“If your cousin does it, will you be disgusted with them and want nothing more to do with them?”
“I… don’t think so?” If Callum threw a game on purpose, he’d be a mess. I wouldn’t abandon him. “They’re between a rock and a hard place, knuckling under to threats. I feel for them. But they need to report it and let me help.” I paced back and forth. “They don’t trust me. I understand that, but I can’t just sit back and let this happen.”
“So you’re going to report the crime yourself?”
“What? No, I…” I had to think for a moment. Cheating was wrong, deliberately losing a game was unethical. But the worst part would be the way following through would put Callum on the other side of a line— going from a guy you could trust to be honest when it mattered, to a guy you couldn’t. Not just for me, or a future team, but I’d bet in his own head. “I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do.”
“Sounds like you need to figure that out before you talk to them again.”
“I don’t know if he’ll talk to me at all.”
Olivia hummed under her breath. “I can’t help you without more information, which you promised to keep secret, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I probably couldn’t anyhow, because this is an ethics question. There’s no single right answer. You have to decide who gets hurt and who gets helped by your choices, and then go for it. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
“Zeke, are you and Callum doing okay?”
I blinked. “What? Why would you ask? We’re fine. I mean, we’re not really anything, but there’s no problem.”
“Uh-huh. If I can help, let me know. I like him. And Zeke? You don’t have any cousins.” She hung up.
Crap.I stuffed my phone away and paced some more. Part of me wanted to march back over and demand Callum let me bring in the troops. Except I had no doubt he needed time to cool down. I could try to cut this disaster off at the pass and report the potential cheating myself, but at best, the Gaming Commission would wait tillafterCallum threw the game to swoop in. Or they might reject the report as too penny ante to bother with, given their focus on organized crime and gangs. That wouldn’t help Callum, just land him in shit.
All I could think of was to watch Wayne. Except Callum took the truck keys back, so it would be tricky to find Wayne. And I was working one more full day shift before I had time off. I didn’t have the leisure to wander around Vancouver tracking down a low-life ex-con.
I forced myself to stop, breathe, evaluate. I wasn’t the hothead who punched walls— and damn, I hoped Callum hadn’t hurt himself. I was the guy with an angle, with a plan. Starting day after tomorrow, I’d have four days off work. I’d figure something out.
On that determined note, I went up to the main level and finished cleaning the kitchen. Nothing on TV caught my attention, but I lazed on the couch, flipping channel to channel, until I dropped off between house-flippers and a music documentary.
In my restless sleep, I pursued Callum across fields and down hallways. Something bad was waiting for him, but I couldn’t get close enough to warn him. I shouted, but he kept jogging toward that ominous door at the end of the hall?—
“Zeke! Wake up! Zeke!”
I snapped to alertness, bolted upright on the couch and grabbed toward my hip where no weapon was buckled. Jos stood over me, looking down. The timer had shut off the lamp while I slept, leaving the room dark, and a street scene flickered across the TV at low volume.
I counted to five and managed a smile for my brother. “Hey, what’s up?”
“You were shouting. In your sleep. ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Wait!’ You kind of screamed.”
“Ah. Sorry.” I rubbed my eyes. “Bad dreams. Go back to bed.”
“You’re really okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“I didn’t touch you. You said not to, if you had a nightmare.”
“You did just right.” I pushed to my feet, found the remote, and clicked off the TV. “Come on, we’ll both go up to bed. But thank you. I was glad to be woken up at that point.”
“I figured.” He slanted a look up at me. “I wasn’t really scared, you know. I just didn’t want you to feel bad.”
“Thanks.”
Jos shrugged. “You’re the only brother I’ve got.” He turned and jogged up the stairs, leaving me to follow. I heard his door close. Well, the day had been shit, but I was going to take those few words to mean Jos and I were still doing okay. That was worth a lot.
