Ez keeps talking, but I can’t hear shit. My mind is a little too busy freaking the fuck out. “Pete?”
“Pete & Pete,” Ezra agrees. Barbara says it’s a television show from the early nineties, but I wasn’t even born then, so I don’t have the foggiest what she’s talking about. You’re both old, so you probably remember it. I just don’t understand why any of the actors would show up here.”
“Baby, that ain’t the Pete she’s talking about.” Bubba still has the curtain pulled back, not moving a muscle.
“Bubba?” I call out. “Is it him?”
All it takes is Bubba’s knowing nod, and I’m rushing out the bedroom, my footsteps thundering through the house as I take the stairway steps two at a time. As soon as I open the door, I lunge, barreling into my older brother, sending us both toppling to the ground. He decks me in the face, and I coldcock the son of a bitch in the shoulder.
“Dear God, are they battling to the death?” Ezra cries out from upstairs, sounding terrified. “Johnny, baby, I’m coming!”
The next thing I know, Pete groans, then lets out a high-pitch squeal. He recoils, trying to get away, but when I look down, I realize why he ain’t moving. Ezra’s got a fist formed around Pete’s crotch, squeezing so tightly his knuckles have gone white.
“Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck!” Pete whines, trying to shake loose, unable to break the hold Ez has on him.
“If you ever touch my boyfriend again, I’ll saw your fucking throat open,” Ezra threatens, his voice booming with thunder, protective of me. Seeing him risk his personal safety, just to protect me, brings a tear to my eye.
“Ez,” I say. “Baby, you can let go now.” I place my hand on top of his, hoping to pull him away, but I guess Ez has superhuman strength now, because he won’t let go of my older brother’s bulge.
“You punched him in the fucking face,” Ezra hisses. “I swear to God, if you lift another hand to him, you won’t live to see tomorrow. He’s mine to torment. Mine to punish. He’s mine!”
Pete just stares up at Ezra, confused, probably wondering why there’s a chihuahua in human form pinning him down.
“Ez, I need you to let him go.”
Ezra shakes his head, determined. “He’s trying to kill you. No one touches you. Not now, not ever.” Ez rears back his hand and gives Pete an open-handed slap, the sound of its crack echoing across the land. “Who resigned and made you king of who gets to live and who has to die? Who made you God, asshole?” He slaps Pete again, harder this time. “Are you Thanatos, row, row, rowing your fucking boat, right down to the pits of hell?”
“I think you mean Hades, Ezzy. The Greeks called it Hades.”
“This isn’t a dissertation,” he shrieks, squeezing Pete’s bulge tighter.
Pete screams even louder. “Is it weird that I’m getting a chubby?”
“Baby,” I call out, but Ezra either can’t hear me, or he just doesn’t care, because he slaps Pete again.
“I can do this all night, motherfucker.”
Fuck, he’s adorable.
Ezra raises his arm again, but I catch it this time, and when he looks up at me it’s almost like his entire eyes are black. I’ve never seen him this angry, and I’ve seen him angry a lot. “No, Jonathan. I’m defending my boyfriend’s honor.”
And damn if that doesn’t make my knees go weak. Chuckling softly, I assure him, “He ain’t trying to kill me, baby. That’s just Pete.”
“And who the hell is Pete? Why on earth would I care what his name is?”
“Because he’s my brother.”
I don’t know why the fuck my brother is here, or how the fuck he found us. It ain’t like I’ve been keeping my whereabouts secret or nothin’. Pete’s just never stepped foot outside Dunsberry, aside from the occasional trip to the nearest town for supplies. Now, he’s traveled clear across the country. Why the fuck wouldhe travel so far?
He’s probably pissed at me for abandoning them last time, but I never promised I would stay. I never said I wasn’t going home, but Pete and Barrett assumed I was back for good. My staying would ease the burden on them, and on Momma, but staying home meant staying put, and staying put meant losing Bubba. I can’t ever lose Bubba, so I left in the middle of the night without saying a word.
Pete is still flat on his back, so I stand and offer a hand to help him up. Pete grabs my hand, and I tug, lifting him off the ground. Ez doesn’t understand our bond. He don’t know we’d sooner beat the shit out of each other than shake each other’s hands. It’s just how brothers are in the country.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Pete asks, like he’s surprised to see me.
“What do you mean what am I doing here? I live here, bro.”
Pete looks over my shoulder, fuck knows why. “Johnny, why are you giving a naked dude a piggyback ride?”
