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“If this doesn’t warn you to never threaten the boss, I don’t know what will. No matter how close you are, the moment he sees you as a threat, you’re a dead man,” another person replies.
“Let’s get out of here,” Crew suggests.
As their footsteps recede I open my eyes. The moon is so big tonight. It blurs, and I lose consciousness for the second time.
Pain jars me awake and I groan before I can stop it. “Oh thank fuck,” Alex grunts. I try to open my eyes again but my lids are so heavy. I’m just too tired to give it much effort.
“I really thought you were gone.” He’s arranging my body somewhere soft. “You’re so cold.” A door slams shut. His car? It comes on with a rumble confirming that, yes, I’m in his car.
I pass out again just as heat slams through me.
CHAPTER 38
CHARLIE
As soon as Ezra leaves, I’m immediately overcome with guilt and worry. I shouldn’t have let him leave. Maybe put him in the guest bedroom or something instead of leaving the house entirely. Who cares if he has an apartment downtown?
I pace up and down the bedroom, chewing my nails. Anxiety breathes down my neck until I’m almost palpitating. It’s a small town. He said the Beaufort name carries some power and authority here, whatever that means, so he’ll be fine.He’llbe fine.
The anxiousness doesn’t leave, though, and about an hour later I can’t take it anymore. I need a distraction, so I don’t cave and beg him to come back home. Instead I call Ella. I sprawl on the bed, my knees bent and feet firmly planted on the floor. I blink at the night sky he had painted on the ceiling as the line rings in my ear.
“Charlie. What’s wrong? Are you okay?” My sister’s voice is groggy from sleep, but the concern there is loud and clear.
“You’re asleep already?” I frown. She’s usually such a night owl and doesn’t go to sleep until one AM or even two some nights, even though she still has to get up by six to make it intowork on time. Some people just don’t need as much sleep to function. I am certainly not one of them.
“What do you think? It’s fucking twelve AM. You don’t sound sick or anything. Why are you calling me at this ungodly hour?”
I shift my phone from my ear to check the time. 12:32 AM. “Wow. Has your sleep pattern changed now that you’re living alone?”
“What do you want, Charles?” she grumbles, which makes me smile.
“I missed you.”
“You missed me?” Her voice is a little incredulous.
“Don’t sound so surprised. I know you miss me too.”
“Now let me get this straight. You’re calling me in the middle of the night because you miss me? So, you didn’t miss me in the morning? Or at the very least in the evening, but in the middle of the night? Bullshit. Did something happen between you and Ezra?”
I let out a sigh. “The two aren’t mutually exclusive you know? I can miss you even though nothing happened between Ezra and I.”
“Uh huh. Now tell me what happened. I’m awake now, anyway.”
I sigh again, wondering how much I can tell her. “I learnt he’s been keeping a huge secret from me from the very beginning. I’m not at liberty to tell you what it is, but it’s huge!”
“Ohhh, secrets? Already?”
“Exactly what I thought too.” A secret that had the mafia fucking threatening me and by proxy my babies. My free hand goes down to my protruding belly. “And it’s a dangerous secret.”
“I can’t really make a sound judgment since I don’t know exactly what the secret is, but I’ll say this one thing; I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. That man is gonzo over you. He’s crazy about you, Charlotte. So if he’s keeping secrets, it’seither because he thought he might lose you if you found out, or he was doing it to protect you. Hell, it might even be for both reasons.”
“Whose side are you even on?” I pout.
“Yours. Always. If it was anyone else, I would be on my way to Brattleboro to get you, but this is Ezra. You two have this way of making other people feel invincible when you’re in a room together.”
Do we really do that?
Ella and I are silent for several minutes. She’s right that he was keeping it to protect me–us. But it was shocking going from seeing that threatening message to see his clothes soaked with blood. He got shot for God’s sake! How’s his arm doing? I hope he hasn’t loosened the stitches any further.
