Page 44 of Fractured Hearts

I sigh and shrug, not sure what else to say.

“What are you going to do now? Kai called Cal and told him what they found at Patrick’s apartment.”

She was saying that I needed to stay here where I was safe without telling me what to do. Harlow knows I hate being told what to do and will usually do the opposite, which with what just happened and how awkward living here is going to be, would be highly likely to happen. I’m not stupid though. I know this is the safest place for me. Physically, anyway. Emotionally, it might be closer to a torture chamber.

A shiver runs through my whole body. I came outside to talk to Harlow so I could have some privacy, but I’m only in sleep shorts and Ezra’s shirt with the thin blanket I grabbed from the back of the couch on the way out.

“Unfortunately, I think you need to go back inside before you get sick,” Harlow says. She’s looking at me with sympathy, but her tone says she’s glad it isn’t her.

I nod. “Time to face the music.”

“There’s nothing wrong with having feelings for Maverick, Jo. Don’t make it worse by beating yourself up.”

“I won’t,” I lie. I didn’t tell her that I might have feelings for Ezra too. Honestly, my feelings are so twisted up right now that I’m not convinced it isn’t Stockholm Syndrome. Well, that and Harlow is scary right now, and I’m afraid she’s going to yell at me. I think I would have another crying fit if she did.

Harlow snorts in disbelief, but lets it go, telling me she loves me and to call her tomorrow before hanging up.

I pretend I don’t hear the sliding of the glass door or the creak of footsteps on the wooden boards. It’s kind of hard to ignore the steaming cup of hot chocolate when it’s thrust in my face. I wrap my freezing fingers around the hot mug and look up at Ezra.

“Don’t stay out here. It’s cold. I need you in fighting shape for tomorrow.”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“You’re going to learn to shoot,” he says before walking back inside and shutting the door. I can’t stop the smile that spreads over my face. I’ve been asking him to teach me to shoot, and while he agreed, we never got around to it. I think we were more interested in punching each other.

I stay outside for a few more minutes, letting the heat from the hot chocolate warm my hands before I head inside and face the mess I made.

forty-two

MAVERICK

“Can we talk?” I ask Ezra. He’s sitting on the couch with his laptop again, frowning at the screen.

“It’s been a pretty emotional day,” he says, but I can see the flash of vulnerability in his eyes.

“Yeah,” I agree, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. “I’m not sure how to start this conversation or what to say, but we’re all stuck here together because I’m not going to leave either of you, and it’s not safe for you or Jo to be anywhere else.”

“I’m not going to stand in your way if you want to explore something with her,” he says, but won’t look at me. “I get it. Jo is great.”

“What the fuck, Ezra?” I shout, making him jump. He looks at me, eyes wide in alarm. “That’s it? You held on for eight years and you just give up at the first sign of someone else caring about me? Were you just claiming to still love me out of guilt or some fucked-up sense of obligation to me?” My chest is heaving, and my eyes are stinging with tears I refuse to shed. I’ve cried enough over this man.

“That’s what you think?” Ezra stands, eyes blazing. “That I don’t love you because I want you to be happy? Even if it’s not with me?”

“I loved you, Ezra! I loved you madly! But you’re just giving up and I’m supposed to, what? Just forget every lonely night I spent wishing you were sleeping next to me? Forget every moment I worried you were actually dead and had taken my heart to your grave with you? I’m just supposed to forget that and be whole enough to love someone else? Hope Jo can fix what you broke?”

“You loved me,” Ezra says, voice quiet and broken. “But not anymore.”

“I don’t know you! How would I know if I still love you or if I can love who you’ve become?”

“You guys should take this time to get to know each other again.”

Ezra and I both whip around to see Jo standing in front of the glass door. She gives us a weak smile, her hands wrapped around a mug.

“I set up an air mattress in the gym. I’ll take that, and Maverick can have my room. Keep your bed.”

“Ezra, you really don’t⁠—”

“It’s fine, Bambi. I’ll be more than comfortable.”