The Brothers

"Pause, rewind, she did what?" Kai asks. She and Kash came over Aaliyah's the following afternoon.

"She took one of my favorite pair of earrings and then lied straight to our faces, like it was nothing."

"And Luke's weak ass lying to save her." Kash adds.

"That doesn't sound like Luke."

"You're right, it doesn't, but he did." Aaliyah says.

"...and how she make it passed you." Kai asks looking at kash.

"Colin nor Luke would let me near the bitch, so I really couldn't beat her ass like I wanted to."

"It doesn't even matter anymore. Colin said he'd handle that shit. I'll probably never get my earrings back, but oh well. Thanks again for watching CJ."

"You know it's never a problem.

*************

"Have you really lost your fucking mind?" Luke yells. He didn't get a chance to chew Carly out last night, but he had the opportunity to do so the next day. "What the hell were you thinking?" He asks pacing around the room.

"I didn't think she'd miss him...have you seen her closet?"

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHAT HER CLOSET LOOKS LIKE...you don't fucking steal from my Aaliyah, or Kash, or anyone one of them! Are you crazy."

"I'm sorry, okay."

"Then I had to cover your ass. Don't ever put me in that situation again." He says then walks out. Luke gets to the club and Colin's already there, talking with Tommy.

"I'll catch up with you later, Tommy."

"Nah, you're needed now."

"Handle it for me, and I'll meet up with you as soon as I can." Tommy shakes his head and walks out.

"What was that about?" Luke asks.

"Tommy supposedly found out who's been hitting us, wants me to take em out. Bad thing is...he thinks it's someone who I practicallt raised out here in the streets. I can't do it."

"Then don't. Let Tommy do it."

"He's trippin. Thinks I'm spending too much time at the club. Doesn't think I'm down for the cause anymore."

"Were you ever 'down for the cause?'"

"Not really."

"I know...."

"There's a party here tonight, held by some college kids." Colin says to change he subject. "It's gonna be a lot of them too. Gotta beef up security a little bit. I know how wild them lil mothafuckas can get."

"You don't have to tell me, we were one of them, remember?"

"I remember perfectly...how's Carly?"

"Umm, she's good."

"Mhm."

"Everything all ready for the deposit."

"Yeah, upstairs in the office." Luke takes off upstairs and Colin gets a text message.

Lizzie: Meet for brunch?

Colin smiles.

Collie: Brunch...I don't do brunch.

Lizzie: Well you do today😊

Collie: Sure, Lizzie.

They agree on a place and meet up within the next 30 minutes. As they're talking and eating, they get seen by Luke, who's on his way back to the club. He stops the car immediately, causing the cars behind him to abruptly stop and honk. He sticks his middle finger out the window before switching lanes and finding a parking spot on the curb. He gets out, walks in and goes to their table.

"Lizzie Ramirez?" Luke gasps. "Noooo." Colin looks up quickly to see Luke standing before him and his mood quickly changes.

"Luke? Is that you?"

"Of course it's me." He says sitting down, even though he wasn't invited to do so. Colin blankly stares at him. "So what are we talking about?"

"Oh nothing." Colin says quickly.

"Yeah, we're just catching up." And fucking occasionally, but that little detail isn't important.

"Really?! I bet there's a lot to catch up on. Did he mention he has a girlfriend, well you might as well call her your wife, right?" Colin's now glaring at him, jaws clinched. "Can't forget his son. They're a happy little family, ya know." He rambles on, putting Liz in sort of an awkward position. "Well. I gotta get back to the club...I guess I'll see you soon." He says, looking at Colin, who's still glaring at him.

"Yeah." Luke gets up, and smirks on the way out.

"Sorry about that..." Colin says.

"No...it's okay."

***************

After meeting up with Liz, Colin gets back to the club.

"Where you been?" Cam asks. He and Odell are sitting at the bar.

"I had some things to take care of." Colin says walking behind the bar to make him a drink.

"It's a little early for that ain't it." Odell asks.

"Nope."

"Anyway, can't believe I'm bout to get another niece or nephew. I'm excited." Odell beams. "What do you want, girl or a boy?"

"I'd be happy with just a healthy baby."

"Yup, that's all that matters." Colin chimes in and smiles.

Colin finally catches some alone time with Luke.

"What the fuck was that about?"

"What are you doing sneaking around with a flame from high school?"

"I ran into her at the club one night, and she invited me to lunch. It's not big deal."

"It wouldn't be a big deal if you weren't fuckin her."

"Now you're just talkin crazy."

"I saw the look on your face bro. I'm not stupid. You better pray to God that Aaliyah doesn't find out, because she's gonna be done with you."

"She's not gonna find out, is she Luke? Because you're gonna keep your fuckin mouth shut."

"Trust me, I'm not gonna tell her. I should, but I won't. You better be careful Kap. You could be playing with fire, and I'd hate to see you get burned."

"You talkin like you know somethin."

"I don't know shit. I'm just thinking, something you should do." Luke pushes Colin to the side and walks off.

*****************

Later that night, all four of the fellas are at the club. Everything is going smoothly until there's some commotion in the women's bathroom, causing Cam, Luke and Odell to rush over.

"Where the hell is Kap?" Odell asks on the way to the bathroom. I don't know. Satisfying his booty call in the office.

"It don't matter." They burst through the door to see a girl on the floor overdosing on some coke, while her friend is next to her, crying hysterically. "EVERYBODY OUT OF TBE DAMN BATHROOM!" Cam yells. "O, clear these people out. Shut it down."

"I'm gonna call for some help." Luke says.

"Tell them to put a move on it." Cam says and bends down beside the girl who's still on the floor. "What happened?" He asks the girl's friend.

"I don't know. We were...we were just...she only did one line. We got it from some guy."

"A guy here?"

"Yeah..."

"What'd he look like..."

"I don't know. I don't remember."

"Fuck!" Cam looks down and realizes that the girl on the floor is slowly fading. She goes completely pale, lips blue, and she's gone. "DAMNIT!" Cam calls Colin's phone and it rings and rings. "Answer the damn phone!" He tries again.

Colin's phone is on the desk, not too far from where Liz is sitting as Colin's giving her all he's got. It's not till he finishes when he realizes what's going on, and he wouldn't have noticed if he didn't look at the monitors to see people being cleared out.

"What the hell?" He says as he straightens his clothes. They both discretely head out of the office and go their separate ways. Colin notices paramedics headed towards the bathroom. He rushes over.

"Where the hell you been?" Cam asks.

"What the fuck happened?"

"Someone gave a girl some coke and she overdosed. She didn't make it."

"Shit. This is the last thing we need."

"No shit." Cam retorts.

"We can get shut down for this." Luke says.

"No, we will get shut down for this. Detectives are gonna be knocking on the door tomorrow morning."

"We'll just handle it tomorrow when the time comes." Colin says.

After everything gets cleared out, the guys have a talk with the officers that reported to the scene and were told that they'll be in contact with them. They've all had enough for one night, they all go home and reconvene the next morning.