Page 40 of Fractured Hearts

I nod and look up at the house. He’s barely visible at this angle, but I can see Ezra standing by the cliff watching us. I instantly hug Maverick closer to me. He pulls me tightly against him and kisses the top of my head, not knowing why I was hugging him, but giving me the affection I wanted, anyway. I know it was selfish of me to do that while Ezra watched, but it won’t have hurt him nearly as much as I’m about to be hurt.

Maverick lets go of me and grabs my hand, pulling me toward the cliff steps. I let him pull me closer to heartbreak. Closer to being stuck in a house watching the man I love fall back in love with the man he’s always loved. My time with Maverick is limited, so I’m going to take every moment I can get. Ezra be damned.

thirty-seven

EZRA

I should leave. I should pack up my shit and let them have the house to themselves. Except I can’t. Jo is more than capable of handling herself if there’s a threat, but Maverick isn’t. Not to say that Maverick isn’t strong in other ways, but he’s always hated physical violence and wouldn’t hurt a fly. It’s something I’ve always loved about him.

And therein lies the biggest reason I won’t leave. I still love him, even though he may not love me. Even if there isn’t anything left to fight for. I will always love him.

I stormed back into the house after watching them embrace on the beach. They look good together. His dark to her light. Better than I look standing next to him.

Giving myself a few minutes to stew in my self-deprecation, I shake it off and force myself to regroup. I need to check all the cameras and get a new phone to make monitoring the property easier. I won’t let anything happen to Maverick, even if he isn’t mine anymore. And I won’t let anything happen to Jo because if I’m being totally honest with myself, she’s become my friend. Jo somehow wormed her way into my small circle in an entirely different way than Declan did. Making me completely unprepared to defend against her.

Sitting down on the couch with my laptop on the table in front of me, I quickly scan the cameras and check the movement notifications. They’re all either animals or Maverick and Jo making their way back up the stairs from the beach. The smart thing to do would be to go to my room with my headphones and pretend I’m alone in the house. I must not be a smart man because I don’t move. Not when I see them coming up the path to the back of the house. Not when they open and close the sliding glass door. And not now when they’re both standing in front of me, hand in hand. The only movement in my body is the twitching of my left eye.

thirty-eight

MAVERICK

My grip on Jo’s hand is definitely too tight, but she doesn’t say anything. We’re both just watching Ezra. He’s as still as a statue and so far from the gentle man I remember, I suddenly feel the sting of tears in my eyes. I don’t know what to say to him. What is there to say? Thank you for protecting my best friend, but can you turn back into the man I love and not this intimidating stranger? I don’t think he’d take that well. Hell, I’m not the man he once loved either, so it would be really hypocritical of me to ask that of him.

“There’s only two beds,” he says, breaking the silence, but not the lack of emotion in his expression.

“You can just share with me,” Jo says, and there’s something in her voice that almost sounds sad.

“We’ve shared a bed before,” I point out, confused about what the emotion is that I can’t identify. Should I offer to take the couch? I wouldn’t fit on it, but I’ll do it if sharing a bed with me again makes her uncomfortable.

“Get some rest,” Ezra says before Jo can respond. He’s slamming his laptop shut and halfway down the stairs that I assume lead to a basement before I can blink.

“Okay?”

“He needs to go hit something. It’s better if we just leave him to it and try to talk to him in the morning.”

I frown and look at Jo, realizing she knows Ezra better than I do now. Or this version of him, anyway. Maybe it’s time I accept that there aren’t two Ezras, just this one. Whoever that is.

I let her tug me up the stairs and to her bedroom. I immediately strip down to my boxers and climb under the covers. The bed is so comfortable; I groan as I snuggle down into it. Jo laughs as she slides in next to me.

“Motel beds are not comfortable,” I say, mid-yawn.

“I’d imagine not. Especially since you’re used to five-star hotels,” she says, laughing at how spoiled she knows I am. She’s the one who books the hotels after all.

I pull Jo into me, and she snuggles up, feeling like a missing limb has been returned. The room is bright, reminding me that the sun is still high in the sky and it’s not even close to bedtime.

“Why do we have to wait to talk to Ezra until morning?” I ask.

Jo stiffens in my arms, but answers. “Just trust me. He needs to work out everything in his own head before he’ll even hear a word we have to say. It’s like talking to a really grumpy wall if you try before he’s ready.”

That unfamiliar feeling of jealousy pecks at me. I’ve never felt it regarding Jo, but now she knows Ezra in a way I don’t. Better than I do. Possibly better than I ever will if his attitude earlier is anything to go by. I hate it. I hate how confusing my feelings are. I wish I could just shut them off.

“How come you threw his phone over the cliff?” I ask in an attempt to stop spiraling.

“Because he had a missed call from Kai on his phone, and I thought that meant he was communicating with you without me knowing.”

Frowning, I lean over the side of the bed and grab my jeans, fishing in the pocket for the burner I kept. It’s still there.

“What time was that?”