodded towards Pinky. “I think you should do it.”

“Would love to.”

“Great, it’s a date, then.”

But while that was a lot better than Brooklyn had dared to hope on the way back, it still didn’t seem quite right. Maybe the most polite way would be to leave the office now and give Nathaniel time to overthink things and then work out where they stood next weekend. But his heart was too full, so he ploughed on. “Can I take you out for a bite or a coffee before that?”

Nathaniel paused, seemingly surprised. “You mean right now?”

“Yes. Unless you need to work or see a client or whatever.”

“Ah, Dion can handle whatever comes up.” Nathaniel took his jacket off the hook and put it back on. “What do you have in mind? Fleet Street is going to be busy this time of day.”

And it was. Tour groups were streaming one way, and the usual lunch hour crowds were still out, so the first impulse to find a quiet place that served coffee for Nathaniel and gave them a little privacy but wasn’t Nathaniel’s office turned out to be more complex to fulfil than expected. If Nathaniel had access to a gentleman’s club or a special lawyer place to retreat to, he didn’t suggest it, but in the end they did find a small cupcake shop nearby that didn’t have a massive queue and seemingly served decent coffee. But looking at the cute branding in pastel colours and toylike furniture, clearly designed for families with small children, they opted for takeaway.

Brooklyn paid. This whole “courting Nathaniel” thing was going abysmally, but Nathaniel took it in good spirits. They ended up back in the Temple area, on a bench near a round fountain, with an old crooked tree providing some additional serenity. A blackbird eyed them as they settled with their coffees on the bench, and didn’t seem to consider them a threat.

“That’s nice,” Nathaniel said and leaned back against the bench, but Brooklyn thought he still looked tense around the jaw.

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