at.”
He liked the whole crew, including the new hires. But something had gone wrong. “Are Theo, Tucker, and Rob really okay?”
How would he ever look Erin, Roni, and Ari in the eyes again if he’d gotten their husbands thrown in jail?
“Yes, they’re at the safe house closing it up and getting ready to move. Apparently Solo’s uncle has serious connections. The police didn’t want to fuck with him, and once they called back to the station, Levi left and fast. According to Theo, he’s got proof that Levi boarded a plane that’s supposed to head to the States. He could turn around, but he’s not welcome in Malta for now.”
“You think we should go back?” They definitely couldn’t stay here for long.
“No,” Tag replied. “I think you should do what Theo tells you to do. He’ll be there with the plane tomorrow afternoon. Hold down the fort until then. Talk to you soon.” The line went dead.
He slid the phone back in his pocket and found himself standing outside his brother’s room.
His brother was behind that door snoring away, and Beck was standing out here fighting the need to talk to him, or beat the crap out of him, or hug him and tell him how much he’d fucking missed him. How hard the years without him had been.
But then Ezra had known where he was for a whole lot of years. Ezra had been raising Roman with Kim. His son was sleeping on a couch while Ezra took the only bed in the place.
That didn’t sit well with him. Oh, sure he’d started out watching over Roman while Kim stayed up, but that wasn’t the way it ended. It wasn’t the way it was going to end.
It was time to start taking back his life.
He pushed through the door. “Get up.”
Ezra’s eyes flew open and he sat straight up in bed. “What?” He looked around like he could find the threat. “What’s happening? Where’s Roman?”
The threat was standing right in front of him. He was so ready to give his brother a beatdown, but it would have to wait. “My son and wife are sleeping on a way too small for the two of them couch while you’re all comfy in here. Somehow that doesn’t seem fair to me.”
Ezra was up on his feet in a heartbeat. He shoved his socked feet into sandals. Freaking sandals. The last time he’d seen his brother, he’d been a Marine with a perfectly kept high and tight and clean-shaven face. Now it seemed like he was trying to look like his boss, with shoulder-length hair and the beginnings of a beard. He looked older. There were lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Ezra’s hair was starting to gray, silver shooting through the dark brown. He was thinner than he used to be, lean but not without strength.
“Kim was supposed to wake me up when she wanted to go to bed. I never meant for her to sleep on the couch. I was going to take that chair so someone would be in here with them,” his brother admitted. He pointed to a small chair that would have been incredibly uncomfortable.
As much as he wouldn’t mind his brother being tortured in that thing all night, he had other plans. “You can take the couch in the living room.”
“Beck, we should talk.”
Beck shook his head. “No. We should have talked years ago. We should have talked when you got into trouble. We should have talked when you decided to blow up your life and my marriage.”
“It wasn’t like that.” Ezra winced. “Not exactly.”
He pointed his brother’s way. “Did you or did you not ask my wife to keep your secrets from me? Did you beg her? Did you tell her you wouldn’t be able to live knowing I knew how low you’d gotten?”
It was the only explanation. He knew Kim. She didn’t like keeping secrets from him. She’d gotten good at it over the years, but only when it came to her job. After he’d been burned by the Agency, she’d been bound by her oath to keep some of those secrets. And even then she’d walked a razor’s edge to help him.
It was funny what time and distance and a mega shit ton of therapy could do for a guy’s vision. It sharpened and softened all at the same time.
Ezra got a stubborn glint in his eyes, the one he used to get when their parents would push him. Just