Page 16 of Doubling Down

Remi sighed.

“I promise to make him behave,” Dane said.

Eric snorted. That wouldn’t convince Remi. “I’ll be back up.”

“Do you have street clothes with you? You can’t go in that suit.”

Eric grinned.

“Fine,” Remi responded, rising and going back to his desk. “But no hands-on. I don’t want your name on the paperwork. You have an assignment.”

And Eric would get back to his assignment the next day. Hopefully Ezra would be back to work by then as well.

“Come on!” Dane tugged on Eric’s arm. “I’ve got to meet my team. You can follow us. Just make sure you let my team take the lead.”

At least he wasn’t sitting alone in his house worrying about his brother or thinking about Ezra.

* * * * *

Ezra

Swaying back and forth, Ezra hummed under his breath.

The loud party a few apartments down had been going for hours at this point. He really needed to find a better apartment. He had enough saved for first and last month’s rent plus a deposit. Now he just needed to find a place that would take him.

Ezra had a good job. Money. The past was the past and his new life was going to be wonderful. If he said it every day maybe he could manifest his happily ever after.

Bright headlights flashed into his living room through his thin curtains. More vehicles pulled into the small parking lot.

“Great, more people coming to party,” he mumbled.

Ezra was exhausted. He’d been awake for nearly twenty hours at this point. He’d had to call into work sick for the first time since he started.

In his arms, his baby girl whined.

“I know,” Ezra soothed. He rubbed his cheek against the top of Annabelle’s head. She was no longer running a fever so that was something. “It’ll be okay, baby girl.”

He could have sworn the music was turned up louder.

Ezra wanted to cry himself. He was so tired and taking care of a sick three-year-old had depleted every ounce of his energy. He didn’t know how much more he could do. And if he was being honest with himself, Ezra was a little worried that he might have caught the bug from his baby girl as well.

A loud siren blasted through the night and Ezra jumped. Annabelle began to cry immediately. There was some banging from outside. A lot of banging. More sirens.

What the fuck! Ezra nearly screamed.

Annabelle did start to scream.

“No, no, baby girl. It’s okay.” Ezra bounced his little one. Patted her back. But she was pissed now.

Shouting and yelling had replaced the loud music. Cops. Some kind of bust? Maybe the neighbors would finally get arrested, and Ezra could get a few hours of peace. Not that another neighbor wouldn’t just move the party to their place. Ezra was really looking forward to some uninterrupted sleep for a few hours. Cops were not unusual in the complex and after they left, it normally took a few hours before the neighbors felt safe to act up again.

Ezra would totally take any amount of quiet he could get.

Until a shot rang out. Fuck! Not good. There weren’t usually gunshots! Ezra panted as he raced from the living room and into the bathroom. He closed and locked the door behind him as he clutched Annabelle to his chest. That was it. Ezra was moving out. He didn’t care where they ended up. He’d get a motel room or something. He was not allowing Annabelle to spend one more night in this dump.

Crouching between the toilet and shower stall, Ezra rocked while singing to Annabelle.

“You are my sunshine. My only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are gray.”

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