Page 53 of The Broker

“Okay. Spill. What’s going on with you and the blue-haired demon?”

Jared shrugged. “Nothing, man. The usual. The guy annoys the fuck out of me.” He picked up his beer and hoped that was the end of the inquisition.

It wasn’t.

Shaking his head, Diesel continued his quest to cut through Jared’s bullshit. “Nope. Fuck that shit. Spill.”

Jared never could get past Diesel’s perceptive nature. When the guy wasn’t doing lines inside a bathroom stall and wasn’t high as a kite, he was pretty damn on point with things.

Glancing around the room, Jared scanned the crowd to make sure that Isaac wasn’t within earshot.

When he’d confirmed that the coast was clear, he turned his attention back to the man sitting next to him.

“I don’t know. His little games aren’t annoying me as much lately, and I’m starting to see another side to him.”

Diesel shook his head. “That’s bullshit. You’ve had a hard-on for that boy since he came to live at the house.”

Diesel and Jared had been living at the house long before Isaac and even Levi had joined. Over the years, Jared and Diesel had become close friends, often confiding in one another. When Isaac first came to live at the house, Jared couldn’t bring himself to admit that he had the hots for the bratty little skater punk who couldn’t sit still. The boy clearly had ADHD, but no one around them seemed willing to acknowledge it.

Whether they didn’t want to know or just didn’t care, Jared still kept an eye out for the boy—making sure that the energetic goofball stayed out of dangerous places and kept all his fingers and toes.

“The truth is, I found out recently that Isaac’s been sneaking into my room at night whenever he hears me having one of my nightmares. I had no idea, but the guy’s been cuddling me until I calm down and my nightmare finishes. He’s been sneaking back into his room before I wake up so that I wouldn’t find out and, I guess, realize he has a soul or something?” Jared shrugged his shoulders, remembering the selfless act of love Isaac had shown him.

Next to him, Diesel’s face lit up. “That right there is someone you need to hold on to.”

Jared couldn’t agree more. But could they make it work? There were so many factors working against them. Matteo and the family being one, and the nature of their jobs being the other.

They were paid to flirt with men, get naked, and even sleep with them if they so desired. Both Jared and Isaac were two of the more popular guys atLa Maison,and the money they both brought in was more than they would ever make working a regular nine-to-five job. But could he stand back and watch as Isaac went down on another guy or let another guy fuck him?

That was a question that was becoming harder and harder to answer as the months passed by.

“I should go find the little punk before he gets himself into trouble. Meet you back at the hotel later?”

Diesel nodded, already busy making eye contact with a rough-looking biker dude across the bar.

“Go gentle on the guy,” Jared added, sliding his ass out of the booth.

“Judging by those thick thighs, I’m sure the man can handle his own.”

19

ISAAC

Standing outside the old, boarded-up house, he didn’t see the shuttered-up windows or the broken chair thrown across the lawn. He didn’t see the overgrown hedges or spraypainted curse words written across the paint-chipped garage door.

Instead, he saw the red and black bike he’d left lying on the front lawn the day before. He saw the old two-seater sofa sitting out on the porch. He even saw the old Toyota his uncle used to drive to and from the liquor shop instead of going to the grocery store to buy them food for dinner.

As he stood on the soggy, wet grass, the night around him faded away, and the cold, dark night from twelve years ago reappeared all around him.

“So, you remember what to do?” his brother asked once again as they walked down the street to the small convenience store located three blocks from their uncle’s home.

Isaac nodded.

It was simple enough. He was thirteen, not ten.

He hoped that if he did this right, his brother would be happy and stop beating on him so much. Declan kept sayinghow dumb he was and that he needed some sense knocked into him.

Perhaps if he did everything correctly tonight, he would finally be able to show his big brother that he was not an idiot. And that he was good enough and tough enough to hang out with his bro and his friends.

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