Page 44 of Doubling Down

Eric

Eric peeked into the living room, making sure that Annabelle was absorbed in her cartoon before motioning his brother and Ezra into the kitchen. Brandon was still giving him the stink eye, but Eric did not regret what happened with Ezra earlier. Although, damn it, he was eventually going to get Ezra into a bed.

“What’s going on?” Brandon asked as he followed Eric into the kitchen. “Is this about the two of you dirtying up my kitchen?”

Predictably Ezra’s cheeks flushed red and he dropped his gaze.

Eric refused to smile. His brother didn’t need any encouragement to tease them. “If anything,” Eric quipped, “the kitchen is more Ezra’s since he’s been fixing all our meals.”

Brandon grinned. “It has been nice.”

Ezra shrugged. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Baby.” Eric tugged Ezra to his side. “Your stay here doesn’t come with terms. You don’t have to cook for us.”

“I enjoy it,” Ezra said. “Annabelle’s still in the cheese phase. Where she wants cheese on everything. It sucks to cook for one.”

“I agree,” Brandon said. “So what’s up, bro?”

“I need to talk to you about my case,” Eric told them. He tightened his arm over Ezra’s shoulder.

“Did you get it wrapped up? Is that why you had to go back to work last night?” Ezra questioned.

God, Eric wished he could give Ezra good news. “No, our suspect got away. We’re looking for him. We’ve picked up who we know was working with him but there haven’t been any signs of our main suspect.”

“Who?” Ezra asked.

“Joey Collins.”

Ezra’s eyes widened. “The head of security?”

“He’s been running drugs,” Eric told him. “It’s why Jesse Lambert brought me in. Why I went undercover. We finally had enough to arrest him, but he somehow got word we were coming after him.”

“That’s why you told us to lock up and not answer the door,” Brandon said.

This was the part that Eric hated to share. “When he ran, Collins rushed the coffee shop. He demanded that Dom tell him where you were. When Dom refused, he hit him.”

“Is Dom okay?” Ezra demanded. He patted the pocket of his lounge pants.

Did Ezra not hear him? “Dom is fine. I left him and Remi arguing about whether or not Dom needed to see a doctor.”

Ezra’s face was pale. “You don’t understand! Dom…he is…”

“He’ll be fine,” Eric assured him. “What bothers me is that Collins was looking for you. Do you have any idea why?”

“No.” Ezra shrugged. “I’ve had a few run-ins with him. None of them good. He asked me out several times, but I always said no. Remember we talked about it.”

“That time he cornered you by the dumpsters?” Eric should have taken Collins out that day. He’d known something was wrong.

“Wasn’t the first time. Dom usually took out the trash so Joey couldn’t bother me, but Dom wasn’t working that day.”

“Until we find Collins, I don’t want you to be alone ever,” Eric stated.

“I have to go to work,” Ezra said.

“I don’t think that's a good idea.”

“I can’t let my friends deal with this on their own. Dom has already been hurt.”

---