Benji ignored her. He took a step toward Chet, his shoulders braced and his hands shaking. Chet always preferred to run from fights, but he would make an exception if he got to put on a show. And if Chet ran at Noah, Benji would run at Chet.
Noah grabbed the phone from the first cameraman. Then he reached for the second, who tried to wrestle it out of his grip. Noah twisted his wrist with such force that the phone dropped to the ground.
Noah stomped on it. The second phone vanished into his pocket, and he gave the cameramen such a hard glare that they both stepped back.
Benji’s heart thudded. Part of him was relieved that the evidence of his “bad PR” was gone. Another part was ashamed that Noah had to take care of Benji’s own mess for him. But thebiggestpart of him was annoyingly focused on how hot Noah looked when he crushed that phone.
Chet straightened, jeering at Noah. “You can’t do that! We have freedom of speech, ever heard of it?”
“You have the freedom to get the hell out of my face before I slap you with a restraining order,” Noah said, his usually even voice crackling with anger.
Chet sneered. He was obviously weighing him up, seeing if he should take a swing. But Noah was taller and stronger, and there were no cameras on them anymore—and the cameramen weren’t exactly going to help him with a fight.
The elevator doors swished open. Security guards poured out, heading straight toward them.
Chet glanced back at them and swore, then turned back to Noah.
“They’remykids,” Chet hissed. “What the hell is my youngest doing living with you, anyway? Benjamin must’ve done somethingspecial to deserve that. Must be arealprofessional.”
“Fuck you,” Benji spat.
Chet laughed. “Funny! ‘Cause it sounds likeyou’rethe one getting?—”
Chet’s words choked off as Noah grabbed him by the front of his ironed shirt.
“I don’t care how much my brother is paying you,” Noah said, voice low as security got closer. “Anybody who tries to screw with my people deals with me. And you bet yourassthat includes Max. If you keep this up, youwillfind out what I doto anyone who messes with my people. Whatever reward Mikey can give you, it’s not worth what I’ll do to you.”
Chet’s jaw clicked shut. His gaze flickered over to Benji, surprised and confused. Like he hadn’t expected Noah to stick up for them so much.
Noah pushed Chet into a security guard, who grabbed Chet and forced his arms behind his back.
Chet immediately started struggling, like he’d been waiting for his line in a play.
“You’ll never hold me back from my kid,” he yelled, which would have been hilarious if it didn’t fill Benji with a senseless betrayed rage. His dad was finally fighting for his kid… and it wasn’t even real. Even if it was, it wasn’thim. He was trying to protect his kidfromBenji.
Noah turned Benji around so he wasn’t watching Chet get dragged anymore. “Hey. Look at me.”
“I’m looking at you,” Benji said. But he wasn’t. He was staring somewhere near Noah’s head, then back in the apartment where Tia was awkwardly pretending not to watch. “How’d he get up here? I thought security was watching the lobby.”
“Mikey will have his way. We’ll—” Noah went quiet, his gaze flickering over Benji’s shoulder.
Behind him, Chet gasped. “Max! My boy!”
Benji turned, hot with protective rage.
Max was standing at the end of the hall, propping the stairwell door open. Like he’d taken one step into the hall and then stopped so suddenly that the door couldn’t close. He was staring at Chet being dragged away with a shockingly uncertain expression. Benji had been expecting disgust, maybe exasperation. But Max was shrinking into his shoulders, shying away.
“Max,” Chet called, straining to lean out of the elevator the security guys were shoving him into. “Hey! It’s me!”
“Okay,” Max mumbled. He folded his arms tightly over his chest, looking like he wanted to vanish back into the stairwell.
Chet kept trying to call out to him, straining out of the elevator.
“Get himout,” Noah commanded.
One of the security guards grabbed Chet’s face and pulled it back just before the elevator doors could close on it. Benji had a moment to think about how funny that would have been. Then the elevator doors closed, and he was left with an eerily silent hallway, Max shifting uncomfortably at the end of it.
“So,” Benji tried. “How do you feel about a restraining order?”
