Page 60 of Grind
Ezra’s blood ran faster, but he stayed calm, not wanting to have this opportunity turn into a trap if he said the wrong thing. “Yeah, the lease on my apartment runs out soon, and I’m getting a bit worried about what happens to my belongings.”
Frank glanced at his friend. “Shane’s got nothing to do today. He can come with me, and we can grab some of your stuff. Just tell me what’s most valuable or important.”
A sense of relief flooded Ezra so fast he barely noticed the drooping of Shane’s shoulders. But, to the judgmental bastard’s credit, he didn’t protest. “You’d do that for me?” he asked as if he hadn’t voiced his worries for that very reason.
“Sure, baby, just make a list,” Frank said and kissed the side of his head. “I’d take you with us, but I don’t feel it’s safe.”
Ezra stalled, because he wasn’t anyone’s baby. Or was he? His mind said no, but when he met Frank’s dark, intense eyes, his body said thatyes, he definitely was.
Chapter 18
Frank
Thedoorunlockedwitha dull click, and when no sound came from behind it, Frank pushed it open, facing the dark interior of Ezra’s apartment. The glow of the lamp above his and Shane’s heads illuminated the paneled floor inside and offered enough light to reveal the rough shapes of the furniture in the living room, but if someone was waiting for Ezra’s arrival in the bedroom, there was only one way to find out.
“Check the living room. I’ll go right,” Frank whispered and pulled the safety off his gun, but as Shane slapped the light switch, they both stalled at the sight of the open plan room.
It looked as if a hurricane named Paul had stormed through it twice.
Shane whistled. “That looks promising.”
The dark humor in his voice prompted Frank into action, and they both went to their respective sides, checking the apartment for intruders. They found none, but the whole place waswrecked. Even the mattress where Frank had slept only weeks ago hadn’t been spared and now featured long tears showcasing its gutted insides.
The sole idea that it could have been Ezra cut from groin to throat made Frank shudder. Not much moved him these days, but Ezra wasn’t some sack of disposable meat. Frank had chosen to protect him, to make him his if only Ezra allowed it.
Walking around the place he knew so well and seeing it in ruin made him want to go back and stay at Ezra’s side, like his personal guard dog, but that was an unreasonable thought. Ezra was safe at the junkyard, with Jag keeping an eye on him. And Paul should thank the heavens that he hadn’t caught up with Ezra that first night, because if Frank had seen the amber eyes looking back at him from the second body bag that night, he—he probably would have broken his vow to never kill again.
Frank put away his gun. “Looks safe. Let’s get his stuff,” he said and went back to the corridor to grab the duffel bags they’d brought with them.
Shane sighed and pulled up tonight’s shopping list on his phone before stepping into the kitchen. “This place looks like a statement. You really think you can hide him from Paul forever?”
Frank approached one of the cupboards with grim thoughts swirling in his mind. He wanted to bark something back at Shane, but the question was reasonable, even if agitating.
“Probably not, but I don’t even know if he’ll stay. With the new ID, if he travels far enough, he’ll be safe.”
“Only that you don’t want him to go anywhere…” Shane glanced his way as he opened a large drawer.
Ezra had given them instructions about a shitload of supplements. Collagen powder, vitamins, and all sort of stuff Frank didn’t question, but he didn’t like how desperate Ezra seemed to be for these pseudo miracle drugs.
“I don’t. But I’m not Jag. I won’t be putting a collar around his neck and chaining him to the wall. He either wants to stay or he doesn’t.”
Shane shoved bottle after bottle into the bag, his expression rigid as if he were weighing his options after leaving his fingerprints all over a crime scene. Frank was about to grab the two pairs of shoes Ezra asked for when his friend’s dark voice made him stall.
“Look, Frank, I’m sorry about earlier,” Shane said, dumping the bag onto the kitchen counter as he faced him with a tense set to his mouth. “I’m just worried because you’re like a br—no, you’remorethan a brother, because I don’t even know where I’d be if you never took me under your wing. But you have your own mind, and I overstepped. If you want me to protect that boy as if he were my own, I will do it.”
Frank had no idea how much he’d needed to hear that. A weight dropped off his shoulders at Shane’s words.
“Thanks, man. It’s been a long time since I was so set on someone. It’s only been a few weeks, and he slotted into my life with such ease. I wasn’t sure how he’d fare in my less than luxurious house, but he made it a home already. I thought I didn’t need much more in life than my friends, TV dinners, and the odd blowjob, but being around him is showing me what I’ve been missing out on. I don’t know what I’d do if he left, but I don’t know if he will want to stay in the long run either. I trust he genuinely likes me, but I’m not sure if being confined to a scrapyard won’t eventually erode all that.”
Shane exhaled and slapped Frank’s arm in a gesture of support. “You gotta maximize your chances. Make him comfortable. Coming here tonight is a good step forward.”
Frank approached the collapsing mound of shoes erected in front of the cupboard where Ezra normally stored them. He fished out the first pair Ezra requested by the time Shane went on.
“But now real talk. The comfort and luxury is the least of your problems, because we can update your place, hell, even build an extension for him to store all his clothes. But would he be okay with our secret side gig? He was horrified when he found out what Paul was up to.”
And that was at the core of Frank’s worries. Ezra already knew about Frank being up to no good, but if he found out the extent of it, could they even have a future? Moving stolen goods hardly fell into the same category as moving dead bodies. Ezra wasn’t the kind of guy who washed his man’s bloodied T-shirt and then made him dinner.
“I know. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Maybe there’s a nice way to frame it that doesn’t freak him out?”
