Page 54 of Fractured Hearts

“Are you okay? Was that code for something? Kai says it’s not,” she says the moment she answers the call.

“I don’t know!” I whisper-shout into the phone, my eyes trained on the door just in case one of them comes looking for me. “That’s what I need help with.”

“Right,” she says, pausing. “Do you think you could give me more information to work with here?”

I sigh and unload everything that’s happened here this past month, leading up to Ezra half dead and freezing and ending with me listening to him and the man I’m in love with having sex in the room next to me.

“And I’ve been lying here ever since,” I end with. I didn’t need to explain my feelings for Maverick to her. She already knows.

“What time did that happen?”

“Three this morning.”

“Jo! It’s almost ten! You’ve been lying there for seven hours!” I pull my phone away from my ear and wince, hoping the guys didn’t hear that. I’m pretty sure it was loud enough to be heard through the floor.

“I know. What do I do?” I ask her because I genuinely don’t know.

“Get up!”

“Not physically,” I argue. I don’t want to get up.

“At least sit up. Please,” Willa says more calmly.

I groan and do as she asks, leaning my back against the headboard. “Now what?”

“How do you feel about Ezra?”

“Uh . . .” Her question throws me off for a moment, but I think about it. “I hated him at first. It was hard watching you all suffer while he was out living a whole life.”

“And now?”

I fidget while I think about how to word what I want to say. “He’s kind, but with this hard exterior. He cares a lot about his people, but you’d never know it by looking at him. I feel bad about how much I misjudged him at first. I mean, I definitely think there was a better way to handle things than pretending to be dead, but I’m also not so sure how much of that was his choice.” I bite my bottom lip and Willa stays quiet, letting me gather my thoughts. “He’s a really good friend. We spar every morning and then he makes breakfast. I like the routine.”

“Do you, um,” Willa says, and I can practically feel her thoughts through the phone. “Do you have romantic feelings towards him?”

“He’s gay, Willa.”

“That wasn’t the question, Jo.”

“Of course I do!” I burst, not bothering to keep my voice down. “I have a habit of falling for unavailable men.”

“Is Maverick unavailable though?”

“I just told you I heard them bumping uglies last night!”

“Polyamory is a thing, Jo!”

“It’s only a thing if the other person or people want it and the people we’re talking about don’t even want me! What am I supposed to do? Just be a third wheel for the rest of my life and watch them be in love while pretending they love me, too? I can’t fucking do that, Willa!” My chest is heaving and angry tears are streaking down my face.

“Well, that at least fixed your emotional blockage,” she says.

“Great,” I mutter.

“Talk to them or just talk to Maverick. He’s always been very open with his feelings. Maybe he wants to be with both of you and is just assuming that option isn’t on the table.”

“And what if he says no and just wants Ezra?” I ask, my voice sounding broken in my ears.

“Then you have your answer, and you can begin to heal.”