“I’m not in the mood to be nice,” Ezra muttered. “I’m fucking tired of everyone hovering.”
“Well, then stand up and give me a hug, cousin,” she said. “Because outside of Milo, you’re the only other good thing that’s happened to me because of King.”
I blinked and I wasn’t the only one caught off guard by the comment. Ivy despised King. Not for what he’d done to her, but for his choices where I was concerned.
“Em,” Ezra said and he rose as she backed up a couple of steps. “It’s—It’s just a bad day.”
“Bad days happen,” she told him in a tone that was light enough to offer hope that they would also end, but sober enough to accept that they were very much a fact of her life. “We don’t have to let them be in charge.”
He shook his head and then when she wrapped her arms around him, he hesitated. The resistance was just a flash, one he fought to cover almost as soon as it appeared. The moment I saw it though, I couldn’t unsee it.
Ezra didn’t expect anyone to give a damn about him. It was why he was always acting out or pushing at Lainey and Adam. He wanted to push them away because it would be easier if he was the one who did the rejecting.
Fuck his family. Jasper had the same goddamn problem at one point. An abusive father destroyed, and Ezra was the walking wounded.
When he wrapped Ivy up tight, I nodded. That was better. She would be good for him. Like Mayhem was, because she wouldn’t let Ezra just get away with it.
“Better?” she asked, still hugging him.
“Weirdly,” he admitted with a brief glance at me. “Yes.” Then he pulled back and looked at her. “How did you do that?”
“I’ve had practice,” she said, then patted his arm. “Practice and a big brother who foisted all of his protective bossiness on me.” She flashed a grin at me. “But it’s cool, cause now I can give him all the shit and be a brat while he lets me.”
“Huh,” Ezra said, then cut a look toward me.
I just shrugged. “She’s not wrong. Besides, you are family. That means you just have to accept it.”
“So, who do I have to bribe to get a coffee?” Ivy asked. “I can make it myself.”
“I got it,” Ezra said. “And… sorry about being pissy when you got here.”
“You weren’t pissy at me,” she told him.
“Good. Right. You want coffee, Milo?”
“That’d be great. Should we order food or make something?” I looked at Ivy. “Cause you’re probably not filling us in until Mayhem gets back.”
She rolled her eyes. “Maybe… Depends.” Then she cast a look toward a retreating Ezra who vanished into the kitchen. “He’s not okay.”
I adopted her soft tone. “No, he’s not, but he’s working on it.”
When she bit down on her lower lip and folded her arms, I could practically read the indecision on her face.
“Trust me, kiddo. We have him. Me, Mayhem, Adam, even Bodhi. None of us are going to let him fall.”
“You can’t smother him though.” She blew out a breath. “It’s hard when you’ve been hurt—I know you know that. You don’t want to feel vulnerable and you really don’t want to feel like it’s all out of your control. Don’t hold on so tight you’re taking that control from him.”
“I hear you,” I promised her then rubbed her biceps so she’d relax a little. “I’ll talk to the others.”
She nodded, then glanced back toward the kitchen. “I can talk to him… It might help if it comes from someone he’s not so close to.”
I hated to burst her bubble… “He was protective of you before he knew,” I reminded her.
“That was because of Lainey.” She couldn’t just hand wave this off but it wasn’t time for this fight right now.
“Uh huh.” I nudged her over to take a seat as the sound of the coffee grinder and the milk steamer drifted out from the kitchen. When she curled up in the corner of the sofa, I studied her. “Did you find out what we needed to know?”
“Some.”
“Define some?”
“I know people we can talk to, people who are familiar with the business in that part of the world. I can also get you in to talk to them. We might get a lot more there. They may not be as amenable to talking as others, but I trust you can persuade them.”
I frowned. “How?”
“Every single time I toured in Eastern Europe, it was always very popular. We only ever played in two cities, so the audience came to me.”
“Why only two?” I swore she was talking around the point, making light of something that was far more serious.
“Because,” she said, then glanced back as Ezra reappeared with our coffees. “Yay! Coffee time.”
I let her have the distraction as Ezra handed over our coffees before he took a seat on the other sofa. “What are we discussing?”
“Europe,” she said. “And why did I only ever perform in two cities when we went there—well in Eastern Europe.” At least she didn’t try to downplay it.
“The reason was…?”
“The company always had to hire me bodyguards when I was there.” She blew out a breath. “Uncle Fuckbucket would pay for it, particularly after the first time there was a kidnapping attempt.”
