Fraud

“You ready?”

My eyes stay locked to Gabriel’s, my words mimicking his bullshit statement from earlier.

“Yeah. Gabriel and I are done here.”

Slamming my palms against his chest, I shove him away. Surprisingly, he lets me, his eyes burning holes in my back as I walk off with Ezra.

I hear a faint growl behind us when Ezra wraps an arm around my shoulders.

When I turn to look at him, Ezra winks and grins before casting a look over his shoulder at Gabriel. I can almost feel the glare Gabriel must be giving Ezra, and it takes effort not to laugh.

Good.

Let him be pissed off.

He fucking deserves it.

Neither of us say anything as we head outside and climb into Shane’s car for him to drive us to Ezra’s place.

The ride is mostly made in silence because none of these guys are chatty. It’s fine with me. I’m not in the mood to talk, and it’s nice to be around people who feel the same.

At this point, all I want to do it go to sleep. Just close my eyes and forget this day ever happened.

We pull up to the twins’ house ten minutes later and I’m not surprised to see their place is just as swanky as Ta

It’s only a few neighborhoods away and has the same manicured lawns and low-lit gardens, the two-story mansion more modern with a steel and glass facade that mimics the city.

I thank Shane as we leave the car and step out to follow Damon and Ezra inside. Damon runs upstairs as soon as we walk in, leaving Ezra and I standing awkwardly in the foyer.

“Do you want to go to the guest room, or...”

His voice trails off as his amber eyes turn my way.

Pursing my lips, I narrow my stare on him and realize his inviting me here might have been intended for something more than just getting me away from Gabriel.

“Do you have any beer?” I ask.

He smiles, and I can’t deny the expression looks damn good on him. It’s rare for either of them to show any emotion, and even rarer for it to be this.

“Yeah,” he answers, looking relieved as he turns to lead me into the kitchen.

Okay. This night is getting weirder and weirder, but I go along with it. If anything, this finally gives me a chance to figure out what the problem is with Emily.

Even while the twins were fighting, she refused to give me details. All she said was it’s her fault and she shouldn’t have been with Ezra tonight.

He pulls two beers out of the fridge, pops the cap on both and walks over to a small breakfast nook in the corner of the kitchen.

Following Ezra over, I sit in the seat opposite him to commence our stare down.

The first thing I notice is this son of a bitch is absolutely gorgeous, even with the bruises and cuts from the fight with his brother.

It’s not that I hadn’t noticed before, but the twins aren’t exactly people you stare at for too long without worry of having your head ripped off. They’re more the type you admire in passing, quick glances taken before finding something else more interesting, like a speck on your shoe or a stain on the ceiling.

But now, staring at him while he stares back, it’s the first time I notice the green flecks in his amber eyes and the height of his cheekbones that only define his square jaw better. The perfect line of his nose leads down to full lips, his cheeks dusted with stubble that matches his dark brown hair.

I also notice a faint scar above his right eyebrow and another that runs along the left line of his jaw. Briefly wondering if that’s how Emily tells them apart, I sit back in my chair and take a sip of my beer.

Ezra studies me just as closely, his brows tugged together in hesitation as he picks up a pack of cards.

“Do you play poker?”

Sadly, this is probably the second time we’ve ever had a civil conversation. “No. I know how to play Go Fish.”

The corner of his lip curls, and I damn near melt to see it. Why do these guys have to always act like thugs when they’ve got a smile as nice as that?

Ezra starts dealing the cards and drinks down half of his beer in one tug. After picking up his stack, he moves a few around and asks, “Got a three?”

It’s impossible not to laugh. “You didn’t bring me here to play Go Fish.”

He shrugs, his eyes lifting to mine. “You looked like you needed to get away from Gabe. Want to tell me why?”

“He’s a liar, a fraud and a complete dick.”

His grin tilts higher. “Fair enough. I was serious about that three.”

“Oh.” I grab my cards and look through them. “Yeah, here.”

Picking it up from the table, he tucks it in his stack. “He didn’t look happy that you agreed to go with me. Should I plan for him to show up here later?”

“Will you beat him up if he does?”

His broad shoulders shake with quiet laughter. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

I know I should laugh at that, but it only hurts to hear it. Of course my thoughts race back to those two bruised eyes and his busted lip.

Damn it, Gabe.

“I don’t want to talk about him. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with Emily? And also if you have a nine.”

“Go fish. Nothing’s going on with her.”

“Stop lying. You’re not very good at it.”

Another grin tilts his lips, but the expression is lost as his eyes shadow. “We’re both in love with her.”

Whoa. That was unexpected. I almost slide out of my chair, but attempt to hide my shock by picking up my beer to take a sip.

I guess my eyes give me away because he lifts a brow and sips from his beer, too. When he sets the bottle down again, he correctly guesses, “Weren’t expecting that, were you?”

“Uh...no. Not at all actually.”

“Neither was she,” he grumbles. “Got a king?”

Laying all my cards down, I brace my forearms on the table and lean toward him.

“Am I right to assume you two don’t want to share her anymore?”

A muscle jumps above his eye. “I don’t. And no, I don’t think Damon wants to either. But that’s the fucking problem. She doesn’t want to hurt him, and she doesn’t want to hurt me, so she left both of us. I’m just having a problem staying away.”

Holy shit.

“And that’s what caused the fight tonight?”

Nodding his head, he finishes off his beer. “He wasn’t too happy to see me with her, apparently.”

Frustrated, Ezra tosses his cards down and stares across the table at me.

“I can’t stay away from her,” he confesses, the look on his face making my heart melt while at the same time breaking it apart. “So what the hell should I do?”

A few seconds of silence pass before I answer, “You must really have it bad to be talking to me about this. I’m pretty sure there’s like zero moments in our history when we’ve gotten along for any length of time.”

“Yeah, well, there was one other time,” he reminds me, his amber eyes sparkling beneath the small pendant lights above our head. “How about you help me with Emily, and I’ll help you with Gabriel?”

My chest constricts at the thought of Gabe. I can’t remember what he said to me on Ta

“I don’t think you can help me with him. He doesn’t want me. He said as much.”

Ezra’s brow cocks as if to call out what I said as bullshit. “And here I thought you knew him better than that. What did you do to piss him off?”

“Admitted I knew he set me up to start the fire and that I did it anyway.”

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it’s not the laughter that booms from his chest.