Page 46 of Doubling Down

“What is it?” He lowered his voice.

“What if he doesn’t want me here?” Brandon asked. “If you get more serious and I’m in the way—”

“No!” Eric barked. He marched across the room and cupped Brandon’s cheeks. “I left you behind once. That will never happen again.”

“But—”

“Bran,” Eric said softly. “I love you. You are my little brother, and you belong with me. If anyone has a problem with that, then they can fuck off.”

“You really like Ezra though.”

“I do. And I don’t think that Ezra would ever complain about you being here. It doesn’t matter if he did though. I told you when I bought this house that it belonged to both of us. That you never had to leave. This is your home.”

“I like Ezra. You two fit.”

“I’ve already figured out that Ezra and Annabelle are a package deal.”

Brandon snorted. “Duh.”

“So are we,” Eric declared firmly.

“I like that,” Brandon told him.

“Me too,” Eric agreed. He grinned. “Plus built-in babysitter.”

Brandon giggled as he nodded his head. “I totally get Best Uncle title.”

“Of course you do.” Pulling away, Eric smiled. “Okay. I need to get ready for work too.”

“Annabelle and I are going to do facials and mani and pedis.”

“Sounds fun.” Not really but Brandon was the best person to entertain a toddler. Eric had also noticed that the longer Ezra and Annabelle were in the house, the more Brandon seemed to be thriving.

Eric didn’t know if it was having someone to take care of or another little around, but the nightmares had lessened, and Brandon seemed happier.

Ezra might not realize it, but Eric was going to have an argument ready when the young man wanted to leave. And eventually Ezra would insist it was time for him and Annabelle to go. With Brandon’s help, he hoped they’d both be able to convince Ezra to stay.

Chapter Nine

Eric

There was no question that Eric was going to lose his shit soon. If one more person said they thought Joey Collins ran for the hills. But Eric knew better. Collins was cooked. They had enough on him to put Collins away for a very long time.

“I want to go back to the casino,” he said.

Dane nodded next to him.

“Why?” Remi questioned. “There’s more security at the casino than anywhere else on or off the Strip. It would be too easy to be spotted.”

Eric knew that. “Collins knows he’s in deep shit. He’s going to want revenge before we take him down. Either of Lambert, me, or someone else.” Eric feared it might be Ezra. “He’s going to be close to the casino.”

“How sure are you?” Remi asked.

“Ninety percent,” Eric answered honestly. He met Remi’s gaze. They’d been friends for a long time. They’d worked on the same team for a decade. Eric’s gut instinct was legendary.

At least his brother had texted him that he’d picked up Ezra and the three of them were safely at home watching bad sci-fi movies.

They were out of danger at least for the night.

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