Chapter 6 #2
Ezra catches himself but I catch the moment of surprise before it turns into pride and he nods his head. I roll my eyes. Of course he would steal my thunder. The smirk as he types on his phone says he knows exactly what he did too.
“There’s no fucking way,” Berlyn’s friend exclaims.
I shrug. “What? It’s sweet and spicy.”
“Exactly!” Berlyn exclaims, sticking her tongue out at her friend. “See, it’s not that weird.”
Her friend rolls her eyes. “It’s weird enough when pineapple doesn’t even belong on pizza. I still don’t know how you came up with the combination.” Her eyes trail over the three of us. “Any of you.”
All we can do is shrug. We didn’t come up with it ourselves. We’ve just watched Berlyn eat it nearly a million times and know it’s her favorite.
Ezra’s phone ringing breaks up the moment and saves us from having to come up with our own story about how we came up with pizza toppings. One look at his expression and I know it’s a call about a job.
Great. The last thing I want to think about tonight is West’s uncle, Cole.
He’s the one who took all three of us in when our parents died in a raid that went south.
It took us a long time to even get the full story about what happened that night.
Mostly because none of the memories we have of our parents are very good.
We only began to care once that information became vital to stealing power for ourselves.
We had hoped we’d be using what we learned to grow, but we should have expected our parents weren’t the type to leave any parting gifts. We had to grow in spite of the legacy they left behind, not with it.
It likely would not have been possible without Cole. We definitely would not have been able to stay together throughout our childhood if he hadn’t stepped up, even though he was still young.
Ezra excuses himself to talk to the man I can never quite make up my mind about. Whether he took us in out of obligation or if there is some kind of care under the cold mask he wears. If he’s even capable of caring about anything other than the money and power he brings in.
We may not love each other, but I can at least admit I respect the man. Respect the life he was able to build for himself, not by clawing his way to the top of some already existing mountain, but by creating his own crest to rest his laurels on.
Answers to no one and yet everyone who is anyone owes him a favor or two.
That essentially was the very advice he gave us when we came to him after everything changed. After we decided we no longer wanted to leave and start over where no one knew us. He told us if we were going to enter this life and live in the shadows to do it under no one else’s name but our own.
When you allow someone else’s power to be what protects you, to be what gives you power, everything you build, all the respect you earn, is all only one domino away from toppling into nothing. Power while you’re leashed to someone more powerful is nothing but the collar around your throat.
A lesson he likely learned firsthand when our parents were killed. He never fell into the same traps they did.
Neither have we.
We can’t afford to when we have someone we need to protect.
Ezra doesn’t take long on the phone and is back quickly, but with a grim expression. My mood sours at the slight shake of his head.
“Could we actually take a raincheck on that pizza, Berlyn? We have another job we have to get to once Jude is done here.”
West’s face and shoulders both drop even though he’s barely been interacting with the rest of us. Maybe he was planning on easing up while we ate together.
“Oh,” Berlyn says in barely more than a squeak. Her disappointment seems as heavy as my own, but she’s quick to perk back up with a soft smile. “I didn’t know you guys worked together.”
Of course she didn’t. I sigh, not wanting to lie to her and settling instead on a half truth. “It’s a growing side hustle. If you want to hear about it, I guess you’ll have to keep that promise to invite us back over for pizza.”
Her grin grows more genuine and the gold flecks in eyes shimmer with amusement. “You drive a hard bargain, but I guess I can make that work.” She holds her hand out and I grip it with my own as she pumps it in a dramatic handshake.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” I tease.
Ezra shakes his head at my antics before giving me a sharp look that reminds me to get back to work.
“It shouldn’t take more than a half hour for us to get out of your hair,” I promise Berlyn.
“I’m just going to have the guys check on a few other things while we’re here to make sure we cover all our bases, if that’s okay? ”
At her nod, I gesture for my brothers to follow me. Based on Ezra’s look, I’m guessing we’re needed elsewhere as soon as possible. Which doesn’t leave me time to check over the cameras I was planning on.
While I work on switching out the part for the AC, my brothers move around the house under the guise of checking the vents and place a few more cameras and check on the ones we already had set up.
We get done even sooner than I expected and it’s all too soon before Berlyn is walking us to her front door and thanking us for all our help.
The moment feels fraught with tension, with all the words we can’t say yet.
The way I have to fight myself from simply pulling her in my arms and taking her with us now.
Weston and Ezra walk out before me, Berlyn holding the door and awkwardly waving. She clearly doesn’t know what to do with us any more than we know to do with her. She doesn’t go for a hug, and none of us initiate it. Not willing to push her too far too fast and yet it’s all I can think about.
I hesitate as I step out of the door, pausing at the doorstep.
We can’t just leave it there, not like that.
Even with a promise of a raincheck, it doesn’t feel like enough.
The awkwardness from when we first got here has invaded once more, widening the gap between us we had just barely managed to close a little bit.
Turning around, I catch Berlyn’s hand as it drops where she’s holding the door and use it to pull her closer to me. I drop my voice to a whisper and let my lips brush against her ear as I promise, “Try not to miss us too much. We’ll be back before you know it.”
My new favorite color stains her cheeks and I commit it to memory for the next tattoo Weston is planning. I wink and drop her hand, finally turning my back on her and jogging to catch up to my brothers at the truck.
It takes less than a minute before Ezra is arching a brow in my direction. “Just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
I scoff. “Of course, I couldn’t.”
How can he even blame me? I’ve spent years hiding my real thoughts and desires from her and I’ve finally been given the green light to let her see who I really am. Who we really are.
“The more important question is what the fuck was West doing ignoring her the whole time?”
He grunts from the back seat. “Was not.”
Ezra and I trade looks and I can feel West’s annoyance without having to look in the rearview mirror to see his expression. He hates when we silently communicate about him but is just as likely to do it to us.
“Then what would you call staring at your phone the entire time and not meeting her eyes once?”
Ezra smacks my leg in reprimand, but I wasn’t even being harsh.
“While you were flirting, I was figuring out more important things,” West sasses back, making Ezra turn to the back to face him.
Instead of answering the silent question, West hands his phone to Ezra in the front seat. After only a moment, Ezra chuckles. “What is all this?”
“What needs to be done,” West responds, clearing up absolutely nothing. Especially for me when I can’t even see what’s on the phone in the first place.
I huff, irritated to be the one driving today. Should have made West do it even if it is my work truck. “Anyone gonna share with the class?”
West stays quiet because of course he does and I wait for Ezra to figure out whatever it is he’s trying to communicate with his phone.
“Is this a to-do list for things around Berlyn’s place?” he asks, looking over his shoulder.
I don’t bother waiting for West’s verbal response, focusing on Ezra. “What is it?”
“It’s a list in his notes app,” he explains before starting to list off a bunch of random details from Berlyn’s house.
“Broken screen on front window, leaky faucet in kitchen, dusty ceiling fans in bedroom and living room, spider web in the corner of the living room, and on and on it goes.” Ezra shakes his head, amusement lacing his tone when he asks, “When did you even get the chance to go into her closet?”
I laugh when I catch his shrug and proud smile in the rearview mirror. It’s impossible to stay mad at him.
“Guess we know what we’re doing when we go over there next time.”
Ezra joins me laughing. “There’s definitely enough on this list to take a few visits to get through.”
“Any reason to see more of her,” Weston says happily and I can’t help but feel proud of him too.
“You did good,” I praise, meeting his deep blue eyes full of a sincerity unique to only West.