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“He’s just another job. Move.”

“Zaire, stay behind me as we get out of here,” Colton said in English, and Zaire followed his order.

“Don’t play with me, brother. Don’t think I won’t shoot you to get to him.”

“Oh, I know you will. But if you kill him, don’t bother calling me brother,” Colton said, switching back to their coded language.

There was a sound of disbelief. “Are you fucking serious? Over some fucking mark. Did you fuck him?” Nate asked, his voice filled with the anger and frustration he was feeling.

“Yeah, and he’s mine. If you and mother persist and take him from me, I'm done.”

“Fuck!” Nate snapped and the phone went silent. Colton and Ze saw the screen go back to the homepage indicating the call had ended. Colton turned around to face Zaire.

“Friend of yours?” Ze asked as he cradled his bleeding arm.

Colton shook his head. “Brother.”

“Whatever you were saying sounded intense.”

“I told him that if he and my mother insisted on trying to kill you, that I would quit.”

Ze’s mouth dropped. “Oh… wow, are you serious?”

“I am. I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. What I told my brother is a game changer.”

“I… I don’t know what to say,” Ze said softly.

“You don’t have to say anything right now. I still don’t know if my mom will pull back,” Colton said.

“You… have an interesting family dynamic, that’s for sure,” Ze said.

Colton nodded. “You could say that.” He looked at the blood pouring from Ze’s wound. “Jesus. Come on, rise with me.”

Ze nodded and together they rose and Colton made sure to block his brother’s view with his body. He didn’t trust that his brother still wouldn’t go for a shot.

“Where’s your bathroom?”

“Over there,” Ze said.

Together, they walked into the bathroom and Colton closed the door. Ze couldn’t believe how close he’d come to being killed a third time in less than five days. His arm burned from the gunshot wound and this was the second one he’d received. Maybe it was time to get his club involved… maybe. He groaned when he thought about how much trouble he was about to be in for keeping such a big secret to himself. But at this point, they had to know, because they might be in danger too. He had to protect Zin as well. He wouldn’t ever forgive himself if his little brother became collateral damage.

“I can’t believe your brother just shot me,” Ze said.

Colton huffed. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Is he as good as you are?”

Colton smirked. “Well, it’s sacrilege for me to say my little brother, Nathan, is better than me, but as you can see, he isn’t slacking. In any case, he’s more competitive than I am and that makes him very dangerous.”

“Damn it!” Ze cursed.

“Let me look at your wound.”

Ze didn’t bother to put up any fuss and allowed Colton to tend to him. They needed to assess how bad it was and stop the bleeding.

“It went straight through,” Colton said as he examined the hole. “Does it hurt badly?”

Ze nodded. “Nothing I can’t handle. This isn’t the first time I’ve been shot.”