Ezra was pissed, and I could understand that, but Theo was my brother, in a sense. Enough that when he told me he was thinking about ending it all, I couldn’t get in my car fast enough. Ezra wanted to go along with the job without me. There was no way the plan would have worked with one person. Without a lookout, he would have been killed. I knew that much.

When it was clear he wasn’t going to abandon the raid, calling the cops was the only thing I could do to save his life. He wouldn’t listen to me or Shelby, and I could be a stubborn asshole too.

I would regret that call for the next ten years, and not only because it ruined this new thing I had built with Shelby at the time, but because it let them down, and Ezra was just the kind of guy to hold a grudge. He’d never forgive me, and I had to live with that.

As I come out of my apartment, in less of a rush than I should have been in, I spot a familiar face about to climb into his car. Ezra looks up at me and scowls like I fucking stink or something.

He looks almost exactly the same. His blonde hair is still cut short, and his blue eyes have dark circles hanging below them, a sign that he doesn’t sleep much and is probably under as much stress as he always was.

We stare each other down as I approach my bike. I hate the smug look on his face.

All I want to do is confront him about Mateo and what he has going on at the shop, but it’s too soon for that. I can’t raise any alarms, just yet, but it makes me sick to think that he’s out and putting people in my town in trouble, and it’s up to me to stop him.

Just when I think he’s going to get in his car without incident, I hear him step closer. “Stay the fuck away from my sister.”

Slowly I turn toward him. “Look, your sister is an adult. She can do what she wants.”

“I’m serious, man.” As he steps up, putting his finger in my face, I try to think of Shelby instead of clocking him right in that pretty face of his.

“You better get out of my face, Ezra.”

“I’ve got my eye on you,” he says, stepping back.

Now he’s got me fired up, and all I’m thinking about is Shelby and Mateo and all of the other people he could hurt by being so reckless. “I don’t know what you’re up to, Ezra, but all of that shit from before is behind me now, and I don’t want to deal with your shit around here.”

Without another word, I climb on my bike and ride away.

Shelby

“He’s been talking more today,” Mrs. Yan says as I take her husband’s blood pressure. I can see the optimism in her expression, and it stings a bit, knowing I’m going to have to remind her that things are not going to get better. This is my least favorite part, and it happens almost every time.