Go Home, Dragon. You Are Drunk.

Bullshit, thought Ezekiel. Complete and utter fuckin' bullshit.

He couldn't believe what he'd been seeing on the news lately: restaurant food served in toilet bowls, Britney Spears making a comeback, and now this--giant reptiles taking out criminals in the city? He snorted, broke his gaze from the television and took what might have been the hundredth swig of his beer.

"Bet they're no match for the Dragons," the thug muttered in a slur as he swayed a little from side to side. He slammed the mug down and let out a resounding burp.

"Hey, Joe. Where the fuck are ya?"

It had been two hours past closing time and Ezekiel was still adamant about staying put at the bar. Thankfully he was a quiet, brooding drunk so Joe, the manager saw no reason to kick him out. He was more than happy to leave the thug to wallow in drunken misery while he's busy counting his earnings from last night in the office.

There was no one else in the lounge to keep Ezekiel company save for the Channel 6 news and empty mugs and bottles strewn on the counter.

"Where's that remote?"

After managing to peel himself off the bar, he stumbled forward and knocked over a few chairs.

Ezekiel groaned. He was simply too drunk to reach for his phone that had been tucked away in one of the inner pockets of his coat and was prepared to spend the rest of the morning passed out on the floor.

Hopefully his brother Gabriel would be too preoccupied with some woman to notice he'd been missing in action...

Indeed, Gabriel Juvanni, the renowned 'playa' was occupied with a girl. But tonight, there was nothing but innocent intentions on the curly-haired thug's part. Lexi, his ex fiancee was dancing at AJ's. One would wonder why the guy still had anything to do with a woman that had cut all romantic ties with him. While he knew that nothing could ever become of them, he still cared. How could he not? This was the one girl that he had considered spending the rest of his existence with, however long that may be considering his 'occupation'... but he had fucked up on a massive level. Still they had remained friends despite how his actions had hurt her, and continued to hurt him. Besides, he had to look after her. Lexi was one of their own. Kinda. While his ex wasn't a legitimate thug, Hun thought she would be useful as a decoy to distract unsuspecting victims. She was pretty good behind the wheel of a getaway car, too. All of this in exchange for the Dragon's protection. It was a high price to pay, Gabriel thought, but there was only so much he could do on his own.


The security at AJ's left much to be desired, and the girls usually got more than they bargained for. Groping and touching was not allowed, but to some, rules were made to be broken. Gabriel had accompanied Lexi to make sure that no slime balls put their hands on her, or worse. Even though his ex was one of the more tasteful dancers, refusing to reveal all, that didn't matter to the drunks that came here for a good time. The fact that she was a female made her fair game and a target of unwanted advances.


Gabriel sat at one of the tables, watching as Lexi graced the stage and treated the crowd to her talent with the blazing fans. Very few people knew the reason behind the bombshell's reason for dancing with something so deadly, but he knew. He knew everything about her and this was why he'd given up his night to make sure that she wouldn't be on the news or in a body bag tomorrow morning.


Being a regular here, Gabe was well provided with never ending alcohol and affection from some of the regular dancers, but he was 'on duty' tonight. As much as he wanted to get completely plastered and take his current and willing 'lap ornament' into the back dressing room and fuck her brains out, he had to fight the urges. Fuck, it was hard.. no pun intended. The young blonde was making it difficult the way she grinded against his lap, and just when his judgment began to waver, his cell phone began to ring. Gabriel was quick to pull it from his pocket, expecting that it was Ezekiel finally getting back to him. Hell, he had tried calling and texted him at least a dozen times, wanting to hang out tonight. The fact that he got no response had him worried, and he planned on dropping by his brother's place after leaving here...

Checking the ID, he saw that it wasn't his friend on the other line, but Joe. The owner of the bar that Ezekiel liked to frequent, so much so that the man knew who call when his regular overstayed his welcome.  There was a deep sigh from the curly-haired thug as the voice on the other line filled him in. The blonde dancer was doing her best to distract him with pressing warm and inviting kisses along his neck, her slender hand slipping into his jeans. Fuck, why did he have to be the responsible one tonight?


"Yeah, I'll be right there.." Gabriel told the man, making futile attempts to stop the girl from starting something that would need to be finished. Luckily for him, Lexi slipped up behind the woman and cleared her throat, annoyance in the gesture. Sliding the phone back into his pocket, Gabe glanced over his would-be fuck buddy and flashed a cheeky smile at his ex, then as politely as he could, attempted to 'shoo' the slut from his lap. Unfortunately that wasn't enough...


"Lay off my dick.. jeeze!" He huffed and gently gripped her hips, sliding her from his lap and onto her feet. He was covered in her red lipstick, but of course he couldn't see his own face, and Lexi was too 'nice' to tell him.


"I'm takin' you home, then I gotta go get Eze.." He told Lexi, leading her out of the bar. "Apparently he's shit faced an' Joe's wantin' to go home.." That should have been enough to cue her in on where Ezekiel was currently hanging. Normally Lexi would want to tag along, but she realized that this was one of those moments where Zeke needed his brother and surely didn't want a crowd. Besides, she needed to attempt a few hours of sleep before classes.



After dropping Lexi off and making sure that she made it safely inside, Gabe headed to the little bar that Ezekiel frequented. The thug parked his old mustang at the completely vacant curb and headed to the door. Peeping in through the window, he saw his brother. It didn't take Joe long to appear and Gabriel greeted the man with a cheeky smile as he fumbled to unlock the door. Once Gabriel was inside, he once again secured the doors, knowing this could take awhile.


Gabriel's gaze took in the mess on the bar, wondering if it was all a result of his brother, but seeing his current state made it obvious.


"What's goin on, Zekie?" He greeted his friend, giving his shoulder a squeeze as he took a seat beside him. There was plenty of open, half empty containers of alcohol so the curly-haired thug helped himself to one. "Decided to party alone, eh?"

Ezekiel grunted without so much as a glance at his brother. He was seated at one of the tables with his fingers wrapped around an empty mug, his eyes glazed over and seemingly distant.

There was nothing much the man could do except to let his thoughts drift as he drunk his sorrows away.

"You shouldn't have come," he finally spoke. Then somewhere in the lounge, he heard a familiar tone of his cell phone. Ezekiel rolled his eyes and brushed a hand over his face.

Despite its persistent ringing, he had no intention of answering.

"Did you hear about what happened in the subway three nights ago?" he asked Gabriel.

Okay, so whatever had happened and ultimately brought Ezekiel here was bad. It had him not only in a drunken stupor, but in one of his moods where company wasn't welcomed, not even his. But Gabriel wasn't one to back down. Especially not now, when obviously there was something eating away at the man he considered family.


"No, I didn't hear.." And why, he wasn't sure. Maybe it was one of the nights he had off and decided to have a wild romp between the sheets with whatever 'flavor' was in at the moment. Taking a swig from the bottle he'd stolen, the curly haired thug glanced over at Zeke.


"So what happened? It musta been bad if yer keepin' Joe past his bed time..."

Ezekiel snorted. "This is our turf, Gabe. We can pretty much do whatever we want."

A few minutes later, the ringing stopped. The phone then sounded a loud ding, notifying its owner that he'd gotten several new messages.

"Joe owed me a couple months worth of protection money. None of the boys had come to collect since Johnny and Two-Ton went missing." He blinked slowly and averted his bleary gaze. "Yeah. So..."

Ezekiel was reluctant to discuss what's been bothering him so he pushed himself up and staggered toward the bar where he had left his coat and gun.

"Let's get out of here," he said. "I gotta sober up before my meeting with Hunter in a few hours."

He wore his coat and left a fifty dollar bill on the counter for Joe.

Turning to Gabriel, he asked, "You hungry?"

Yeah, this was their territory but Joe was a nice guy. Hell, the fact that Joe put up with Ezekiel during his drunken spirals spoke volumes, but of course that probably had something to do with the fact that he owed them. Whatever the case, Joe was okay in Gabriel's book. That meant that the guy deserved to sleep, and to go home to his family...assuming that he had one. That's what normal people did, right? Gabriel wouldn't know. Though, he had almost had that life, once upon a time. Then his reality set in and his actions made sure that wouldn't happen. He could try again, sure. But once bitten, twice shy. Being promiscuous was so much easier.


It seemed that Ezekiel had no interest in answering his phone, and that would explain why his bro had never gotten back to him tonight. What was he avoiding? What was bothering him? Sure, Ton and Johnny were missing, but that was thug life. Shit happened. Of course he knew Zeke had more responsibilities therefore it would concern him more. Not that Gabe didn't care about those that vanished. They were friends. Family.


"...Maybe they're in the pen.." Gabe shrugged, taking a long swig and finishing off the last of the bottle, then followed Ezekiel over to the bar where he collected his stuff. The door was in the opposite direction, but Gabe needed to make sure that his bro didn't fall onto his face or crack open his skull.  That would have made Hun really happy. Once Zeke slid into his jacket and secured his gun, they headed for the door. The curly-haired thug was determined to get to the bottom of whatever was eating away at Ezekiel, and why he was ignoring his phone, but maybe those answers would come when he sobered up some.



"Yeah," He nodded. "Food sounds good. Taco Bell ain't too far from here.." He suggested, but would go wherever Zeke wanted. "Meetin' with Hun, eh?" He asked, pushing open the door once Joe unlocked it.