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I’m tossing that weight off at the same time she screams, “Dylan! Stop!”
I must have tossed him a little too hard because I hear a heavy thud against a wall and turn to find Dylan crumpled, his eyes glaring up at me. He moves as if to come at me again, but I shake my head.
“You might want to rethink that decision,” I warn as I step his direction.
“Ezra, don’t you dare hurt him!”
Glancing at her real quick, I turn back to her brother and try to make sense of what the hell is going on. Then it occurs to me, and the corner of my lip curls up.
“Were you just trying to protect her?”
His grimace deepens, and I roll my eyes.
“Be as pissed at me as you want, but man the fuck up and answer me. Were you just trying to protect Emily?”
He nods, the movement tight because his body is popping with anger.
More than that, this kid is itching for a fight.
I can see the energy rolling off him, and I recognize it because I’ve seen it so many times before in myself.
“I swear to God, Ezra, if you hurt him.”
Emily doesn’t quite finish the threat, but she doesn’t need to.
Ignoring her, I reach down to offer him a hand up.
My voice is controlled when our eyes lock, and I say, “It’s about time you look out for her. But I think it’s fairly obvious I’ll never hurt your sister. I’ll beat a motherfucker down for hurting her, in fact. So let me help you up, and then you can leave us to finish this discussion.”
“We’re not finishing anything,” she snipes at my back.
Looking over my shoulder at her, I laugh. “Good luck with that.”
Eyes back to Dylan.
“Come on. Get up and get out of here, kid. Your sister is a pain in the ass. I think you probably know that, so let me deal with this without having to knock you the fuck out to do so.”
Dylan’s not dumb, which is good to find out. After casting a quick look at Emily, he drops the tough guy act and locks his hand with mine so I can pull him to his feet.
It might seem strange, but I’m a little proud of the kid for doing what he did.
“Sorry, Emily, but you are kind of a pain in the ass,” he remarks.
I’m suddenly liking him more and more.
A bark of laughter shakes my shoulders, my grin stretching wide but then falling away when I turn to see she’s not happy at all about this.
Not that I expected her to be.
“I’m proud of you for manning up. But you also might want to put your headphones on in your room since you don’t want to hear what’s about to happen.”
“Nothing is about to happen,” Emily snaps.
I glance at her. “Keep telling yourself that all you want.”
When I look at Dylan again, he rolls his eyes and turns to leave, closing the door behind him as best he can with the busted frame.
I spin back to face Emily, the tension between us oddly broken after her brother’s misplaced act of heroism.
