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“No, it’ll be okay. I’m sorry.” He sighed and shook his head. “Let’s get going. It’ll be fine. I promise.”
Ehren felt better with Stephen’s smile. It sounded like Stephen intended to keep his battle with his brother from interfering with their business, but he didn’t like the man beside him being so upset. Maybe he shouldn’t have let Stephen come along. It was bad enough he was getting him involved in something potentially dangerous, but now he had to deal with his family in less-than-ideal circumstances.
They started walking and Stephen bumped him again with his elbow. “Don’t worry. Charlie likes to drive me insane. He likes everyone else.”
“I don’t know if that makes me feel better.”
Ehren stared over the grouping of four men, trying to figure out which one was Stephen’s brother. Technically, none of them looked like Stephen. There was one man standing with his arms crossed over his massive chest with short white hair and a matching beard. Kind of like a buff, sexy Santa Claus if you happened to have a dirty mind.
The man standing beside him was about Ehren’s height with a similar darker brown skin and black wavy hair that hung to his jaw. Something about the darkness of his eyes and sharpness of his features made Ehren want to think that he might be of Middle Eastern descent as well.
And then there was the mountain. The Black man was as tall as Santa but a few inches wider. His lovely ebony skin was deep and rich. He flashed a friendly, engaging smile at Stephen before leaning over to speak to the tall, slender man on his left.
The final man just appeared dangerous. His light eyes seemed to take in everything around them. While his lean body was relaxed, there was a kind of coiled energy about him, like he was prepared to strike in the blink of an eye.
“Why the fuck didn’t you call me?” Sexy Santa snapped the second they were within earshot. Yeah, this had to be Charlie.
Stephen glared at his brother, wordless. He suddenly turned his attention to the man beside Charlie, who was wincing. “I thought we agreed to keep him out of this.”
The other man held up both hands as if to ward off Stephen’s anger. “I know, I know. Things got bigger than we expected. The entire team needed to be brought in.”
“You went behind my fucking back, got help from my team—” Charlie continued.
“Because I knew you’d act like this about it,” Stephen snapped at him.
“You just had to go meddling in shit you knew nothing about. Put your life in danger—”
The Black man immediately stepped between Stephen and Charlie, placing one hand on Charlie’s chest while gently wrapping a massive hand around Stephen’s shoulder. “Hey, now. Let’s calm down. How about some introductions and food? We can talk about what’s going on later.”
Stephen instantly relaxed and smiled at the mountain. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
The guy smirked at Charlie and gave him a little shove before wrapping Stephen in an enormous bear hug that lifted him onto the tips of his toes. Ehren was pretty sure he heard Stephen grunt and a few joints pop over the other man’s chuckle.
“Oh God, Ed,” Stephen groaned as soon as he was released. “I think you straightened my spine with that one.”
“All part of the service.” He then looked over at Ehren, and it was all he could do to not take a step behind Stephen. This guy was easily a foot taller and all muscle, but it was hard to be too scared when his smile was so warm.
“Ed, this is my friend, Ehren Galanis. Ehren, this wonderful human being is Edison Walker, expert at blowing shit up and knowing the best places to eat in any city in the world.”
Ehren smiled and extended his hand, only to have it swallowed up in both of Edison’s hands. The surprising thing was that he was incredibly gentle, as though he could probably read in Ehren’s wide eyes that he was still unsure of all of them. “A pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Edison said. “We hope you’re taking care of our boy for us.”
“I’m trying.”
Edison stepped back, and the man next to Charlie stepped up with his hand extended. “Kairo Jones, great to meet you.”
“Ehren Galanis. Thank you for all your help.”
“Not a problem. We’re always happy to give Stephen a hand,” Kairo replied with a grin, which only earned a snort from Charlie.
He released Kairo’s hand, and Stephen instantly turned him in the direction of the man standing on the fringe of the group. The silent man was keeping an eye on the conversation as well as all the people in the area.
“That statue over there is Westin St. James, but everyone calls him West,” Stephen said.
The man turned his cold blue eyes on him and gave a nod.
