Page 24 of Ethan's Command

“Yeah. Although I hear you’re getting your ass kicked.”

“Huh. Maybe,” Rusty agreed and then grunted and cursed under his breath.

“Hard work losing without making it obvious that you’re doing it on purpose, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Rusty agreed.

“Thanks, man. I really do appreciate it.”

“No problem. You need anything else?”

“No, just checking on you.”

Rusty swore under his breath. “I gotta go before I get killed again.” He hung up.

Ethan grinned as he made his next call. “Coop,” he said as the other man answered. “I need a favor. I need you to ask Nova to pull anything she can on a name I’m going to send you. It’s the grandfather of one of the kids. One of the other moms thinks there’s something shady about him.” He went on to explain what Leilani had said.

“Send it and I’ll get right on it.”

“Thanks, man, and good luck.”

“Yeah,” Coop said, “no problem. We want this thing sorted as much as you and Brooklyn.” With that, he hung up.

“Nakoa,you’re sure nothing odd or different has happened in the last few weeks?” Brooklyn asked as she rubbed her knuckles on her thigh. Ethan caught the movement and had to work totear his gaze away. He would love to rub that same spot and not just with his hand.

Malia Mano watched her son. “Honey, close your eyes and relax for a second.” Nakoa reluctantly did as he was told. “Is all your homework finished?” his mom asked.

“Yes.”

“Are you playing video games with Keoni and Liam?” came the next question.

Nakoa grinned. “Yes, and we’re killing Rusty big time.”

Malia frowned.

“Rusty is looking after Liam for me,” Brooklyn interjected.

“Yeah, and he sucks at video games,” Nakoa added as he remained still with his eyes closed.

“Give me the list of your top ten video games,” his mom asked.

Ethan understood what Malia was doing. Getting Nakoa to relax so he wasn’t so guarded with them. He only hoped it worked.

Nakoa finished his list, and his mother promptly asked, “What sticks out to you about the last week? Anything different?”

“No. Not with Liam anyway.”

Again, Ethan’s gut pinged. “With who?” he asked gently.

Nakoa opened his eyes and immediately looked guilty. “I…don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”

“No one is going to get in trouble,” Brooklyn said. “We just need to get to the bottom of what’s going on.”

Nakoa looked glum but said, “I saw Ren and Keoni arguing on Monday, which was weird. We never argue. Anyway, they were standing by the lockers, practically yelling about something, but when I came up, they stopped. Like I said…weird.”

“Did you happen to hear what they were arguing about?” Nakoa’s mom asked.

“Not really. I think it was about Liam’s locker.”

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