Page 56 of Zeke

“Hey,” he says.

I see the pain in his eyes, but the tension that built up between us seems to have broken, along with something in my brother. He’s given up, and not just on Kira. This has taken a toll on him I didn’t expect.

“Hey,” I say, grabbing a beer of my own and sitting down with them. “Anything you managed to find out about that?”

Eli shrugs and hands it back to Justice.

“Well,” Justice says, “the name of the florist was on there, so I gave them a call. They were still open, but they were shifty about who bought the flowers, stating some kind of privacy policy.”

“Of fucking course they were,” I say, shaking my head. “So, what now? Do we beat down the door and demand to see their records?”

“We could,” Eli replies. “But we were thinking, as a first step, having one or two of the girls go over there and try to sweet talk them out of the information. Better to not cause a scene if we don’t have to, but we will if it comes to it.”

I nod, then take a big swallow of beer. “I guess that’s the best we can do, right?”

Eli nods. “For now, anyway. Until we know more, we’ll have round-the-clock eyes on Kira and the bakery.”

“No way is she going back to the bakery,” I say.

“That’s between you and her, I guess,” Eli says, and I hear the strain in his voice as he admits something that’s obviously hard for him. A part of me wants to gloat, but the bigger part of me, the part that has always loved and still loves my brother, tells me to be gentle with him.

We sit around the fire, sipping our beers as Eli fills me in on what he talked to Eden about, that things are going well in Miami. The house is still about half empty, and feels even more so without Eden and Savage around, since they’re both such big personalities. It’s quiet in an almost unnerving way. I drink my beer fast, then go for another.

After about an hour, I realize Kira never ate, so I decide to figure out something for her to eat for dinner while she sleeps. The kitchen is well stocked. I think breakfast for dinner sounds good, and I hope she’ll feel the same. I get out the eggs, bacon, and pancake mix, and I’m about halfway through frying up the meat when my phone goes off.

Eden Calling.

I frown. I wonder why she’s calling me when she already gave Eli the rundown, unless she thinks we’re not talking enough to share information like that.

“Hello?” I answer the phone, horrified to hear sirens on the other end of the line.

“Zeke,” Eden says. Her voice is tight with what sounds like tears and fear.

“Eden?” I say quickly, and I hear a scrambling from the next room. “Eden, what’s wrong?”

Eli comes skidding into the room as I try to understand what Eden is saying.

“Wizard got some allies,” I hear her say, then, not to me, she says, “Come on, you’re going to be fine!” Her attention returns to me. “He got some allies, those fucking assholes we ran into that first week in Miami. Do you remember?”

I remember. How could I forget some guy touching himself while pointing a gun at my sister?

“Well, apparently they heard I was in town. Wizard and the few guys left in the club we were here to fix who thought he’d be a good leader joined forces with them and showed up at our motel.”

“What the fuck happened?” I demand, knowing she’s getting to the point but feeling particularly on edge after having dealt with one crisis tonight and not caring about the backstory. “Eden, are you okay?”

“Savage got shot,” she said, crying. “It was my fault. They knocked on the door, and I was so distracted by feeling fucking useless that I answered it without thinking. They started shooting and now I’m on my way to the hospital—”

“Eden!” I interrupt her, freaking out. Everything can’t be coming down on us like once. It just can’t. “The hospital? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she says. “I didn’t get shot, but Savage did. He’s hurt, but we’re on our way to the ER. They should be able to fix him up, but we can’t come home until he’s better now.”

“It’s fine, Eden,” I tell her as Eli gives me a look like he can’t believe I’m not telling him what’s happening. “We can handle things here. Take care of what you need to and come home when you can.”

“Thanks, Zeke,” she says. “Tell Eli for me, okay? I don’t think I can relay it again.”

“I will.” I hear her sigh with relief. “Bye.”

She doesn’t say goodbye when she hangs up, though I don’t blame her. If it had been Kira, I’d have been in just as bad of a mental state.

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