"How could you be so stupid?" 

"It wasn't - you don't understand the kind of pressure there was when I was with those guys."

"Which is why I told you to ditch them all!"

Joe-Moe looked as if he wanted to put a fist through the wall. I could see him holding the anger in, controlling it. Axel still looked a little afraid, but I realised it wasn't because he thought Joe-Moe was going to punch him: he flinched every time his older brother spoke, hurt by the words and (I thought) by Joe-Moe's poor opinion.

Lucas had gone, to my great relief. There was something lizard-like about him, and within a few moments of meeting him I'd come to understand the intensity of Joe-Moe's dislike for his brother's short, well-dressed ex. 

But he hadn't departed without leaving a little poison behind him. He'd answered Joe-Moe's question, but with a self-satisfied smile. 

"It's a business visit, Joseph. I'm here to make some arrangements with your brother following a slightly disappointing earlier transaction."

Joe-Moe's sharp glance at Axel, who looked totally wretched, was enough to tell me that this was really not good news. 

"What transaction?" he asked his brother, but Lucas interrupted.

"Why don't we all have a seat and discuss it? I'd value your input, Joseph."

Joe-Moe turned back to him, and for a fraction of a second, the smile on Lucas's face faltered.

"You don't invite me to sit in my own kitchen, Lucas. We'll discuss it here."

Lucas held up his hands, placating him.

"No disrespect intended."

"Tell me," Joe-Moe said, looking at Lucas this time. 

"This dates back a while," Lizard Lucas said. "When we were... when the two of us were seeing each other, Axel was enthusiastic about becoming involved in business with me."

Axel's mouth went slack for a second, and I was pretty sure from his shock that there hadn't been a lot of enthusiasm. 

"I gave him an opportunity," Lucas went on, leaning back against the doorframe and looking way too comfortable. "I needed someone to carry a package for me, and Axel seemed the right choice. But unfortunately, he let me down, which landed me in a rather difficult position with my employer."

Joe-Moe had gone very still, but I could feel tension running through him. I wanted to reassure him, but it wasn't the time. Not while Lucas was standing there, relaxed and smiling.

"So what did you do about it?"

"There wasn't a lot I could do," Lucas said, with a shrug. "It was awkward. It was a very valuable shipment that he lost."

"I didn't lose it," Axel interrupted, with surprising sharpness. "It was stolen from me."

"I'm not blaming you," Lucas said, with absolutely the fakest kindness. "But unfortunately it means that you owe a large sum of money to Mr. Jeroniri, and you've failed to come up with it for some time now."

"How much?" Joe-Moe asked, quietly. 

"Eleven thousand," Lucas said, solemn for a moment. But I could see his mouth twitching with trying not to smile.

"Eleven thousand?" he asked, incredulous. "You gave a seventeen-year-old kid eleven grand of drugs and you think this is his fault?" 

"It's not about fault," Lucas said, shifting a little uncomfortably. "It's about what he owes."

Joe-Moe shook his head. "If you're stupid enough to entrust something of that value to a kid who has no way of repaying it, you can take responsibility. Now get the fuck out of my house."

Lucas shook his head. "Now Joseph, you don't want to do anything you might regret. Mr. Jeroniri is not someone you want to anger."

"And neither am I," Joe-Moe said, taking two very slow steps forwards so that I had to let go of him. 

Lucas clearly didn't know how true this was. But the threat of his large presence was enough to make the smaller man take a step backwards. 

"You're not understanding me," Lucas started to say, but then Joe-Moe closed on him.

I wasn't too sure what happened just after that. It was some kind of scuffle, but it was impossible to see beyond Joe-Moe's broad back. I could feel something, though. It was that hot, buzzing anger that came before Joe-Moe brought revenge down on someone.

"Don't, Joe-Moe!" I said, and it must have surprised him enough that the mood faltered.

Lucas twisted his way free of Joe-Moe and was suddenly running past me. I felt a little sick as I realised he was holding a knife.

"Stay away from my brother!" Joe-Moe yelled, turning to call after him. 

The heat and the buzzing took a long time to ease. I came up to hug him, and despite the rage running through him, he sagged into the hug and clung onto me tightly. 

"He isn't worth it, is he?" I asked him.

"No," he replied, into my ear. "No, he isn't."

And then Joe-Moe had let me go and rounded on his brother. 

"I take it what he said was true, in the essentials," he said.

"I - yeah," Axel said, and then quickly added, "but it's not quite how it sounded. He pressured me about it for weeks, because the cops were apparently watching him and I didn't look like someone to arrest. I had to walk through a lot of really crappy places late at night with this bag over my shoulder, and some guys grabbed it and knocked me down before running."

Which was the point at which Joe-Moe had erupted at him. 

"I did break it off with the in the end," Axel had eventually managed to say. "It was all that drug-mule shit that pushed me into it. I realised how nasty he could be, and I didn't like him any more."

"You should have told me," Joe-Moe said, a little more calmly.

"I didn't want to freak you out," Axel said, going to take a seat in the kitchen. 

There was a silence, while Joe-Moe visibly took a tighter hold on his anger. 

"Do you think he'll come back?" Axel asked, a little shake to his voice.

"I don't know," Joe-Moe replied. "I hope not."

He met my gaze then, and I could see what he was thinking. That there was always a solution if he did. I gave him an attempt at a smile. 

"I guess he's going to be under pressure from Jeroniri," Axel said. "It's a real mess."

"And he needs a scape-goat, yeah," Joe-Moe said. "But he has that kind of money to waste. He's not going to end up screwed."

"You think he faked the theft?" I asked, tentatively. "To screw his boss over?"

They both looked up at me, sharply, and then I saw Joe-Moe thinking it through.

"I mean, it was never the best idea, using a seventeen-year-old," I went on. "And it's awful convenient that you happened to get robbed of that bag. They didn't stop to take anything else, right? Even though there were a few of them and only one of you?"

Axel shook his head, slowly, and then suddenly exclaimed, "The slimy fucker! How could he do that?"

"Because he has a bank account where his heart's supposed to be," Joe-Moe answered. "We all knew that."

He sat down, and reached out a hand to me. I came over and slid my arms around his neck, gently, and he looked up to me with a trace of a smile. 

"Sorry for the really bad welcome," he said. 

I grinned at him. "Keeps things exciting, anyway."

I suddenly thought back to the desire that had been running through me just before we walked into the apartment. With the danger past, it made a return. Joe-Moe's smile widened slightly. It was pretty obvious he could tell from my expression.

Axel glanced from him to me, and then stood.

"I'd better get to work. Hopefully they haven't fired me already."

Joe-Moe nodded at him, and then grabbed his hand for a second. 

"I'll walk you to the end of the street, in case that shit-bag is hanging around. Keep your phone on you after that, ok? And I'll pick you up later."

Axel shrugged. "He doesn't know where I work now."

"I think he'd have ways of finding out," Joe-Moe replied, firmly. "I'm driving you."

Joe-Moe kissed me briefly as he stood.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. Make yourself comfortable."

And then he ran a hand so lightly down my arm that it made me shudder. 

"Don't be long," I muttered, and I heard him laugh gently on the way out.